001good evening I'd like to call to order this meeting of the stman real Fall City Schools Board of Education on Monday December 16th 2024 at 6: p.m roll call please East Jenkins here Shen present Su donic here wind here Benzel here please stand if you're able and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all everything we do is designed to provide a future ready student centered learning experience for every single child our strategic plan for 20121 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience from curriculum to infrastructure to Wellness diversity and inclusion and everything in between as
002members of the Board of Education we serve as trustees therefore this is a business meeting conducted in public not a public meeting we are grateful to serve an Engaged community and therefore encourage and respect input from citizens we expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students we reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting at this point we'll start with comments from the audience on issues being voted on only those issues being voted on tonight all right then we will move on to a presentation of bulldog Center Stage Awards I'll turn it over to Dr Gould good evening everyone we would like to recognize our December Bulldog Center Stage winners and I will ask once your name is called
003if you will please come to the stage uh and stand in the middle we will take a picture at the end of the um presentation I want to start off with Betsy T she is a home instructor for a central office [Applause] this mon Betsy has been working with one of the students who has been struggling to be successful in the building since starting home instruction with her he has earned credits started to learn to drive studied for the ACT and obtained a job Betsy is pure joy congratulations from our B bus garage is Virginia day uh currently Miss day is sick but I still wanted to acknowledge her Virginia drives a bus for one of our students with diabetes several times she has done things to keep him safe during one instance his low
004alarm and his device sounded as they were as he was getting on the bus she came into the school to speak with the nurse to make sure he was safe to ride home and another time she was asked for more Smarties used to treat low but blood sugars so she would have adequate Supply while he was on her bus so thank you so much Miss day and we hope you feel [Applause] better from Echo Hills Jamie Tucker Title One tutor Jamie has created a new title one progress report on her own time outside of school hours she is always willing to step up a lending helping hand in our building she is always thinking ahead and getting things done to help others during that time that I have worked with Jamie she's always been willing
005to help me out especially with all the new technology thank you so much Miss [Applause] Tucker from Fish Creek Daniel schneck music [Applause] teacher Daniel steps up when whenever he is needed the students loved his announcements on the speaker this morning Daniels always had a positive attitude and gives off wonderful energy he is eager to be here and provides morale boosters to all Daniel is very deserving of this award congratulations from Highland Janine Mueller first grade teacher Janine is a fabulous teacher who is caring and supportive of her students she is always looking for ways to incorporate learning into every experience in her students days she is patient and kind she is also amaz has an amazing way of addressing students without bringing about any unnecessary attention this month she has sat through conferences which
006did not always go well with losing that patience and kindness that we all love Janine is always positive thank you [Applause] you from Indian Trail Brian Thomas our custodian Mr Thomas thank you for being caring you go above and beyond your job description every day quietly watching over students in the hallways and making sure nothing seems out of place you help all staff members that call upon you no matter what the job is Indian Trail is lucky to have you and greatly appreciates your hard work and dedication thank you so much Mr Thomas from Riverview Stacy flasco special education assistant she is positive supportive loves her students positive role model advocates for her students and peers consist amazing at her job she's always willing to help will drop anything to support or help a peer
007or student she goes above and beyond in all areas of her day someone you can truly count on thank you Miss flasco and from Woodland Danielle Marshall second grade teacher Danielle always puts her students first and all that she does she is steady and calm presence for her students as they navigate the positive challenging circumstances of second grade she is an excellent teacher who has the love and respect from her students because this is what she shows to them each and every day thank you so much Miss Marshall from Lake View Cali himick intervention specialist Miss himick Works closely with students who have a very specific academic needs her training and expertise is in various programs and curriculum pieces benefit not only her students but the students and other classrooms due to her official and
008unofficial mentoring of the other intervention Specialists she is a quiet leader among her peers serving as an example in ever in several leadership roles thank you so much [Applause] Amanda alteri special education assistant from Kempton Amanda is a special education Aid in one of our specialized resource rooms she comes to work every day with a positive attitude and is always engaged with our students she is an exceptional at multitasking understanding our students needs and leading with love I know that every day our students leave the school they have learned something from her and feel safe and loved because of her thank you so much and last but not least Samantha Hoover from the high school custodian PM custodian Sam always goes above and beyond to make sure that our rooms are clean and accessible to
009all students Sam's positive attitude and hard work not only enhan enance the physical environment but also boost the morale of everyone she comes in contact with Sam consistently shows that her role goes Far and Beyond just maintaining our classrooms it's about creating a positive and supportive environment for our school Community thank you so much Miss Hoover and one more round of applause for all of our winners people in the back good all right for um okay perfect at this point we usually allow a little a couple minutes for those who are leaving to take their leave um we I think they came in I know thought they came in they did yeah in the back so we'll move on with our agenda uh next on our agenda um we've invited presentations from two different legal
010firms and we'll start with a presentation from Anison Bretton Brittain sorry I mhone thank you okay okay take two good evening gazelle Spencer I'm one of the shareholders with inis Britain in the Cleveland office and with me tonight is Bob McBride who is of Council in the Cleveland office we'd first of all like to thank you for the opportunity to um meet with the entire board uh we know that you have a rigorous process that you put in place and that there are a number of fine law firms in the areas in the area that could provide your legal services to you so we appreciate the opportunity this evening to tell you a little bit about ourselves we recognize that you have um a copy of our request for proposal and the general information about
011the district what we brought with us about our um Law Firm what we brought with us this evening is what we call fast facts about inis Britain just a little bit of information to summarize who we are uh what our what areas of our expertise we have what we do for our clients and some of the value added that we bring to our clients so to tell you a little bit about who we are um there are 12 attorneys in our firm um we are about to expand our numbers to uh 14 we have another attorney who's going to be starting with us in January and we offered a job to our law Clerk and provided he passes the bar he will be a new attorney in our firm as well um so we have
012a Statewide practice we have offices in the Cincinnati Cleveland and Columbus area and we like to say that we don't have um that we have we don't have geography we have opportunity because we are a Statewide firm that exclusively practices in school law and only represents K12 school districts we have a wonderful opportunity not only to find out what's going on across the state but jump on that a little bit further because let's face it if something's bubbling up in Cincinnati eventually it's going to make its way to Northeast Ohio if it starts in Northeast Ohio eventually it's going to Bubble its way down the state so um as a firm we like to take advantage of the opportunity that we have to meet with each other we meet regularly virtually or otherwise just to
013discuss different issues whether it's new legislation we do have two um registered lobbyists in The Firm so whether it's new legislation that's coming up and the impacts possible impacts of that legislation or whether it's new court cases and what those court cases could mean to an educational environment um we are quick to jump on those analyze them and get some information out to our clients pretty quickly about you know exactly what those cases and what those uh that legislation can mean for them yeah we often we often see public records requests that that bubble up and the first thing one of us does when we get it have you seen this and then we kind of get together and and we figure out what the what the appropriate response will be because again you guys
014are not in a vacuum the stuff that's happening here is happening throughout the state right um our attorneys we also appreciate the fact that our attorneys not only um have expertise in what we do for a living but we have the we have taken advantage of the opportunity to be leaders among among attorneys and leaders among the legal practice um the attorneys in our firm a number of our attorneys are me all of our attorneys actually are members of the Ohio Council for Schoolboard attorneys five of us have served as chair of the executive committee for the um School law attorneys and one member is currently on the executive committee um I'm a former board member for the national school boards Association Council of school attorneys and Pam list in our Cincinnati office is past
015president of the Ohio State Bar Association um education committee Bob McBride um though he doesn't tell people about this a lot but he's a member and a p a past chair of the grievance committee for Stark County um Bar Association meaning that he was one of the individuals who had the responsibility of making sure that attorneys remain ethical that they're doing what they're supposed to doing do and represent their clients appropriately and he brings that level of expertise and that level of advice to our firm several of us serve as mentors to new attorneys through the Supreme Court's lawyer to lawyer program um Pam lice and Ryan laflam in our Cincinnati office are also legal advisors and judges for both high school and college level Mack trial programs so we believe that it's important to
016make sure that we're we're servicing the the legal Community as well as servicing our clients likewise we um we believe that community service is very important participation in our our faith communities participation on YWCA boards um Bob is a current board member with Conquest um I'm a former board member with um Habitat for Humanity in two cities um partic we participate in summer reading programs as guest readers and variety of other things and participate with a kyoga county program called Youth Opportunity Unlimited which helps students get jobs over the summer but also trains them on how to apply for jobs once they graduate and help them make those kinds of life decisions um our firm is also very committed to making sure that we do what our clients need us to do we always joke
017I do not want to be the sixth board member nor assistant superintendent you guys make the decision or the assistant Treasurer yes yes we and and in carrying that out one of the important things we we uh we believe is very special about our firm is that we will we are here to advise you we recognize that we are here to advise you again as Bob said not make the decision for you and in doing that we think it's important to lay out what the options are what the considerations are what the pitfalls may be um because we have been practicing for the number of years we have a number of us have been practicing for over 20 years um throughout our firm we have about 250 over 250 years worth of experience as lawyers
018and that allows us to cut to the Chase and get to the meat of an issue a lot quicker than some others might be able to which also because of that experience allows us to advise clients on different ways different things could go depending on what's happening in that circumstance we will always follow your lead though you're the Board of Education you're the superintendant you're the treasurer you make those decisions our responsibility is to advise you of the best the best way to assume the course of action that you want or to alert you to any pitfalls you might encounter in making those decisions Bob anything else you want to add to that um you know we do we do cover virtually all the areas of school law right um just looking at the list
019policy development and governance we actually work closely with Neola so when we need a PO policy that's tweaked if you guys don't like your Neola policy we we could help you with that for sure um employment law and collective bargaining I can't I can't even put a finger on the attorneys in our firm how many hundreds of bargaining uh sessions we've been through and how many contracts we've successfully NE negotiated and how many arbitrations you've been successful in when it gets to that point yes special education yeah special education we have um I am extremely proud of our special education practice we have a number of attorneys in our special education practice across the state who represent School distri districts from everything from attending IEP meetings attending ETR meetings representing them in due process complaints
020attending manifestation determinations if the building level asks us to do that but because we have such a robot bu practice in that area we put on what we refer to as our special education Road show every year we go to four different locations throughout the state and put on a dayong um workshop on a variety of topics depending on what the needs are um and what's bubbling up in special education law each year um you will see in our materials that we list a number of value added um value added resources that we have for our clients we do have a an education blog that is available to our clients we um put out a newsletter that is emailed to clients every month that has information on General Trends in education law has a special
021education corner has a CTC corner and may have some special information about Transportation every month but that is sent out every month to just let folks know this is what is bubbling up this is what is going on we have two registered lobbyists in our firm so if something is happening in Columbus we know about it we analyze it and we can be a voice to districts when it is something that is mattering to um all of our clients District uh across the state we have kind of a different philosophy than some folks do because we don't believe in scorching the Earth okay we think it's important to make sure that we do everything in our power to enable you to maintain your relationships with the community maintain that staff can maintain their relationships with
022parents that the board can maintain the relationships with your unions because we understand that at the end of the day we're walking away but you all live in this community you work in this community you you you en enjoy life in this community and those relationships are important there's nothing worse than going to the hair salon and have some gossip going on and not have the information to do what you can to try to quash that or go to the grocery store I know you get stopped in the grocery store I know you get stopped at the barber shop you get stopped everywhere so we want to do whatever we can to help you maintain those relationships especially during more troubling times and more difficult times you've heard me say we a lot and one
