001I call to order this meeting of the Stow Monroe Falls City Schools Board of Education on Monday, May 19th, 2025 at 6 PM. Roll call, please. East Jenkins Merleti here. Sheen. Sudonic here. Wind here. Please join us in the pledge of allegiance. 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 and respect input from citizens. We expect that everyone present
002will 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. Okay. First item of business, recognition of retirees. Dr. Gold. Good evening everyone. So on this evening we have 17 honores and although all 17 of them are not here, we still want to express our deepest gratitude and heartfelt congratulations to each and every one of them for this meaningful chapter in their lives. your years of dedicated service and we have a total here tonight of 383 years of service uh have left a definitely um remarkable mark on our students, families and community. So may your retirement be filled with a welldeserved rest, joy, and continued discovery of new passions. I've heard about some cruises that are coming
003up and definitely from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your service, your sacrifice and your unwavering dedication to education and what I call retirement is rejuvenation. So enjoy. Thank you so much. We will now have our principles. They will come by building and we will have a recognition and they will say something about the retirees. And so we will start with Echo Hills. We'll start with Fish Creek. Well, we just going to keep going. Highland. Our guest of honor and churro. Hi everyone and welcome to Indian Trail. Um I'm super happy tonight to recognize Debbie Long. Debbie, congratulations on your well-earned retirement. Your dedication, compassion, and unwavering support have touched the lives of countless students, staff, and families over the years. From the very beginning in preschool, where I very first met you,
004to lending a helping hand as a special education aid, and now our building aid, you have been a steady and caring presence in our district, but especially here at Indian Trail. Each and every day, you manage to wear several different hats, but always with a smile. Your kindness, patience, and willingness to go above and beyond have last have la left a lasting impression that will be for ever remembered here. Thank you for your incredible impact you've made. Your legacy of care and service will never be forgotten. Wishing you joy, relaxation, and exciting new adventures in this next chapter. You've earned every moment. Congratulations, Um, I am Cresa Hol, the preschool supervisor here at Indian Trail. Um, today we also celebrate the retirement of Mrs. Lynn Jones. Uh, she's been with our school district for five
005great years. Um she served in uh other districts as well as nursing homes and daycarees, but we were lucky to have her at the end of her career here. Uh we're so grateful for Lynn's dedication and hard work. She cares deeply about everyone, especially the children. Uh most of her years here have been spent as an aid um in our special needs preschool program. Um she's also served as an aid to an elementary students and also um with as a bus aid for our special needs ESY program in the summer. Her joy and commitment to her job, her students, and her co-workers is unmatched. She has a genuine heart and a spirit that cares for every single person. Throughout her five years at Indian Trail, she has also served as a mentor to some of
006our elementary students um who are having problems at home, at school, or both. She's always a sounding board, a listening ear to help them cope, and just to let them know another adult in the building cares. She does this for us adult co-workers as well. She's always ready to listen, support, and give us her words of wisdom to help us through life's journey. She's also known as our resident fashionista at her famous stylish outfit, always with matching shoes. I don't think I've ever ever seen her wear the same pair of shoes twice. Her kind, patient, supportive presence, her positive attitude and joyous spirit is irreplaceable. Enjoy the next chapter of your life, retirement. You deserve it. We wish you nothing but happiness, joy, and continued good health as you soar into this next new chapter.
007I can't really imagine walking into the building August and not seeing your beautiful face and smile here, but somehow I will deal. We will miss you dearly. Thank you, Mrs. Lynn Jones. Riverview. No. Woodland's here. Woodland. Kemp. Sorry, Andy. You're up. Thanks, Mrs. Maronei. Could we have all of our Kimpton retirees come up here, please? Mr. Jeff Ladner, Miss Pam Groom, and also Miss Dana Broadhurst. So, I'll start with this gentleman to my left over here. Well, first of all, before that, these three are examples of sprinting through the finish line. They're not limping through. They're not counting down the days necessarily. Maybe it's single digits now. We can't. But they have just done a fantastic job of continuing to work with our students, continuing to share ideas with how things can be better, even
008knowing they're not going to be here next year. I've inherited these three amazing Kimtonites in my six years at Kemp. And I'm going to start with Mr. Ladner. He is the Bill Bellichic of Kim. A coach himself, mildmannered when he's talking, mildmannered in the presence of many, but man, the impact he has with our young people. When you think about classroom management and you think about our young people who are um you know, learning in the classroom, Mr. Ladner is a staple to that. He's also the most likely to be roasted by our Kimpton staff in say a retirement roast because he would fit right in. He's he's so funloving. He's had a great time with his team and he is going to be missed at Kemp. So, thank you, Mr. Ladner. I'm going to
009move on to Mrs. Groom. And I'll tell you, Miss Grooma at one point, I know she's teaching, but I think she had around 13 jobs a couple years back at any given time when she was leaving, she's like, "Yeah, I got to go down for, you know, work at the physical therapy, work at Novacare, I got to go here, I got to go there." Just an absolute mover and shaker in the classroom. Just full tilt. And we love that. We love her energy. We love her creativity. We love her fresh ideas. if there's a club or something that needs sponsored at school, Miss Groom has always been there to help lead our young people. Um, also when I bring when I was assistant principal and kind of dealing with a lot of the discipline, I'd
010bring students in and they might be some of your your tougher students, some more of your hard-headed students that would come in and I'd have a conversation with them, pull up their grades, and I'd notice that some of your tougher students excelled in Miss Groom's class. And that was a testament to her mindset of never giving up, holding students to high standards and it was just a a fantastic thing to see. So even to this day, she's working with her science students on inquirybased activities and getting them to love science even deep into May. And that's tough to do with your eighth graders. I'm going to move on to Miss Broadhurst. I know there's people in the building that smile a lot, but there's no one who smiles more than Dana. Just always positive, always
011funloving. Um, but I don't know if you know this, Dana over here might be the biggest Nelson fan you've ever known. And if you don't know who Nelson is, it's the Hairband twins from the late 80s and early 90s. She is a huge fan. But what I love is she would share her Nelson stories with me. Hey Steve, I'm going to a Nelson concert tonight and I meet him backstage and it's going to be awesome and d and but it's times like that when you get to know people how cool that is. And you know, I didn't get to get into Dana's classrooms often, but I knew what sort of a teacher she was just by those interactions in the office after school. And just great for kids and once again to the to the
012very end to the very end. So, thank you, Dana. Use my cheat sheet here. So, some of you see this this pin on my chest here. And this is Mr. Ladner. So, I've got Ladner on my chest, Groom on my feet. That is a picture of Miss Groom, by the way. Her and her team. And Dana in my hand. And these are all gifts and and that's what's so great about Kimpton. These are all gifts from these three uh just to share things about them with me. And that's what makes that's what makes Kim so great. And you know, while we will hire new teachers to fill Jeff, Pam, and Dana's position, they are irreplaceable as members of the Kimpton family. That's what makes Kimton so special, the connectivity we have as a staff and
013the relationships we build within the school community. So, good luck to the three of you as you venture off into the next chapter of your lives. Thank you so much. All right. Whoa. Now come on. not staying another year. You don't need those. Lake View is next. Mrs. Denome and Mrs. Johnson, you guys want to come up? On a night like tonight when I have the privilege and honor in speaking about two such wonderful people, what is always a challenge for me is at Lake View and in Stowe, everybody that works in our buildings gives so much. And these two fine ladies are no exception. They give a tremendous amount day in and day out and have so for outstanding careers. And when somebody gives that much daily and I feel like in both situations,
014Mrs. Dunholm, secretary, Mrs. Johnson, educational aid, a lot of what they do ends up feeling like it's directly for me. So I feel very privileged that I've been in that position, but I always struggle to find words that can match what they've given. It's very difficult. So for Mrs. Denholm, I could stand here and list her contributions, celebrate multiple achievements, and highlight the immeasurable impact her career has had on countless individuals. She is truly a face of Lake View that sits at the front desk, greets parents, greets students, is just really embedded in that fabric of Lake View. I could list various buildings she's worked in throughout her time. I could state the number of years of service or recount stories of how she cared for students and it could go on and on. But
015what I don't have words for and what I can't adequately express is my appreciation for Sue. She is a tremendously caring person whom I have relied upon and there is no list or story that can truly capture what she means to me. um we work side by side by side day in day out every day work long hours and she is always there and she's always taken tremendous care of students but also tremendous care of me and listened to me no matter what the situation and for me it truly feels like we're losing a family member at Lake View. Um and I can speak for others at Lake View when I was working on what we were going to say tonight. Mrs. far at the assistant principal. I read a couple remarks and her comment
016was, "I'm glad you're doing it because I would be crying to get through it." So, you'll be tremendously missed and your contributions unmatched, your knowledge unmatched. It'll be leaving a tremendous hole. For Mrs. Johnson, she holds many titles be under classified staff, educational aid, noon time monitor. But as I was trying to describe what is her her title and what does she do, the word that came to my mind is a professional. Mrs. Johnson is a dedicated educator who has supported both students and staff with care and consistency. And every organization, every great organization has those key people, the ones who quietly hold things together, the ones you rely on, often without even realizing it because everything they touch is simply handled and handled well. Tammy is one of those people at Lake View. She
017is without a doubt one of our most valuable assets that really keeps the machine moving forward day in and day out. The challenges Tammy face each day deserves special recognition. It takes a unique mix of patience, resilience, kindness, and yes, I say even bravery to supervise fifth and sixth grade recess. So, while it might not have been her most enjoyed part of her job, it was definitely one of the most challenging that required patience, care, perseverance, and yes, bravery to do. So, Tammy, your presence, your leadership, your friendship, everything you do will be missed. And I say wholeheartedly, and second, what Steve said, all we can replace people in those positions, we cannot replace you. You guys are truly family members that I'll value for the rest of my life. and I am so grateful
018that I've had the opportunity to work with you. So, thank you Is this on? Hi. Um, for those of you that don't know me, I am Chris Keing. I'm the principal at Woodland Elementary. And I'd like to recognize Mrs. Janette Ladner. if she could come up here. We get a two for one tonight. Both Ladders are retiring. So, um, I had some things written down, but thinking about it back there standing, I just I've only been here two years. Janette was one of the first people that I met. She was on my interview team. She helped to hire me for this position, and she's one of the first people to congratulate me. um because that's the type of person that Janette is. Janette is goes 150% for everything that she does as a kindergarten teacher.
