SMFCSD Board Meeting 2025-04-28

001I call to order this meeting of the Stoman Row Falls City Schools Board of Education on Monday, April 28th, 2025 at 6 PM. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, here. Mleti, here. Sheen, here. 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

002everyone 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. Superintendent report. Good evening. At this time, we will have our presentation by Highland. And so, I'm going to turn it over to Principal Graziano. Steve, we're just here to quickly introduce some of our fourth grade students. Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to Highland tonight. And I also want to reiterate Mrs. Gratziano's invitation for everyone to come join us on Friday. And I have with me tonight an amazing group of fourth graders who have worked very very hard to become the math students that they are today. And we want to share a little bit about our club called the 24 club. All right.

003So the 24 club happens weekly and we have a fantastic volunteer Mr. Lyndon who comes to Highland every week. He is an amazing person um who is willing to work with every student no matter where they are. and he does an awesome job of helping them gain confidence in their skills and making them feel like everyone can play this game. Everyone can be a member of the club. Um, all fourth graders in Stow actually learned this game from Mr. Lyndon and we've started this probably 10 years ago at Highland and it's sort of evolved over time and now we have all six elementaryaries involved and he goes to each of those schools every week and he first teaches them the game how to play it and then they can join the club if they want

004to. If you don't want to join after learning, that's fine. But it gives the kids an opportunity to be a part of an academic group, no matter your skill level. And it's a social club, but it's also a learning club. So, I have a few students here. They're going to tell you about their experience in 24 club and what their thoughts are about the club. I believe that playing 24 sharpens children's minds. When we first learned how to play, we worked in groups of two or three to come up with the solutions. By working together, we were able to share our thinking and help each other. It feels good when you find a solution together. Hi, my name is Anastasia. I love 24 because it's a game that doesn't take long. You really get better

005at your basic facts when you play the game a lot. And knowing your basic facts even helps you with harder math like law, division, or multiplying big numbers. Hello, my name is E Bosel. I feel like the 24 game makes you smarter. One thing that's interesting is there's some there is sometimes more than one solution. So, you can get one way to solve it and another person gets a totally different way. It makes you think more flexibly because you can use all four math operations, addition, subtraction, and multiplication and division. Hi, my name is Brandon and I think 24 is a fun learning experience. We get to play with other kids and we get and we earn rewards for solving problems. I think 24 of I think of 24 like like a sport for your

006mind. We practice our sport on Wednesday sport on Wednesdays and we have our game when we do the tournament. I'm Melissa. I think playing in a group with my friends when we come to the gym to play on Wednesdays. I get to be with fourth fourth graders from other fourth grade classes. It is nice to work with some of my friends from third or second grade. You also get to know people that you didn't know before. It's a social game, but we all have a common learning goal. So, you can see from or listen and hear from their experience that they all have a very positive outlook on the game. These students here have all earned a spot on our competition team which is going to compete against the five other elementaries in Stow um

007in May. So at this time I would like the kids they are each going to come up to one of the board members and they're going to show you the cards and they're going to explain to you how to solve the cards that they have. Go right here. You go. While they are teaching the board members here for a minute, I just want to tell you a little bit about the development of the game. It started in 1988 and so each card has four numbers on it. You have to make the number 24 by using all four numbers. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. And there are different difficulties on the cards. So onepoint cards are a little easier than like a two or three point card. And then I have an example

008here of a card that has a four, three, eight, and a three. And those are some examples of how you would solve that card to get 24. Okay, I think the board members are ready. I'm sure they've learned the game in that twominut mini session. Okay, come on over, guys. So, now we're going to see if the board members can beat our 24 club members, right? So, you stand right here. This is the first card. It's a onepoint card. You have a two, a six, an eight, and a two. And if Oh, Liam already has it. I know. He just beat you. So, sorry. He's that good. These kids are that good. They study the cards. They see the patterns and they just get it. They're way faster than me. So, Liam, do you want

009to tell us what your solution is? 8 - 2 is 6. 6 + 6 is 12. 12 * 2 is 24. Right. All right. Nice job. Now, we have one more card for you and then we'll get out of your way. Oh, raise your hand if you got it. Board members. No. Okay. Go and see. 5 * 4 is 20. 7 - 3 is 4. 20 + 4 is 24. Nice. So, we are letting you know we have the third annual 24 tournament coming up on Friday, May 16th. It's here at Highland from 9:20 to 11:30. And there will be about a hundred students participating this year. We have 16 students from each of the elementaryaries. And um we're hoping that Highland will bring home the trophy this year. All right. Thank you so much

010for joining us and um we hope to see you this Friday. Thanks. Yeah, there will be no board members playing this game with your students. They are too good at all of this. I want to thank all of you students for teaching us this game and being brave enough to stand up in front of the audience. Good luck at your tournament. I just want to say I think I may have been around for the first 24 club. I have three uh three college kids that were 24 club members with Mr. Lyndon a long time ago and we love Mr. Lyndon and 24 in our house. So, great job. Yes. And hopefully Mr. Lynon knows how much he's appreciated. I know. He's just paying attention to the kids. Okay. Short recess for the crowd to move

011a little. Okay, I think we're ready to move on. At this time, I would like to present a resolution for staff appreciation week, which is May 5th through the 9th. I know you can't believe, but this week May begins. Whereas the education of youth is essential to the future of our community, state, country, and world. And teachers mold future citizens through guidance and education. And classified employees are the backbone of our public education system. And our country's future depends upon providing quality education to all students. and classified employees work directly with students, educators, parents, volunteers, business partners, community members, and teachers, spend countless hours preparing lessons, evaluating progress, counseling, and coaching students, and performing community service. And whereas our community recognizes and supports its teachers in educating the children of this community and depends upon

012the trust classified employees to serve students with their diverse talents and true dedication and nurture students throughout their school years. Now therefore be it resolved that the Sto Memoral Falls Board of Education proclaims May 5th through the 8th 20125 to be staff appreciation week. And be it further resolved that the Sto Monro Falls Board of Education strongly encourages all members of our community to join in this observance recognizing the dedication and hard work of these individuals. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion other than thank you to our staff? Um I think that is well said. Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Mitti. I. Sheen. I. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. I. Yes. At this time, we would like to present our Bulldog Center Stage Awards. I would ask as your name is called

013that you would proceed to where Mr. Love is, pick up your certificate and please wait for a photo opportunity at the end after all April winners have been announced. We'll begin our presentation tonight with our district winner and that is Zo Walsh. Whether working in the bus garage, being a Brightly expert, or working in the athletic department, Zo Walsh indeed does it all. Zo cares so much about our students and wants to do whatever she can both inside and outside of the classroom. Zo does so much to help us run smoothly. Thank you again, Zo. from our bus garage, Sherry Ratini. Sherry is always supportive and always willing to jump in and help drive a bus outside of her work as a custodian. Sherry does so much to keep our students safe and get them

014to school and their events. Thank you so much, from Echo Hills, Kelly Fornier. Kelly's classroom is a joy to visit. It's a model of productive energy directed towards student growth. Her students love the students love their teacher and each other. Kelly contributes to our building success every day by creating an environment in which children are eager to learn and be present. Thank you so much. Next from Fish Creek, Angela Kriley Cook. Miss Kribbly is always smiling as she greets students going through the lunch line. The students feel welcome. Her positive attitude and caring for our students is evident every day. She is patient and calm during a hectic time of the day. She does her job well. Thank you so much from Highland. Jennifer McGovern. Miss McGovern organized an all school election day. The two

015candidates for vice principal were cat in the hat or mouse from from give a mouse a cookie. She made all the materials and set up the voting booths. She communicated to all home rooms and her class counted the votes. Her students announced the winner at the end of the day. Thank you so much for that. from Indian Trail, Charla Moran. Charla has gone above and beyond to make sure that all of our student needs are met and that interventions and enrichment she is providing is helping them grow and succeed. Every time you walk into her classroom, it is evident that she has a true passion and love for her students and teaching. Charlotte is a fabulous teacher who is so supportive of her students and their learning. Thank you so much from Riverview. Carla Coojini.

016This month and every month, Miss Coojini goes above and beyond the scope of her work by supporting the team Riverview in the following ways. She manages arrival. She helps in the lunch line andor cafeteria and manages car riders at dismissal. She is always willing to jump in and help wherever she is needed. She is flexible even when she'd rather not be and she is a positive force for children and adults. Thank you so [Applause] much. Next from Woodland, Cindy Benfield. [Applause] Cindy treats everyone in her path with love and respect. She is artistically talent talented and uses her passion for art to spread joy to those around her while performing her duties alongside adults and children alike. She creates a safe and nurturing environments while challenging every kid kind of kid to be the best

017version of themselves. She is an amazing sounding board that comes with lots of experience and expertise in her position. Thank you so [Applause] much from Lake View. Pam Meyers. [Applause] Miss Meyers, in addition to her daily duties as a sixth grade math teacher, led the Lake View team of students in both the fifth and sixth grade to practice for and participate in the GCCTM math competition. This opportunity for students helps build confidence, promote teamwork, and foster a love of math. Miss Meyers has a knack for remaining calm in stressful situations and this is a positive cultural deposit for her colleagues, students and parents. Thank you so much from Kemp. Carrie Edwards. [Applause] Carrie is an experienced paraprofessional both but new to specialized resource room. She has done an outstanding job learning her new classroom settings,

018students and their needs. Carrie is loved by her students and creates a respectful, nurturing environment at all times. She treats every child with dignity and leads with professionalism and kindness. Thank you so much. and from the high school, Megan Hansen. Megan truly does it all. Megan is an intervention specialist at the high school and she does so much to support and love our students. Students feel safe working with Miss Hansen and as a result of her work, students are showing growth both inside and outside of the classroom. Thank you so [Applause] much and congratulations again to all of our April winners. On April 3rd, we had the opportunity to attend the 2025 appreciation award banquet hosted by CARE and that stands for community award appreciation. Um, in honor of that, this year our stomal fall

019city schools board of education received an uh an award and the award reads in appreciation for past and ongoing support and commitment to the care programming the six district educational compact takes great pleasure in honoring Storo Falls City Schools Board of Education. Since the care program was established in 1981, the board of education has supported the work of the district care coordinators and the care committee. So, this award is for our entire school board. So, let's give them a round of applause. [Music] Okay, our next item of business is 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 directed to the

020entire 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 begin your remarks with your first and last name. Thanks. Hi, Marty Simpkins. Um, asking about the agenda items that are going to be voted on that are the superintendent. Um, they're like, I don't know, programs or criteria or something. the I was basically looking at the summit educational services, the learn well leap and total education services. um the you're voting on those for this year and I was looking at the cost of these and I was curious as to how many students are are actually impacted by these programs

021and are any of the students that are impacted by this program openen enrolled and um just for the the uh summit educational services for February we were looking at $69,000. So, if we're looking at that as a monthly charge or something like that and you and those are only the four, there's a lot more in there. I saw I'm curious as to if we're making any cuts on any of these or if there are enough students that are that are really benefited by this program to make it worthwhile since we're in kind of a crunch. Um, just curious Okay, I'm not seeing any more. Uh, next item of business, representation of legal counsel. Do I have a motion? Some moved. Second. Dr. Did you want to say a word about Yeah. So, this is up