023of the reasons I do that is as a firm we believe that it is important to be part of your team in a special way and part of your team means that when things are going on around the state that might impact you we'll let you know about it if things are specifically happening in your in your school district we're there to provide whatever service we can 20 and I do mean 247 we have a saying there's no such thing as after hours because you don't know what's going to happen at a bus stop at 6:45 in the morning or what's going to happen at a basketball game at 9:00 at night so if you need to be able to get hold of legal counsel you should be able to get hold of legal counsel
024because there are so many attorneys in our firm you can choose who you want to contact at any point in time um Bob and I would love to be your main contacts but again there are 12 of us and we all have different strengths that we bring to the table um Bob and I would not hesitate to let you know if you contacted us about an issue you know what that's something you really need to talk to Jeremy about or something you really need to talk to Bronson about or talk to talk to Ryan about this this is this is Pam's B you know this is Pam's wheelhouse she can tell you all about this and we do that because calling us and having to have a lot of conversation with us and us having
025to get up to speed on something is a waste of your time and a waste of your resources and we don't believe in doing that we want to make sure that you can get from point A to point B in the most effective way and that in Britain is not just a bill at the end of the month it's important for us to also to be proactive we try to develop relationships and I'm thinking of Labor Relations in particular jumps out we know we have relationships with with the Union representatives and uh I can pick up the phone in fact I did this afternoon it's not obviously not your District but a district where teacher got himself into a little bit of trouble and I can pick up the phone rather than drop in The
026Gauntlet and we're trying to see if we can work something out before the gauntlet gets dropped so those kind of relationships are really important and I think that's a value added that we bring exactly I mean how many times do you want to be in a situation where you have you're having some challenges with an employee and maybe a conversation will take care of that rather than having to do it in a more public fashion we're there to assist in having those um those softer conversations to to try to determine what is the best course of action not only for that employee but also for the district as a whole um I was talking a little bit about some of our value added and I'm trying to run through a number of things right now
027so thank you for your patience um we put on an administrators Academy four times a year Well at least four times a year we have particular topics that we cover in each one we'll cover employment law we'll cover student discipline student expression all things students we do a special education um administrators Academy and we do a legislative administrators Academy especially during those times when you know we're in lame duck session right now and the stuff that is coming out right now is quite interesting so it's important to know not only what is out there but what's the likelihood that it's going to become a part of your life what is what's the level of support that that sort of legislation has are there other is there other legislation out there that's connected so we take
028advantage of the opportunities in doing our administrators acmy to bring that to you that is a free service we offer to our clients and starting next year they're going to be on demand so if you're not able if your staff is not able to sit through one of them um we we've been doing them virtually we used to do them in person but we know Co has changed the way we do a lot of things so we do those virtually um but they'll be on demand so if that topic is of interest at a later date in time or the individuals who were interested are not able to attend at the time that it's given they will have the opportunity to do so um we have a wonderful podcast called on the call the way
029on the call works is that we do a fake phone call from an administrator in a district with some issue related to special education and two of the attorneys in our Cincinnati office um Aaron westendorf Wartman and Jeremy nef will take that question and break it down from a legal perspective and from a and also from a practical perspective by giving um you know practical tips on how to handle those situations this is an award-winning podcast They just won a Northwest Ohio award for this particular podcast so it is not only in the state of Ohio it is across the United States it has gone over the pond it is it has received a number of places and we're getting excellent reviews for that program um we also do a number of presentations all over
030the place um I personally call it doing standup I realize everybody doesn't do that but uh we do a number of presentations for our clients and for a number of organizations I mentioned about cap conference we did five presentations at cap conference um every year we do multiple presentations at Capitol conference we don't just go there to walk around we're actually participating in capital conference by trying to bring legal updates and legal information we partner with school districts in doing some of those presentations Bob did a fabulous um um session on AI and how AI is used in schools and and had a school district presenting with them to show the various aspects on how that is used um I know a number of you attended our Mack board meeting which was loads of fun
031um where we just talked about we weren't looking at anybody in particular I promise you we were not targeting any particular boards but just some of the issues that come up in board meetings and to try to do it in a little lighter fashion but nonetheless let you know what the law says about what your obligations are in those areas so I guess the big question is why would you choose inis Britain as I said we have 12 attorneys about to expand to 14 across the state we are a Statewide School law firm and all we do is education law um we have represented we represent over 145 districts dists in 46 um counties right now and we um represent esc's we represent ctcs we try to do whatever it is that individuals need we
032have um another resource that we have available is our chats at the bus stop where those of you who have been around for a while are probably very familiar with Pete japit Sky who who has forgotten more about school transportation than anybody would ever know he was the director for the state for a while he worked for OS a uh doing Transportation he is a consultant with our firm and on a periodic basis he just sits down with directors and talks about different things that they may be encountering but we we recognize the importance of doing presentations and getting legal updates is it I think next month we're going to be doing one for the northeast Ohio ESC on title n and um Bob is kind of our our expert in that particular area um
033he has he is sought out by esc's to do uh title n investigations for them because he's very thorough with it he's very thoughtful about it he has great discernment and he brings Humanity to everything that he does well you do I'm sorry it's it's the truth about him but as far as why you would choose um inis Britain it was wonderful to to to be here today and watch you recognize your employees because we know that the 600 people that work for you are as as much of a reason why you're here as the students are we tried to help you maintain a the right relationships with your staff we try to and and are very good at helping to resolve disputes with parents whether it's with a school building whether it's with the
034board as a whole or you know they don't always like the policies that boards are required to adopt under state and federal law we can help you with those explanations about why the board is taking the course of action that they are um recognizing having the opportunity to recognize Excellence is important to every school district so it is equally important to us to make sure we give you the opportunity to be as good of a school district as you can with the right information that you need to make the right decisions so um I understand that you may have some questions for us so in the words of Pat benitar hit us with your best shot I'm going to skip number one because I feel they've answered that but if anybody else doesn't you can
035pick up on that what is your experience with defending litigation against a district and how often do you recommend settlement versus taking matters to trial well we have we have several cases open right now um again I think this kind of goes back to our our earlier reference we're going to get a feel from you I it's not I am not the sixth board member I don't decide that we want to we want to have a jury trial uh we will lay out what it will cost if you go forward and you you your board will decide if you're going to settle or not that's that's really not our call right we like to we feel it's important to make sure you understand the legal arguments and the legal defenses that are available to you
036sometimes it's pretty it's Crystal Clear it is something that you have to go through an administrative agency first and if they haven't gone that route then we'll try to yet the we'll try to get the matter dismissed so that the individuals do go that route but at least I look at it this way at least at that point we're unnoticed that there's a problem so while we're trying to get it dismissed in court we're also looking at the fact of how do we stop them from having to go to that administrative agency with the complaint how do we sit down and resolve it um we're strong Believers in resolution if something goes to litigation a lot of times there really isn't a way because nobody's going to walk away happy and and litigation whether it's
037through the administrative process or in court is a very long process you're living with it it is very hard on your staff I have been with teachers who were in tears because they knew they were going to have to testify because your staff takes it very personally when when the district gets sued they know they're doing the best job that they can and they and they internalize that when they believe that someone is attacking either them or what it is that they're doing for a living so sometimes for that reason settlement may be a good solution um there's also the financial aspect will it does it make most sense to settle it from a financial standpoint but there are occasions where we need to fight and when we need to fight we do have a
038large um we have we have a large band of attorneys who have a variety of experience in both administrative litigation Court litigation um we do what we need to for our clients we know that you have you generally will have insurance available if you're using Insurance Council we will Lo walk along with insurance counsil because generally we may have a little bit more information about what's going on than the Assurance Council does coming in cold but we do have a substantial experience as I said we have 250 years of combined experience we have substantial experience in all aspects of litigation um to go along with that do you see yourself as Proactive or reactive when you see situations that could cause the district future legal problems I like to believe that we're proactive um once
039upon a time I used to be in-house legal council for Dayton public schools and for Columbus Public Schools so that made it very easy for I think every school secretary had my cell number on speed dial because they could call me and it was part of my salary we understand that's not the case if a school secretary has a question or your emis coordinator or someone along those lines has a question about what's going on but we believe in being proactive because you do allow the appropriate staff the opportunity to get in touch with us and we'll we won't just answer we typically just don't answer that question but we want to know why you're asking the question what's behind the question what are the circumstances because very rarely do situations happen in a vacuum
040and we want to make sure that we're giving you whatever assistance we can so that a concern doesn't become a trend yeah I alluded alluded to this earlier but I think it's important for us we we try to we I I do view us as proactive we try to build the relationships whether it be with the Union there there is a a a frequent litigant in throughout the state of Ohio and I've developed a rapport with him and I've got his cell phone number and and he's he's tipped us off that he's about to sue one of our clients for public records violation and we can sometimes get a fix before the complaint is filed I've done that a number of times so yes proactive and um I can tell you in the in the
041area of special education because um I do a lot of special education law because a lot of the attorneys in our firm do that the parents Council know us so they will call us ahead of time very often and say hey I have a parent they came to me here's the issue can we talk and that avoid voids having to go to Due Process having to deal with the state complaint um and and that is a time and money saver for the districts can you share some examples of successfully managing disputes related to employment contracts collective bargaining um or Union negotiations okay that's uh I stopped doing labor negotiations but that is a bob McBride World well well the the employ contract situation I'm alluding to I I mentioned it earlier this evening and that
042was where I called the union rep because it looks like we may have to separate with the teacher and I don't know how this one is going to play out but dozens of times in my career I've made that phone call and we've been able to separate without a public brew HaHa and without tens of thousands of dollars of legal fees and I have some success now I don't cry wolf uh I have a build a rapport with these people and they know when I call and I say this one's proba going to we really are going to pursue Severance settlement or excuse me Severance in this case they know that I mean it and I wouldn't say that unless I knew from the superintendent that that that that was the route they want to
043go down you know U successful collective bargaining I could just say the the most recent one I had again I built this rapport with it was it was an opsy uh local and we had two sessions you know that we didn't we cut to the chase she we were able to lay our cards on the table because there was the trust there I wouldn't do that with just anyone she was able to lay her cards on the table and we were done in two meetings so we've had some success there as well and then even when you look at um the filing of grievances I know everybody looks at the filing of grievances as a bad thing I have districts who say all the time we've never had a grievance file oh no we have
044a grievance filed well sometimes that's information for you it is information that there is a concern on the part of the union now unfortunately that's how they chose to bring it to your attention but nonetheless if it can be resolved or if there are some changes that need to be made in the way Union and board is dealing that might be a good opportunity to take advantage of that and correct that situation so all litigation and I'm including Grievances and arbitration and that all litigation isn't necessarily a bad thing if you can get to the point where the two sides ultimately understand and respect each other for what is happening yeah and that reminds me I currently have a district that has a new superintendent and they've just drawn grievance after grievance after grievance and
