001order the Monday August 21st 2023 regular board meeting of the stone Monroe Falls City School District to order at 7 pm roll call please Baxter president Weisler here siwa Dominic here wind here Brown here please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance all righty begin each meeting with our vision statement everything we do is designed to provide a future ready student-centered learning experience for every single child our strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience from curriculum to infrastructure to Wellness diversity and inclusion and everything in between as members of the Board of Education we serve as trustees therefore this is a business meeting being conducted in public not a public meeting we are grateful to serve and engaged community and therefore
002encourage and respect input from our citizens we respect that we expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students and we reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting first up tonight we would like to adopt our agenda do I have a motion so moved second rule comments or questions roll call please ler aye siwa Dominic aye wind aye Baxter aye Brown aye first on our agenda is the superintendent's report and a building report from Kimpton Middle School Mr Bratton great thank you good evening everyone and we are certainly looking forward to starting the year tomorrow we have open house I think wrapping up right now is that correct Mr love I think lakeview's open house is going on as
003well and we had Elementary's last week so I think we're ready to rock and roll so excited about that we will try to make it successful as possible I know our teachers are ready I know our classified staff's ready and we're looking forward to the starter tomorrow so we're going to start off a really good evening with um Mr love coming up and doing his building report for Kempton Middle School Mr love now it is perfect sorry you don't want that um it's a moment so that is our Rock scoop sorry I think I was supposed to turn it on before um perfect so that's our rack scoop so this is exciting uh we're gonna start this this is a new thing uh we're gonna do Wellness Wednesdays uh and this is a really a
004rain shot of our of our school psychologist Mrs Bree Livingston uh who's fantastic she's around here somewhere but I don't think she wants to come up um but with our Wellness Wednesdays we're gonna try that we're doing our win activities we're gonna have um different people from the community so you're all invited let me know if you're interested uh and they're leading different almost like workshops or different classes for students that students can sign up for to participate in that one day um just because you're a math teacher it doesn't have to be math related I'm hoping I can take some students out for a run uh there's going to be puzzles therapy dogs different things like that again kind of our design for that is how do we connect with kids what do we
005do for that what's that look like and also it's fun for our staff to be able to do that to show a little bit more of their personality too with what they're doing and our plan is eventually we'd love to get to where we do it the whole school wide on one day but we're going to start one grade at a time to see how that goes and see how the weather works out but but we're excited for that my favorite picture in the middle too it's kind of our plan for wellness Wednesday and one of the things that this kind of sprouted from that's me and Mr Dietrich playing basketball with some students and I'm holding up a number one I think my team won but it definitely wasn't because of anything that I
006did on the basketball court um but we love we love those opportunities when we're able to play basketball with students after school we're able to do those different things I'm really sore after we play but it's a lot of fun I mean as we're as we're shorter to Shorter as we're talking as we're having fun but then also as we're kind of modeling good sportsmanship and we're cheering each other on and that's something we want to see that's going to be able to continue to happen we're excited because we're going to start another group that's very similar to that where we're doing some different things kind of throughout the year we'll call our building Champions group and we're interested to see where that goes and we're looking forward to that we're looking forward to those
007opportunities to kind of work out play basketball and do some different things together perfect and then finally our last thing is our eighth grade DC trip again this is created by our teachers um you know with when covert came we weren't able to go to a trip for on a trip for a while and we used to go to Philadelphia um it was our teachers Mr Shannon and Mr Eckert that brought it back um I think I would have been okay to see it go away but I'm so glad it's bad because it is an awesome awesome trip for our students they have a great time this past year we went the first time since Kobe we went in the spring and that was our first time doing that um and it was great because