019Um her students continued to make so much growth this year even when she knew she wasn't going to be back. She is the heart and soul of Woodland and I don't know how we're going to replace her. Um she does so many things to make the school and the staff and the families a better place. um 34 years I believe 34 probably has touched over when I did the math over 700 students maybe more with the lead as our talent show director. I don't know how that's going to go on. I'm not doing it. I just know that I can't step up and be be you Janette. Um the way that you have woven the fabric of our school to meet the needs of the staff and the students and the families has just been
020phenomenal. Um and kindergarten, God bless you. I could never do that. So, um I know that you are going to enjoy this next chapter of your life. We've talked about that you have greater you have other things ahead of you, but we are truly truly going to miss you at Woodland. So, thank you for everything that you've done for the last 34 years. All right, perfect. So, my name is Mike Love. Uh, I'm HR director for this district, and I'd love to welcome up my friend, uh, Miss Marcia Dunn to come up and see me. Always. Always. Now, Marcia didn't give me any socks, but maybe maybe soon. Maybe soon. All right. So, uh Marsha works for the transportation department, and Marsha truly does it all. Um, as Marcia has told me, she has she
021she drives so many different age ranges, so many different students uh to and from school each and every day. And I don't know how she does it. Uh, to me, I picture, you know, the the darkness in the morning, the icy roads, the wind, then you got what, 30, 40 students behind you. That is tough. Okay. And thank you, Marca. But Marca does it each and every day. Um, and she gets kids to school safely. But not only that, she greets all of her students with a smile as they get on their bus. All of her students know that Miss Marca, that she cares about them, that she's engaged with them. I love the fact that our students, the first employee that they're going to see on a school day, I love that it's Marca.
022And that's so good for our kids. It's such a good start to the day. What has also impressed me about Marca throughout the course of this year, so I'm learning in my new role, I had never been to the bus garage before, but Miss Marca continues to invite me to the bus garage and to show me the different things and how important the things that she does and how important not just her, but the important of what is done in the bus garage each and every day. Marca spends her her hot summer months, the spring months, the fall, all this time of year repairing our seats constantly for us and doing these different things that that need to be done. Uh, what amazes me about Marca is for me I just throw them away and
023do different things. But not Marca. Sorry, Patrick. Marca keeps everything. Uh, she stores it and when she's ready, she uses it again. Um, and just the way she maneuvers on that bus, it was incredible and just fun to watch. And again, Marca truly cares not only about her kids, but she cares about us as a district. And I can see that. And that's so valuable. Marca, thank you for safely guiding generations of students and passengers day after day. You've been that steady, reassuring presence. I wish you a retirement filled with relaxation, adventure, subbus driving, and the same joy and the same joy that you've brought to your routes each and every day. Marcia, thank you so much for all your service. Thank you. Again, let's have a round of applause for all our retirees. A
024huge thank you to everyone. That is a lot of years of service to have in one room and a lot of students lives touched. Thank you all. Next superintendent report. At this time, I'd like to um have Miss Maronei come to uh share with us and the beautiful students from Indian Trail. Good evening everyone and welcome again to Indian Trail. We're happy to have you here tonight. I'm excited to share with you um an amazing program that was piloted here um this year through our physical education department. We know that when we look at our portrait of a bulldog, we want our students to be resilient, compassionate. We want them to be problem solvers and good communicators, not only in their academics, but also their physical and mental well-being. The pilot program, All Kids Bike,
025encourages physical activity, promotes healthy lifestyles, teaches essential bike safety skills, and helps build confidence. Students were resilient and they had to take risks learning this new skill. They had to problem solve and communicate in order to overcome challenges when they were mastering the riding of the bikes. This pilot program was made possible through community donations, business donations, as well as the amazing PTA organizations at each building who helped make this possible. We can't thank them enough for all of their generosity. Tonight, I'd like to share a couple videos of students um and in gym class actually riding the bikes and doing some fun things. And then we have um some some first graders that are going to come up as well and share [Music] So, we got one more video before the kids present, but
026this was what they enjoyed the most. After they learned how to ride their bikes, they actually got to ride them through the halls and all the teachers um would stick their heads out cheering them on. This was like that end thing. and and we still have some kids that have to put, you know, they're still learning to glide, but this was the culminating activity that they so look forward to doing. So, watching them ride in the hall was was really, really great. [Laughter] Yeah, Mr. Smith. So, now I do have some wonderful first graders. They're going to share a couple things with you and then they're going to demonstrate their skills. Are you first? Go ahead. Hi, my name is Coulson and I am a first grader. First, Mr. Smith taught us about safety and
027putting helmets on. And then he taught us how to put kickstands up and down so the bikes don't fall. At first, I was really excited because I already knew how to ride a bike. I was able to help my friends who didn't know how to ride a bike and that was fun. I am so happy that Mr. Smith taught us how to ride bikes. Hi, my name is Maddie. I had so much fun riding the bikes. I learned last year, but I was rusty and this helped me practice and get better. I liked riding with my friends in the gym. I am happy we did this and so are my classmates. I think the bikes were a great idea for kids so they can learn how to ride. Not all families can afford bikes, so
028many kids wouldn't get to learn if we didn't have this program. All elementary schools are doing this, so all kindergarten and first graders will get to learn how to ride bikes step by step. We made some mistakes at first, but Mr. Smith taught us step by step and he helped us learn and practice. Riding bikes is a good exercise for kids who need to learn how to build their muscles and it teaches them how to do new things. The kids at our school were excited every day they had gym because we got to ride the bikes. We were most excited on the last day of the bikes because we got to ride them through the halls of the school. Now we can ride our bikes at home with our friends and family. And now they're
029going to show you these new skills. Hey. Yep. They're going to ride here in front. It was super important that Mr. Smith wanted them to learn how to put helmets on themselves um and learn how to tighten them. Um also using the kickstand. So we started with no pedals on the bikes to begin with. The children learned how to balance and glide without the pedals. Um so they knew how to, you know, if they were going to fall, how to stop themselves. Um so it was a stepbystep thing that they they learned. And this is the point where we are now. So whenever you guys are ready, you may ride down. She's resilient and she's going to try because that's what we do. That's it right there. Give yourself a little shove for forward first.