045and they're whether they're challenging or whether there's something wrong it's just not been their normal course so what we've done is say let's call let's call timeout let's not process these grievances let's get a federal mediator in let's see if we can clear the air before this continues and and we've had luck with that over the years and I think in general like I was saying before we don't take the Scorch the Earth position because those relationships have to be ongoing and we will do everything within our power based on your direction to preserve those relation we fight when we need to fight but we try to preserve relationships first and foremost we can Scorch Earth but that will be your directive okay what do you consider reasonable response time and how do you ensure
046timely communication okay did you hear the part about there's no such thing as after hours um let me put it this way superintendents and treasurers and principles and board members don't call us to chat sometimes I take that very personally but that's okay um you're not calling us to chat you're calling because there is a concern or a consideration um it is it is a it is a firm practice to make sure that we promptly get back to clients now we're not there all the time we don't always put on our outgoing announcements or on our emails every time we're in a mediation for a day because during the course of that day there will be opportunities to review our emails um most of our clients accept the fact that they may hear from us
047on what they consider to be after hours um I I mentioned the story before um I was at a um I was I was at a festival with my husband and ran into one of our superintendent one of my superintendent clients and introduced him to my husband and my husband shook his hand and said oh you're the man who talks to my wife before I get to say good morning to her her because the reality is if you're up at 6:30 and something's on your mind at 6:30 and you were to send an email to say or a text to say call me when you're up I want to discuss something if we're up we call and um some of the things we do because we are working on other things we may need to
048send the response to you later that that that night or earlier the next day but we try with everything in our ability to get a prompt response to you we know that you need a prompt response yeah a few gray hairs here and I've been doing it for a while and it used to be the goal was to get back in 24 hours and that's that's no longer the goal it did sooner than that okay how do you handle situations where there's a disagreement or conflict among school board members or between board members and administration to both ensure legal compliance and maintain a productive working relationship we do um we a number number of us in The Firm have conducted board Retreats with board members to talk about board governance and what that really means
049we don't expect any Board of educa or I don't I don't expect everybody on a board of education to love each other and spend all their time together I don't you all are elected by your communities and some of you you you you may be elected for different reasons you may have different things that are that are of a special importance to you as a board member what we stress to you is that it takes the majority of the board to make anything happen we also stress that one board member cannot make a final decision a binding decision on the board of education that cooperation is important but sometimes the source of the lack of cooperation is a lack of knowledge so we try to do whatever we can to make sure everyone at least
050understands the information the same way but has the recognizing they have the flexibility to vote their conscious there are five of you it's not always going to be the case that all five of you agree on everything my dad used to say if if there's always agreement on everything only one brain is working so you know if you're not always in agreement on everything that's fine but if you respect the fact that the decision of the majority of the board of education is what will prevail then you can move on from that I have a superintendent who jokes with me and says um I know that if there's ever a time that the board's sick of me even though we we you and I get along really well that you're going to be the one
051to deliver that news to me um we've had situations where we've had to assist Boards of Education in parting with their Executives but we try to do that with respect with humanity and frankly with Grace carrying out what the board is looking for trying to do it in the most cost effective and the most efficient way that we can and and we consider that to be our primary responsibility in those circumstances that's everything anything further I think that's okay we're good um just just to be clear the way we've done this process is we had um more than two firms come in for an initial round that was held between Mr galano Dr ghoul Dr W and myself so and we selected two finalists so this for four of us this is our second conversation
052so um I know I'm coming from a place of having some background appreciate that anything any final thoughts you want to share with us just that we thank you for um considering us we appreciate the opportunity uh we would look forward to the opportunity to serve this board of education in this District in any capacity that you choose whether it's covering everything or just covering some things we realize that there are a number of law firms that do education law in this are in in this geographical area but we believe that our our level of expertise our level of experience would greatly benefit the school district thank you for the opportunity got one quick you know I just something that you said right there just uh brought up a question I have if you were
053if we were to um engage more than one Law Firm what would you say your top areas of expertise would be if we were to you know use just partially everything no we looking at special ed and labor so we're gonna we're gonna fight we love special ed and labor but um we we kind of do a variety of things um one of the other services that we offer to districts is we do Board of revision work and we have a um we have a scaled program where we will um because they're no longer sending you the information about property valuations Etc we seek that out for you let you know what properties you may need to challenge Etc so we do bring some more expertise in that in that particular area than we do
054in others um we have a very very robust special education practice we have a very very robust employment practice that includes um years and years of experience in collective bargaining so um but we do a lot of I like the kids stuff personally so a number of us do deal more with the student issues whether it's student expression whether it's student discipline just generally and student rights so it's it is it really is a challenge to pick some areas that I think we're are our primary areas because again we're Statewide so we do everything thank Youk thank you very very much sh gears a little get to do that again okay they're in the back I can see them in the back the other firm that we have to present to us tonight is gingo
055and bear and I'll let them come up and present themselves Jingo Jingo I am so sorry I want to say gringo so I know that's I think gko that's where G baloba yeah Jingo whoa whoa whoa gonna say the most challenging part of this is going to be what level should this be at not so thank you everyone my name is um Lindsay Jingo although I've heard it said many ways um with Jingo and bear um thank you so much for having us here this evening and I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about our Law Firm Jingo and bar and what we um have to offer so our firm is a boutique School Law Firm so we all um work with districts in the northern half of the state to really
056support public education in Ohio um our goal as a firm and sort of our mission has been to develop a practice that is very much centered on being a team oriented firm and what I mean by that is our firm is very much focused on supporting your board of education your administrative a team team in a way where we are embedded in the district and really have a depth of knowledge regarding what it is you're doing and needing as a district and so what I mean by that is you know when we are providing guidance to always understand what you are doing either front-facing or behind the scenes to support your community your students and your staff you know how are the decisions we're making now going to Impact labor negotiations that are upcoming with
057your teachers and your non-teaching staff how are the decisions we're making you know with you now going to support your strategic planning and your vision in 2026 in moving forward how is the advice we're giving your operations director and your leadership team in the board going to impact your facilities planning going forward right so our mission as a firm and this has been developed through our experience is working at smaller firms midsize larger firms is really to make sure that we have that vision and understand understanding from you because it's one thing to give you from our perspective at least legal guidance on you know here's what the black letter of the law says and it's another thing to tell you that but then have that additional piece to say and now how is this
058going to impact you as board members the communication with your community and with your staff and your students so that's something that from our perspective is incredibly important um in any District where we work and certainly would be you know if we were uh lucky enough to work with so I think just to add to what Lindsay was saying in terms of our team centered approach we really take that approach not just with the districts that we work but within our own house and our own firm you know as lawyers we stay very connected um with one another with the districts that we work with that allows us to have a responsiveness that is you know 247 whatever you need there's always going to be a lawyer there that has understanding of the issues that
059you may need to have addressed you won't be building that conversation from the ground up based on the dialogue within our firm and the model that we work with um that also allows us um to take as Lindsay was saying an approach to Stow that is very specific to Stow there are times where there are very sensitive issues that may come up that may not be strictly legal questions right but there may be some considerations that we will take into account to make sure that we are giving the advice that is best for Stow in the best interest of the Board of Education its staff students and its Community um just briefly I know we have limited time but to introduce all of us who are here as I shared Lindsay Jingo um I'm one
060of the co-owners of the firm I've been working in education law my entire practice um I'm very much dedicated to working in this area of the state with districts that we are working with currently um certainly dedicated to this area family from here as well and so I think it's important to me both on a professional level and on a personal level to make sure that we're providing the best guidance um that that we can to the district my name is Megan bear I'm also co-owner of the firm um I come from a family of public Educators my dad is a retired superintendent my mom is a teacher my sister is a school counselor um it made Sunday night dinner conversations quite interesting during negotiation season um but it is something that is advocating and
061supporting public education is important to me both professionally and personally hi I'm Emily SPAC um I also come from a line of public Educators my mom was a public school teacher I'm a proud product of public schools I've been doing this work for more than 10 years and before that spent a bit of time doing nothing but public record records and public meetings issues so also a little bit of overlap um and perhaps most importantly I'm married to a proud Bulldog evening everyone uh Kyle wheeler associate here with the firm I apologize going to sound like a bit of an echo here from my other colleagues but also the son of a lifelong educator who is a current uh superintendent here in Northeast Ohio uh so same with Megan obviously had some interesting dinner conversations
062uh over the course of years so obviously following Law School um dedicating my practice to defending public schools and Boards of Education uh was a very easy choice so uh again on behalf of me and and everyone here uh we certainly appreciate the opportunity to be here before you tonight in terms of the key relationships that we focus on we work very hard we are dedicated to building a direct relationship with the Board of Education it's so critical that we have an understanding of your mission and your vision for the district so that we're able to help support and facilitate your relationship with your leadership team and your administrative staff we believe that when th that trusting relationship kind of starts and you build that at the top that has a trickle down effect in
063terms of then your administrative staff's relationship with the unions when you build all of that trust and Goodwill internally we strongly believe that that kind of bleeds out into the community and you have all that trust and Goodwill within the entire community of so obviously one of our primary roles as we represent the board is to support the board and make sure that you all have the information you need the context you need to make the decisions and shape the mission and the vision of the district um we work a lot with boards on not just the legalities but the communication strategies and making sure that you feel connected to your community your community feels connected to you and that we are fostering um an environment of transparency and communication that will support the district
064in the long term in terms of Labor Relations there are a number of different um issues that come up with this in terms of the day-to-day Personnel side issues and then also looking at collective bargaining as I know you do have contracts that are coming up for neot Neo iations um in terms of the hiring and retention retention of employees you know that's obviously critical you have you know 350 certificated staff members you have 300 non-certificated staff members in addition to all the support organizations that you're working with through volunteers you know we want to support that process for you on on the day-to-day you know working with your Human Resources officers on that um if there are issues that you know come up on the employee side certainly we can support um Fair separation
065process but of course that's not the focus the focus is trying to make sure that you build people up and give them the support that they need internally um additionally looking at guidance on state and federal employment laws that's something that we provide again day-to-day feedback to the board your administrative team on um those are you know a phone call away type questions on a daily basis I think looking at bargaining and other um Human Resources matters again that's an area where we have a large practice in this area so we have our finger on the pulse of what is happening with your teaching and non-teaching contracts in this area I think it's important to kind of look at the expectations locally because those do differ around the state and so understanding who your labor
066reps are here in Stow and kind of what those um relationships look like in the Summit County kaga County areas are really critical to making sure that we can support you and kind of have an understanding of coming into bargaining what expectations might be um in this in this area and what we should expect you know to be able to support you with through conversation with your union um additionally um on the operation side that's something that I know we in preparing for this we're talking about um it's just such a critical issue that sometimes doesn't bubble to the top in terms of just the initial conversations that you're having and thinking about in maybe an interview like this um but remember you know this is the way in which your students and your staff