022here because we when we were using Rodzil, our prior uh law firm, they did some they used some outside attorneys to do some um title 9 investigations for us and since we were no longer with them, they sent us the bill. Um so, just making sure that we're following the proper protocol and we could pay these bills. Okay. So I just want to So if we were still through Rodzol they would they would just put that um on our invoice and we would pay it. So now we owe them directly correct the outside investigations. Okay. So is this left over from previous Yeah. their previous service and I can't it's and some of it's ongoing. Can can you explain that again? Yeah. So when we had Ratzil as our law firm, they would do they

023would use outside counsel for certain uh criteria which we did for a title 9 investigation. Um so then that law firm would bill would typically invoice Rodzil and then Rodzil paid it on our behalf and then they would invoice us through Rodzol. So, we never we we would see this show up as a line item on our our invoices, but since we're no longer with Rodzol, they just have them send us the invoice, excuse me, invoices directly. So, these are law firms that we're going to be using? Nope. It's just so that we could uh pay their invoices. Okay. Yep. So, this is to wrap up current andor ongoing correct investigations. Yeah. Not for any new investigations. Correct. So that we would just be using them to wrap up anything that we have ongoing and

024that would be the end of it. In the future, if we do have something like this, we would seek our current legal counsel to see what they would advise. Um, if they were to seek outside counsel, they would get build up that invoice and then we would see it on a line item. So we we wouldn't we shouldn't have this happen anytime soon unless they would advise us to seek outside counsel. And isn't um is it Enis Britain? And now is that our title nine law firm or what was their specialty that we special ed? So it's special ed. So title nine special ed two different things. Yeah. As far as the legal aspect of it. Yep. And they do also our discipline. And then these these two firms were part under the umbrella of

025Rozell. We're not with Rozel anymore. If anything is still on the books, we would be dealing with them directly and paying them directly. That's correct. Do we know if we have anything else pending? I don't believe we do. Okay. And is our fee structure the same? If it's coming directly to us that they're not charging us more than they would charge us if it was going to correct. Any further questions? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Merlin. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. Hi. Next up, we have the superintendent's consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Still moved. Second. discussion. Um, yes, I would like to pull um B, C, D, E, FG, and H. So that would leave us I and J for the consent agenda. Okay. So A also um well A is

026the approve is the motion the motion to approve. Okay. And then just so I'm clear Mr. Shane you wanted to pull items B through H. Correct. B C D E F G H. Thank you. Okay. Okay. At this time, I'd like to read the names and information of donations listed on the consent agenda and personally thank them for the things that they do for our for students and for the school district. The following have donated to Stomero Falls High School softball team, Benjamin and Rose Bentley. The following have donated to Highland Elementary. There was one anonymous donor, Christopher Davis and Melissa Hawk. Other donations that we have received are from Ted Crescent, Ryan Cartwright, Lois Shadelman, uh the Storo Falls Community Foundation, Thomas Electric, Stomar Falls um high school PTSA. Thank you so much for

027your donations. Thank you. Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi, Merlin. Hi, Sheen. Hi, Yodonic. Hi, Wind I. So, next we'll do um 9B, Educational Service Center Primary Services Plan Agreement for the 2025 to 2026 school year. Do I have a motion? So, moved. Second. Discussion. um with all of these um what I was curious about and Mrs. Simpkins kind of beat me to it, but I was curious to know um the cost of these services uh the number of students and this would be for all of these. So, in the fairness of time, I don't know, maybe there's a way to shorten this, but um but in any case, what I would want to know and u folks that have asked me is the cost, the number of students that uh are involved in these

028um are there other companies that provide this service? Are we are we um just going with these because we have had them, but are there other companies that we might get a better price? And um are they required? Is this something that's state required? um is it district uh whatever required. So those are the four questions really I have for B, CD, DD, E, F, G, and H. Okay, B is under discussion now. Do we have Oh, all right. This is the questions I have for B. Okay, so I want to back up a little bit and talk about what the purpose of the educational service center is so that people are very clear about that. They've been around since 1914 and they used to be called the summit board of education. The name changed

029in around 1992 to the educational service center because of two reasons. They didn't want to be confused with the Summit County Board from a governance standpoint and they wanted to be able to provide services across the entire state of Ohio. Their services range to support school districts and schools and these include professional development for educators, technology support, administrative assistance, and is and is also designed to improve student learning and school operations. When you see that our funding is there, funding for these is primarily through the state of Ohio and it's a reimbursement of per pupil subsidy. This is another source through the local school district and funds of contract have contracted through city districts. When we look at the primary service plan which is the first one there it is a service plan of where

030we are looking for support um that will be provided for our school instead of hiring sometimes a full-time employee. We uh collaborate on services with other school districts to provide the support for a set number of students. This primary service plan that you're seeing here supports special education, general education, which is all of our students, and gifted and talented. So, we're looking at a total cost here of $366,1954. It services 4,981 students which is our entire school population. There are are other companies out there but it is more beneficial to go with your educational service center because it is a statef funded agency and is it state required? Yes, we have to do services for our students with disabilities and yes, we have to provide students um with the gifted services as well as we

031have to provide services for all of our students. So, that is the primary service plan that you're seeing there uh for the first one. Dr. Gold, I noticed when I was looking through past agendas that we uh last considered the primary service plan agreement uh on March 18th of 24. It I'm not a lawyer. I didn't necessarily read super close, but it looked like it was essentially the same agreement as we have had previously had. There were no substantive changes. No, there were no changes. What we're doing is each year we sign a contract with the ESC. And so it is time for us to sign our new contract. And so that's what we have here. Thank you. Anything further? Roll call, please. East. Jenkins. I. Reli. Sheen. I. Sodonic. I. Wind. I. Next up,

032item C. Summit educational service center agreement for employment of individuals for the 2526 school year. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second discussion. The next uh item is for aiology. Educational aiologists provide assessment equipment services and consultation to our educational Wait, aiology is D. We're on C. I'm sorry. This contract that we have here is to provide services for our online bulldog academy director, our prevention counselor, and our parent mentor. It shows the cost uh there for those three positions that we do through the educational service center. And this year we are looking at changes for the online bulldog academy director moving that to a teacher um contract which would be 184 days instead of 260. That was the change for that particular contract. So that will cost us less money. It will cost

033us this time around than it did last year. Okay. And then we for the parent mentor, we do get grants dollars that pays for that 100%. So, uh, our employee is through the ESC. They charge us the $25,000, but that's reimbured by the state. Thank you. And how many students are or Wait a minute. I'm sorry. So there this is just the director who is running the program or the Those are three different things that are happening. Roll call, please. Ease. Jenkins. I Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. I. Okay. Item D, the educational service center contract for aiology. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Okay. Aiology. So the cost for this is $29,25.85. We service 31 students uh through our ideology program. And yes, we must provide those services for our students. Again,

034I I was looking through past agendas. It looks like the last time we did the aiology contract was August 19th of 24. Is this changed much from them? No, we are still in a collaboration with uh three other districts. So we pro that person works across three districts and provides that support. Thank you. Any other discussion? And and is this money we're paying this part? We're not getting any reimbursement on this. That's correct. Correct. At least we're not getting state uh grains or anything for this. Roll call, please. East. Jenkins. I. I. Sheen. Hi. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. Item E. Contract for services educational service center interpreter services summer 2025. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. So our summer interpreter services, this is sign language interpreter that is to provide services per a

035student's uh individual educa education plan which is an IEP for required extended school year services a total cost of $72 for the summer. We have one student and yes it's required be because we have to provide extended uh year services for students uh when it's in their individualized education plan. So you said summer what happens during the school year is there are interpreters that we use during this is over this is somebody who takes over from the teacher that is with this child during the school year. They don't take over. They help support that student so that they are able to gain the information. Roll call please. East Jenkins. I Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind I. F. Contracts for services learn well service agreement. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. This is for

036students who are placed in a reg residential hospital setting and are required to receive educational services during that time. The district where the facility is located must provide those services and many districts have contracted with learning well. The cost for that is $51 an hour, a maximum of five hours per week. And this varies and we cannot predict the numbers because it's when a student is placed in a residential hospital and so we have to provide those services for the student. So these services are to continue their education while they are inatient at the hospital. Yes. Um I I saw in my review that we um had learn well contracts on our agendas um February 20th, October 21st, November 18th of last year, and then again February 24th this year. Are they all pretty much

037the same contract? Yes, the contract hasn't changed. Okay. Thank you. Do you have a range like a I mean zero to what has ever been the the high point as far as kids that were I would have to go back with that. I would have to get that for you, Mr. F. I don't have that off. I mean, it's hard to predict when when students are going to be in the hospital. So, roll call, please. East Jenkins, I Sheen, I sick. Hi. Wind I. Item G, contract for services leap service agreement. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. So, LEAP is um committed to providing students and their families and school districts with the most effective and innovative learning environment. These are education alternatives. These are for students who need additional mental and health

038services and supports in addition to a smaller class size to be successful. The cost of this is $160 per DM. The max cost is 28,800 for a year and we have four students uh who are participating in the LEAP program. Now um is that determined how would how does that work? You have a student and this student may fit into this. What's the So they would process. So they would hold an um IEP meeting and the team would make that decision and then we would uh secure uh if there is a seat or pl uh an opportunity for that student to attend LEAP and then we would have to provide the funding for that. So now yeah you say a seat so uh that was kind of my next is this another building they go

039to or is this somewhere within the district? No, they have LEAP programs all across uh Summit and Kyhoga County. And then this could be something where we're having to bus this child possibly or the parent can drive them. But but the the busing would be picked up by the district. Yes. So again, we we had um contracts for LEAP on our agendas uh May 20th, June 24th, August 19th of last year, as well as um January 28th of this year. Is it all pretty much the same contract? Yes. Okay. And I would I would also add that um these are placements that are not undertaken lightly. Our job is to educate our kids in the least restrictive environment possible, which means in our classrooms with their peers to the extent that we can. Um, so

040I assume that these are extremely thoughtout um and very much needed placements when we actually pull kids to other programs. Yes. uh when you're looking at a student who is attending LEAP, there's um a lot of emotional or behavioral challenges that they are experiencing and that's why they need such a smaller classroom setting um and certain other things that we can't provide here on our campuses. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, I Sheen, Idonic, I wind I H. Contract for services, Total Education Solutions. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. So Total Education Solution provides educational services through students with an IEP. Students are placed there through an IEP team decision because the services and supports needed for the student need to be safe, successful, and exceed and exceed what our school can uh provide.