030Yeah, you got it, girl. See, there you go. Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed. Thank you. That was extremely brave to come and talk to us and show us your new skills. I really appreciate it. That was fun to see. I think you read my mind because when I learned about that hallway parade of bikes, I was thinking, I would love to be here and see it. Next, we will have our student board representative uh come and share some words. Good evening. And can everyone hear me? Wonderful. Uh for those who don't for those who know me and those who don't, my name is Su Costa. I'm a senior at Stoer Falls High School. Hi. And uh unfortunately, this will be my last meeting as the student board representative. And I figured the
031best way to say goodbye is through a speech because I love giving speeches. Um, but for those who know me, I they they will know that I love meeting new people. And the hardest part, I think, is saying goodbye to them because I come to really connect with people in this way. And I found that I've connected with every single one of the board members here in that same way. And so saying goodbye is really like saying goodbye to a family member. And it's it's never easy. You know, I'm sure many of you have had someone leave for college or, you know, have been the someone leaving for college. So, you know that feeling, you know, that sadness that you get from not being able to see them. And so, I really I sat down
032at my computer and decided to type this because if I'm going to do a speech, I'm I'm going to do it right. Right. And so I really I sat there stumped because how do I say goodbye to these people? You know, while I haven't been in contact with them for very long all throughout my senior year, I found that the theme of kind of closing this chapter in my life has been so prevalent. And so saying goodbye to just another part of what I deemed as normal was was hard, right? It's not something that we want to do, but unfortunately that is how life is. We have to move on, keep moving forward. And when I reflect on it, I'm so glad that I took that opportunity. I'm glad I took that opportunity to experience
033something different because when I saw that not notification on Student Square that a student board representative position was open, I'm like, "What is this? I've never heard of this before, but I'm going to shoot my shot because it sounds interesting. It sounds like a chance for me to step outside of my comfort range, for me to experience something new." And I was honored to get this position. And now here I am almost a year later. And so I realize that as I may leave I may leave this position as the student board representative. But I like to think that I won't be forgotten, right? Because I I know someone else will come someone else will come behind me and I will move on as well. But this this part of my life I don't think
034I ever will forget because like I said it's been so impactful for me as a person. And so, like I said, I'm glad I'm glad that I took it. I'm glad that I took that shot. I'm glad that I moved outside my comfort range. I'm glad that first and foremost, I got to meet Dr. Gould, who has been a superintendent that I found cares not only for the district, but cares so much more about the people inside of it. Everyone isn't just a figureless person to Dr. Gould. To her, everyone is a soul. someone who she who someone who she values immensely as a single person and that just speaks leagues and bounds to her care for the students. I'm glad that I met Mr. Patrick Golano. I'm sorry if I'm I'm glad that I
035met you who is our treasurer, our wonderful treasurer. And it is through you that I found that that finances don't have to be as complicated as as they sound. that looking at a spreadsheet really isn't that bad if you actually identify what each part is and the fact that you value each dollar that our community has and that you keep setting ourselves up for a prosperous future is just so wonderful to me and it's something that I seek to gain as well. I'm glad that I met Mrs. Carrie Sudonic who has shown that the small details in the law are so important and I truly value that because that shows that you want to do things the right way and in my opinion the right way is the correct way and the correct way should
036be the only way that you should be going. So thank you so much for continuing to drive this community and this this educational department the correct way. I'm glad that I met Mrs. Antwinette East Jenkins whose attendance and constant presence in these meetings has shown me a great sense of welcoming and made me feel at peace here on the board. So, thank you so much for all that you do and you will continue to do for this board. And although he isn't here, I'm glad that I met Mr. Mike Sheen because his tenacity has shown that he is willing to stand up for what he believes is right. And that is a quality that I think I should also have because what I believe is right should be at foremost what I stand for. I'm
037glad that I met Mrs. Tina Merleti whose constant new ideas and new and also resourcefulness has made me realize that the answers to most of my problems just require a different change in perspective which again is a huge a huge thing for me to learn and a huge thing for me to continue learning as I move on in life. And I think I'm most the most glad to have met Dr. Dr. Wind whose openness, enthusiasm has truly acted like someone giving me a hand while I'm stepping up on a ladder. Someone who has pushed me to do better than I thought I could possibly do because it was through her that I initially entered into this program in the first place. And I don't think if it wasn't for you, I'd have been as successful
038as I was currently. And so I'd like to say thank you very much for not only having me here on the board, but having me experience this in the first place because I know that although I may leave in the future, I'll be happy to look back at the board. I'll be happy to look back at these at this institution that I've graduated from because Stow is a place that I so dearly love and I can't imagine going I I can't imagine leaving here even though it'll be happening in a few short days. And so, thank you so much. And I know that no matter how long I may stay, how no matter how long I may leave for, I I can always look back and think about this time with the smile on my
039face knowing that we are truly in good hands and that for all those who continue past me, they will be in a good position. So, thank you so much for having me here on the board and I look forward to what all of you can do for this district. Thank you. So, Vic, you have been an amazing addition. Thank you for your unbelievably kind words. We are going to take a quick recess while we all put ourselves back together. And anyone who wishes to duck out the door can. our last group of winners for the year. These are our May winners and we will start this evening with Laura Adams. Okay. Laura does a f fantastic job of managing her study halls, a time where it can be easy for students to be off task.
040She has also been willing to help with afterchool supervision of spring sports teams as they await the arrival of their coaches. Laura does whatever it takes for the betterment of Kempton students and for the building itself. Congratulations, Next, we have uh custodian Pam Bileley from Echo Hills. Pam is always working hard to make sure everything is clean and neat. That all classrooms are clean, and that the students are greeted with a smile each day. She is a great person and an asset to Echo Hills. Pam is always happy and smiling and making sure that anyone who needs anything is taken care of right away. Thank you so much, Pam. Next, we have Jeff Bunk from Highland. Well, congratulations to him. He's not here tonight. Next, we have Maria Cono, teacher from Riverview. This teacher has
041the gift of connecting students to rich reading experiences that goes above and beyond in making books come to life for her readers. Her students are her whole heart. It is apparent in her interactions with her students. She leads building respectful and authentic relationships with her students and fellow staff. She is truly passionate about teaching and making a difference in the lives of her students. and that is why she has been nominated to be here on center stage. Thank you so much, [Applause] Maria. Next from the high school, we have Doug Herbert, special education pair professional, track and cross country coach. probably coaching. Grace Lever, second grade [Music] teacher from Indian Trail. Grace is on several different committees in the building. She is always seeking opportunities to grow professionally and refine her practice. She is a
042team player and is always willing to take risk and put herself out there to help make Indian Trail the best that it can be. Grace is a wonderful second grade teacher who brings positivity and enthusiasm to the classroom each and every day. Her genuine passion for teaching and deep commitment to her students growth are evident in everything that she does. Congratulations, [Applause] Grace. from our bus garage. Robert Manis mechanic. Nancy Marquette, fourth grade reading and writing teacher from Woodland. Nancy goes above and beyond as a reading and writing teacher. She scaffolds her teaching so well and uses her technology skills to support what the students are doing. She spends countless hours outside of school working on things to make her students learn better and help her classroom be successful. Nancy is very humble, but we
043all know she is a fantastic educator and extremely passionate about what she does. Nancy is our go-to for anything reading, writing, or technology. Congratulations, [Applause] Nancy. from Fish Creek, Sarah McCafferty, art teacher. And from our central office, Franca Padulla, administrative assistant to the superintendent. Franca has been instrumental in contributing to the overall success of our central office. Her support has gone far beyond the expected scope of of her responsibilities. While greeting everyone with a smile, she manages daily operations and ensures seamless communication across departments that directly strengthen the efficiency and the morale of our team and the school district. Her positive attitude, willingness to assist whenever needed, and strong work ethic reflect the very best of the values we hold dear in our district. Thank you so much, Bronco. Stephanie Slain, fifth grade teacher from