067are experiencing their day right it's how they're getting to school you know what facilities they're learning in what their environment looks like what service is there for your food um support staff and Food Service staff Safety and Security you know these are all extremely important um support pieces that help you as the board help you as the administrative team support your students and staff and so this is another area much like um compliance issues that we're going to talk about a little later um much like your HR issues right your operations is another one of those areas where it's a day-to-day kind of situation where we get those calls 247 you know what's the new legislation coming regarding Transportation right we have a vendor contract how do we comply with Senate Bill 29 these day-to-
068dat issues that we get called on we pick up the phone and help work through it again with the framework of what is best for for Stow right what is the expectation that you you have um for us and for your students staff and Community compliance support I think maybe five or 10 years ago uh this necessarily wasn't as much on our radar as it is today I think today it's a much larger portion uh of our practice so um as you all know the district does have policies and procedures in place that do uh allow for a reporting mechanism uh for allegations of discrimination harassment bullying to be reported to the district and ultimately funneled uh to District compliance officers for investigation uh and resolution um I know myself and some of my colleagues
069offer varying levels of support uh to District compliance officers whether that is simply scheduling weekly check-in meetings to discuss ongoing issues uh and or to directly work with them uh through the investigation process and procedures um as part of that obviously depending on the needs of the district we do offer varying levels of professional development and training uh whether that's to your staff as a whole to your administrators Andor directly with your compliance officer again um that level of training and professional development and support will be based on the individual needs um here of Stow uh in addition to internal policies or reporting mechanisms there are also uh channels in which employees can report those concerns to directly to government agencies uh so obviously the the four of us here as well as our colleague
070Sarah do have extensive experience in representing uh districts and Boards of Education uh before those uh agencies whether that's responding to requests for information or uh submitting position statements on behalf of the district you've talked a lot about the adults in your buildings so far and we can't forget the students right that's why we are all here uh and so we do all of the student based work as well we do the special education do student discipline um First Amendment issues that come up with students student Support Services the whole gamut so a lot of it is day-to-day advising a lot of it is trying to get out in front of problems that may be bubbling up with your students um talking with your special ed directors talking with the IEP teams talking with other
071student Support Services in your buildings and working through what can we provide ahead of time that might mitigate some issues down the road um working with both parents parent Advocates um but then also attorneys representing students and their parents uh to try to resolve issues before they become litigation before they become complaints so we do all of that uh really on a pretty routine bases I'm going to go with that we answered the that you answered the first question about experience and dedication to school law uh what is your experience defending litigation against a district and how often do you recommend settlement versus taking matters to trial so we have vast experience litigating whether you Define litigation in the traditional sense of going to court and litigating we've done that or if you define it
072more broadly to include a lot of the agency procedures that we've talked about because obviously a lot of what we deal with in schools are the administrative proceedings so all of us have done countless uh administrative proceedings in front of various state and federal agencies and we've been in court as well in terms of settlement strategy it is so case specific um but what what is general and what has to happen in every case is we need to make sure you as the board and as the administrative team understand the case understand the options understand the pros and cons to all of those options sometimes it's a matter of saying settlement is the quickest and least expensive right it's often not that simple uh if it were that simple it wouldn't have risen to the
073level of litigation right and so our most important job is to make sure that you have all of the information you need to make an informed decision um and to direct us how how you want us to go having said that because we have the depth of experience that we do we try to give you the context we try to give you um information about what we think will happen based on what we've seen happen in the past to help inform your decisions there do you have any examples of how you manage some disputes either employee contracts collective bargaining or Union negotiations sure I mean with respect to labor disputes that can run the gamut so we have um experience in arbitration we have experience in mediation but of course you know our goal is
074before you get there to ask the questions up front you know do you have a Labor Management um group that you're meeting with on a regular basis to try and get ahead of some of those disputes that might arise with your um labor unions or other staff um in terms of negotiations experience you know we've been fortunate enough um to work with just many many districts in the area and um have sort of learned that you need to look at those negotiations on an individual basis in terms of from the beginning understanding right especially if you're new legal council coming in really understanding where those points of dispute are or points of agreement and then thinking about in labor negotiations maybe what's a process that's really going to work well for both parties you know
075to set the parties up for Success so instead of you know looking looking at it from the point of we have these disputes and we have to look at these disputes only kind of to in labor negotiations expand that conversation to say what's the underlying issue and kind of how do we get to those underlying problems to be able to work together and then when we're gone um you know to continue to have that positive relationship so you know we've certainly run the gamut on those issues from um you know grievance resolution arbitration all different styles of bargaining um but we're always looking at it from the framework where we can of support and trying to avoid um you know heartache or issues before they start if we possibly can and no doubt um your
076administrative team is already doing some of that with your labor unions having those conversations um as you guys do head into labor negotiations what do you consider uh reasonable expectations for response time and how do you ensure that timely communication so we have um a bit of an internal system that we've built in um again we had talked about how connected we are as lawyers inside our firm um and not having to build that conversation from the ground up but if you reach out to one of us at any time and we are unavailable we will immediately forward either your phone call or your text messages yes we take text messages we don't love that but we do that we understand the way the world works right now so we immediately forward that on to
077every attorney in our law form law firm and you will get someone responding back to you within the hour Mo usually that's that's pretty our typical response time um that's right okay do you consider yourself Proactive or reactive when you see situations that could cause the district future legal problems certainly proactive I mean I think as I sort of shared just at the start of this presentation I think our firm philosophy and you know where we stand is that that's sort of a core value of our firm and really want to support that for you um I don't think um it's always appreciated if perhaps you know legal council should have seen an issue and and didn't and then is coming to you sort of after the fact right we're trying to listen even when
078maybe we're talking about something seemingly unrelated right to okay what's the scope of what we're talking about are there um public relations issues that are kind of built into this conversation right are we thinking about this issue in a way that not only we're answering the question about a notice for Senate Bill 29 but also are we looking at well are people going to get that notice in a timely way in the using the system that you use internally that's best going to get to your community right so that's just a simple example but we try to be sort of Full Circle proactive and thinking about the issue that you're asking but then also how do we make your your lives easier and how do we support your community um and your stakeholders in kind
079of the best way possible um with those proactive answers okay how do you handle situations where there's disagreement or conflict among school board members or between board members and the administration to both ensure legal compliance and maintain a productive working relationship I think everyone's hope always is for the best interest of the district to be working with a United board sometimes that is not always the case on certain issues um I think our philosophy in approaching that is always first seek to understand versus being understood right and so if we can have an understanding of the information that each board member is operating with that can be very helpful in resolving the issue sometimes there's misinformation there's five board members there's a superintendent there's a Treasurer there's your lawyer right there may be another EX
080party involved and so I think it's important that we all get on the same page whether that's through an executive session or that's through some other form of communication um we think that's always our first approach is to kind of figure out what the board is working with and move from there um unfortunately we have dealt with Boards of Education that there are times they're not always on the same page and our duty is to the board as the entity right to the district to this community to its staff and its kids and that's the legal advice you know that's what we base Our advice on and so sometimes that can breed some difficult conversations you know some uncomfortable conversations that might need to occur with an individual board member or a select number of
081board members um but that's the legal advice is always going to be what's in the best interest of the district and not lean one way or another toward a specific board member or a couple of board members so just to um reiterate the extra question that we had last time if if we were to choose your firm for part of our needs what would you say are your top areas of expertise you know I think what we do best is day-to-day guidance for for your administrative team and staff and board support and so you know from our perspective at least right now and and this always changes kind of as um things change in our Greater Community right we're getting a lot of day-to-day questions on human resources issues student issues operations issues um and
082so we really um try to again be embedded in the team and just be that extra person for you to be able to pick up the phone and call and say hey this is a an issue that came up today and we need support in this moment and so we really try and serve in that day-to-day guidance role for your administrative team and then also for the board well we thank you very much for coming back again and for your presentation and any final questions or anything for us no I think we just wanted to thank you all for giving us you know the opportunity you're an excellent district with an excellent leadership team in board and so you know we certainly are honored to have the opportunity to come present to you this evening
083thank you thank you okay next on our agenda is for us to discuss and decide if we are ready to vote on a firm if we're not that's okay we can table it but we wanted to put the option on the agenda to vote tonight because we can't add that but we can always take it off so I'll just sort of open the floor up I think for me um time is of the essence to get Folks up to speed uh so I would um prefer to move forward on making a decision tonight but I also know that I've had more time with these folks than some of my fellow board members so kind of wanted to hear what everybody else had to say um I would agree I spent some time really looking through
084their materials um over the weekend and I think I have enough information that I can discuss it today me as well I'm good too so does do we have a what do we do here do we need to have a motion to appoint a legal council or I think we need a motion to discuss it okay right okay NOP we can have open for discussion so there are two things on the agenda it's um if you want to appoint specifically um or we could Pro them and then as as a legal council but we could all if you liked both um and you would want to use that for certain things we could board approve them for both um that gives the district the ability to use them as they see fit okay but normally
085we would lean what towards one for um General legal council okay okay do we need a motion to nope once it's um we'll kind of just talk like take nominations of who we see fit and then we'll go from there so I think my my thinking uh is to go with uh Jingo for general counsel and andison Britain uh for the the special ed needs um that would kind of be my my division um I definitely really like both firms so I wanted to split it up a little I agree okay Jesse excuse me get just some clarity on the second just so I know what this is the board appoints blank as a designate for suspension and expulsion hearings would would that be like in Pam's case what you would be looking Jingo to
086do I mean what why is that question on here we have to have somebody we have to appoint a designate for that now is that a law firm or it can be whoever we want we could we could have somebody from the community we could do that but it's generally best practice to have a law firm or a lawyer was um roszel doing that now yes is that so they're doing both is that typically a general counsel thing or is that more specialized it's usually someone with a background in that because of the legalities that happen when you have U disciplined hearings especially regarding expulsion so you want to have someone with a legal background with those things okay I think I'm going to go ahead and agree with the others about the general councel
087um I do think it's probably worth discussing um the um employment side for the first I'm sorry I'm terrible with names but for the first group as well or or or would we most do we have to make that determination um if there's other parts like can we pick one general counsel and then separate out two things yeah I know some districts they will have like more general counsel and they also use um a different person for like public records request and kind of just board approving that hey you're allowed to we approve you to use these councils um and whichever one is best you know as you see fit so I just really see the value in in both groups at this point and they're very reputable firms um I I know people who've