041Uh there are two programs that fall under tees and we've had them on the agenda before as well. One is called Kids Link and the other is Wings of Change. Both are uh under TEES and the placement depends on if a spot is available. This um cost is $89,200 per student and we currently have two students uh in this program and being mindful that we must provide um educational services for the students who uh also live in our district as well as those who attend our schools. So again, we've had this contract in front of us previously. I know at least u May of last year, we had this general one. And I've seen kids link and wings of change come through quite frequently. So this is um pretty much standard and unchanged from what

042we have considered before. Yes. Okay. And just just to reiterate the standard unchanged things, that's usually why they end up in a consent agenda because it's something that comes across our desks multiple times for the same reason. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, I. I. Sheen, I. Sonic, I. Wind I. Okay, that takes care of all of the consent agenda items. Uh, next I will entertain a motion to enter executive session for the purpose of 121.22 G1 to consider the employment of a public employee or official and 121.22 G5 matters required to be kept confidential by federal law or regulations or state statutes. Do I have a motion? So move second. Roll call, please. E Jenkins, I Sheen, I Sodonic. Hi. Wind I. And there will be lots of business afterwards. We're in executive session at

0436:50 Okay, we are back in session at what's the time, Mr. 7:41 p.m. Awesome. Okay, our next item of business, superintendent recommendations. Yes, I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Um, yes. So, we're on a personal recommendations. Yes. Um, yeah, I have a question in regards to our uh basketball coach or proposed basketball coach. Um, this may help me to make this short, but in reading the supplemental job description, it says here, uh, all supplemental ve vacancies shall first be offered to a bargaining unit member if qualified. The bargaining unit member shall be recommended by the superintendent to the board for employment in the supplemental position. Um who the if qualified what does qualified mean and who determines this and can you give

044me another example because it's my understanding that the gentleman that is being recommended was the only supplemental the only person to apply for this position under the supplemental job under under um uh being a bargaining unit member. He was the only one. Um so yeah, so I'm I'm I'm those are just a few questions that kind of get started. Um is what does if qualified means and then who determines that qualification? I'm going to have our director of HR come up and share Yeah. So, what we do as far as who's qualified, so we set up a interview committee um and situations like that to to prepare for um you know, our individuals. We also talk as a committee beforehand to see, you know, what would we like to see in a coach? What is

045going to look like a successful season? What do we want our students to come out of that? Because ultimately they're student athletes. Um and how do we want our students to perform um as a result of, you know, this coach's interaction. So, we'll look at all those different things. Uh, we look at the job description, uh, for each coaching position. We look at a candidate's resume and we see how does that align, how does that match up? Um, we we look at references, we look at past experiences, we look at all those different things to see, um, you know, is this person qualified. It is it is broad. Um, but we like to use a a large committee that has a lot of different constituents to determine if that makes sense and if a person

046is qualified. Um, now yeah, I'm at a loss and I I did request it. I never did get it to uh to get this gentleman's um application just to see what the experiences were. Um, am I correct to say that? Well, let let me back up a minute. Being that we have this supplemental job description or this uh I'm assuming this is part of the contract, the teachers contract being that he applied and he's the only one. Is it is it is it moot? I mean, is there nothing is there nothing to say we need to maybe go outside of the building because of the magnitude and the significance of this position? Sure. Uh yes, if if the committee views the the person as not being qualified. If the committee view uh the committee looks

047at the resume or the committee just sees after the interview that it that it doesn't make sense um then then we can go external. However, when we have a qualified applicant that's internal, we do uh like to go that direction if it makes sense for our kids. So, all right. So, you're saying as far as the committee, the committee has given this person the green light, correct? Um, because I don't have the uh job description or or um experience. Um, does this person have head coaching, varsity experience? Yes. At what school and when? Uh, two different opportunities. Um, as a head varsity coach, correct? Uh, CPPley and Revena. He was head coach at Copley. Yes. And Revena. Yes. Mr. Sheen, I believe we're delving into some micromanaging at this point. This is a job for

048human resources and it's contractual with his certified, you know, employees. They've determined that he's qualified. It's before us to vote yet. Now, uh, let me go on here. Um I see here under the supplemental it says four years. Now is that his contract based on four years of experience or the contract is four years experience previous experience. So the math was determined based on that. I mean that's where this $10,392.61 was based on the math. Correct. That's where like the starting four years experience. That's where the starting point is. Correct. Okay. All those calculations are outlined in our collective bargaining agreements. Correct. Correct. So my other bigger issue is um did you you do you not see a conflict of interest here being that the there's a relationship between the athletic director and this person

049who is now proposed to be the head basketball coach. Sure. Um our athletic director was was not involved um in this interview process as far as the hiring process. Um, I also work with the athletic director as far as different athletic needs. So, I'll be able to help with that to make sure there's not a conflict of interest. But doesn't the athletic director evaluate the coaches every year? Doesn't have to. There can be a different situation for that. Um, I don't mean to insult you, but I wasn't, you know, I might have been born at night, but not last night. I have a hard time of saying that the that that we that the athletic director was you're saying he knew nothing about this process through the interview process. I was the one who led

050the interview process team. And you see no problem with this relationship of a family member having jurisdiction over another family member in a department. Sorry. Um I think I'll be able to have jurisdiction as the HR director. As the HR director, uh Mr. Love currently supervises the athletic director and the question that you have posed is the athletic director was not involved in this process due to it being a family member and therefore will not be evaluating their family member. Mr. Love will uh take on that evaluation. So what you're saying is the athletic director would recuse himself from any annual performance reviews. Yes. Or anything in regards to discipline or hiring. Yes. Correct. And then I I think I asked this, but I'll ask it again. Um, are there any policies in force to

051uh when this situation comes up where there are family members that are, you know, that are responsible or, you know, a principal who's related to a teacher? Um, is that something that there's protection against that type of It's not nepatism, but that type of situation. It's staff ethics. Correct. It's staff ethics. That's what it's that's what you're referring to. That's the board policy that that would fall under. And do we have that now where there's a a person who has a a relationship um and they and they are responsible for that person? We have had that situation in the past where we had a superintendent who was related to a building principal and someone else evaluated the performance of that administrator um not the person who had the relationship with them. So I would assume

052this would be a similar type situation where you could step in Mr. Love as director of HR. Yes. Correct. and and currently that person is already coaching and so the questions that you're bringing up are questions that we are correcting because it should not have happened in the past as well and so moving forward that person will not be allowed to uh evaluate their uh family member. Thank you Dr. Gold. And I guess my last um question just going back to what I initially asked. Um if if in this situation you only had the one person and you didn't find that he would be or she would be qualified being that it was a bargaining unit member. um can you still go outside uh for that particular hiring without val without avoiding um the teacher

053contract? Sure. I think the key is to determine if the person's qualified, if the candidate is qualified. Uh if we have a candidate who's not qualified, um you know, then then we can um but I think the key is the first part determining if someone is qualified. So in this B it says if no qualified bargaining unit member accepts the accepts the position as it says accepts the position the vacancy shall be advertised. But where does it say here? If no qualified bargaining unit member is found to be qualified. I think we just use that term as the the qualified and that acceptance. We wouldn't offer it if they're not qualified. But do you see any value in having that included in here? Because right now it's kind of vague. That's that's the that's the

054collective bargaining unit that goes through negotiations. Mr. Love uh would not be changing that by himself. That's a negotiation process. Would that be something worth bringing to their attention or I mean again it says accepts the position but it says no qualified bargaining union member uh if no if no qualified bargaining unit member is available we can go outside to you know out outside of that due to the fact that we are in negotiations u Mr. Sheen we will not be uh able to answer that question. Okay. And that that is outside the scope of our personal recommendations regardless. Roll call, please. Thank you, Mr. Love. East Jenkins. I Sheen. Uh, no. Sodonic. I wind I. Our next item. Next item is for nonrenewal of permanent substitutes, title one tutors, e tutors, holy family remedial

055tutor, and home instruction tutors for the 2425 school year. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second discussion. Can you can you just explain is this kind of a standard procedure? Yes, this has to be done uh yearly because this is federally funded. If the funds are not available, we have to re-evaluate those positions. And would any of these be what was that money we got? ESSA ESRA money like no more. All right. So is gone. We don't have we're not we're not holding on to people that were paid with that. No. No. Okay. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. I reli. Sheen. I. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. I. Next item. Next item is to approve the settlement agreement agreement previously presented to the board. Oh, wait. We have soapbox job description. No, we

056that was removed. Oh, okay. Sorry about that. No problem. Okay. Settlement agreement. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second discussion. Roll call, please. E. Jenkins. I. Meridi. I. Sheen. I. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. Okay. Um, what a point of order here. C. What happened to C? It was removed. That was removed. That's the soapbox derby. That was removed due to uh time constraints. Uh the person would have to participate um in six sessions that will start on Wednesday and have a team together by May 10th. So we've elected to remove that and go forward for next school year. So that was removed. Yeah. I sent an email out um 3:30 4:00 about as we Dr. After Gold and I were preparing for the meeting, uh we realized there was uh not enough time to

057even start talking and prepping for that. So, we pulled it. Well, just for procedure, shouldn't that have been shouldn't we have had that discussed before and formally had that removed from the agenda? Was uh talking to legal counsel about another issue we had uh I think last meeting. Um they said up until the meeting we could decide whether we should keep it or take it off. Since it was um I would say something that was up there for our purpose. We thought it was okay to take it off. Okay. Just making sure we're following procedure. Yep. Okay. Moving on. Treasurer's consent agenda. Wish recommend that the board of education approve all items listed in the consent agenda, which is just the minutes. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? This is just

058just on the minutes. Yeah, I need to pull April 14th. The April 14th minutes. Can we separate out minutes? They're all listed as a single item. Yeah, I could pull it out. Okay. All right. So, it's going to be for March 17th and March 28th um meeting minutes. Roll call. East Jenkins. I Sheen. I sick. Hi. Wind I. And then next we have April 14th uh meeting minutes. Do I have a motion? Uh, so moved. Second. Um, yeah. I had a question on discussion E when it was the, you know, changing the meeting date. There really there was nothing there was nothing in the minutes to describe why why, you know, as far as if somebody's looking at that as I did, there's no reason there. So I should should the minutes been expanded to

059at least include the discussion that was going on in regards to this into discussion E the discussion to move was in a previous meeting. It wouldn't be in those minutes. It would be in the minutes of the meeting when we changed the date. No, we did we changed the June date. Yeah. On the 14th. Oh, that because the the first June meeting got changed a week later. I thought you were talking about changing it to the April changing anything. Just the reason for the change was not included in the minute. It was a very brief discussion. Uh we have two members who were not available on that date. So, okay. But should it have been included in the minutes? Yeah, I would have to go back to the discussion to see what was not picked

060up in the trans uh transcribing of the minutes. Okay. Okay. And then um on [Music] 17, this was on uh this was number number seven, executive session. It says here the board returned from executive session at 9:34. All members were present. I was not here. So in the call to order, you would see the present members that were in the minute meeting minutes. Uh in East Jun, Tina Mery, Carrie Sudonic. Um, so that's what they're referring to, correct? Okay. Yeah. And then when we go down to adjournment, it says motion to buy Sheen. I wasn't here. And it and it also had me down as a yes. So, oops. Yes, those will need fixing. Thank you for catching that, Mr. Sheen. So, now will these go All right. So, will this come up again for

061us to vote on or how does that work? When there's m adjustments or amend not amendments, corrections to minutes? Yes. So, I'm assuming this is going to get voted down and then the corrections will be made and they'll be put up on the May meeting. That's all. Thank you. East Jenkins. Hi Meritti. Hi Sheen. Hi Sudonic. Hi Wind. Hi. Okay. Item 13. Wish recommended the board of education approve the check register March 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? Second. Questions, comments. I usually do look at that and I didn't. Is there anything that I'd be surprised about? I I don't know. All right. I'll take that as a no. Roll call. Ease Jenkins. Hi. Lady. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. And then item B. I wish to recommend the board of