044Lake View. Miss Slain is a dynamic fifth grade ELA teacher who connects with students and makes learning appealing and keeps students engaged. She is a team player with her colleagues. She has taken on a leadership role as a curriculum facilitator. Miss Slain works to build rapport with students and foster their growth, not only academically, but by fostering and supporting their interests outside of the school as well. Thank you so much, Stephanie. And last but not least, Hannah Wallace, teacher from Indian Trail. Hannah is the leader of our PBIS committee and she has worked hard with a team to brainstorm new ideas for our students and staff. She is always positive and full of encouragement as she works to make our PBIS the best that it can be and that's positive behavioral intervention supports because educators
045like acronyms. Thank you so much Hannah. And again, congratulations to all of our May winners. We're now going to take You guys did good. We got all the way to May and you guys lined up perfectly. It is now time for comments from the audience on voted agenda items. 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 directed to the entire board and be no longer than three 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
046begin your remarks with your first and last name. Okay. I am not seeing any at this time. Next, superintendent's consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. At this time, I would like to recommend the board of education approve the consent agenda items B through I. Roll call, please. East Junkens I Meritt Ionic I wind I next superintendent's recommendations also at this time I would like to read the names and information of the donations listed in the consent agenda and personally thank them for what they do for our students and us. Uh Gloria Adams and Jean Denu donated nine books to Fish Creek. Glenn Oak Booster Club donated $75 to the lacrosse team. Amy Heiser donated two girls jackets to Highland Elementary. Jasmine Coleman donated $25 to Storo Falls High School
047class of 2027. Brian Cartwright donated $20 to the Stow Monro Falls girls volleyball team. And the following donated to the Stow Monroe Falls High School girls golf team. Kenneth and Cara Dump Broski. Norah Fowl, Dean and Jacqueline Meiser, Sher Sales, and Jill Weber. Thank you. Next is our personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second, Dr. C. Um, we have contracts for service learning well agreement personel I am so sorry like to recommend the following personnel recommendations resignations employment from a job share to a full-time uh 202526 school year and employment correction employment extended days school year. A reduction in force for the 2526 school year. Permanent substitute for the 2425 school year to be paid at a BA with zero years on their 61st day. Employment certified personnel elementary summer school teachers
048June 9th through the 26th of 2025 with no school on June 19th. working Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 for teachers and 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for students. Employment of certified personnel extended school hours June 24th through the 25th 26th, I'm sorry, July 1st through the 3rd, July 8th through the 10th, July 15th through the 17th, and July 23rd. teachers and related services prep day on July 18th, Tuesday through Thursday with two additional days designated as setup and take down. I'd like to recommend 10 additional uh days for our two curriculum supervisors, Aisha Collier and Julie Miller. Employment summer curriculum work uh for these individuals and leave of absence. questions, discussion. I was just curious what curriculum work entails. So, the curriculum work will be working on our curriculum maps uh and pacing
049guides uh for our new curriculums and making sure those are aligned and set up with the schedules that have gone in this school year. Okay. And ready to go. And ready to go. Yeah. Okay. These are all current teachers. Yes. Roll call, please. Or did you have more? Say you want me to take them individually. Oh, okay. And so, uh, item B is the approval of administrator. Oh, wait. We have to vote on A first. These are separate. East Jenkins. I, Merlin. I, Sudonic. I, Wind. I. Okay. Do I have a motion to consider approval of administrator professional staff contract? Item B. Some move. second. There you go. So, our new uh public relations supervisor uh is Miss Sarah Hegar. So, we welcome her definitely. Any questions? I just want to say I am excited
050to bring this person aboard. Um especially after everything you shared with me about the interview process. Um it will be very nice to to have someone on board to do this work again. Roll call please. East Junkens. I sonic. Hi. Wind I. Next item is non-renewal of permanent substitute and teachers. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Dr. Gold. Um this is a recommendation just asking uh to non-renew the employees in in these positions. Without non-renewals, these individuals um can have an expectation of employment in these roles for the next year. With the non-renewal, we can bring back only um them at a later date, but this is done yearly. So, this is to protect us from funding changes and making sure that we have what we need and what we can afford. Yes.
051Okay. Any questions? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. I. Merleti. I. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. Next item. Employment certified personnel one-year contracts. Do I have a motion? Second. Yes. Um, certifying people with one-year contracts for the upcoming school year. Pretty straightforward. Yeah. Any discussion? Roll call, please. E Jenkins. I. Letti. I. Dodonic. I. Wind. I. Next is item E. Employment certified personnel two-year contracts. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Uh why so why one year versus two year on these? I'll let Mr. Love come up and share. Sorry for sitting back there. Um, so, excuse me. Typically how we do it for for teachers, we do the one year. Um, we do that the first three years of their time here. Then after that, it goes into two years. Um, so after
052they do three one years, then they can do a twoyear. Um, and they could remain on those two years. um that that could be for the remainder of their career or they can go to continuing contract after that. Thank you. So, is that just to to make sure that they're a fit for the district that make sure it's it's a great fit for us and for them? Um see if it's something that that they like too. Thank you. And I assume that's contingent on good performance. Absolutely. As far as evaluations, different things like that. Thank you. Thanks. Roll call, please. E Junken, I. I. Sodonic. I. Wind. I. Next is item F. Employment certified personnel continuing contracts. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. East. Junkens. I. Merleti. Hi.
053Sodonic I wind I next is item G contract for services SEI data sharing agreement do I have a motion so moved second Dr. if you could explain this one quickly, please. So, the Summit County Education Initiative has a grant. Uh, and so the contract doesn't cost us anything, but they look at student level data um research reporting and they look at what we call from cradle to college. And so, they look at what is happening uh as students begin their career data around them until they're are they are college level. They look at us, they look at uh around Summit County and also compare us to the state. So, this was very beneficial coming in to be able to see this and a copy of the 2023 23 24 report was also attached uh to
054the agenda. Any questions? So, that's that was their first time doing this. That was what I received when I stepped into the role. So, uh, I've attached the copy that I had so that people can see what data I was looking at. But how how many years do they go back? Uh, I have not asked Mr. James how many years they go back, but they've been doing this for a while. Anything further? Roll call, please. Jenkins. I Sonic. Hi. Wind. I next are item H physical science selection of text materials. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? These materials have gone through their readings and now we are asking the board for the approval. Any discussion? Just a reminder that they're available at central office to review if anybody wants to take
055a look. And I'm going to say thank you again for the very informative pres presentation on these um previously for our first reading was very helpful. Anything further? Roll call please. East Jenkins. I sonic. I wind. Next is item I, graduation list, class of 2025. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Any discussion? This year's class has 402 graduates that will be recognized at the Kent State Max Center Thursday, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. And our own student representative will be in that 402. Any questions? So, if we say no, do we get to keep them? No. I don't think he's going to let her. I mean, considering my my youngest is part of that class, I might be tempted. You can always try. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, I. I. Zodonic, I. Wind
056I. Next item J, extended field trips. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? So we have extended field trips. Uh our high school FCCLA is in a national competition. Uh high school speech and debate is also in a national uh competition. Uh and the high school speech and debate is also part of an academic competition uh that is coming up. So congratulations to all of them. Amazing performance all around. Any questions? Roll call, please. Ease Jenkins I wind I next we have treasurer's recommendations wish to recommend that the board of education approve the following minutes April 28th 2025 May 5th of 2025 and May 16th of 2025. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion, questions, comments? Roll call, please. Ease Jenkins. I Mleti I. Zodonic. I. Wind I. Next
057item. Wish to recommend that the board of education approve the check register for April 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any questions? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. I wind I next wish to recommend the board of education approve the financial report for April 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. All right. Coming down to three more months of the fiscal year. Well, presenting the third last third month of the fiscal year. Um we're looking really good. I'm looking good for Stow. I'm happy to say. Uh we're not great, but we're looking good. Uh so very similar. You see we are trending on getting wrapping up all of the funds that we should be getting receiving from this uh our local dollars which are our levy dollars.