088dealt with both firms and I've all heard good things um if you ever able to go to Andis Britain um mock board meeting it's hilarious but it's it's educational because it's it's stuff that actually happened so but they're both very reputable good firms yeah I did attend that AI session um at at um Capital too so that was that was also very interesting okay so do we need a motion to appoint them as general counsel yes okay do you want to do that so I move that we appoint Jingo and be as our general counsel second okay then is there questions or comments do want to do the other one as well oh okay and then you want to do them also for the suspension or do you want to do Andis and Britain for
089we would need a motion for the second line as well we could do it together okay oh okay in one motion so do you want to amend your motion to um so my motion to approve Jingo and bear as legal our general counsel um and our suspension and expulsion representative um and should I add in uh Anis and Britain for other needs of the district as well or should that be a separate motion um at the um organizational meeting we'll have other ones like our bond Council and um you know finishing up with our current legal firm we could have had those to the list later on okay great all right so that's the motion and I'll take the amendment okay questions or comments all right roll call please Shan I Su adonic I wind
090I East Jenkins I bsel I gosh 5 z v vote excellent all right big project done treasurer's consent agenda Treasurer recommends the Board of Education approve all items listed in the treasures consent agenda items items B yeah I was going to say it's only one thing all right is there a motion so moved second okay questions or comments okay roll call please East Jenkins I Shen i zonic i Wind I Benzel hi hey number 10 treasurer's recommendations um first IID like to just say sorry for the late notice of um venue but if you kind of look we would definitely fill have filled that space and due to possibly of openlands meeting violation not being able to have everybody in one room and able to listen um me Dr ghoul thought it was best to
091move the location so I appreciate everybody and happy you're able to attend in a more comfortable environment um but I do apologize that that was so late less comfortable um now I wish to recommend that the Board of Education improv the check register for November 2024 as presented is there a motion so moved second questions or comments roll call please uh well just a second um did we receive the title one money that we talked about the last meeting you know if we got that yet so we're the motion is about the check registry we're on 10A wouldn't that be a check no these are the the checks we we send out pay out okay roll call please e Jenkins hi Sheen um no and that's just because I just received it Sunday morning and
092didn't have a chance to look through it okay sionic hi wind I Benzel I 10 B I wish recommended that the Board of Education approve the financial report November 2024 as presented is there a motion so moved second questions or comments yeah just a um very standard report we had uh two things that I do like want to talk about that has happened in November um we have started our financial audit um for the FY 23 we are two years behind and we also started our Gap audit for FY 24 which we are a fiscal year behind but um we are getting them the information that they need as fast as possible I believe you have been emailed from the state Auditors for the financial um audit so we did move to fin State Auditors
093this year uh after 10 years you have to go back to the state and we've hit our 10 year mark previously was with Julian and gr um so it it's a little bit different um this is my first year been going through a full audit not a half audit which is kind of nice get to see the ins and outs and every firm does things different some do less some do more so it seems like the state does more so it'll be interesting to see what goes through the pipelines I I've asked some of my mentors like hey have you done this like I've never been asked that to do it so you know it's it's interesting how it all works but it's a it's a good learning process all right roll call please e
094Jenkins hi Sheen same thing I wasn't able to look at so no s onic i Wind I Benzel I I wish recommend that the Board of Education approve the then and now certificate the one for $7,555 42 and another one for $1,894 17 as presented is there I could explain more okay is there a motion so moved second so then anal certificate basically is we had the PO written after the invoice date and it just verifying that we had the money then and we have the money now uh these invoices somehow got missed in the pipeline um so we basically just are making sure that the board is well aware that this is happening um per board policy and anything below $3,500 we do not need board approval anything above that we do need board
095approval we've done a couple of these right when I first started but I always try to make sure that these never come through but unfortunately we did have two one was from 2023 and one was from uh this past May so okay so are these four separate you have October 23rd twice and May 24th twice yeah there were duplicates somehow so I apologize for that there's only two so it's only 11 17555 and one 19894 yep that's correct and once these are board approved we will then process the payment okay okay roll call please East Jenkins I shien I Su adonic hi wind I Benzel Hi D I wish to recommend that the Board of Education approve the settlement agreement as presented zero motion so moved okay there's no second so we will have to
096table this okay okay I think I read that right all right superintendent consent agenda at this time I would like to recommend the Board of Education approve the consent agendum for items B through F okay is there a motion so moved second questions or comments any explanation gifts to read off or anything I would like to excuse me I would like to remove item C from the consent agenda right at this time I would like to read the names of our donors and personally thank them uh for what they've done for our students we have Ryan Courtright um feo Incorporated SF smmf nice Stow Mar Falls Community Foundation again thank you to all of our donors any other comments or questions okay roll call please this is for items A and B D through f
097d through F East Jenkins I Shen I sionic hi wind hi Benzel I item C item C is for a group for at the high school black student union uh the purpose of the rationale and the um identification for membership and the benefits have been included uh for everyone to read it is a black student union is proposed by students to create a more supportive and inclusive space for discussing and addressing issues relevant to black student experiences um we have to have a motion for is there a motion so moveed to second okay okay so sorry that's okay uh this um membership in the black student union is open to all students who support its Mission and purpose regardless of race or background and its focus focus is on black student experience not to exclude
098the participation from students of other races or ethnicities um they are mirroring themselves after uh several of our surrounding districts there is a group um in Koga Falls as well as Copley but the benefits for this is to increase culture awareness empathy amongst the student body to also have a sense of belonging uh as well as to develop uh leaders ship skills and um making sure that it aligns with our strategic plan around uh diversity and inclusion um so um and we have the uh principal here tonight who also can speak uh to this group uh that was proposed by two students and has the support of two staff uh to support the club hello hello hello so um since I took over last year we are working kind of just on school connectedness as
099a whole um and so we see you know as we work on our chronic absenteeism and other scores that school connectedness is definitely one of the um one of the most researched things about having Student Success so since last year we've had a few different clubs that have started new at the high school um and very much like this Club we've had two we had two senior students um approach us the administrative team and asked if they were um if we would consider starting a black student union um they wrote up a nice little proposal for us and we kind of follow the same procedures as we do with our other club so our response is always we learn more about it we learn more what the mission and the vision is for the club
100um we always test them with you have an adviser that wants to do this for free um which is sometimes the hard one um and so they did and so then they came back with with um their adviser and we talked more about the club and so um overall and you know from the students Bo themselves they said um we believe that every student deserves to feel feel seen heard and supported um they shared that over the past couple years they feel like some black students have expressed feeling um Express feeling a lack of inclusion and access to opportunities that celebrate and uplift their identities um and so to kind of address that they wanted to bring up um the black student union just to kind of help with that sense of belonging at the
101school um they say the goals of the black student union are for inclusion and representation um to do some more Community engagement and some service um they're talking about um doing maybe food drives tutoring programs partnering with other local organizations um there's talking here about mentorship and leadership development within the student body so older students working with some of our younger students um they're going to meet monthly um cultural celebrations um and and and basically so allowing us to build connections both within and beyond our school is is their thought questions my uh concern here is yeah um why wouldn't we consider having a group that is incorporating all of I guess the buzzword is marginalized students why gear it towards one group I mean do we want to have a nepes student union do
102we want to have a Jewish one do we want to have a Muslim one you know why can't we have one Collective group that can stand and celebrate the things that these marginalized uh communities have done to help build the United States yeah ver you know zeroing it on one because you have one group sitting in and talking among amongst themselves vers they could probably learn a lot more from other marginalized groups and then you know that white person who wants to come in and learn as well so we do have that already at the high school actually that's our BTA so our Bulldogs taking action committee so we do have that and what came from that is the students that have come to this and proposed this to us have said that we are
103part of Bulldogs taking action and there we discuss lots of cultures and we discuss um diversity as a whole and we discuss how we as Bulldogs can take action within our school um this then is kind of a subset from that because the black population is the larger population when you look at our marginalized groups and they have come forward and said we would like to do something a little bit more and again it it's open to any and all students um but kind of just focusing on making sure that all students feel like they belong in our school so what is the example of do you have an example of students that have experienced um where they didn't feel they belonged like I do have examples I can't necessarily share them for student privacy
104reasons but yes okay okay I think for me the the key here is that this is um student Le that this is a proposal if I'm hearing in correctly that students came up with they've looked at local models for how one would do this type of group and they the students put it together so the students it sounds like are expressing a need for this I've done my research on this as well um I know that we do have a board policy policy 5730 is equal access for non-district non-district sponsored student clubs and activities uh that follows along with the Americans with Disabilities Act equal access act and Civil Rights Act that basically tells us that we have to Grant access to the students if it's as if the activity has been initiated by students
105attendance at the meeting is voluntary uh no agent or employee of the district will promote leader participate in the meeting the meeting does not materially or substantially interfere with orderly conduct of instructional activities at the school and non-school persons do not direct or regularly attend the activity so I mean the purpose of this certainly seems to within our own board policy so um that's you I wholeheartedly support it for other for my own personal reasons as well but this is what policy number was that again 5730 thank you so it's not really a question on if we have the right to support it or not I mean I am encouraged to hear that anyone can participate in this which is a plus um but again you just had that question of I think we need
106to have Collective groups rather than isolated groups and then um because you have everyone sitting in the room who's of like mind um how are they how are they getting that message out if uh they're they're only hearing it vers having um different groups that are experiencing this um being able to kind of share their experiences and maybe the things that have helped them you know through some of these issues y yeah and we also know that anytime though a student is involved in extracurriculars and more connected to school that that provides extra success in um you know more support for the you know for that student so any opportunity we at the high school can provide for more students to feel connected and supported by the high school uh we definitely want to continue
107to look into that and support that I and I appreciate the point you're making Mr Sheen but this is if this is a um led by a student versus um something like a board member saying what they believe uh the students should be doing which would actually seems uh seem to violate the policy specifically so this is about what the students want um not about what the adults think they should want and I will say um all of our clubs lately have been student initiated right and I will say the work that these two young ladies did and their proposal um and the thought that they put towards this um I was very impressed good good work thank you very much thank you roll call please there's any further comments but roll call please East
108Jenkins Hi shien I suod donic hi wind hi Benzel hi superintendent recommendations I would like to recommend the following Personnel recommendations okay is there a motion so moved second questions or comments I just had a question because I noticed here Mr Miller was going to be kind of heading up to athletic department and and knowing just how that or having a general understanding of how that is I I see that we're giving him a pum rate but is that is that based on an eight hour day or is that just based on a day um I'm going to have Mr uh love come up because we did look very uh in-depth on this and so I want him to explain the intricacies of it press the but oh yeah the but yeah y now you're
109on now I'm good all right thank you uh yeah so for that what we did and first is you know Ken Miller right now he's doing the assistant athletic director stiens we want to make sure that this was a different you know position than what he's he was already getting paid for so what we did is we looked at you know what's what's differen as far as the job and a lot of the differences are you know during that school day uh for instance you know at the high school during the day uh in fulfilling the athletic director position as the assistant you know that's not really a part of the process he does you know and he's often there um you know helping out in certain ways uh but this would be something where
110he is at the high school where he is there where he's at uh you know so many of our different games activities after school as well um and then really representing the district as those different athletic director meetings different administrative meetings so yes it'll it'll definitely be um that prdm rate you know we talk about is more than than that assistant position it is that reflective of that 8 hour is that like a Monday through Sunday well there's not a whole lot i' say a Monday through Saturday kind of thing or yeah it'll I mean with this position it kind of really depends on the week you know what that looks like what the activities are um obviously sometimes those hours will fluctuate based on what's going on what's Happening the different things that are