008you know you're we're at Dave and Buster's playing games with kids uh we're seeing these historical landmarks we're able to just have a great time with staff and students and it's just awesome so we're excited this will be the first year that we go to Washington DC and we're going back to our fall routine so we'll do that any oea weekend so that's going to be a lot of fun so it's weird because I feel like we were just on a trip to think that it's just coming up again but we're so excited and again I can't say enough it's because of our teachers it's because of our staff that those things happen because not only Mr Eckert Mr Shannon who planned that it's all chaperone by teachers it's all staff members who are there
009and they they give up a lot of sleep and they have a great time a lot of time on the bus but we have a great time with our kids so really that's that's all I wanted to highlight today I want to thank you for letting me talk up here and some of it you got to hear and but I really want to highlight just our staff for really just stepping outside of their comfort zone and doing all those things and I can't say enough I don't think he's here you might snuck in uh Mr Dietrich he does it all right he does all the different groups as well and just really sets a tone for for what we do here at Kimpton and it creates a positive place so with that thank you thank
010you Mr I love the idea of the wellness Wednesdays Mr love that's something that I've been trying to work with the high school the past couple years on trying to create and it's a little bit more difficult at the high school because of schedules because of having four grades and those type of things so I'm glad you were able to get it worked out or at least a pilot of it yeah so maybe we'll learn something from your success and be able to create something at the high school as well so thank you Mr love all right at this point of the agenda we welcome comments from the audience on things that will be voted on tonight I don't think we have too many things we're voting on there will be another comment section at
011the end of the meeting for other types of issues we invite citizens to share their concerns about items on today's agenda that will be voted on comments All comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than three minutes we will listen to and consider your remarks but there will be no conversation aside from maybe some clarifying questions if you're seeking a direct response or further information please reach out to us via email or phone and we will get back to you step up to the mic and start with your first and last name please there we go good luck thank you hi my name is Becca Moskowitz I wanted to use my time to speak in support of tonight's proposal for a Stoneman or Falls High School dance team my husband
012Aaron and I have two daughters in grades six and eight both of whom have been dancing since age three our story um hoping there could be a dance team for our girls in high school is not unique to us as I've quickly learned there are many families in our district with a similar desire and are eager for a team for their talented Bulldog students Falls there are at least five active dance studios with an estimated 1 300 dancers ages 3 through 18 feeding into the stone Monroe Falls City Schools a dance team at our high school would give this community of Bulldogs a specific Club Sport and high school community group to look forward to they would have a club that is in line with their dedicated and committed extracurriculars outside of the school this
013team would allow these students to continue their dance studies and be a participant within the Stoneman low Falls High School team not all students are traditional Sports bound this new team would allow these students to find a home a group of friends and their place to belong in high school many nearby surrounding school districts have successful dance teams including Woodridge Hudson Springfield and green some of these established teams give dancers a chance to letter something we could consider evolving to in the future students who are able to let her on a team are able to include this on college applications something they may not have been able to do or include otherwise well speaking of college dancers who dance on a High School dance team have an advantage over other dancers who try out for
014college-level dance teams due to the style of dances they perform therefore graduates of stone Monroe Falls would leave our high school with greater skill sets for Collegiate dance teams if they are afforded an opportunity to dance at the high school level finally a successful dance team could also evolve into a high school competition team and compete at the oassa regional and state competitions this could bring home trophies for the school and overall recognition for stone Monroe Falls High School this would further build a sense of Bulldog pride for the entire community for many months I have worked tirelessly with Kyle Feldman trying to find the best way to make this opportunity a reality with several other dedicated parents we have developed plans to give these dancers a chance we have over 65 families interested on
015social media and we bought on board an extremely talented motivated and passionate coach Allison gazafi willing to volunteer her time to provide dancers with a chance to continue to grow their skills talents and art form throughout their four years at Stoneman Road Falls High School furthermore we have stoma North Falls alumni and current staff members lined up and eager to also volunteer their time and talent to students who deserve a home in our high school thank you my name is Dan dismuke about this anti-racism policy that's again it was on the agenda that was published okay would you like me to speak later then yes please okay thanks all right next on our agenda is the motion to approve the consent agenda do I have a motion so I moved okay roll call please I'm