058Um and then we'll start uh finishing off with our foundation from the state you know because that that is fiscal year as well. So we're trending in revenues and also sadly trending in salaries and benefits. Uh currently this month in May is a three pay month. So next month you'll see that big jump because we get paid three times in that month. And then where our dollars all are at. Dollar bank checking, dollar bank savings. See, we earned some nice interest from there. Some nice interest from retry this month as well. Total deposiitories of $21 million, which is also nice to see. And then our revenue compared from this year to last year. This year we got received more money of our local dollars in April versus last year we received it more in March,
059excuse me, March and expenditures are trending as well. Increases to salaries and benefits and some supplies that we needed and purchase services. And then that graph from above equates to all this information down below. So we look at FY24 compared to FY25. Any questions? I don't have a question. I just have a comment on obviously the differences in the peaks and valleys and the revenue is why that 30% state where they want to take away if you have higher than 30% people. Yeah, it it's it's kind of crazy to think about because that's the local dollars are outside of our control when we receive them. So if you and when people pay their taxes, so if you have a high percentage of people not paying their taxes, you're not getting that much money. So the
060money that's owed to you, what happens? So if you're already at that 30% threshold threshold, the money that's owed to you, are you I don't think you're going to see it. Um and I would love to know the county standpoint unless because to factor in giving back or reducing millage uh to save the taxpayers and then at some point asking for that money back. Um it just I can't wrap my mind around how anyone would even be able to do that. So, uh it's luckily for us it is not affecting us, but for the school districts around us, it's it's devastating if that is going to pass in the end because they're taking away the local control and they're like taking away the voices of what the community is trying to do, what's best for
061the school district and community itself. Um, so like I said, luckily it's not affecting us directly, but they're trying to take away that local control, which is devastating and and it it may not be affecting us today, but we're trending in the right direction, and it it very much could. Yes. Yep. I also find it concerning that our voters have spoken on these things and approved, but the state may adjust that. That also doesn't feel quite right. Yeah, we definitely want to take the burden of constantly going back to the having uh residents go to the ballot and voting on something. You know, by doing this, you're going to see more levies on the ballot and possibly more levies that fail. So, and then what happens when levies aren't passing and the states not increasing
062their funds to the fair share value of what it takes to cost to educate students. So, we're uh we're going down a dangerous road, but we'll see what happens. Roll call please. Ease Junkens I. Merleti I. Sudonic I. Wind I. Now why everybody came today right? Do I have a motion to consider the five-year forecast? So moved. Thank you. Second. I just got so excited. You've got the floor. Okay. I'm gonna be toggling between several screens here, so I do apologize. All right, welcome to the second five-year forecast which is required by law to present. We do our first one in November and then we do a follow-up in May. So the November kind of gives the let's see how our projections are looking from what we said in November and from previous fiscal years
063and then in the spring we were able to really like tie up those loose ends to really see where we're going to end in that fiscal year. The state also is looking at taking this to like a three-year uh forecast, which is kind of funny to see how that would work, but it's outside of my control. So, someone just uh the requirements, the HAR revised code requiring the five-year projections for now uh be done at the end of board approved and submitted to the state by November, the end of November and the end of May of the each fiscal year. Some of the requirements are or it's just on general fund dollars when we're really talking about the general fund dollars and any special cost centers associated with that. Uh the second bullet point, the
064Ohio auditor's office is working with the department of education workforce to narrow down and track our dollars. So you'll see I believe by fiscal year 27 um some additional special cost center. So the restricted dollars that we have to spend on restricted resources, those will have special cost centers so they could really tie out and easily see that we're spending the dollars that we're getting from the state. Emergency levies 016 fund that is going away. Uh some school districts track their emergency levies through this fund. Um it's just up to the treasurer or the board at the time of how they wanted to. We do not track our general our emergency levies like this. um and any debt services 0 O2 I don't I believe that's going away but I'm not sure um but we
065don't track our debt like that. So just some changes that are coming up in making uh more work for the finan the fiscal office. So the purpose and objectives of the five-year forecast is to really engage with the board and the community on such a wonderful topic and a confusing topic that could be as well and to serve a basis for determining the school district's ability to sign the certificated um the 412 certificate. So anything that there's rules and regulations to what a 412 certificate is. It could be a percentage point percentage of all your uh general fund dollars. Um, so it's really just saying like we have the funds to certify like a three-year contract or big contracts to make sure the money is going to be there and it's provided a method for
066the Ohio Department of Education and auditor's office to identify school districts with the potential financial problems which we were in last year that we were we had to do a do better letter. Not the first time STOs had to and hopefully the last time we have to do it. So just kind of idea of when they need to intervene before it's too late. All right, just know that a lot of this is a snapshot of what it's looks like. You know, we cannot predict the future and with so many things going on in the state level and the federal level, um it's really hard to to be optimistic about what's going to happen. So, we're always trying to be optimistic, not pessimist pessimistic about it, but always looking at the the bright side of things
067to see what um the forecast will look for us and how we're going to spend our funds. It's viewed as a key management tool and should be updated periodically. Um so, I've been showing the my financial reports very similar to the five-year forecast just to get people familiar with what it looks like. I've done a presentation on where our revenues come in and where our expenditures go. And it's a finan financial forecast. the numbers only tell a small part of the story. You know, there's more on to this. So, if you want to deep if you get really bored and you want to read the notes and assumptions, um that's really tells the story about where those numbers are going. And it also encourages district management teams to examine future years projections and identify challenges
068when they arise. Um you know, it's not any surprise that the district was was deficit spending from fiscal year 16 all the way to fiscal year 23. Um and I came in the middle to the end of January in fiscal year 23. It also helps the district manage to be proactive in meeting those challenges that we that we see. So key line items five-year district five-year forecast is divided into two sections. You have your revenues money we receive in and the expenditures the money we send out. District revenue is made up of two sources. We have local and state funding which we are predominantly relying on our local dollars or our state dollars. Expenditures are mainly the salaries, wages, and benefits and purchase services, supplies, materials. Before I get any further, I want to just
069kind of briefly talk about how we got as a district to where uh we are today. So, back in March, I did a presentation on um going back to fiscal year 10. Seems like a long time ago, and how healthy we were as a district. So, the gold bars, oh boy, I shouldn't touch things. All right. So the the gold bars or the bars on the left are revenues and the maroon bars or the bars on the right are expenditures. Now like everyone knows we want our revenues to be higher than expenditures and you have money at the end of the month or the end of the day or the fiscal year which is which is good. Now some deficit spending is not terrible. Um like I said some things are out of our control.
070So if you had a big expenditure that year you're you could deficit spend but it's making sure that you have cash on hand. So since fiscal year 10, we fiscal year 11, we saw a slight decrease in deficit spending and we were pretty healthy at really utilizing our dollars wisely and gaining on and holding on to our our funds up until fiscal year 16 where we started to see a really big trend of deficit spending anywhere from 400,000 to $4 million a year. Now, the people at this table were not there at that time. So, it's hard to say what happened and why the district was kind of like to my sense out of control. So, up, excuse me. So, up until fiscal year 23 um was the last year that so far since I've
071been sitting in this position that we've deficit spent. Um by that point when I came in, I was guns of blazing and trying to get things in working order. uh people didn't have a budget, so they were just spending money. There were no um stop gaps of like, hey, you've exceeded your budget. They were just going and going and going. And some people in the audience could tell you how frustrating that was and trying to talk to somebody to really what are you doing and we need to get this we need to fix this. So, excuse me. So on up on the screen, this is the five-year forecast or the actuals of 2015. So you can see the lot of red. Um you can see we were deficit spending 400,000 4 million 300,000 and then
072the forecasted amounts. But what you see in fiscal year 25 is how much cash the district had on hand at the end of the fiscal year, which we have not seen this since then. At the end of the fiscal year, the district had roughly $27 million in the bank at the end of the fiscal year, which is phenomenal. That's where we we should be. We should be at a healthy balance. So, in the event something majorly major happens, you know, we could afford buying a new bus, repairing that expensive roof because we have the cash to do so to make it a safe and enjoyable environment for our staff and students. So, as the years go on of the deficit spending, we're eating to our savings. So you see start to see a slow decrease