062education approve the financial report March 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Okay. All right. So, um can't believe we only have three more two more months of this fiscal year. Time flies when you're having fun. Uh so you could kind of see um the one thing that is not enjoyable is that the county uh we're at their mercy of when we receive our real estate dollars. Um so this year we've received most of it in February, a little bit of it in March, and then we received the final settlement in uh the current month, April. Um so it's kind of drawn drawn out what you'll see. We received most of that money, if not all of it, last year um in March. So, kind of threw off our revenues. Um,

063this month was pretty healthy. As you can see, we received $10 million in revenue. Um, moving down to expenditures, we've stayed pretty consistent throughout the whole this the school year, which helps our cash flow balances. And we ended with a positive $4 million. And the projection, which I did, um, fix in our forecast, that was a keyed in number where the $8.4 $4 million was was a much higher dollar dollar amount which Mr. Sheen pointed out at the last meeting. So that's where we're forecasted to end our um cash balance at $8.4 million. Right now we're projecting at 10.4, which is pretty pretty good. Not great, but that's a positive number. It's not negative. So we're going to do everything we can to keep that number either going up or flatlining. We have done some

064good preventative maintenance for the cash bleeding of the cash. So I know I think April's numbers are pretty consistent u for where we're at. So April looks pretty good. U but as you can see since we didn't bring as much money in this month uh that dollar amount is not as grand and we won't see advances again till um like November Decemberish. So, we had to try to make this these dollars last as much as we possibly I I sorry uh towards the beginning of the fiscal year. So, like July, August, and then later in the school year. So, we just have to try to make these dollars last as long as possible. And then the second report, um just kind of see where all of our dollars are. Dollar bank checking interest $50,000, which

065right now we're still seeing some strong interest growth, which is pretty good. And then you could see the huge variance between our revenue from last year to this year. In March, we received a lot of our real estate tax dollars in March versus this year, we received a little um about half of that. And our expenditures are uh a little bit more. So our expenditures seem to be consistent across the board, but our revenues unfortunately that's at the mercy of the county and the state of when we do our PCRs and the draw downs on those. And then this report um it's newer but and this these this graph here is pulling from these dollar amounts. So it kind of just breaks it down per line item um of where you see period differences dollar

066amount in the percentages. The red is we saw a decrease. The green is we saw an increase. So if you feel like you ever want to take a deeper dive into that, you you could do so. And also sees where the variances are between last year and this year. So Mr. Lana, I noticed um comparing last year this time and this year this time that our ending cash balance has grown some um a little over $600,000 compared to the same time last year. Um it looks like maybe half of that is there's more outstanding incumbrances right now. Um but I was wondering if that was a reflection of some of the uh the work that we've done to limit some spending over the course of this year. Yeah. So there's a lot of factors that

067play into this. Uh that being some of it. We're always looking at and I sorry if I sound like a broken record, but we're always trying to find ways we could save save money. Whether that's unplugging a lot of the applications or appliances we don't use in the offices to turning off lights when we're not needing it. Um I'm sure you could ask anybody in the CEO. I'm constantly walking around to get my steps in and turning off lights when they're not needed to be on or I'm plugging things that don't need to be plugged in the whole time. And you're secretly a reincarnation of my father. In other words, yes. Uh also the uh cash balances play a big role into what I just previously said is when we get our our real estate

068dollars and our advances and our federal dollars, uh you know, that's we could guess when we're going to get it, but it's up to them when we actually get it and how many incumbrances we have. So some months we we have a lot and some months we stay pretty steady um with our encumbrances and encumbrances are purchase orders we have that are against the books. So but yes, some of it is due to some of the cost savings we have. Some of it's due to the money we currently have and the money we're still waiting to receive. Thank you. Any further discussion? Oh, and sorry, just because I added this one last time. Um, I think this is a good key indicator of where we currently are. So, our projection right now is if that's

069the best case scenario, we do end end with $10 million, that's about 50 days cash for us, which is al also a nice uh realistic um total to see. You know, that's only 50 days cash and we're we're open 260 60 days roughly. So it's not much money when you put into grand schema of things versus um our fiber forecast which is 8.4 million which is 40 days cash which is still decent. Um most uh I think it's the unwritten rule would have about 60 90 days cash on hand at all times. So in the event major things happen you're able to write your checks and that stuff. So, it is kind of small in there, but it's a nice key indicator where our financial health is at heading in the right direction in terms

070of that cash balance. Yeah. Yeah. I have some general questions in regards to that and I think this fits under these um and I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to mention it again. Um there's there's a lot of folks out there that are kind of following this and investigating and looking at the numbers. Um now back on September 8th of 2015, we were made part of the Ohio checkbook. It has been turned off. What do we what what how do what do we do to get it turned back on? So I don't know whether it's it's turning it on or turning it off. the I I don't know the last time it was used. The Ohio checkbook is just more of a redundant uh report. You know, all of our stuff is

071made public and it's made public on board docs and through public records requests. Um so it's just extra work for my department to have to do and in the transition and I I don't know the last time it was done. Um, but I think it's been up to the discretion of the sitting treasurer, the CFO whether or not they want to continue to participate in in that and since I've been in this role, I don't see the need to because everything is transparent and anybody could request that at any given time and we do publish it every single month. About how much staff time are we talking about? Would you guess? I wouldn't I don't know what that all entails to to run. I've heard from some some treasurers it could be confusing because there

072are some things that have to be redacted because it's a bigger report to pull. So I just didn't spend too much time and energy into it because it's more of a duplicate of duplicate duties. Yeah, I don't I don't have I mean I just have the u how it was when it was approved. Um, there were no stipulations in here as far as who keeps it on, who turns it off. All it says is that it was approved to, uh, participate in ohio checkbook.com. So, uh, and then what you just said here, if the people did want to find out more financial information, they have to do a records request, which they have to wait. If if we were on Ohio checkbook.com, they wouldn't have to bother you. Yeah. And I think the checkbook is

073very similar to the ones that we they see every month. So what's it? This is a policy. It's not like we can pick and choose. It's it's an it's a current binding policy. Why? What? It's in policy under it was a policy was voted on September 8th, 2015. Do you have the policy number, Mr. Sheen? Um I can give you this. Okay. And it sounds like that was a um may participate, not a required to participate. So, we may have to look at the wording of that. Yeah, I think this was just I mean, we could I could definitely look into this more. Um, but it looks like it was just something that the the board was giving the authority of the treasury to participate in this, but we I could look into more of

074u the specific Yeah. and I'll get their understanding. It was, you know, I was just told, hey, this was approved by the board to be part of Ohio checkbook.com. So, um, there was a question on that we do use the credit card and that there was interest on the credit card. Do you know why we would not pay our credit cards in full every month? So, we we do pay them in full. We are currently working through an issue with Dollar Bank, our credit card, uh, of why that has been a reoccurring charge. We had some fraudulent charges back in November, December, and those seem to not have been taken off. So, we're currently working with the bank. So, we are still currently paying our card off to our standards. It's just the bank there's

075they still think that we are not paying what's due to due to them. So, clerical error. Yes. So, we're still working through that. It's been back and forth. Um other question is who who has access to the district care card? So every department and administrator they yes every department every department admin principal student services athletics. So there's about 20 credit cards out there and they're they're in charge of uh reconciling their credit card and turning it in for payment. We found now based on our are we still considered in a freeze? Are we still in that? No. So been asked that and I go I I don't know. I have not seen a green light that said freeze over. Yeah. Um I believe several weeks ago we I lifted the freeze. Um and then we

076did just have our PO deadline which was this past Friday. So it was the buildings to make sure that all POS that they would need through the next really month of school uh and then departments for the rest of the fiscal year to get those turned in. And the reason I asked that is uh being that we were on that kind of precipice as far as our monies um before the card is used even though it's you know in 20 people's hands is there a discussion with you before they use it? So, they would have to have a a requisition or PO in place before. And there's uh a lot of people who don't use their credit cards. I don't know if you've looked through it at all with the statements I sent you, but

077um there's the PE those who use it a lot. And then some some people don't even they hardly use it if at all. And if you want to shoot me down on this, you can. But I'm I'm just I'm going to ask this question. Um I saw in there that our attorney fees were used were paid with a credit card. Is there a reason why we're paying attorney fees with credit card? Yeah. So, there was uh zero. They were not charging us a processing fee at first. Uh so, it was just a faster way to process payments and for them to get their their cash and then they started charging us a fee. So, I stopped doing that because I wasn't going to pay a processing fee. And this last one, um, and I'm free

078to put this as an agenda item at the next meeting, but, um, why are districts attorney fees so high? So, yeah. So, I could uh talk a little bit about this. Uh, you do receive the comp all the invoices, the unredacted invoices. Um so you could see and I can't go into specific details but um as we are trying to write the wrong of bad advice and move forward we do have some new employees that are utilizing them more to help understand but that in goes into with like contract issues when it's gray area of the contract we're always looking for the best legal advice we have student issues employment issues uh employee issues uh public records request and special education. So all those really fall into the the place of the legal fees. In

079the past it was a uh flat cost. So you'll see it's going to be higher in the beginning and then once we start learning from the prior mistakes we won't have to reach out to them as much is it was exceedingly higher than it was in the past. Now I I never did you never got uh Jennifer March March I mean you don't have to give me the number. I mean you can give it to me later. Was it was it less than uh the trend that we were on? I think it's following trend. Yeah, it's following the trend and they don't always so like when they don't always send them like the beginning of April some it it all depends. I'm saying as far as the amount. Yeah. Um but I think it was

080following trend because that's it's we need to dis we need to discuss that in a future meeting because it's it's getting to be a lot of money for legal fees. Yeah. Thank you. Yep. And there are just some things that fall outside of our hands that we need to reach out to legal for. So, we definitely don't use and abuse it. Yeah, I know. I've I've spoken with them uh several times about, you know, ways to make it so that in the future we don't have to reach out about the same thing. Um so, being as efficient as possible uh with those those consultation times. Um and we are we are going through negotiations which this year automatically will be higher because of all the additional uh time spent on negotiations and usually it's we

081negotiate both sides at the same time. So it's a lot of hours that go into negotiation negotiation prep as Dr. Gold would say it's uh it's exhausting but it's what we're here to do. Not to mention there's been multiple presidential executive orders that's extremely outside of the norm which definitely causes increased legal um for consultations is to make sure that the district is operating legally legislative lots of legislative changes as well. Correct. So yeah, it takes time for us to work our way through all of those changes and make sure that we're complying with the law, which yeah, that's going to cost us a couple of dollars in legal consultation. And actually, I want to just make it clear that a flat fee before was not something that we couldn't go above. That was just

082a retainer, a minimum amount that we paid per month. So there would not be any reason that if it was a higher month, we would still be be paid higher. We paid higher for that month, right? There were services that we got build in addition that were outside of that scope. Correct. Correct. Yeah. We didn't have a cap that we couldn't go over. It was just minimum amount paying. Yep. Roll call. East Jenkins. I Sheen. I sick. Hi. Wind. I. Now it's time for your presentation. All right. Now, we're here to talk about dollars and cents. This time it's going to be onto the expenditures. Last month was on revenues. Just a nice uh AI generated picture. So, uh very similar to what my board report is off of and we'll be pres I'll be