016sorry who's second mark thank you sewardonic aye wind aye Baxter aye Meisler aye Brown aye Mr Bratton all right thank you um it's gonna be a little bit lengthy here so I apologize we had uh a month off so we're doing some catching up so um at this time I'd like to recommend the Board of Education to prove the consent agenda items B through I and I'd like to read the names uh and information of donations listed in the consent agenda and thank these folks for what they do for our students and for the district to the high school wrestling team the following donated the Bain Enterprises donated 500 Cardinal asphalt 150 Sean Christie 150 Dennis and Jennifer Dever donated 280 Emmett equipment company donated 150 Clara Faber Foundation James Dunn donated four hundred dollars
017Construction crewsofohio LLC donated 240 Brian d'antonio donated 280 dollars Michelle and Richard grenig donated 280 Marhofer Chevrolet donated 100 and work acquisition Services Inc donated 150 dollars other donations Bain Enterprise also donated 500 to the school district for convocation day Meyer donated over four thousand dollars to be used for the staff t-shirts for the 23-24 school year Haley Obert donated a hundred dollars to the high school girls tennis team and Western Reserve Hospital donated 500 to convocation day as well those are the list of our donations this evening thank you [Music] any comments or questions I always screw this up we should be boating on it now correct all right any comments or questions all right do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda second I know okay we did that you got
018to remind me I gotta do that's okay after that okay next is they just vote now and they need to vote treasurers consent agenda can you do roll call for consent agenda first okay all right roll call sword onik aye wind aye Baxter hi liesler aye Brown hi okay treasurer's consent agenda yes but she doesn't want one treasure recommends that the Board of Education prove all items listed in the treasures consent agenda a through e do I have emotion it's all moved second was that Leicester and wind thank you any comments or questions okay we'll call please wind aye Baxter hi Liza aye Dominic aye Brown aye okay next superintendent's recommendations [Music] sorry I have to get the correct papers in front of me here I'm asking uh letter A I'm asking that the Board
019of Education approved the following employment recommendations under letter A do I have a motion so moved second questions or comments full call please Baxter hi leisler aye Dominic hey wind aye Brown aye under letter B um I'm asking the Board of Education to prove Rick rimalak as evening assistant custodial maintenance supervisor effective August 10th 2023. do I have a motion so I moved second any comments or questions I'm sorry who's second thank you roll call please aye Baxter aye Brown aye under letter C The Summit County Board of Education or Board of Elections needs to use Echo Hills Woodland and Kimpton at no cost for a pre-election meeting on November 6 2023 and for public voting on November 7th 2023. for security of our staff and students there will be no school on November 7th
0202023. do I have any motion so moved second Chrysler wind thanks comments or questions we'll call please sortonic hi wind aye Baxter aye leisler aye Brown aye letter D this memo of understanding um is to eliminate the stem assistant supplemental position at Kempton middle school and add a new supplemental position called DC trip chaperone who would chaperone students on the Kempton middle school trip to Washington DC this position is created for the next two years that would go along with the contract that was just passed there's no increase in cost this is a one one for one replacement of a supplemental that we're no longer using and so instead of we just basically changed the name of that supplemental to one that we would be using so I moved second comments or questions so is
021it is it correct that previously when they used to do the Philly trip like all of that chaperoning was just done on a volunteer basis correct that the lead chaperone was never correct because it wasn't a negotiated position right Mike right okay our teachers really are impressive yes they are roll call please hi all right Now we move on to Old business and tonight is the second reading for our new Neola board policy anti-racism the second reading there is no action needed tonight any discussion or comments one place where the word is should and I thought it should we should change it to shall under curriculum and instruction I agree with the sentiment that's the second paragraph all curriculum materials shall be examined for racial bias the Dei curriculum and instruction committee staff students and