073in deficit spending. Our cash is dwindling and then we get to 21 through 23 where we see the big deficit spendings and by the end of fiscal year 23 we have $9 million in the bank. Could you imagine if we didn't deficit spend that much money how much cash and what we could do more for our students? Like it's a lot of money to think about. I'm not saying that it's bad, but deficit spending this many times in a row is really detrimental to the longevity and the fiscal stability of a school district. So I just want to give a little recap of where we were at healthy and then fiscal year 20 six fiscal year 16 went on a slow well not slow uh rapid snowball effect decline of deficit spending and then as
074of last year we were in the black and we were able to save some money. All right. So, some of the un unknown um is what's going on in the Senate right now and all the bills that are being introduced. The governor's budget, which was passed uh called for $103 million less uh for public schools and $448 million more for vouchers and private schools. So, they're taking away money for the public education, which is for all students to receive a fair and equitable education. Um, and they're trying to give it to the private schools, which they don't have to accept you, which is, you know, they choose. If you have a disability and you require more attention or care, they don't have to accept that. They could tell you to go, we're not going to
075take you, and you go back to the public schools. Um, so that's where it's like disheartening because, you know, as a public school district, we always want to do the best thing and make it equitable for students and give them the best chance that they have at a free in at a free education. Uh, there are 14, nine in the House and five in the Senate, proposed laws to impact local property taxes or violations that could reduce local funding for all public schools in Ohio. House 196 which is uh the most egregious and the most serious concern to all public element the fair school funding plan calling it temporary foundation funding suspending the fifth and sixyear phase in. So it kind of like leaves us well what's going to happen? What are you going to
076do? Where are we going to get our state dollars from? You know it's really concerning. It shouldn't be up to our local control but if we have too much money from our local control you're going to start taking away. So, it's kind of like you're contradictoring yourself on what you actually want to do. Eliminate limit school district carryover cash balances to 30%. You know, I think if we had more of our voted officials in office who were just come visit schools and to see what it's like and how that 30% doesn't go a long way because you need it for your rainy day like I mentioned earlier and empower the county budget commission to suspend voter approval levies uh disregarded to the 20 mil floor uh which I'm going to be talking about in a
077later month. more of the 20 mil floor and uh where I see us needing new dollars and the property taxations of House Bill 96 could really devastate local school districts. So, just kind of where we're at. Uh, since February 2025, um, the vertical solid line, um, is the deadline for the forecasting, which we have some time. And then hopefully we'll have some information out by the end of May. Hopefully, it's all good information, but trying to be optimistic. So, the Senate is now deliberating tax uh, state foundation funding for property tax for schools. Like I said, 96 provisions will be taken up by the Senate, and the outcome's unknown at this time. The Senate has five pending pieces of leg legislation concerning property taxation. State budget process will not be finalized till the end of
078June. Our five-year forecast has to be filed by the end of May, like I said, and we'll follow the forecast with our current state funding levels and property tax laws to be optimistic. any changes which could be significant to the state funding and property taxes will need to be accounted for then in the November forecast when we have all that data readily available to us. All right. So as we I kind of mentioned uh the district began spending more than it received in 1617 up until 24 and reassumed and resumes deficit spending uh in 27 through the forecast period. $4.6 $6 million emergency levy is expiring in 26. So I will be talking about some of the levy options we have coming soon. We have one of our uh Baker Tillies our municipal adviserss who
079helped us with the bond uh look at some levy options of what we could do to consolidate some of our emergency levies which would not require our residents to go to the ballot all the time. Um, but I will talk more in grave detail later. And the above includes the 7.9 million emergency levy passed in November 8th uh, 2022 which was tremendous and that really was helpful to where our financial stability is today. Our cashing balance cannot fall by the state uh, by below zero uh, which we are as of right now good. So this is a graph that shows our ending cash balance without renewal. So you really see in fiscal year 29 that we're about $9 million in the whole. So at that point the state will definitely be coming in. We're borrowing
080money from the state to make payroll and we're really not at that point we're on a big spending freeze only essentials if that. So, we're obviously going to hopefully and always try to stay away from that because uh that's dangerous waters to to be in. And this is with the renewals if they were all to pass. Uh the orange line is 30 days cash. As you can see, we're still hovering above or right below it. Um which we it's 30 days cash isn't very much. Um, you know, I always like to say to at least have 60 to 90 days cash, but we still don't even have that at the end of each month for us. But if you go back to fiscal year 10 and fiscal year 11 and 12, we had a healthy
081balance where we did have that high carryover. I didn't check how many days cash that is, but it's a lot more than what we currently have today. And the pie chart to show up where our dollars are coming in. So you can see we heavily rely on real estate taxes, levies. Um state foundation is the next biggest piece. Some other state grants. Um our PUP our local dollars is a much smaller portion. So you can see that we I like this graph because it really shows that we are locally funded. And this one's always nice to see side by side of, you know, the fair school funding. Those bar graphs don't seem to be too fair. you had to throw some humor into these presentations. So, some challenges to operating uh revenue. House Bill 33
082continues to state the state paying costs for direct payments uh for community and STEM schools and scholarships. Total revenue is estimated to grow by less than that 1% annually over the next five years. about expenses are estimated to grow by 2.76%. Like I've said, we in the past for school district, I wish we were exempt from inflation, but we're not. Uh just like everyone else, we have to pay all the inflation and tariff costs as well. And renewing the 4.6 emergency levy 2026 is very critical to the longevity and st financial stability. Now look at expenditures. So the biggest piece of that graph is wages makes up 56.2%. So all of our salary bene all of our salaries and our benefits at 23.5. So just those two combined is human capital. You have some tuition
083reimbursement and some severances in there as well. Believe last month I went I took a deeper dive into the expenditures of where those smaller dollars make up that big amount in that pigraph. um some purchase services at 14%. We did see an increase in purchase services this year. Uh some of that is due to just making sure we give every opportunity to those students who might need additional support. Our supplies were a little bit higher as well, but we did do some Chromebooks and some other repairs that we needed. Um some capital improvements as well. So costs continue to rise faster than inflation. Wages and benefits growing the fastest. So our human capital is always going to be the most expensive piece of our pie chart. Um just because they're the they're the heroes we
084have every day supporting and educating our students. Uh whether you're driving them to school or you're cleaning up after them at night. Uh it takes a lot to run this village of nine school buildings, 11 buildings. Well, yeah, 11 buildings, stadium, and many other places. So couldn't do without all of our human capital. So we've worked ourselves out of fiscal precaution. Mrs. Pro there could tell you how fun that uh that work was with to work with DEW. Uh we'll need another levy probably within the next three to four years or some significant cuts or a combination of the both uh to remain uh viable beyond fiscal year 29. Current current funding has us on the guaranteed for FY25 which I will talk about at a later date. We no longer are using our ESR
085dollars. Kind of happy about that. We got the money. We spent it. We're moving on. Uh just because of all the surveys we had to take. Always fun. Uh future funding is uncertain uh for the 26 29 fiscal years. Like I've said before, we need to try to match expenses to revenues. really trying to hone in what we've done the last couple years and you know trying to educate our staff on do we need this or do you want this and if you want that that's fine but reach out to like your uh PTA and I know they always do a phenomenal job at getting us what we need which I'm very thankful for that um but they also have a principal fund and just like looking at other alternatives to take the stress off
086the general fund there are several property tax reforms being produced like I said house 96 being one of the worst If the state cuts or reduces our state funding and severely impacts our ability to raise local funding, you know, what are we going to do? Unfortunately, at that point, we would have to make some hard decisions with some cuts in right sizing our district and our revenues ability to ability to manage the district under its threat with the House 196. So, um just want to show the uh five-year forecast for this year. Um, so we are coming in above budget, not budget or above our forecast amount from the fall. And one of those reasonings was not catching a uh an error with what the district did for two years. I believe it was fiscal
087year 22 and 23 with the uh employee uh buyout. So that if you said you were going to retire a certain amount, the district gave you additional dollars and we would save money through attrition. Attrition is not replacing that person. So you would save throughout the year. Um so that uh payment to the company was still across the board for all the rest of the five years which was incorrect which helped us uh also see a black positive number at the bottom of 6.010. Um, like I said, this is a snapshot and we're going to hopefully come very close to that as well. We also So the I wish it was on this computer, but show you the spreadsheet of all the intrical parts that make up this forecast and how crucial K12 is to