083presenting on the fiber forecast next month. So, you should be well equipped to have a deeper meaning of the expenditure sides. So first one the first one we're going to look at is personnel services. The employee salary and the wages. So just something I want to discuss here. Every every expense we have is tied to a budget unit. Um so there's about when I first got here like 6,000 to 7,000 budget units. Um and I think we're at like maybe 3,000 budget units. So it's a lot of things to look at. All right. So our first one u and this is also comes from the USS manual. So anybody who and that will be updating. So if you have time or if you're really interested in the USS manual there's a link with a lot

084of information which is also at the beginning of this presentation. So we have the 110s the certified certificated employee salaries and wages. Uh so they go to 111 which is a regular teacher contracted 112 which is a temporary or a substitute. We have our 113s, our supplementals, which we were talking about earlier today, our academics, our arts, and our athletics. And then in our other, so you'll notice anytime it ends in a nine, it's the other category. So the other category is H. It doesn't fit these three. So you just put in other, so you could just move on with your day. The next we go to our 120s, our certificated leave benefits. Uh so anytime we are paying out benefits so you have vacation leave which we do pay out uh maximum of 10

085days you could uh carry over five or get paid out of five. Uh some administrators could get paid up to 10 vacation days or 130s which is uh leave benefits uh termination benefits. So 132 is if we're paying severances uh we would use code 132 and 139 is other certificated compensation. So we do our attendance incentive for that. So if you have good attendance or perfect attendance, not too many perfect attendance, but there are some employees who do have perfect attendance, which is phenomenal. Uh we they get paid their PDM for those. Our non-certificated, so you can kind of see the flow. It's always certificated and then non-certificated. So, our classified staff, which is transportation, food service, aids, secretaries, maintenance, sorry if I forget the department. Uh, and then it kind of follows the same

086suit. You have your regular, which is our contracted, our temporary, which are our substitutes, our supplementals, which are coaches. Uh, and this one is you'll see overtime or double time because classified staff are eligible to get overtime or double time if it is approved and prior approval. And then our other certificated salaries which is uh attendance incentive because both class everybody in the district is eligible for an attendance incentive which is just nice. And then we have our non-certificated leave benefits very similar from the certificated vacation leave. And for this one we do pay to have due to or the negotiated contract certifications. So, boiler, trappings of wild animals, uh, breaks, HVAC, and there's more. I was just trying to give some examples per account that we use. And then 170s is other wages and

087salaries, 171. So, I don't know if you look at the check register, but if you see general fund with 171, uh, you should see your names around that. and our student workers which is our TWE and I think there are some other student workers and I apologize if I didn't get them in there but we do have some student workers who do get paid. So that brings us to the next line employee retirement insurance benefits. So now we're talking about all about benefits. Our 210s is our classified I mean sorry certified staff which we play pay into stirs and 211 is the employer share. 212 is the employer's pickup. We do offer pickup for our administrators and uh the two sitting at this table. Our 220 is for SERS. So would be classified or non-certifi

088certificated which would be most of the classified staff and um myself. I think that's it for now. trying to think because depending on the position will dep determine whether or not you pay into SERS or STRS and then our 230s which is reimbursement other fridge benefits. We do pay tuition reimbursement per the negotiated contracts. We do have uniform and tool equipment reimburseables per the contract and also we do cell phone reimbursement. We do cell phone reimbursement because it is cheaper than having everyone have a cell phone. I do not I would not like carrying two cell phones around. I don't know how some people do it. I forget my phone half the time. So trying to remember two would be very difficult. And then we get into our insuranceances. 241 is hospitalization. 242 life, dental,

089vision, and other certificated uh which is Medicare. And then you have your 250s which is your classified staff. So very similar of how it goes back to certificated and non-certificated. Just have to remember what certificated means. Then we go to our purchase services. So we start with our 410s professional and technical services. Uh instructional services. So what would be instructional services we kind of talked about earlier today is an interpreter services. You know making sure those kids un are able to understand what we're trying to teach them. Health Services. 413. Nurses, pathology, fit for duty tests. 415, management services. Use uses for FBI PCI background checks. Everyone who comes into the building to volunteer to teach gets background checked. 416 data processing services. Once we can no longer hold on to some of our records,

090uh some in per the records retention, we have to keep them for a very long time. So those get scanned and stored at a different facility which we have access to at all times. 418 we use for professional and or legal services. 419 other professional and technology services. We use this for some of our shredding because we use shreddit. Our security to make sure our schools are safe and some of our neonet payments come out of this one. Then we go to property services 422 garbage removal 423 repairs and maintenance services. So anytime we need to have a repair or maintenance to anything in our b our district uh kine or this one our property insurance is 425 and any rentals we pay. So when we have graduation coming up in the next couple weeks

091we would pay be paying Kent. So you would see a 425 and anything other there's that nine again other property services. So, if it doesn't fit in this category, you just throw it in 44 429. I don't want to say just throw it in it. Um, but that's the one we're able to use. And next, we move to 430s, which is our travel mileage and meeting expenses. 431 is certificated travel reimbursement. You going to a PD event. The meeting expense, how much the meeting costs, you can break it down into that meeting cost $50. And then the non-certificated travel expenses. And some people utilize 431. Uh they combine them all into one budget unit. There's no rhyme or reason. Um it just depends on how specific you want the books to be. Uh so some

092of the other travel meeting expenses could be parking that could fall under that. And we get into communications. 440. Uh 441 is telephone services. It is kind of funny because they do have um which we don't use but um under telephone services it's very archaic. So hopefully they remove those uh postage which we still send a lot of things out to make sure everyone is able to receive the information we're sending. Uh 446 advertising 447 internet access services we use a lot for neonet. You'll see neonet a couple times up here because they we use them for different things and they fall under different services in 449 other communication services. A big one for this is parent square. Then we get to our utilities which are always increasing 450s electric water sewage and gas and

093then our 460s contracted craft and trade services. Uh we use this for printing and binding. So, in the past, we used to get the board minutes printed and binded and big big books. Um, I just kind of thought it was a waste of money. So, we still have to keep records and we still do, but we just three ring hole punch them and put them on a shelf. Uh, our class our class coverage forms, which used to be triplicates, could be duplicates. Uh, those are still being outsourced, but I'm trying to bring them inhouse so it's so it's cheaper. And then tuition and other similar payments. We do pay tuition reimbursements per the negotiated contracts. Uh payments to private schools. So some of the schools we were talking about earlier today, alternative educ education that

094we have to pay to educate our students that we cannot house in the in the district. Vocational payments which six district compact which you'll see in April. And that was a pretty hefty check about $1.2 million. kind of takes my breath away every time I see it or say it, but it it's it's still great that our students are able to be a part of that. And then other payments, uh, some of this comes through our foundation um, college credit plus private treatment facilities. And then we kind of get into transportation at the 480s. 482 is transportation purchase other from other sources. So are McKinto uh payment in lie of the ones that we don't transport but the parents or guardians get uh payment to transport their kids back and forth uh inclass coverage for

095next we move to supplies and materials more the tangible goods. Uh 511 is classroom supplies, office supplies, health and hygiene, software materials, computer supplies, 519 is site licenses. Then we get into our textbooks which are very expensive. Uh so 520 textbooks, 522 textbook replacement and 525 is is electronic instructional materials and supplies. And all these numbers, all these accounts that I'm giving you are accounts that we currently use. The ones we don't use. I didn't want to waste time talking about accounts we don't use. 531 is new library books. 540 newspaper periodicals, films, and film strips. Film strips is probably going to be going away soon because I don't know anybody who still uses film. I want to know the last time someone bought a film strap. I don't know if you could buy a

096disposable camera anymore. I guess polaroids are making a comeback but electronic subscriptions you see that increasing as everything's moving towards uh efficiency and ease whether it's good or bad um sometimes it's not the best but it is what we currently are working with and then 560s is food and related supplies usually to see this a lot with food service because we did uh we stopped using general fund money for food and beverages um I think a little over a year ago and it has and it has been helpful. They have to use PTA or other fundraiser accounts, um, principal accounts to purchase food if they would like to. So, we're talking food for staff members for meetings, that kind of thing. Yeah, we put a a stop to that. So, food service uses these accounts,

097milk, candies, and snack, other products or Coke products that get resold. Then we get into those uh the bigger expenses the the land the building the furniture and equipment the FF and E 580s is supplies materials for operations and repairs of vehicles supplies for parts and maintenance fuel. It's a big cost have to make sure those vehicles and buses have fuel to transport and that they have tires and tubes. Uh other ones would be washer fluid, foam degreaser, glass cleaner, and then 590 other supplies and materials. Um all of our clubs and fundraiser accounts use that one because they're not really buying school supplies or office supplies. So they're just buying other supplies that they need for those activities. Next is capital outlay. Another big expense, uh, your land, your building, imper improvements other than

098buildings, which is parking lot repairs, which parking lot repairs are on our summer to-do list. I know Kimon is getting pretty rough. Equipment, big big uh equipment like boilers, chillers, the big ticket items, buses, vehicles, and other capital outlay, which we did do a souafhone lease several years ago. Um, I didn't know what a souafhone was, so I had to look it up. I was not in band. I'm sorry. You did not have as good of an arts program at your school as we have. That's how I'm going to read that. Perfect. And then the next two I kind of just lumped together. Um House Bill 260 loans and principal. So any debt. So disclaimer, none of our none of our debt is paid out of general fund. I move our last final debt payment

099to be PI to help relieve the general fund. But House Bill 260 was for um they did a bus lease purchase agreement and then energy cons conservation. So in fiscal year 16 they bought five buses. In fiscal year 17 they bought six. In 20 they bought four buses. And in FY20 they started the energy conservation which we're still paying debt on this. And then the principal payments are coded separately. Um you'll see there's a couple other tax anticipation notes uh energy conversation 8/19 other debt. So is I know that we have that um tax anticipation note that paid for the high school roof and fieldhouse. Um do we have others as well? Yeah. So we have about four different types of debt and ranging from our tax anticipation note certification of participation which is our

100cops which I think went um and went with the the TAN for the roofs in the fieldhouse uh a various bond and then our house bill 26. So each year that we're all sitting uh we pay about $1.5 million of debt. Okay, which takes up about a good port majority or half of our PI levy. When will that tax anticipation note be fully paid? When is it scheduled to be done? It'll be fully paid in October of 2031. Okay. So, fiscal year 32. And then all the interest with all this debt comes interest or I'll say when I do it. Uh so A23 other tax other tax anticipation notes, loans for energy conversation, uh 829 other some of the certificate participation, various bonds. Um so we have quite a bit of debt we're still trying

101to pay off and then our other objects 840s memberships and professional organizations, OSBA, OASBO, BASA. Uh we do get unfortunately our audits are not free and they're very expensive depending on how much time it takes but our audit costs our foundation payments to the some of the ESC's um property tax collection fees election expenses anytime you put something on the ballot there's an expense to that I believe this November ballot was about $7,000 delinquent lane taxes so anytime we get delinquent taxes in we get those in bank charges And then other fees, tde tak fees, um those come from our county settlement, which we received our last settlement amount last Friday, which is about $6 million. Insurance. So our liability insurance, all of our insurance gets coded to $851. Judgments out of court settlements, which