111happening um and where did this $314 number come from sure uh so we have um we have a substitute rate for our administrators so what we did is we have that daily rate but then we also took out the part um that he's already making as the assistant in that role so this is on top of his the what he is being paid for his current role correct okay so it's current role plus this 34 correct yep and I guess what I talk about as far as days a week I mean there's games on Saturday so he steps in I mean there may be days he might be there 16 hours a day versus there may be there for four hours sure it's that's that's a per day sure sure okay okay thank you thank
112you any further questions or comments roll call please e Jenkins hi Shen I sionic hi wind hi Benzel hi next on the agenda if is program of studies for the 20526 school year and we were asking the board to approve the high school program of studies is there a motion so moved second questions or comments just one quick one do you have uh what's your Baseline for the number of students say in an elective class that you'd have to have to move forward with a with a particular subject is it you mean the number of students in you have yeah do you have a i a number as far as how many students would have to have enrolled in a particular elective class for the school to move forward with it look for the blue
113I think you got to push the bottom there see it yeah there no you we're flashing okay but okay we're good um I would say to answer that Loosely I would say we look for at least 15 in a class um we look at the total enrollment though when we're looking kind of at if we're going to run a class or not so a teacher can teach six classes um they have a Max in how many students they can see a day and so it also kind of depends a lot of times our elective teachers can teach up to four or five different classes in a day um and so but for the most part we'd like to see 15 at least or so okay and it looks like um some courses have been discontinued
114due to that lack of that enrollment yes and so um the current edition right now that's in front of you there have been some classes in there that have continued to stay in the course of studies for years even though we have not ran them there's probably one sui's never even seen ran in our building um but they're still in the program um and so we just Tred to re make that reflect a little bit more of what's really happening in the building A Century of conflict class was added um coming from we ran it a few years ago we've had some students approach us again just with some more interest in that um again as an elective in the social studies um Department we'll look at that and see if it can run or
115not but wanted to gauge student interest nice okay any further questions all right roll call please e Jenkins hi Sheen hi suod donic hi wind hi benel hi next we have the public relations agreement is there a motion so moved second questions or comments um my question on here is this was September 1st why is it and it's almost completed why are we now looking to uh offer this contract or solidify this why wouldn't why wasn't it done back in September when this person started so Mrs forchion she had she resigned as our um employer employee um she was still also getting paid from the ESC um so we were trying we were waiting for them to pay finish her payout um and then once that was finished we then were able to calculate how
116much we were going to be paying her from a district um so we're waiting on the ESC we did get that final number right before the November meeting but it didn't want to throw it on their last minute um so we wanted to make there was time for the board to look at the contract yeah it's the reason I asked that because I mean looking at this I'm saying it then it starts to get me wondering about other service agreements you know where we're we're we're approving something after the person's already provided the services um is this just is this a unique situation yes it's a unique situation normally it would always be before they would start and and so then we're done with this particular service that she provides um was it January 1st
117January 31st of 2025 yep and if um Mrs gold would like oh my God Dr gold would like to uh extend it it would be well in well well in in advance before um okay so then yeah so then this would be something that would a Personnel recommendation and then we would be able to discuss want to follow my personal recommendation but it'll follow just how it is right now y okay CU she's now being paid as she'll be being paid as a vendor okay and um this is I was just looking when it had crisis communication um as far as the job that she was providing um just being on the Safety Committee I guess for future I I think that would be whoever holds that position that would be someone that I think
118should be part of the Safety Committee um discussion if she's going to be or this person is going to be in charge of Crisis communication yes and currently um for has done crisis Communication in regards to when something happens at a school helping administrators to make sure that they are uh sharing the message and we are within legalities because she also focuses on working with our legal firm as well to make sure we're putting out the right information because I see some this where fire and police would want to be involved in just how are we getting out getting the word out if there is a crisis so that we're all together yes commun uh public relations plays a very very important role in several facets of the organization and just I guess to make
119a note would this be someone whoever does it to be in is be invited to be part of the Safety Committee going forward we can do that yes okay roll call please East Jenkins hi Shen hi Su donic hi wind hi pinsel I and then D school calendars okay next item is for school calendars for the 2025 2026 and 2627 school year is there a motion so moved second questions comments I do just want to say thank you for doing two um it seems like it's for the last couple of years we've only had one at a time and I I'm happy to see multi multiple years because I've gotten questions from the community um for future planning it's nice to see to it to here so thank so I'd like to just thank the
120administrative and the union leaders uh for working on this uh we have gone back and forth and made sure that we have covered uh everything from the beginning of the year to the middle of the Year professional development staggered days all of those things so again I appreciate the work uh the collaborative work that's fabulous I do have one question um for the first day of school for 25 it says grades 1 through 5 or the 19th but then 1 through 12 or the 20th we know which day I think it'll be confusing potentially for parents looking at it it's usually those transition um grades but we'll have that all Spilled Out before we um do that okay yeah it looks like the younger kids are going on the 19th and then the rest it's
121usually the transition grades okay which is like kindergarten five seven those right well make sure that's spelled out yes we'll spell that out good because we did that this school year we had uh what we need to know to start school 5 S9 yeah right roll call please East Jenkins hi Shen hi sionic hi wind hi pel hi her next item is Stow Mar Falls Public Library trustee appointment all right have a motion to open up nominations okay is there a motion to open nominations so moved second roll call please East Jenkins hi Shen hi sik hi wind hi Benzel hi do we have any nominations for the trustee position yes I would like to nominate Diane Mangan I'd like to nominate Mike jindy I would like to nominate Carrie mot oh my I just
122want to say we had such an amazing uh batch of applicants for this position um and I appreciated everybody who um offered to step up into this position uh I don't know that there's a bad choice in the crop and I will say we had nine people apply for this position and I I just want to publicly State I think that's a reflection on how fantastic our library is and in Stow and mineral Falls we should be we should we should really acknowledge them they they are amazing over there and I'm not just saying that because somebody that works at the library sitting directly in my line of sight but really it is amazing they're celebrating a 100 years and I think getting that large a pool of applicants is a direct reflection on how
123terrific they are is there a motion to close nominations so moved second okay roll call please East Jenkins hi Sheen hi theod donic hi wind hi bsel I so at this point when your name is called you indicate which of the three nominees and I don't know if we need comments about any of our nominees if you want to share why you think that's the right person ready yep e Jenkins um Mike jundy I was very impressed with his uh resume and his experience Sheen Diane Mangan Su onik um Carrie mot I think that coming from the library Foundation moving over to uh trustee position would be a a very smooth transition within the library wind jundy Benzel Mike jundy okay that's it we don't need a further vote on that correct nope okay cool
124all right uh F next item is to resolve uh declare an emergency wave of the three Re meetings and adopt a new board policy 2265 but first and second then we'll have a discussion is there a motion so moved second and the reason for this is this is State mandated and it needs to be effective in a very short frame of time which does not allow us to do three readings um doing three readings is our policy it is not a state mandated policy and it is in our policies that we have the the ability in a situation such as this when three readings aren't possible to wave that three reading policy and go directly into approving it but I can let Dr Gould explain what the policy is and so the policy is protection
125of individual beliefs affiliations ideal or principles of political movements and ideology okay questions or comments do we need to approve that it's an emergency separately from approving the policy or is that all wrapped in together I believe that's all wrapped in together okay yeah and are we approving or adopting because it seems like this is mandated so we are really just adopting it not approving it yeah we're approving the emergency resolution and adopting the Nea policy with no choice but to do yeah right exactly we were given no choice told okay roll call please East Jenkins hi Sheen hi ponic hi wind I Benzel hi g g includes the third reading of the Neola board policies volume 43 number one October 2024 the board packet a is there a motion so moved second questions or
126comments roll call please oh I'm sorry yeah I just have some just some questions on some of those and this is a third reading of this correct just just be clear that we stuck with that policy and I have some things to share also Mr Shan um let's see this would be it just says that the superintendent shall establish um doc documents um where are those documents if we were to find want those so if if you let me do the a few points here I think it'll kind of clarify uh the policies that we have in this particular packet okay okay can you see so first I'd like to start with a glossery terms because there are several terms in these policies that will definitely uh I call Ed you speak um so um
127these are the glossery of terms that you'll hear me use uh in this particular presentation to uh discuss the policies that the board are now in their third uh reading so you hear AG administrative guidelines uh we all know that do is now the um is the Department of Education and Workforce which was formerly our Department of Education you're going to hear the term Edgar uh used which is the education department for General administrative regulations these are the uh people who set guidelines and regulations that govern anything around federal education programs and so this particular packet of policies that we have uh have something to do with federal education programs that are coming into the district you've heard us say a lot about Neola and they provide policy and guideline updates to school boards and
128help them to be legally binding and in compliant with anything that happens so that's where we normally get our legal updates from niola and then you have the office of budget management this is the office that assists the president in meeting policies budget management and anything regulatory that um will fulfill uh any statutory requirements and then you also have here uh the uniform Grant guidance regulations so when we say that uh this is coming from ug Edgar now people understand exactly where these policies are actually coming from that the board is reading uh here uh um for the last time on this evening so from The Office of Management and budget uh there were several guidelines that needed to be revised and in order to have that revisement there are certain things that they look
129for and these are located in your title two things so they look at incorporating statutory requirements and administrative priorities they want to make sure that we are reducing agency and recipient burden so you don't want the burden to be uh on the district they want to clarify any sections that the recipient or agencies have interpreted in different ways so they go through and they actually have taken out the language that needs to be taken out and actually Rewritten it and put it in plain language so where in your policy you will see these things marked out that is actually coming from the governmental agency and legal entities that have actually looked at the uh policy so whatever you have in green is the new recommendation and anything in pink is the old uh items within
130the actual policy in order for us to understand exactly policy versus administrative guidelines in this particular packet there were policies as well as administrative guidelines for us uh for the board to actually look at review and adopt when we talk about board policy we want to make sure we understand that these are the overarching goals and principles that the district is bound by these are the things that lead are legal things uh that happen What happens in the administrative guideline is that it truly translate the policy it gives you that day-to-day operation of how that policy is to come to life into the district all board policies we know are legally binding and approved by the school board the school board does not have to approve an administrative guideline the administrative guideline can be stepped
131out in the school district because it's your policy and procedures and how things are done so I just want to make sure that we are understanding those two things and then for uh both policy and administrative guidel lines it is for the broad audience we want to make sure that it includes staff students parents as well as the community uh when we are thinking about the policy as well as the guidelines so what you have in volume 43 under your ug Edgar revisions are we have things that fell into students and the 5,000 realm and those were related to Senate Bill 29 that is why those items came up we also have items that related to the group in 6000 which is what uh Mr Shen is asking for uh here and those are the
132finance items that fall under anything that has something to do with Federal uh grants in the 7000s we have all of our property things and you can see there that there are three things under the property that have an as and those are because they fall in line with Senate Bill 29 and then we have three administrative guidelines that go along with um some of the items in the finance area so though they were we were given the administrative guidelines to go along with the policy that we will be looking at and so Mr Shen has asked about the internal controls for 611 so yeah so the first one was uh I'm just going to go code P 6114 it just says here cost principles a cost is reasonable if it and then goes on