022parents should be given the opportunity to provide input I don't know if we want to change that to Xiao I think it makes sense which section are you on It's the final page of it under curriculum and instruction the second paragraph okay sounds like here you know like yeah it's nice if they don't have to yeah got it parent comes up and has concerns right questions that we want I think we should we need to be absolutely certain that parents and students and staff have the the option to to weigh in and Mrs suledonic and I have talked about a couple changes that I'll be recommending that um I I don't have them with me right no problem and I don't want to confuse any issues right so this is the second reading we will
023vote on it at our next regular meeting in September so and I'm assuming any of those changes um go like get flown past our legal counsel yes wow correct before we have a vote correct absolutely okay absolutely yes okay uh next is a new business first is the proposal for the Bulldog dance team and I don't know if anybody wants to speak to that um I will uh I I would like to propose that the board adopt the dance team um the you know I one of the things I talked to our administrators about are that 66 of our students that are suspended or expelled do not belong to something the more positive programs we can start in our buildings creating more interest than just the norm interest what I've always been amazed at quite
024honestly is that we didn't have one with all of the dance things that are go on in the city of Stowe and and all the other different places that teach the lessons and whatnot um I see it as nothing but a positive a character builder a place for for kids to belong and um I just think it's a it'd be a great opportunity to start this thing and let's see how it goes and I I appreciated some of the explanation about some of the background and certainly that that we have folks um I'm going to assume mostly parents but maybe not all but that we have people who are willing to step up and organize it and Lead it and that it's not going to cost the school something to have that they will work
025on fundraisers and there's a lot of people donating time and professional expertise on this correct it's amazing when people step up absolutely yeah and I'm so glad they did yeah it's kind of shocked and that we didn't have this right me too um then when I read this I was like oh okay cool yeah shocked that we didn't have this already right now is this only for high school right now yes do we have any parents that have expressed interest at Kimpton or Lakeview do we know kind of pile it at first and make sure we got all our decks in a row and then spread it from there that'd be a great idea I just had one quick question just for clarification the the very good introduction from our audience member is it proposed
026it's a single single gender or open school I wasn't quite sure because it's multi-gender that's what I hoped I just wasn't quite sure from what was that that's all thank you just curious do you have I mean you mentioned a number of girls that were involved or have been involved do we have a number of males involved as well um not as many yes oh that would be combined total I got you okay thank you yeah yeah if I could add um I just wanted to say you know when I reviewed reviewed the proposal the first thing I did was check it up against our strategic plan and I feel like you know it hits so many marks from you know staff and student wellness to diversity and inclusion to Fine Arts and Athletics or
027should have a bulldog just down the line and I want to thank Mrs Moskowitz and everyone else that that um took part in in investigating Mr Feldman um you know for his part and Mr Brandon I think this is very well thought out and I'm very impressed so thank you I was really impressed with who's behind it um that Mrs Saucier was going to be part of that and she's an alumni and I know she's a dancer and she's a teacher in our district and then Gabby spiegelmeyer I knew her very well she was one of my best best ever employees and her family took over my business so I just love that family and I can't say enough good things about Gabby so you've got solid people in place behind this so very well
028done very well thought out wonderful addition all right doing this backwards do I have a motion so moved second G comments or questions uh roll call please Baxter aye reisler aye suadonik aye wind I brown aye congratulations next under new business we as a board need to appoint a delegate for at the osba capital conference in November to attend the delegate convention um so I wish to recommend to the board of educa that the Board of Education delegate and nominate someone to send a member to the osba capital conference on November 12 2023. um I will open the floor to nominations I'd like to nominate Carrie supabonic for that legislative liaison I've never done Carrie liaison Kerry makes the most sense since she is our legislative liaison but she will do a good job as
029the delegate at the conference okay um any other nominations all right uh do I have a motion to accept Carrie suedonic as our delegate at the osba capital conference on November 12th so I moved seconded roll call please Baxter aye Eisen aye super Dominic aye wind I brown aye all right last on uh but our new business is a board discussion of our student representative and how we're going to accept applications yes and I've asked uh principal Murray to be here as well this evening I spoke with uh Mrs wind and Dr wind and uh we decided to uh that would be a good idea for her to be part of that discussion so right so now that we have our student representative policy in place we had agreed previously on the questions in the