088helping treasurers learn how to use the systems that they they built uh to make it work. It is it is fascinating how it all works but uh it is really cool. Um I won't go into much detail. So as you can see and as if you see the numbers drip drop um those are due to a levy being on the ballot. They don't show the levies being renewing up here. You have to scroll down to the bottom. So don't think we're uh we're losing money and we unless those levies were not to be renewed. So, so then as you can see in fiscal year 29, um, deficit spending $9.3 million. Uh, that's without the levy. But at some point, we are going to need to look at new dollars because if that levy does pass,
089our cash out in hand will be roughly $3.3 million, which is the lowest it has been um in a very long time. So unfortunately the money uh we have can only last so long as our job as Mrs. Dr. Gord and I have been doing is uh really trying to hone in on the purchasing and trying to do the cheapest not always the cheapest but what's the more economical way of getting things done um while giving the students the best education they possibly can. And if you're really bored after today or throughout the week, you can read the notes in a assumptions. I kind of highlighted some of the bigger bullet points and you'll see the graphs as well. So, I'm happy to report that we are going to be in the black for the
090second year of my full time here at Stonewall Falls and I'm very proud of that. Some of the other cost savings that we've done um is when uh I believe we talked about this in March uh you know not replacing our when our gifted employee left, we contract service that which always saved some money. um our PR public relations. Unfortunately, she left the district, but we're still able to save some money while using her services as uh purchase services, taking out a lot of the desktop printers, which are so much more expensive. And Josh in the back could tell you how expensive those are. Uh reducing the amount of cell phones and hotspots we have on district. I believe we cut that in about 75% each month, which was great. Um, and also looking at
091our supplies, talking about those needs and those wants. And other cost savings are when we have staff at CEO who might go out on leave, uh, cross trainining, and it's nice because a lot of the support staff we have in there could also fill in, and do their jobs. Um, so when my payroll person was out, uh, we kind of shifted some duties. I was doing my job and some of all the other employees duties just so that, you know, I'm always there to step in. Um, and then business services as well. um when that admin assistant was out on leave, we didn't hire a sub the whole time. We just utilized the resources we had. Um so that also helps out and our registar we didn't have one for quite a bit. HR kind
092of assumed that role. Um so it might not always look like we're doing things but behind the stage, you know, so many things are happening on to save the taxpayers a lot of money. So, all that in a wonderful five-year forecast update. Um, any questions? And I apologize for long and boring. Do you What's the millillage on the uh levy that's going to expire in the end of 26? Oh, I almost had that up there. Um, I don't know that off top of my head, but I could get that for you. I saw some it was close to four million. Is that sound about right? So it's so uh for emergency levies a lot of that you're looking at um dollar amounts. So most time it's like oh it's a $4.3 million levy. That's how
093much it's going to bring in and there's a millage attached to that. But I would have to go back and look to see what that millage equates to. So I apologize for that. Well I just want to say thank you for all this. I done a little bit of my own research too just to and went back all the way to 2015 just to look at fiveyear forecasts just in preparation for this. I wanted to see what was in front of previous boards, you know, including, you know, ourselves, but just for the last 10 years. And this is the best one that has come out of this district in 10 years. to get us from a position where we were seven figure deficit spending to being in the black is just an incredible testament to
094both you and Dr. B. And I think that um we are absolutely trending in the right direction. It's like the last time it looks like you know the last time that we had even on the four uh you know the fourth year of the five-year forecast the last time we had um a positive balance was all the way back in 2017 and it just you know, incredibly uh large amounts of of overspending. Yeah. And that's one of the Sorry to cut you off. That was one that's one of the nice thing about seeing the five forecast is like seeing like, hey, if we don't do anything now, it's going to be way worse in the future. But if we start doing something now, it'll be so much better in the future, right? So you could
095start looking at like, you know, I see 2.5 deficit. Dr. Ghoul, what are we doing? Yeah. Yes. And I mean, I was looking in 2020 at a 5year forecast had last year at 58 million deficit and instead we were in the black. That's I baffling to me how it could have been projected. I mean how how it was trending in that direction just five years ago and how it's been turned around this much. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you. And I don't know what I would do if I was looking at a 58 million deficit in our fivey year forecast. Same try maybe. I'm not sure. Yeah. I just I want to I I want to echo that. I know that it it hasn't been easy or without its challenges to
096um make sure that we're not deficit spending. Uh but you know, and I don't know how many times Dr. Gold and I have talked about we don't have the cash for X, Y, or Z. Um and that's that's the fact, right? We can't whip out a credit card and buy things with with money we don't have and won't have. Um, and I appreciate all of those tough decisions and priority setting and everything that has gone into putting us in a better position and heading us in the right direction. We're not we're not there yet. We don't have the the carryover that would be healthier yet. Um, but I hope that this is a a sign that we are headed in the right direction. The other point I guess I want to make too is I
097think anybody can notice with the expenditures with where those percentages are and what you know it's it's staff and we got through this without a drastic cuts in staff and that's you know that's it doesn't even you know it's it's hard to comprehend just how how this was done without you know losing our staff and at the same time um thank you to the staff members who you know for going through the bumps and bruises of, you know, of of a spending freeze. And I I hope everyone understands why, you know, it had to happen. And and I hope everyone understands that it's uh I know all of us up here value this, you know, keeping as much staff as we possibly can, you know, for the for the sake of our students. So, yeah.
098And certainly we've seen other districts around us do kind of mass riffs um in order to balance the budget, and that was not something that we wanted to do. uh we value our staff a great deal and wouldn't want to put them through that um put ourselves and our students through that either. So yeah, I think it's also good to note I think people always see that number whatever the percentage is for staff salaries and they think it's irresponsible or we should have a less amount but that's everywhere. Whether it's higher ed, whether it's K12, whether it's business, your your people are going to be the capital that costs the most and then making sure that they have insurance and benefits makes it even even more so. So you those are things you cannot fix
099and you've still done an amazing job. So thank you. Thank you. And the it's common to see salary and benefits around 80 85% of district budgets. So, you know, it's it's not crazy. If they were at 90%. Then we would have to have some conversations. We don't have the luxury to just do what we want, right? So, like I said, it's good for Stow. It's not great, but it it's good for us. So, hopefully we could just increase that cash balance on hand uh year after year. And again, we're we're headed in the right direction. I always say it it's not instantaneous to turn a container ship. Uh which is what a budget this large and a and an operation this large really is when we look at change. Um and we've been able to
100to make that turn and start us on the right direction. So very appreciated. I just want to say that I appreciate your efforts and uh Dr. Gold's efforts to, you know, work with the staff, try to figure out where we can cut and make some cost savings. I know you've worked really hard to try and find some creative solutions to um, you know, our budget problem. So, I really appreciate both of you. Thank you. Just one more thing. I know you mentioned a bunch of uh legisl legislation, but I I just there's also a ballot initiative to remove all um property taxes. So, I don't know. I think that's maybe with with Yoast at the moment. I'm not sure, but it's working its way through and it could end up on a ballot this year.
101Yeah, I feel like it's been approved to collect the signatures for that ballot initiative maybe. But that would I mean if we if if property tax were abolished like that's such a gigantic portion of where we're where we're getting our funding from. Like where where would it come from? Where would it come from? How would we keep our buildings open? Somebody must have a money tree somewhere that they're going to pull from. Anyway, I didn't mean to, but I that's a that's a thing that's happening. Things to watch down the road. So, I mean, you say property taxes, but you got to remember that's schools, that's libraries, that's your municipalities, your counties, all of those get money from property taxes. In a lot of places, it's our police departments and our fire departments. Yes. So,
102there's a lot more things that are affected, not just the dollars we receive from the levies. So, anything further? I would just like to take the opportunity to thank the cabinet team uh as well. Um because in um looking at the uh budgets um we have uh really dug deep into each of the departments uh to see where we can do um what I call cost savings um and what we really need um so that our students and our staff are not feeling uh too much of the deficit that we uh have to do. So I would just like to thank my cabinet team for their work and our teachers and staff for being very patient in this process. Yeah, there's a lot of creativity in those solutions. Roll call. East Jenkins. I sonic. Hi.