102we've had a couple of those. And then awards and prizes. We have scholarship funds and 889 other awards and prizes for banquetss. I know that was it's a lot. Don't expect everyone to go to regurgitate it all at once, but just a big oversight of, you know, every everything we do there's a budget unit and an account to it. So, it's it's how it's all broken down into the school finance of it all, which correlates to the bigger picture of this financial report and how we do our five-year forecasts. So, all of this gets broken down into one of those subcategories and that's kind of the full circle of school accounting bird's eye view, right? It's so fascinating. I just want to become a treasurer now. Um, that was my sarcasm voice. Uh so will

103we get a chance then um as part of the five-year forecast or otherwise soon to kind of dig into um all of these categories in terms of where our money is currently going. Yeah. And that's how the some of the uh reports are looking how um you know this one kind of shows you like where our money is going. I was I could start incorporating some graphs just so it's prettier and easier to regurgitate so you could kind of see lists of numbers are are good but graphs and charts make more sense in my brain. So yeah. Yeah. And then you'll see a lot of that next month when I'm presenting on the fiber forecast. Yeah. Good. Any other questions, discussion? And this will be on board docs as well. Okay. So moving on new

104business. At this time we'll have a presentation in regards to our physical science 202425 selection uh basic of text materials. This will be our first reading. And so Julie Miller, our 7 through 12 curriculum supervisor, will come and share. Do you want to sit for Okay, thank you. I've never used a clicker before. I'm not going to lie. I'll do the best I can. Um, so this presentation, I'm I'm Julie Miller. I'm the 712 curriculum supervisor. So, um, this is going to go through a high level view of physical science textbook adoption at the high school. Um it follows our strategic plan of our goal one academics provides all students rich rigorous and aligned curriculum and assessments in all subjects and grade levels while promoting academic achievement for all students. Um and goal two continuous

105improvement strengthen the district's mission through strategic planning data analysis and professional development thus building a culture based on high expectations respect accountability and excellence. So the way the process worked and what we did this year, we had our kickoff November 13th um during one of our Wednesdays. Teachers using the resource and the and myself curriculum supervisor had a two-hour training on implementing the online platform and getting um the materials. Um and that was with their representative from November until the end of April. The teachers are implementing um either one or both or a combination sometimes of both of them um in their classroom. So, we had a pilot check-in on January 29th and then we spent April 9th and 10th going through and reviewing all the materials which is the evidence that you'll see that

106is attached for you. Um, so some of the background information for the knee the physical science course was added in the 2324 school year. Um, it was pre previously taught as a freshman course in about 2016 17 somewhere in there. They changed that and started teaching biology as the normal freshman course. We changed that back to physical science being the next step in the um progression from eighth grade into high school. So this was a change from prior practice. As it says in the first year of teaching this course, it became evident that the resources available didn't meet the needs of our students. We taught physical science before and the teachers thought we could just pull out what we used to do and that just wasn't wasn't um meeting our needs. So, a team of

107three T teachers, including one that serves students with disabilities, um myself and the assistant principal reviewed materials to pilot um for this school year, and the information provided is a compilation of all of that. Um there is a link to the materials in the agenda, but I included that link here. Um this is the copy that you'll see that's a linked in the agenda. It has the board policy for adoptions on the left. So, it's I messed it up. Sorry. Did I do that? Oh, okay. Thank you. Um, it's 2520 uh 2210 on the left hand side and then skipping because I don't have the numbers memorized. 2510 adoption of textbooks. So on the left side is all the board policy that we followed and on the right side is the documents that we uploaded

108for you to review. Um, which I'll refer to a few of those as we go through this. So there's also quote comparisons in there that you can see a little bit more detail. Um, we piloted Elevate, which is this physical science book that I have that you can review that I'll have available for you, and then the physical science concepts and action. So, these were the two that we we reviewed. I know it is. Um, the high quality instructional materials rubric from the Ohio Department of Education Workforce was what we used to review. So, it's like 37 pages long. This is linked to you can take a look at it. Um when I see show you the summary I just put on here the summary of our findings but this was all evidence that the

109team put together as they went through all the materials. Sure. Sure. Absolutely. And you can you can pass them around. They'll be available. I know one's the t-shirt edition and one is the Yep. And feel free to take a look while I'm talking. Um, so special thank you. Our adoption team members were um Tim Rener, the assistant principal. He's the science department administrator. Justin Summers is the intervention specialist. And then Jess Merrill and Erica Peter, the science teachers. Um, part of that rubric that I have, there's two gateways in here. Gateway one um ODU requires that Ohio Department of Education and Works requires that materials meet expectations or partially meet expectations on gateway one in order to move on to gateway two and gateway two then is instructional support. So in gateway one um and

110I want to make sure I have there it is on gateway one um you can see the criteria listed and then we scored both concepts and action and elevate and then gave them a rating. Um the rubric gives you way more information. I'm not going to go through 37 pages of how they determine what number you have to get to partially meet or meet expectations. At the end of the day, we found that um concepts and action partially met and elevate met expectations. So, we went through with both of them and reviewed part two. Um and then gateway two, they both partially met as well. Um so, I will just go through kind of the summary of what we would recommend and then um get to the rest of it. So the summary of evidence

111from the teaching team rated elevate higher on alignment criteria with a score of 35 out of 42. And you can see that as opposed to concepts and action which was 31 out of 42 um you can see that both met or partially met. I'll skip through some of this um because you can read this later. So uh let me see the main difference between the two resources in terms of covering standards and concepts and action has a deeper level of understanding and more details than elevate. As you look through them and you could see when I held up the concepts and action book it is a high school textbook. Um the concept concepts and action textbook is written for high school level while elevate physical science is a module out of a six through eight

112textbook series. So it's a series of three textbooks and we picked their physical science textbook. Um therefore the text material in concepts and action is written at a higher Lexile level, reading level for students. Both resources rated the same in scientific discourse and phenomenon and problem solving driven instruction. So, additionally, gateway 2 review of instructional supports. Both resources rated the same in terms of assessment, student reports, and teacher supports as evidenced on the rubric. The one area of student support that's not reflected on the rubric and I just wanted to point out is access for English learners to have content read aloud and translated in their native language. it is there you're going to see notes that teachers put we need to look into that more so we did but both of them will translate

113for students as well um so the recommendation that we would like to make um is the use of concepts and action textbook for the student use in the classroom and I'll kind of so you can see what we'd like to get um the concepts and action textbook for student use in the classroom a total of four classroom sets if If we buy 30 more, we'll have four full classroom sets will be available which allows for 30 texts in each class for four different teachers. Online access to the Easybridge online platform will be provided for 250 students for the next seven years. Um when you buy the book, if we buy 30 books, it includes 30 licenses. So then we only buy an additional 220. So when you're looking at it, um that is why we're

114already buying online licenses when we buy the first 30. In addition to this team would also recommend that we purchase elevate online platform at a minimal cost. Um you'll see on the next slide what that cost is I'll get to that for seven years as well. The reason for this is due to the copyright date of concepts in action which is 2011. The thing that we're running into with the textbooks is um they don't want to update and print textbooks because they're very expensive. They move to the online platform. So the online platform is always updated. The concepts and action book is 2011 which we didn't like. The elevate is an earlier later like a 2019 copyright date which we liked but it was written more at a middle school level and we thought a

115lot of our high school ninth graders would need the concepts and action high school textbook. So although the team liked the textbook that was written at the high school level, they also appreciated the Elevate platform that it's updated quarterly. Um another recommendation is the purchase of 30 of the Elevate workbooks that are coming around. um the soft back uh the elevate textbooks each year I'm sorry the elevate book I'm sorry is written at an easier lexile level and has a copyright date of 2019 it provides the same content as concepts in action but it's written at a a more accessible level for students that need it um you can see as you page through two kids can write in that it's consumable so it's more of an ELA support for them as well and then

116having class sets of concepts in action and access to both platforms for easy bridge online concept concepts in action and elevate dynamic and up-to-date resources will meet our students needs best. The addition for um the addition of 30 30 books a year for elevate will give students uh that need a differentiated resource more support with content at their grade level. So there's minimal cost difference between the three options that we had. We looked at just getting the concepts and action textbook. We looked at just getting Elevate. Um and we realized neither one of those would meet all of our students needs. So we kind of reduced the amount of books we would get class sets of con uh of the large textbook text um con um concepts in action and then the workbook for the

117students that need it. So then the amount you can see when you when we purchase concepts in action the elevate platform pretty much comes with it all the students would have access to it. So the only cost of adding that online platform for elevate. So this entire book is available to online for teachers. Um the reason why we want to get 30 of the workbook each year is just to cover we don't want to pay for printing all of that and then photocopying everything out of that workbook that we might want to use. We figure if we have some available already for students and the teachers were using that in the classroom. Um if they were to see that and they say I'd never use that with with the kids. we had enough to say

118that we think at about 30 kids a year would appreciate and having access to that workbook and using that as their resource. Um and it only the online access for five teachers for seven years is only $590 more over seven years. So um the um cost breakdown is there the 30 additional textbooks and online access and then adding online access for the additional 220 students. um 30 workbooks a year of Elevate and then that also gives online access for seven years. Um the Elevate platform and then two more of each of the teacher additions. So the total cost would be and this would cover us for the next seven years as 38,641. So I broke it down by the number of students that we would have the cost over the seven years would be about

119$22 a student for physical science. And that's all I have. That feels like less than I've seen with other textbook adoptions. Um, we we we got many quotes and we had many numbers and we really looked at tried to um narrow down how many textbooks we bought um to only have four four teachers have 30 books in each class um just made sense. So, one of our original quotes had, well, we'll just buy textbooks for all the kids and then they have access to the platform, too. And um it just made sense to narrow that down by how many textbooks that we have. Yeah, appreciate that. What is what is the required science curriculum to graduate? So, the the students need to take biology and and pass their biology test. That's their um seal that

120they get for graduation. So, they still take the bio test and it used to be that our ninth graders would take that bio test. Um, and now they they take it in in 10th grade that you have to take a physical science and then upper level science and that's kind of broad. Um, so you have to take a a a physical science and a biology and then and then you take an upper level science which we have AP environmental science, we have chemistry, we have honors chemistry, we have um gosh physics, AP physics. So there's a lot of upper level that they can take. Um, we we do have a number of students that accelerate. If they do not want to take physical science and their data supports it, we they accelerate past that. They

121might not take that course their freshman year and move right on to biology their freshman year. We do have a certain number of students that do that as well. I have some content issue or content issues and questions um on the board language the first page 2520 2210 and then 2510. We go down here. says, "In considering the approval of any proposed textbook, the board recommends that the following factors be considered as part of any review process." And I'm assuming this is for physical science. It's for all books. It's for any anything. Oh, this would be for all books because my question is B. It says freedom from bias. Can you explain to me what that means? Mr. Sheen, that's a board policy. That's not something that our curriculum folks developed. That's in board policy.

122So, well, we're adopting textbooks, aren't we? Yes. But I'm I'm saying that's a board level policy. It's not something that our curriculum folks developed or wrote. It's something that they're following because it's our policy. Okay. Well, we'll have to come back to that one. Um, all right. Then my other question, um, I think is more pertinent to hear. When I was looking at this, there were two tabs on the bottom. And tab number two was diversity and inclusion. What does that have to do with this? I'm sorry. It said all staff members need to understand the importance of diversity inclusion. Who's responsible? Aisha Collier, Tracy Cosmack, Scott Campbell, which that was my other question. Why is Scott on here still? Um, I'm sorry. I'm not I'm not sure what document are you referring to, Mr.