133who who does who determines a reasonable cost yeah that if it's not spelled out in the ccip depending on what Tye type of federal fund it is um typically anytime we are getting grants that is for specific items or reasons um and then once you we meet those reasons it'll come down the approval process of Dr gold and myself okay and depending on the amount of it it would might have to require board approval depending on how much it costs all right the next was P 5136 it looks like pretty much every type of electronic device was crossed out so is this pretty much saying we can use anything sorry so we had our technology committee take a look at that some of those devices are no longer even in existence yeah uh so we
134didn't uh select those we only looked at the ones that we currently are uh using or that we foreseeably see uh within the next uh three years so rather than stating them specifically we just kind of did a broad brush as far as technology available at the time yeah um on page three of four it says accessing and monitoring School issued devices and accounts it looks like here on that part that is highlighted um that the student is protected against accessing their school issue device is that is that am I reading that right yes and that which policy is that one um U well this was still part of um 5136 okay and it was on page three of four and it was the the highlighted area that you have towards the bottom accessing and
135monitoring School issued devices yes this one is um coming from the um legal department um for us to look at so the the kids are protected yes uh the next was 7530 staff use of personal communication devices um at the bottom of that first paragraph it says using the device in a safe and appropriate manner um who monitoring how the staff is using their personal communication devices who determines what's an appropriate manner so we have firewalls up on uh our devices so uh there are things that staff members cannot access and uh believe me the students have told me what they can and can't access because some of the things they can't access in their classrooms um so there is a firewall up on certain things and certain places as well and Page 205 about
136a third two-thirds of the way down um in that highlighted area it says staff may not delete or otherwise destroy any public records Andor education records that only reside or exist on an employees PCD um personal yeah what is our so an employee leaves the district what do we what is the policy for immediately deleting that information or not or not allowing that person to have access to that information are the passwords immediately closed down are you know what what happens when somebody's either fired or leaves the district so um Our IT staff have the capabilities to shut things completely down before uh a person can even get to that point of doing that where they can't access anything so is that part of kind of your exit interview interview you saying hey as soon
137as you're out out the door everything's turned off as soon as the date is there um this was 7540 student technology acceptable use and safety um this was about one two three third paragra fourth paragraph while the board uses various Technologies to limit students using its information and Technology resources um you're talking about the apps and services um well it's 75 uh 75403 page 205 um I'm reading this that the student has has is open to these apps but that the school basically does not take any responsibility on how they may be using those am I am I reading this correctly no the apps that they're talking about in the first paragraph are apps that have something to do with curriculum those apps have already been vetted through uh making sure that there is no
138third- party violation and remember we discussed earlier that now we have a process by which if you have an app or you're using anything that's technology wise it has to be approved uh because we have to take it through legal counsel uh to look at third party rights due to Senate Bill 29 okay yeah yeah I just wanted to make sure that you know we an app doesn't slip through and a teacher says oops you know I didn't know that that was on there or whatever that that student accidentally found or on purpose um that there is some capabil was it that we there is some responsibility on the school yeah right now anything that the students are accessing on their Chromebooks all of those have been approved and we have also shared that if
139you are using any of the outside apps whether you are a coach or teacher in a classroom or whatever they have to be approved you cannot just automatically uh add a student to uh any of those type of apps or Services okay and then the other one was 7540 uh page three of five this would be it says BCD then another paragraph then the next paragraph monitoring may include but not necessarily limited to visual observations of online activities uh then it goes on to say the district will provide parents with appropriate notice to the extent by state law um so how are we doing that when are we doing that and where would we be doing that where would the parents be notified of that so this is all part of Senate Bill 29 remember
140the 72-hour notification uh when um a student accesses or any of those violations happen the parent is notify okay and well and then and this didn't this relate to the school as well so it depends on where they are who UND does the notification so if I'm in a classroom and the teacher is there the teacher is doing the notification if I'm am doing it as an administrator I'm looking at something with a student then the administrator has to do the notification so it depends on who where because they have to tell the location why it was accessed when it was accessed and with home okay um two more okay um this would be P 6110 uh just down there it said no federal funds received by the district and it goes pretty pretty extensive
141there so um I'm happy to see that we have some guideline there and then the next page 205 under whistleblower protection um you know where where an employee may not be discharged demoted otherwise uh discriminated against as against as a reprisal for disclosing information to an appropriate agency or individual so again I'm I'm glad to see that so that the teachers have feel that they have some recourse the last one is 6550 um this is on the second page two of two says about three sentences down conference cost must be appropriate necessary manag to to minimize cost for federal award and again who monitors that you know as far as costs for those types of items is that a discussion between so that's as Patrick said that's if we uh depending on what the federal
142monies that are coming in uh and then we have to look at the conference cost uh that is also associated with that award and those are something as a board that we're notifi we we're made aware of before the money spent yes because it would be outlined as part of the um actual Federal W so if you have um professional development that's going to happen you can see that line item that's all always outlined there okay thank you for your patience oh no problem anything further roll call please East Jenkins hi Shen hi ponic hi wind hi Benzel hi new business uh first item of new business is to approve our organizational meeting date I believe it or not 2025 starts in just over two weeks um so we'd like to set a date of
143January 13 2025 as our organizational meeting date is there a motion so moved second roll call please East Jenkins I Sheen I sionic hi wind hi Pinel hi the next item is to appoint a president proem because as of December 31st we do not have a president so we appoint a president proem who can preside over the organizational meeting until the next president is uh chosen by the board so is there a nomination for president proem yes I'd like to nominate Dr wind I'll second that nomination okay anything else right all right roll call please e Jenkins I Shen i sionic i Wind I penel I and then the last item is Stow Parks and Recreation trustee position this is just a discussion on that I'll turn that over to Dr wind so we realized
144that in the course of talking about pH that position uh that we assumed it had been posted and it was not uh so if you noticed that our meeting that we had scheduled uh that was to conduct those interviews we canell that last week um and we will be moving forward making sure that uh the notice of the parks and rack opening is posted in all of the appropriate places um and uh making the deadline for those applications um I think February 1st makes sense if we look at a potential for a work meeting on February 10th then if we can have the applications for a reasonable amount of time we can potentially incorporate those interviews into a work meeting rather than having to call a special meeting um and I realize that's kind of
145a long amount of time but with the holidays in there I wanted to make sure that it didn't get lost in the shuffle and that we gave people a reasonable amount of time to complete applications and then is in my understanding we don't have to do interviews there's no bylaws guidelines rules or anything that say we have to go through this I don't believe there is specific policy about how to how we would go about filling uh the parks and wreck opening similar to the library trustee opening that we discussed earlier we don't have specific policies about that it has been practice of the board uh to review applications and conduct interviews of potential candidates and this current um term expires on the 31st of December I believe it expires January 3rd of 25 yes
146or January 2nd and the the new appointment is January 3rd or however soon therea the person is appointed okay um I would like to make a motion uh I would like to make a motion to approve uh Patrick Crawford to the trustee position on Stow Parks and Recreation board so that would require the that would require amending the agenda and as a rule we don't tend to amend the agenda and add votes no you are correct because yeah we are not in discussion right so all right and then we move on to 14a which is Board of Education meeting dates for 2025 um again this is just discussion we're not voting on this this gets voted on at the organizational meeting but chance for us to discuss and share opinions and thoughts just going over
147the two um just to be clear for for people you know paying attention the two options are essentially a quarterly work session or uh keeping with the practice of every other meeting twice a month meeting once a regular meeting and once a work session um my preference would be for that model um because it seemed like when we tried to reduce our work sessions our meetings got very long and um we ended up having to schedule extra special meetings to cover handle business I would like to see um us move more into and I think Mr Sheen brought this up to um you know the way he was under the impression that work sessions should be more of discussions and not handling regular business um and I think despite the fact that my research showed
148that that's kind of always what the board has done I think there's Merit to maybe looking into doing it that way and unless there's a special reason to hold a vote um to just sort of keep practice just be that that would happen at a regular meeting I don't know what anyone else thinks about that I think I'm pretty much on that same page we we experimented early this year with not doing work sessions monthly um and it got wild trying to do everything in one meeting in a month um and we did have a lot of occasions as you mentioned where we had to schedule um special meetings additional meetings in order to fit in um all of the necessary business time sensitive matters that kind of thing uh so I think for me
149I I lean more toward having those monthly work sessions and making good use of them um and having relevant presentations from staff and some really rich discussions digging into things um but I I feel like that time has been valuable when we have those the monthly work sessions and I go back to our November Workshop where we talked about um devoting having one meeting devoted to sections of the Strategic plan and at this point yes there are 10 sections of the Strategic plan um and there are 10 work sessions generally there's usually not one in January and not one in December so it does provide that opportunity so and certainly I think that it would make sense if if the consensus among the board is that there's not anything to discuss that we just cancel
150meting corre EAS the meeting than add um I think it is far easier to cancel than to add absolutely and I will say in in the past there was a a hope that work sessions would not include votes and I think maybe once or twice that happened but in general there's just always it seems like there's always things that since the board's going to be together can we vote on this and get that done and in the interest of you know approving field trips and contracts and things that there was timeliness to it that it it made more sense to do that but I think it's it's a good objective I was going to suggest that if we're going to have votes that that we just call them all regular meetings but let's be very
151specific on our agenda about what we're talking about where the meeting is going to be all of those different things as opposed to the work session versus the regular meeting right if we think that we're going to need to vote at these let's just make them regular meetings well and and as we've discussed in our trainings a meeting is a meeting is meeting um and I think it does tend to confuse folks if right the regular versus work right um but we can um definitely make that clear in terms of the agenda and and that kind of thing without the confusing language I agree the calling it a regular meeting versus a work session was definitely more of an internal term and it it it did cause confusion externally I agree right because work session
152doesn't really mean anything it is just a regular meeting so and people would ask well can I go to a work session well of course it's a public meeting but it I yeah it did cause confusion Point well taken yeah so along with that because we have here Tuesday January 28th it says work session regular meeting so if we continue that through um then that would make sense as well because because then you look at say April 7th and it just says work session so if we either if we title them just work session or work session regular meeting and then if we do have to vote at a work session it's a regular meeting so we can you we're not right we're not um we're not confusing the issue again it was more of
153an internal term for us knowing that work session me we're going to have committee reports and regular meeting me we're going to do more of you know the the checkbook and the minutes and superintendent recommendations and things then people can look on the agenda and see all they're going to be talking about is XYZ yeah committee reports and things but it is a regular meeting right I think I think it probably would be best just to simplify the language to it's a meeting MH you know without the regular work uh language being in there at all yeah or again they see the agenda and then can decide do I want to be part of this doesn't look exciting I'm not going to this one does it ever look exciting and I think for me that's
154the other reason why I lean toward um the two meetings a month is because then uh we can plan for it and we don't have to scramble to match schedules to add a meeting if there's something time sensitive and also that uh our community can plan on it that it is a a regular pattern of meetings um and I think when we tried not having two meetings a month we got out of that regular pattern and I think it's helpful when the community knows when to expect us to be meeting yep and then the only one like for 202 by December you know it has us at central office so being that that is a regular meeting that we could schedule that at a school location whereas the work session regular meetings are at central