030application and kind of how that would look but at this point we need to discuss how and when to put the application out there and what a reasonable deadline would be for us to receive the applications back so that's part of why I wanted the expert opinion of the person who is running the high school since it is high school students were recruiting so locations to be due I think that would be good I think that will allow us to get the word out there to the students as well as allow them some time to think about it and then do their Indulgence in filling out the application and getting it turned in okay I think we can also uh you know we can promote this within the high school we can get our announcements
031we can have our teachers reach out to students as well especially students if they know would have an interest big great so in order for the announcements to happen and the teachers to talk to their classes about it end of September seems probably the earliest we could potentially expect applications back um in terms of the board anybody have any feedback on that suggestion from Mrs Murray I think it's fine yeah yeah one that was reasonable and then I'm I'm picturing us then once the applications are in taking a few weeks to consider and make our decision but then that would hopefully put someone in place with us with the board end of October early November so for most of the school year and then next year the hope is that we do this before the
032end of the school year um in in that sense what would be a good time for us to think about putting this back out for next year's representative so that we can get applications in before the end of year Rush hits the beginning of April okay [Music] it'll be a nice thing that our student rep can help us do yeah we're really excited about it it'll be a nice nice addition very much so okay so we will have the applications um put out and with the deadline of end of September for this first round great let us know what you need from us yeah I mean we already agreed on what was on the application so I think it's just ready to roll um any other questions about that thank you for all the work
033you've done on this yeah I'm happy to do it I'm excited to add that student voice I I'm really excited to see how it works cool all right any other new business I have one thing I want to bring up real quick we might want to look at moving the date of our September work session right now it's subtle scheduled for Monday September 11th and a lot of times there are other things going on on the 11th so just give some thought to that and we'll of course make the community aware if we do move that date all right now we'll move on to our second round of comments um this time we welcome any comments and concerns our citizens may wish to bring before they the Board of Education all comments must be directed
034to the entire board and be no longer than three minutes we will listen to and consider the remarks but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions if you are seeking a direct response or further information we ask that you submit your request in writing please begin your comments with your first and last name thank you hi my name is Joe Garson first off I would like to as a dance mom of over 15 years think all of these wonderful ladies back here and kids who have put all of this effort into having a dance team for my senior so thank you she's very excited to be a part of this and Allison thank you for giving your time okay now for the reason I did want to speak tonight during the fall Sports
035meeting I had asked Mr Feldman why are all sports pass for students was 100 which he does which is double many Local Schools he specifically said I was wrong and that he had we had one of the best prices in the area and some of his other local athletic directors were mad at him for having such low prices before the meeting I had done my research and I had noticed that both Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson student passes for All Sports were fifty dollars since then I have taken the time to go through 55 local schools in Northeast Ohio perusing their websites and their Hometown site to see what their all sports passes were priced at I have shared that spreadsheet with the board for your information but we were by far the most expensive at
036a hundred dollars um last year our student passed was 78 I know that it has gone down to 78 dollars after um I'm not sure at what point it went down to that but it is back down to 78 for this school year um it's still a lot so a student would have to attend this is when it was a hundred dollars but 25 games during the school year to make this pass affordable for reference there are five home varsity football games eight Varsity home basketball games and while I understand there are other sports unless you are a super fan it doesn't make it worth the cost which is sad because many of our students play their sport to a small grouping of just their parents and you rarely see other students attend he also