123What I was And I opened it up and there were two tabs on the bottom. I mean, I I made copy of it, right? But which which document? Oh, go on the go on the agenda. I'll take a look. This was a tab at the Oh, I'm sorry. That's the uh link to our strategic plan. Okay. What was it was on in relation to this up with the book which again is that still out there? Oh, the strategic plan is 91 92 93 I think if I go if I go back the strategic plan is that's what's just listed on the and we that's just evidence from the strategic plan. It had nothing to do with this. That's just old strategic. But my bigger question is that still out there? We addressed the strategic plan

124um at our so the answer is no at our last meeting. So this okay well I mean it was the link that was sent to me and I and it's needs to be checked because again that's board generated still access okay physical science adoption so I'm on that page. Um now we do have books which is great to see but you mentioned the fact that uh we do have they can go online with this. Mhm. Um my concern is as it states here that the uh it says here specifically elevate resources updated quarterly. Who's vetting that when that update comes in? So we get alerts when they update. But who's doing that? Well that would be part of my job. Okay. Um because that's been a concern of anything that's digital is how it can

125be changed and twisted and who knows what you're getting. Um that it's unsecured. It's and it's fluid and they can change it at any time. So what is our protection against anything changing outside of those quarterly updates? So anytime there's an update, uh Mr. Shen, we still have to follow Senate Bill 29. So all of those things have been will have to follow that contract and those are vetted through our legal when we get a change uh in regards to the contract changes. Um okay and then about mid three through the summary uh same sense is elevate resources updated quarterly with its online content so the videos are current and more diverse. Is this race, sexual orientation, gender? What does that mean? What do you mean by diverse? I'm just reading what's here. You tell

126me what this means on which document, sir. The summary of the books on what you guys sent me. That's your summary, Julie. I mean, this is physical science, isn't it? Rocks and weather and stuff like that. I'm I'm sure there's videos that probably Yeah, I'd like I'd like to know what what is Yeah, the video the So, the videos are current and more diverse. So, I would like some explanation on what they mean by that. So, I will I will get back to you on that. Okay. Um, you know, again, the Elevate platform is updated quarterly, which again is is scary because things online are very and we still have to follow House Bill 29 and everything will be vetted and um it is not unsecured. If I c if I can too, there was

127also an example of that and it so the elevate resource one example that's written in the summary. It says it also reflects recent updates like newly discovered elements on the periodic table. So we're talking about scientific discovery and updates. So, um, that's what the team members were were looking at and asked the reps. All right. Well, when I see more diverse, then that takes me down a different path, you know, as far as what, you know, where are we doing with physical science? I just did a quick Google search. You said talking about rocks and there's a simple thing right here talking about geological diversity known as geodiversity referring to the variety of non-living elements in the earth's crust including rocks, minerals, fossils, soils, landforms and hydra hydraological features like diversity exists in many platforms

128and it's not simply a word that that you're looking for that's dangerous. Um and then the last thing on concepts and action um I believe it is owned by apprentice. No. Or Pearson is it apprentice or Pearson? Yes. Um I mean just my last comment on here and again this is the first reading is um well all right all right so apprentice is not involved in all I think isn't I think concepts and action is owned by apprentice or yeah apprentice owns concepts and action no it is not okay um yeah I'm very I'm very concerned as Pearson in my research is probably one of the most corrupt book uh education book services out there. So, I don't know where this is going to go, but I will continue to investigate this cuz what we

129have two more readings on this before it's approved to kind of dig into that um and get some clarification as far as because my research said concepts and action was owned by Apprentice, which is owned by Savis, and Sav is a whole other can of worms as far as um what we need to uh make our parents aware of. Um, do you mind sharing that with us so that we can do if there's something I can tell you parentsaction? No. Parentsonthelevel.com. Go to parentsonthele.com. You can find all kinds of stuff. Parents level.com. I tell all the people that are watching this, go to parentsonthele.com. Scroll through. There's a there's a two-part series on Savis. And who puts this out? Parents on the level. What's the um You can find it. You can find that out

130yourself. I was I'm curious what the bias is. You can find that out yourself. Okay. Um yeah, so that was all because I know this is the first reading, but those are just some of the things that I was concerned with. And also if you want to look at uh books that are adopted, you can also go on what we call edu reports, which is how most books are vetted and are used in school districts. And that gives you uh all of the information that uh Julia shared this evening. Edu reports. Edu ports. Edu ports. Edu port report. Is it a.com or a.org? No, that's just the name. That's the name. That's just the name. Okay. And these will be available at the board office for review or any of that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

131Thank you for going through that whole um process with us. I it's incredibly lengthy. Uh there's a lot of data there for us to parse through. So, thank you for providing all of that. Okay. So, our our next item of business is my presentation. So, we'll have to pull that up. Okay. Sure. I It's a nice little clicker. Okay. So, um I wanted to revisit for our board and our community as well um a little bit about our uh Sunshine Law open meetings um obligations. The context of this um and the reason why it is worth discussing to me is that I received an email requesting an agenda item that simply said review and discussion of a policy number reference to a specific paragraph and a link to a news article. and I was unclear

132on what exactly the board member was proposing for this um agenda item and when I asked a follow-up question of you know please clarify or specify your question or concern uh with the policy because I wanted to check with legal counsel for any applicable guidance um prior to the meeting and describe this item correctly. ly on our agenda uh so that everyone could prepare appropriately as we've discussed previously when we've discussed our board protocol and our agenda set protocol and the answer I got was let's discuss this at the board meeting I don't want to appear to violate Ohio sunshine law um so I was unable to clarify that agenda item and so I wanted to address that concern concern of the sunshine law. So, I wanted to talk a little bit about open meetings

133because that's typically what folks refer to most frequently when they say, "Let's hold off on this discussion until uh we are all sitting at the table together." Uh so, there's our Ohio Revised Code number as well as our applicable board policy. Um and our board protocol addresses some of this as well. our obligation to ensure that our meetings are open. So the basic um basis of our Ohio revised code on open meetings is that public bodies must discuss public business, deliberate and take official action in public except for a few narrow exceptions which fall under executive session. So the goal here is for our business to be conducted in public. Um we do have a board policy that outlines in a lot of words I will not read to you uh but they are there

134uh that we will follow sunshine law and that um a meeting is any pre-arranged discussion of the public business of the board committee or subcommittee by a majority of its members. Okay, including our different types of meetings, work sessions, retreats, etc. So a meeting and um a is when we have a majority of our board present. So uh what is a meeting? We've been through this a few times in our in our trainings. Uh a meeting is pre-arranged. We include a majority of members and that those members are discussing public business with one another. So a meeting doesn't have to be labeled as a meeting for these conditions to apply legally. So it could be called a workshop, it could be called a retreat, right? But you will notice that when we've had a board

135workshop, we have noticed that as a meeting and it is held in public. Audience members are welcome to attend. So examples of a meeting are regularly scheduled board meetings. Three members of the board having a meeting with the superintendent together. We will assume that they're discussing official business. four members of the board having an email exchange discussing a district contract they will vote on. That would be a majority of the board deliberating together. That would qualify as a meeting. You will not see this board doing that type of email exchange. um three members of the board discussing pros and cons of a levy on the same social media post could be perceived as a meeting. Which is why you will see sometimes uh board members who are on social media being very cautious about the

136discussions that they enter and making sure that there aren't several other board meeting board members in that same discussion. Uh that also holds for text messages, um direct messages, that kind of thing as well. Um another one that we want to be cautious of would be the roundroin or the serial meetings where one person talks where one board member talks to another board member, then calls the next one and says, "Well, board member A said this. What do you think?" And then calls the next one and said, "Board member A and board member B say this. What do you think? That would be a roundroin. It's a way of passing deliberations from one person to another and would not be allowable. And again, you won't see us doing that. Uh what is not a meeting?

137Three board members attending the same sporting event, right? We're not getting together, discussing business, taking action. Four board members attending candidates night. We're all there to listen to various candidates. Again, we're not deliberating or taking official action. Uh, two board members meeting together with a treasurer to talk over budgets and expenditures, right? That's not a majority of the board, that is not considered a meeting. Uh, two board members attending the same committee meeting. You'll notice that when we discussed the superintendent committees, we kept it to two board members at most in the room. uh because again we want to avoid having that majority um and most importantly a one-on-one conversation between two board members which is what this email exchange about an agenda item was. It was one board member and myself. It was not

138a majority. It was not a roundroin. It was a simple exchange. So there is no reason for when we are agenda setting there is no there is nothing that would violate open meetings in two members talking with one another to clarify what item one member is suggesting may go onto the agenda. Um, that said, I would like to say that it is incredibly troubling and discouraging to see that there is a board member who is unable or unwilling to simply clarify an agenda meeting item with myself as the president who is setting the agenda. It is incredibly troubling. It is in violation of that protocol that we all agreed on and I just wanted to clear that up. Um there are some resources that I have included. We have OSBA provides us a fact sheet

139on open meetings. There is free training available from the Ohio Attorney General's Office. There is also a manual that the attorney general's office publishes and makes available every year. So, there's a link to that. Um, and we've also covered this topic in previous trainings. Those are two of them that that came to mind uh that we had done this fall. Uh so there's a lot of resources there for anyone who might want to dig into the topic further because this is just the very briefest of explanations. I'm sure if we had um an attorney up here discussing the ins and outs of the Open Meetings Act, we could be here for hours. Um so there's your resources because I am not an attorney. Thank you for that. any questions. Okay, next item is uh discussion

140of policy. I believe that was your item, Mr. Sheen. So, feel free to start the conversation. All right. Um, policy 5223 was released signed for religious instruction during the school day. So, let's just go down memory lane here. Um, I believe it was back in February, uh, there was a motion, um, to remove this policy, uh, which had never really been used. I think it was on there since 2015. Um, at the time, uh, I said, you know what, you might want to reconsider that. At the time it was being discussed in uh Columbus um House Bill 8, but uh the board proceeded to eliminate that from um our policies. House Bill 8 passes which guarantees the release for religious instruction. So all of the things that happened in February were for not. Um then

141we get later on, I don't know where this was in April, maybe late February. probably in April, Niola puts out some limitations. Again, at that meeting, I spoke out against that because these limitations were probably going to violate First Amendment and free speech. Well, lo and behold, April 17th comes along and it says here, "School policies banning lifewise treats and trinkets open them to lawsuits," an attorney says. And it went on to talk about um Niola and the fact that you can't do that. Um and then there was another uh article put out by first uh it was a law firm I believe. I'm not going to say it's a law firm. I don't know. But basically uh first liberty that said Niola's release time policy increases liability potential. Um says nothing in the Ohio

142Revised Code 3313.6022 gives Na Niola or any school district the permission to add to what the Ohio legislature duly passed. Anything more invites intrusion upon first amendment rights of the students and their parents as well as the organizations providing release time education. Nola's proposal proposed policy violates free speech um protections. So, what I why why I was bringing this up is I'm looking to make a motion to remove paragraph well, this would be on the second page of uh 5223. Um, and it starts out private entities proposing to provide religious instruction dot dot dot. It ends with criminal background checks. documentation must be provided. Um, that paragraph had to do with requiring criminal background checks, which again in this article could cause a lawsuit. Uh, that that be removed and that any private then the