103Wind I. Thank you again. Um, next is new business. Uh, resolution to amend the Ohio School Board Association legislative platform. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. So, this is a motion that I or a resolution that I put together. Um, let me read it. resolution to amend the Ohio School Boards Association legislative platform. Whereas the Stow Monroe Falls City School District is a member of the Ohio School Boards Association, OSBA. And whereas the OSBA legislative platform serves as a guiding document for advocating policies that support and enhance public education with legislators in the state of Ohio. And whereas the OSBA legislative platform is reviewed and amended each year by OSBA member school districts. And whereas the number of students identified as needing special education services has risen dramatically nationwide, increasing from 6.4
104million to 7.5 million over the past decade. With Ohio reflecting this trend as 17% of its student population now qualifies for special education services, placing it seventh in the country in terms of the number of students with IEPs. And whereas despite this growing need, Ohio ranks last in the nation in the percentage of education dollars allocated to special education, spending only 8.1% of its education budget on special education compared to other states like Connecticut, which allocate around 20%. And whereas this chronic underfunding forces school districts to divert general education funds, heavily rely on local taxpayers, or leave students underserved, jeopardizing compliance with federal mandates and limiting educational opportunities for students with disabilities. And whereas special education services require significantly more personnel than general education programs, yet Ohio lags behind neighboring states in staffing levels, employing
105only 18 special education staff per 200 students compared to 38 in Pennsylvania, 28 in West Virginia, 32 in Kentucky, and 21 in Indiana. And whereas the special education teacher shortage continues to intensify with special education teachers making up 12% of the teaching workforce but 24% of all job postings placing an unsustainable burden on current educators and limiting school's ability to provide essential services. And whereas early intervention programs are critical for reducing long-term costs and improving student outcomes, yet insufficient funding for these services results in higher long-term expenditures as students who do not receive adequate support early on require more intensive interventions later. And whereas the potential elimination of the US Department of Education threatens to remove federal oversight and protections for students with disabilities, shifting even greater responsibility onto already strained state and local governments,
106which could jeopardize services for 270,000 students with disabilities in Ohio. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Stow Monroe Falls City School District urges the Ohio School Boards Association to amend its legislative platform with the following addition in the finance section. Categorical parity plank under the OSBA supports the language that provides increased and sustainable funding for special education to ensure that districts can fully meet the needs of students with disabilities without diverting funds from general education programs. Any questions, comments, discussion? Uh just to give a quick um explanation of what all that means um is to my understanding um we are asking OSBA to um amend their um policy platform which normally happens at capital conference there's the um legislative session that one board member is the legislative liaison and goes down and um votes
107um as a part of their um you know to uh of what? Oh, to uh give I don't know what to say like to I'm sorry. Okay. Um it's to um advocate for a policy change for what the OSBA is going to advocate for at the state house. And so when if some if we pass something like this, that means whoever is the legislative liaison could then uh bring this down to OSBA and um ask for them to amend their legislative platform, right? It's asking them to yeah add to their platform and advoc advocacy for our special education funding. I just know in the past um it had been a question and I think Mr. Shan had asked um in the past about how um does the person the legislative liaison have any rights to
108make any decisions on behalf of the board and it would come through something specifically through something like this passing a resolution to go to OSBA. So yeah and if we if we do pass this tonight this will be um shared with OSBA uh before their May 31st deadline for um suggested amendments. Anything else? Roll call, please. E Jens I. Merleti. Hi. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. Okay. Now, uh, we have our other comments section. At this time, we welcome any additional comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the board of education. All comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than three 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,
109we ask that you submit your request in writing. Please begin your remarks with your first and last name. My name is Faith Greer. I'd like to say thank you to the entire board, but today specifically Dr. schooled for her wonderful leadership in our school system. I contacted her because I was concerned for the safety of a loved one who happens to be gay given the DEI rollbacks. Dr. Gould responded immediately with heartfelt reassurance. There's no doubt she truly cares about the welfare of our students. In addition, I have been receiving lots of positive feedback from others regarding Dr. fooled. One example is a parent who reached out to her to get clarification on a heated topic that was quote being completely misconstrued and misrepresented on purpose by certain members of the community. She answered me
110the next day and was incredibly professional and explained everything in a manner everyone could understand. On a more personal note, watching this highly educated, highly qualified black woman having to sit at schoolboard meetings and talk about rolling back DEI programs broke my heart. She again handled it so professionally and tactfully. I give her all the credit for coming into a district that already has set half of its people against her based on nothing except the color of her skin. She's held two community roundts, maybe more, where she took time out of her day to ensure parents felt like they were being heard. End quote. Another example, I was a student representative for a short time with her. She still remembers my name and checks in on me whenever I see her. Another my ninth grader
111was invited to a roundt discussion with Dr. Gould where they asked a few kids to sit down and have a conversation about whatever they wanted. My daughter said no one had ever done that before and it meant a lot to her. Another I've never received an email response from the superintendent until Dr. Gould filled the position. She came into this community facing an uphill battle after the drama surrounding choosing a new superintendent and has handled everything she's faced with grace and professionalism. Grace and professionalism. That says it all. That describes Dr. Gould. Thank you so much for all you do and thank you as all the board members as well. Hi, my name is Laura Alexander. I was not planning on coming tonight, but my daughter asked me to. She would have been here this
112evening with me, but instead she is at home in bed after being assaulted by a Shaker Heights Middle School boy this weekend while at the Kim 8th grade Cedar Point trip. She is scared, in pain, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally. We do not want this falling on deaf ears. I did speak to Mr. Dietrich earlier today regarding the extreme troubling incident that occurred to three of our Stow Kempton eighth grade middle school girls. On Saturday, a group of the Shaker Heights Middle School boys was in front of our Kimton eighth grade girls in line at one of the rides. A group of the Shaker girls chose to cut in front of them so they could be with their boys. Our Kimton girls voiced their concerns of how it was not fair. The Shaker
113kids said, "It's okay. Cut us next time at the next ride." The Kimton girls went ahead and did that. While they did that, one of the the Shaker boys clocked three of our girls in the back of the head, causing them all to have concussions and my daughter to have a traumatic brain injury. I am requesting a copy of the district's policies and procedures relating to field trip supervision, student safety, handling of violent incidents between students. I am deeply concerned about the lack of adequate supervision that was provided to these 13 and 14year-old students. From what I understand, this situation could have absolutely been prevented. This has absolutely been a devastating development to our family and one that will have ongoing medical and emotional implications. While we understand the importance of teaching junior high students
114responsibility, they are still children and require proper supervision. I have chaperon Cedar Point trips in the past and seen firsthand the level of oversight that is typically in place. We had approximately 200 students that went four buses, two adults per bus. Go ahead and do that math. Not enough supervision. These students were told to check in periodically via the Remind app. We were very thankful that Mr. Kesky was able to be contacted quickly and he stepped up and found our girls and got them to be checked with the EMTs. We want to know what the district is going to do to support our three families that were affected. What accountability measures are being taken in regard to the supervision and safety? what consequ consequences and investigations are going to be underway if there's anything Stow
115needs to do versus if it's in Shaker's hands. How we plan to ensure this never happens again. We are expecting clear, transparent, and timely responses from the district for all three of the families involved. Thank you. Hello, my name is Marty Simkins. Um, regarding the master facilities plan on the meeting that I last attended, I've it's became obvious that there's really no changes that have made the same amount of money but fewer schools, more threats of cost increase if we delay in passing this bond. You are not listening. and we are not going to pass a $240 million bond. The voters don't trust you. The past four years, we have seen a new fieldhouse that was touted being built with donated funds. What we have is an incomplete fieldhouse and general funds used. A very
116pricey manager of the building and no real plans to utilize the building to recoup any funds. We have out of control spending, legal fees that are costing $43,000 for one month. massive credit card debt, including late payments, a very large debt payment coming out for a improvement loan. I'm guessing maybe that might be the fieldhouse. And I can't imagine why at this point without any paperwork to see what kind of plans you have, what schools are going to have, sizes, time frames you're going to build this on. I cannot imagine anybody putting millions in the hands of this board. Hello. Uh, my name is John Moyer and uh, I wanted to congratulate the board. I don't know when the student board representative was added to the board. Not sure how long ago it was, but
117it's just nice to get a student's perspective. Suic, well done on that. So just nice to have uh when things come up um for discussion about schools, it's nice to have uh student perspective on it. So well done on that. Wanted to say thanks and subc well done. Hi, my name is Rachel Jameson. Um, I also wanted to just make a comment about our amazing student board rep. Um, thank you so much for your time. Um, thank you to the board for continuing this position. I think it's so valuable for everyone that attends these meetings, everyone on the board, and just the school district in general. I think you have done an outstanding job as the student board representative and just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for all of your time
118and dedication and wish you the best in all of your future endeavors. Thank you. Hi, my name is Evelyn Kremar and I also just want to say thank you to every person that I see sitting in front of me here for a bringing uh fiscal responsibility back to our school district and just for the outstanding job that you do as a school board. Uh you face some incredible challenges in these positions. I can I am amazed and overwhelmed at the amount of work that I see all of you putting into this. So we are as you know your community very grateful and Suic especially I don't know if you remember me and my other life as Miss Evie at the Stoner Falls Library but I remember you and your lovely family and I am so
119proud to see what a fine young man you've grown up to be. So good luck in all your endeavors and thank you again to all of you. Okay, I'm not seeing any further comments. Okay, next I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Can I just quickly say thank you? Yes. I don't think we as a board uh enough for everything that you've done. So we appreciate Yes. And now so move and second roll call please. E J Jenkins I Sudonic hi. Wind Ijourn at 8:02 p.m.