155office right I was wondering if having uh that first meeting of the month that we would have called work session but we will stop doing um I was wondering if if we wanted to continue scheduling those at central office or if we wanted to say make use of a meeting room in the Fieldhouse um or move around the district for those meetings similar to the second meeting of the month um what are we i' would be open to anything other than central office there's some value with keeping with the past practice of of rotating once per month only because I think it might cause an issue with the schools being ready for us that that often but at the same time like I mean just meaning like uh if there's going to be a principles
156a building report and a performance and all that I don't know if we need to do all of that twice a month um correct unless administrators want it I suppose but I mean I don't know if we need to add all that it seems like a lot that would be like one of the bigger distinctions I think that we have with work session vers regular meeting was none of that stuff happened right just keeping it distinct the first meeting of the month tends to have these typical things and the second meeting tends to have those what are our thoughts in terms of location for the this the second meeting of the month that normally we would have put it at central office I think if we had a nice board room where we could have
157a nice meeting and nice setup uh that would be great um but kind of like today it's just like it's nice to have the space to where you kind of get more comfortable and not feel like you're on top of each other um so would there be enough space if we used would there be more space if we used a meeting room at the Fieldhouse potentially I think the the community room as it is now is not much bigger than the board our conference room and the co um so it would just depend on how many people attended and once again just make it more comfortable for people so could we be the school library or the high school library we've done that is an option it is I mean it can accommodate more people
158yeah we used to do quite a few of our meetings it's just an easy access I just think central office is I think people are intimidated and certainly the senior citizens who are in crutches or wheelchairs or anything it it's it's almost impossible it's yeah kton or the high school I think are the easiest just because there's um you know seatings already set up and nobody has to go put out folding chairs and all that and obviously there's times of the year when this isn't available yeah you know and similar for the auditorium at the high school right absolutely you know it's obviously not always available the library would be potentially a little more available yep okay I guess it's something we keep thinking about yeah so just the first meeting that's which was typically
159the the work session um do you want to keep that floating or just kind of between the high school this Auditorium or kind of what's just nailed down one location so it's kind of out there so people community knows like hey the first of the meeting of the month is going to be at the high school library as long as it's open um and that way our team that sets all this up kind of knows ahead of time and then the second meet in the month it'll be at the specific buildings which is always nice and that'll be where kind of like the board report not board report building report is um and they could advertise that building so so I think before we decide on a location we might want to just speak to
160the administrators of the schools I know that there was a bit of a surprise today walking in and you know they were kind of scrambling to to clean and we don't want to do that to our staff so just giving them the heads up to say hey like which month might be the best month for us to come to your building if we're going to be in in the library or whatever and I I do want to add um one someone mentioned about the voting at the work s work sessions um I know we recently have added more personel recommendations the reason we have been doing that is we don't pay them until their board approved um so them taking six to eight weeks to get paid is kind is is rough so we kind
161of threw that on there every month or every meting meeting so that way they get paid faster so yes so that's something we support that very much so and I think if we just take the word work session completely away it eliminates that confusion and we don't have to worry about not voting correct yes very nice thank you all right at this point we open it up to comments from our community uh at this time we welcome any additional comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the Board of Education all comments must be directed to the entire board not any one specific person and be no longer than 3 minutes we will listen to and consider your remarks but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions if you are seeking a direct
162response or further information we ask that you submit your request in writing please begin your remarks with your first and last name uh oh oh I see it now yes my name is Faith Greer I here again to tell you how appalled I am to know we have a school board member who pledged to moms for Liberty an extremist National Organization whose stated purpose is to destroy public education moms for Liberty has been labeled an extremist Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center a civil rights organization that tracks extremists what I will be sharing tonight is information sourced from Wikipedia so you can check it out for yourself the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that moms for Liberty is affiliated with the proud boys a far-right Neo fascist organization and gaze against groomers an anti-lgbtq
163plus group in June of 2020 3 an Indiana chapter of moms for Liberty released a newsletter quoting Adolf Hitler at the top of the newsletter though the chapter chairwoman later apologized at the National Conference just Days Later a co-founder of moms for Liberty stated her approval of the quote from Hitler and the audience cheered moms for Liberty has been criticized for harassing school boards and staff deepening divisions among parents and making students education more difficult they Advocate Banning books and curricular material one example of this is a fictional account of the American Civil War used with fifth graders because of quote out of marriage families between white men and black women end quote in addition moms for Liberty openly opposes teachers unions blaming them for problems Public Schools might face these are just a few
164of the reprehensible tactics mom for Liberties uses yet we have a school board member who made a pledge to them an extremist group associated with fascism racism homophobia transphobia that harasses school districts and staff Advocates book Banning and actively fights against teachers unions in an effort to destroy public education again I'm absolutely appalled this is certainly not what is best for stowman R fall students is certainly not the example we want to set for our children or grandchildren thank you hi my name is Ali Bloom I'm the former student representative to the Board of Education in the stone Minal Falls City School District um I wasn't planning on speaking tonight however I cannot comprehend why anyone on the board would be opposed to or questioning the purpose of allowing a black student union in the
165school the group would be open to any and all students which will promote acceptance between all students and understanding for all students in the district in addition the students expressed a need for the group and went ahead and filed a formal application following the process that is supposed to be followed in addition suggesting that we should have a group or suggesting that we should not have a group for these students because many people are different is ignorant and shameful growing up in a or growing up a different race in a predominantly white city is not the same as growing up in the majority if you are not willing to equally protect all students then you should not be serving on the school board thank you hello my name is Amy Jones I a resident of
166Stow I'm here to talk about trading or lack there of um of a board member again a board member has refused to go to trading several times and then claims that the board is conspiring against them they have also claimed in the past they do not get agendas for the meetings before I came to this meeting it took me less than 5 minutes to look up the agenda for this evening every other board every other member on the board does this and is prepared um this person chose to run and got nominated for this job and is it is not only disrespectful to your fellow board members but also towards the students that you are representing as a former educator I understand how crucial training is not only for educators but for anyone who works
167with so many educational bills being passed law and policies across the state and country are continuously changing so any training to do with education is important and should be taken at any and every opportunity [Applause] Matthew kaban living Stow um as we can see again on display is an allout attack on Mike Shen uh we should be used to this uh we just heard a lot of Hal truths not even Hal truths about what moms for Liberty is about uh complete and total smear campaign uh we heard a young lady come up and uh accuse Mike of being completely against this uh new uh new thing the students wanted to put together with this black Council uh of which apparently she wasn't paying attention because Mr Sheen voted for it um what he was doing
168was asking questions about it and he got those questions answered appropriately and that it's his job as as uh sitting School Board member I I I don't know what people think they're going to get out of and how we move this school district forward by simply going after that man why what what what are you going to get out of that honestly today there was a little bit more cooperation in the board that I saw there was a lot of good questions some back and forths but I stood before this board before and said you guys are acting like a bunch of children and it seems that except for this current meeting this doesn't stop we have a lot of social media posts that are going out from board members and from other people that
169enjoy slamming the community uh going at after actual citizens people who have kids uh and dared vote for Trump and vote the way that they wish to vote that's their right I I honestly don't get how Stow Monroe Falls and this kind of behavior like children how this is allowed to go forward and you guys think it's actually going to be beneficial to our kids really our kids are suffering and you're responsible for that I would suggest you get off that man and help this board all of this board move forward for the betterment of the community and I'm sorry I know I'm an evil person for saying I want the children to succeed but that's what you all believe wow pot Kettle this is Carla Brown the minion with an opinion I attended the
170last meeting where a board member called the others out for their opinions shared on their personal pages regarding election results and I thought how odd it was being that it was their personal pages and the election was done so what is the why bring it up here why now then I got home to see a records request had been released that very day regarding that board member's own posts on their personal page ah yes the cya but those posts kind of PED in comparison to those of the accuser post described by the reporter as discuss in and I quote race relations trans discrimination including the use of the derogatory terminology trainning covid conspiracies a photo of a black congresswoman on a pile of poop election fraud anti-islam Zenobia Banning Pride Flags the phrase it's okay
171to be white with counts of people killed by white versus blacks all stirred in with posts about students another uh report says all of these posts by a government employee are are public and sit aside pictures of student athletes and another says I really wonder what diverse students and parents think about one of our coach's social media posts I'll personally add we have a growing diverse Community here in Stow I believe there's 17 different languages being spoken by students just at Indian Trail alone that's diversity we need to stick up for all of those kids Kyle Feldman addressed this with then coach and was assured the account was deleted only to be contacted Again by reporters shown otherwise Kyle demanded this stop I do not know the outcome as the coach resigned before any consequences
172were given after yet another incident besides these points come up then there's the pro Trump posts that were on the actual account for the SCH the girls School lacrosse team and any of the girls or members of the page that spoke out against it were promptly removed this was an employee of the school who is now supposed to be here representing all students how anyone can see these bigoted posts and think that this person should have anything to do with children is baffling someone who admitted in another meeting that their goal and purpose is to speak out at meetings whether it's appropriate permissible under Robert's Rules or on topic they are just here to grandstand for their mom's a liberty audience someone who slipped and admitted right on video that some of their notes aren't
173there a puppet it's time to ignore the petulant and keep getting the work done as the goal here seems to be stopping any work or progress and the antidote is to just keep moving and doing what the majority of the citizens voted for you to do uh my name is Marty Simpkins and I'm here about the lawsuit um I understand that we have again been fined $1,850 and I'd like to see that this stops the board either learns how to play nice and follow the rules and get along or maybe what we need to do is look at having our people that are doing these issues and getting sued be responsible personally instead of the taxpayer I do think that perhaps maybe if that can't happen then we maybe we should be looking at some
174resignations and maybe get some people on the board that are a little bit able to follow the rules and the regulations and think a little bit more on fiscal responsibility instead of all the whining and crying on Facebook thank you very much hi my name is Charlotte and Derek I live in Stow first of all I want to thank you ladies on the school board for your service and time it's just evident that you really care about all the students and the teachers um I've had to sit quietly while being while seeing the members being verbally abused and attacked by Stow citizens imposs noncitizens and in spite of that I've noticed the president patiently will try to take down notes because she wants to know what the comments are I have heard a few things
175on the news that's you know quite concerning and I think maybe a lot of people might seem to forget number one our opioid opioid addiction is high in Summit County as reported in the acram Beacon Journal so it sounds like we have a drug problem and we can't say it's not going to happen here in stove also I recently heard the news that Ohio has pass has the highest rate of suicide among our youth now there might be somebody that can elaborate because I'm just reporting what I heard on the news and then finally again we've had another school shooting in a small Christian School in Madison Wisconsin so it seems like we have to keep constantly hear about the violence and the death by guns it seems like our you know our students our
176teachers are under a great threat and we can't just like a daily say it's not going to happen in Stow because it could and I don't see how a resource officer with a handgun is going to be able to protect students when the other when a someone with a gun can walk in with these ghost guns or the machine guns so that's some things I think that we need to really think about is you know how we're going to protect our students and the students a lot of students obviously have mental health issues that you got to find out what's going on with them and thank you [Applause] right at this point I will entertain a motion for adjournment so moved second roll call please East Jenkins I Shen ionic hi wind I benel I
177we are adjourned at 8:37 p.m.