037went on and on about how he's upset that we have to take cash which was passed by the state legislature I'm gonna stop you because we we will not tolerate personal attacks so if you have questions about the policy that's fine but not about him directly about any one person directly okay um so the State Legislative State Legislature passed a law on July 4th that high schools are required to take cash for all events um and that we at stubborn Falls would be charging more for a Cash ticket than we would for a credit card ticket Hometown ticketing costs 9.58 cents for a ticket um because our ticket is priced at eight dollars and Hometown charges the dollar 58 fee if I want to pay cash at the gate I have to pay ten dollars
038there are fees associated with Hometown but why are we punishing someone for paying with cash by charging more I understand credit is easier but you have to make the game successful and like I stated before some people don't have or can't have a credit card or Electronic Banking Some people prefer to do everything for cap with cash thank you my name is Dan desby regards to the orwellian named anti-racism policy this policy contains no standards things that have been re deemed to be racist in recent years trees being on time cold weather solar eclipses dogs farmers markets reading C.S Lewis reading William Shakespeare if you don't have any actual standards it can mean whatever you want it to which is the standard Tactical authoritarians we ate a lot of touchy feely things but nothing of
039substance principal love was speaking about a lot of new programs he wants to do but no address to the numerous violent acts that happened in this very School in this past school year including a girl that had to be hospitalized after taking a beating in this school [Applause] but all we get is oh well we'll we'll do nice things and we'll build a multi-million dollar Field House spending other people's money for your political aggrandizement is in no way helpful to our students constantly spending money that government does further and further into debt people pay half of their income in taxes anymore between property taxes sales taxes income taxes they just keep going on and on we cannot keep spending ourselves into further debt and whatever game accounting games you want to play we are spending
040our children into debt they will never pay off it needs to stop and I don't care about your picture in front of your pretty new building we need to actually address real issues take care of the students actually educate them and stop wasting money the school district when they approved new roofing for the high school gave a low estimate couldn't get it awarded then gave a high estimate got bids under that high estimate and then had the gall to dishonestly call that savings this is a standard tactic of con men and shysters and sleazy politicians I would like in a school district that actually cares about education it would be a nice change of pace thank you okay my name is Heather Galliano and um I am a parent of five some have already graduated
041and I have three still in the schools I am an almost 11-year cancer survivor I actually had terminal brain cancer and I still have cancer in my brain there was a photo showed to me um a lot of people saw this photo it was a lady she looked like an older lady and um she was just sitting who knows what she was thinking about she looked absolutely at peace and a photo was taken of her and posted and it was referring to her as Ronald McDonald I cannot tell you how much that broke my heart because people's on this board Administration sit and talk about anti-bullying and being inclusive and being kind and that actions are speaking louder so loud that we cannot hear you your words actions speak so loudly that we cannot hear
042your words I was devastated I pray to God that my my instinct was incorrect that she is not fighting any kind of illness and I pray to God that her and her family do not see this because by God it is disgusting leadership is influence and you guys have influence over the community and over our students my children my children wanted to come here and speak on my behalf because I was there and if the cancer grows in my brain then I will be there again and I can't even imagine somebody taking a photo of me regardless of what color clothes I was wearing and refer to me as Ronald McDonald or anything else so I just I just needed to say that thank you can I just I just want to say you're absolutely
043right and it was me that took the picture the woman was down near Cincinnati not local and my intent was to make fun of myself and I was completely wrong in not considering how that there was another way that could be interpreted so you were 100 correct and 100 correct to call me out on it so I appreciate that and I do sincerely apologize for what it's worth the lady was actually very pleasant and she and I had smiled at each other a couple times and it just I just didn't think it through at all so you're you're right on that any other comments at this point we need to move into executive session for the purpose of discussing the employment of public officials there will not be any action taken after this um our
044next meeting is hopefully in September we will set up a date for our work session we all have our next regular meeting I know it's probably September 18th or 25th but that's it do I have a motion to go into executive session so I moved second roll call please sardonic aye wind aye Baxter aye liesler aye Brown aye okay we are moving into an executive session at 7 44 pm thank you