143second paragraph there it says any private entity providing religious instruction during the school day. Um, and then it finishes up to say pro a private provider that fails to adhere to these provisions was in regards to the article in the Columbus Dispatch on April 17th. Uh, where you're trying to control the fact that kids may bring back trinkets or candy back in the school. um that both of those paragraphs be removed from this policy uh to protect us against potential um lawsuits for violating First Amendment or free speech um or or having first amendment or free speech violations. Sure, Dr. Co. So since uh that um policy has been adopted, Niola has come back with um some revisions to that policy. I have sent those revisions to our legal counsel to look over so that

144we can have a recommendation uh made in regards to revisions to that policy. The current thing that I uh can say that Mr. Shannis share here to today is in regards to the trinket but there is nothing uh currently in the revisions in regards to the uh background checks and um our current religious uh partners have not started in our schools yet. So my I was going to say what I would have to say in response to that is you know first would be to ask you if you sought a legal opinion or if you're just reading articles off the internet. Um, so did you did you get a legal opinion on that? Um, let me just say something, Dr. Gh, that says here Niola's policy uh policy contradicts and unlawfully extends beyond Ohio's release

145time law. Niola's objective background check requirements is not found in Ohio law. So, um, to answer your question, no, I I got these articles. I read them. I think they were pertinent. I think I'm trying to cut us off. We've made some mistakes here in the past. uh was not good PR for the fact that when we removed this and then we went on to proceed to uh accept those NEOA policies. We did not need to accept those Neola policies. So, you know, I'm proposing some here that might give us some good faith in the community, but you know, if you think otherwise, again, I'm one of five and I can speak and bring this up. I don't have to validate this. Here's First Liberty. I can give you this article. I did send, you

146know, which is interesting. I sent uh links to these to be put on the agenda and they weren't put on the agenda. Oh, they they actually are on the agenda. They're under they're under executive content for board members to be able to review. Um well, I mean it uh I um I be included in this and and then you proceed to make up your own rules to do this, but that's fine. That's a lot of people that are in favor of the decisions that we've made as a board and you can't speak as one board member and state that you have the soul. I'm not stating that. I'm making I'm making a statement. You are making a statement. I'm going to make a contradictory statement and say that you are speaking for one person from

147a very small limited group of people that have your ear. The amount of Well, now now wait a minute. I'm going to interrupt you because this I'm going to interrupt you because that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Do not interrupt your fellow board member. That has nothing that has nothing to do with what we're talking about and I seem to get that thrown into my face all the time. Please do not interrupt. Mr. Sheen, I see that you enjoy trying to make a circus out of board meetings. I simply asked you a question if you've sought legal an illegal opinion for making a decision that uh would change board policy. And the answer that I've gotten is no. And I also know that myself, Dr. Wind and Dr. Gould have sought

148a legal opinion and we will be following the advice of our attorney. And I don't think that it's wise to change board policy in a hasty manner without making sure that everything is done uh accurately and according to the law. I would also like to add um that there was a factual in incon incorre in accuracy. It's been a long evening. Um in what Mr. Sheen said, our policy removal happened in the fall. Um I don't have the date specifically at hand, but it was in fall. It was not in February. I believe that February is when we actually reinstated February or March when we reinstated the new policy because we had to have three uh readings with that policy because it went into effect uh in April. And just to uh just go back

149to what has been shared here this evening, all of those uh items that Mr. Shan has pointed out uh have been shared with legal um in regards to that particular policy and I will be coming back with a recommendation for the board. I'm just having legal uh look it over at this time and for myself I'm looking forward to that. Once I started reading I started um to see some of uh the problematic pieces of the way that was worded. At the same time, um I firmly believe that, you know, our teachers do not need extra distractions in the classroom. And just as we're not going to allow students to bring in their Switch and play on it during class, um you know, we probably don't want them bringing outside treats from outside programs back

150into the classrooms. um and that we'll probably expect students to follow the same policies as they do when they walk in the building in the the first time during the day in terms of what they're allowed to uh bring into the classroom and not if I could just add when PTAs come in and do things these are pretty much the guidelines that are given to them. every member has to be background checked to enter the building and and when there are parties it's very specific as to what you can bring to the party or give to the students and that usually is the principal that kind of sets that. So this would be similar to that. I would think we would not have a different precedence for a different group. I I could not even

151express how disappointed I would be at the idea of not background backgrounding check uh background checking someone that would be I'm flustered by the idea I'm sorry that to excuse students to someone without pro providing a proper background check that would raise a lot of red flags to me of why someone would want to refuse background checks or not require it and I would have concerns about any food being distributed to the children's considering all the allergies and everything that we have to deal with whenever there's just a classroom party. I mean they the they're very strict about having ingredient lists and everything provided to the nurse anytime you bring anything in. So I I can't imagine having some outside group providing any kind of food to the students without knowledge of of what that

152is and what the content is. I look forward to hearing the legal opinion. Thank you. See anything further on that topic. Okay. Our next topic, uh, looking at upholding title six. Mr. Sheen, you suggested this item, so I'll let you begin the discussion. All right. This has to do and I think we're already past the date, but this was from the United States Department of Education and it was a reminder of legal obligations undertaken in exchange for receiving federal financial assistance and request for cert certification under Title 9 and SFFA verse Harvard. Um, I make a motion that we sign this so that we can abide by these obligations set down by the United States Department of Education. Um I again I think it hopefully was included on here. I did include a link but

153if not because this would be signed by the superintendent. Um I do have a copy here. And this would keep us in um good I don't know if it would be compliance. I don't think that's the right word, but uh again, it would show our support in um the obligation under the request certification under title 9 of SSFI verse Harvard. Did you ask if anyone had done that yet? Um no. And I was hoping maybe somebody would say we did. Are you aware that there is currently at what multiple I think four injunctions against the enforcement of this request? Again, I think it'd be it would be wise for us to get ahead of it instead of sitting back and being reactive instead of proactive. Well, the simple fact is is it's been signed um

154as of last week. That's great. Simply question. I was hoping I was going to hear that so that we are then still in. Stop interrupting me when I'm speaking. Sure. Thank you. I was going to point out that I don't think there's a single member of this board that has any or of any board that would speak against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that specifically provides that no person in the United States shall on the ground of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. It's a no-brainer. That's how schools operate. that um I'm not sure what kind of a big you know deal it needs to be to sign something like that

155because we already do that and not to mention there was so you're saying we didn't sign interrupting again yes my fault I think we also as a board came together and signed an additional resolution to make sure that we are following the civil rights act of 1964. It is incredibly important to make sure that we are not discriminating against any student based on race, color, or country of origin. That is important. So, I would have I had zero problem with signing something like that. Yeah, we passed that resolution in March. Uh, so we have very recently as a board reaffirmed our intent to follow civil rights law. So, has this has this one been signed? And I would just let me let me make some clarification here. So due diligence has been done by this

156board based on the recommendations that I've brought to the board. Under the title six certification, there are several things that have had to happen before we even get to the point of signing the letter. If you remember the executive uh letters that we've received, one in February, another one in March, and then the certification then uh came out on April 3rd. In that certification, um we had up until April 18th to sign the certification. The certification had to be signed by the superintendent. And so based on what we had already put in place and um Carrie has already gone over the title six piece. I want to take us back to February 24th's board meeting. In that board meeting, we talked about our federal dollars. I gave you a s uh summary of the foreign

157funding sources that we have and what was the purpose of all of those particular funds. And then we looked at also a policy review. We looked at all of our policies during that time and talked about the policies that uh centered around uh anything that would be against diversity, equity, and inclusion based on the current definition in those executive letters. Then we went to April 14th, which was two weeks ago. I also gave you um language to change or recommendation of a language change for our strategic plan. We talked about mission number nine distinctively in that meeting. Looked at the current language, talked about the revised language for that. We also looked at the action steps that took place there. We also talked about this particular policy because there is a specific piece in there

158that talks about uh a balance um with um families when we're looking uh at uh this. So we uh did a um a recommendation to change this policy immediately after we had already sought legal counsel on this because we knew that the certification uh was in play. the state of Ohio, this certification, 98% of the public school districts signed this certification. The legal ramifications behind this is that this was extended until April 24. Ohio did not extend this to school district. They still required all school district superintendent to sign this form by April 18th. If you are paying any attention to the news, they have listed the schools that did not sign Monroe Falls signed the certification on April 18th and also included a clarification in a question regarding open enrollment. It is a state

159law for open enrollment that you look at a racial balance. So that question was posed to the Department of Education on our behalf because we we are an open enrollment district and so we I wanted to know what that meant. Our certification was signed on time. We did not need an extension and so we have met the requirements for this title six uh certification. But I want people to understand that the what with the work that we've done from February on has led up to the certification being able to be signed. I thank you for doing your due diligence every step of the way. Anything further on this topic? No. Okay. Well, that brings us to our second comments from the audience period. At this time, we welcome any additional comments and concerns citizens wish

160to 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, we ask that you submit your request in writing, please begin your remarks with your first and last name. My name is Faith Greer and I would just like to say that diverse is not a prohibited dirty word. Okay, look it up in the dictionary. There's nothing wrong with it. Pearson is not a corrupt publication. I was a school psychologist for 22 years. Okay, nothing wrong with Pearson. Also, parentson onthele.com. I looked it up. It's a Christian nationalist organization with farright extremist ideology. Not something we

161want our kids in this district dealing with. If that's going to be the benchmark by which we judge curriculum, that is just crazy. I'm sorry. It's ridiculous. Thank you. Hi, I'm Susan Meyer and I had a couple things I wanted to mention. First, thanks everybody. I can tell many of you did a lot of due diligence before this meeting in preparation. So I appreciate it. Um I wanted to um mention about the religious release time, education release time. It doesn't say anything about uh timely return of the students. My big concern is that it's going to be very disruptive to the other kids and the policy doesn't state like if they bring them back late or you know uh what's going to happen. Um so I think that maybe we should include something saying you

162know if they're late too many times or something that um we wouldn't ever we would not work with that vendor again for our kids. And I can't even imagine not doing background checks. I don't know why someone would not not want to have that policy to send their kids out with someone to another building or wherever it's going to be um with somebody who has no background check, no um teaching qualifications, nothing. Um, which brings up my next point, which I read in there that they could earn school credit for this religious education. I think that is a real problem. We're talking about uh separation of church and state. This is a public school system. I have no understanding of why we would even consider giving them uh credit in high school. That's ridiculous. Um,

163so I'm totally against that. Um, then the part about the treats and trinkets and t-shirts. I I have read several articles from different, you know, points of view about the issue. And I believe that one of the complaints in many districts that had used religious rel education release was that the kids came back and they had treats or t-shirts on or things. And it was actually uh they were bullying the other kids. The kids who didn't go um you know were under pressure to want to be like in with the gang or whatever. And I think that one thing we strive for is to give kids a bullyingfree education. And this is just another reason that's going to make kids be divided, you know, and that whole thing um that's good about public education is

164that everybody's kind of on the same deal, you know. Um, and I know I went to Catholic school, so when we went and I didn't like wearing a uniform anymore when it was I was too cool for that. Um, my mom said, you know, this is an equalizer. Everybody goes there. I'm sorry. Time's up. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Not seeing any further folks at the mic. At this time, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Roll call. East Jenkins. I Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. Hi. We are out at 9:32