SMFCSD Board Meeting 2023-05-22

001that's kind of fun hi I'd like to call to order the meeting the May 22nd to 2023 board meeting of the stone Monroe Falls City Schools roll call please Johnson Bowers here liesler [Music] dolnik wind here Brown here please join me to say the Pledge of Allegiance I 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 the liberty and justice for all um we start every 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

002in between as members of the boards of Board of Education we serve as trustees therefore this is a business meeting being conducted in public not a public meeting we are grateful to serve an Engaged community and therefore encourage and respect input from citizens we expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students we reserve to write the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting first on our agenda is the adoption of our agenda tonight do I have a motion so moved second discussion and questions I would like to move to table the first reading of the anti-racism policy until we can have all of our board members together maybe at our next work session perfect that would be under new business

003number 13. item d yes okay it's just double checking all right do we need a motion to we would need an emotion to amend our agenda correct do I have a motion so moved okay second roll call on the motion to any questions comments a roll call on the amendment to our agenda to remove 13d for tonight wind aye Johnson Bowers aye leisler suidelnik Brown aye okay um I also want to amend our agenda to at number six when we take our first recess that we will add a quick executive session for discussion on employment regarding one of our employees do I have a motion for that please so moved second discussion comments roll call please Johnson Bowers aye liesler pseudonic wind aye Brown aye and then do we need to agend okay okay and

004then I would also like uh under item nine Item B I would like to remove the Personnel recommendations from the consent agenda tonight and vote on them separately we don't need emotion or anything on that is that no that is correct okay just one clarification to move it off the consent agenda we could do that but to vote on them separately do you want to do every single one separately um not every single Personnel recommendation but I would like us to consider the administrator contact contracts separate from the rest of the Personnel recommendations okay so we could remove 9B as its own agenda actionable item but to remove something from that we would need to have a majority vote to pull those out of there okay we're just going to take it off the consent

005agenda though not we're still going to vote on it but just not as part of the consensus but I was saying separating out the items within that got it got it separate about the administrator contracts so I I move that we separate that item out from the other other things included on 9B okay so we have that motion do I have a second I'll second it roll call please one moment we're doing complicated things with the example pseudonic wind aye Johnson Bowers aye liesler Brown aye okay I think that's all the emo the amendments to the agenda so now that we have our agenda totally amended any further comments or discussion roll call please ler suadonik wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye next on our agenda is some recognitions I'll turn this over to

006Mr Bratton good evening and thank you we have a lot of people here this evening and this is uh should be a really fun evening and an honorable evening for everybody in the audience so the first I'd like to start off with some recognitions of our students and to do that I would like to call up athletic director Kyle Feldman to introduce our different groups two different groups thank you I want to thank the board of education for the opportunity to recognize a team one of our teams here today and a number of student athletes who had a great winner appreciated the last board meeting when you we recognize gymnastics bowling swimming and now we're going to recognize some outstanding wrestlers and basketball players so thank you for that opportunity to do that just a

007couple of comments before I bring our head wrestling coach up to talk about a few wrestlers is we all recognize that we're judged on test scores end of course exams we we get all that however um as the athletic director I'd be remiss if I didn't say the life lessons of commitment teamwork how to handle fear and failure are unbelievable and done on in the gymnasium on the playing fields and the things we do in extracurricular activity so just this year alone right 573 fall student athletes 286 winter student athletes 525 Spring student athletes so that's 1384 maths important right kids are impacted over the course of this year with life lessons and mentoring and being a member of a team so I think that's important and we appreciate you as a board recognizing the

008fact that we're recognizing these kids here tonight so why don't I have Craig Wilson our head wrestling coach come up um as Craig is coming up he'll wreck he'll uh bring come on down guys that we're recognizing tonight the ohsa state qualifiers and all of you can come down and stand in the front yeah you guys can just stand up here Facebook yeah Jeff yep um Craig says 76 still graduate we had an 11-2 dual meet record which is outstanding uh two tournament wins Smithville and Lake I'm going to runner up at stolen and I think the important thing when I just was getting ready to introduce Craig and J.R his assistant is the board adopted a strategic plan for athletics one of this team and I think we said it was alignment this year

009Scott Campbell let us do youth wrestling on Sundays these guys paid for the paid for the custodians so we got that but they were here and I had the opportunity to be here twice during that event if you saw the relationships that our coach coaches are doing are student athletes who are working the tables developing relationships with youth the alignment was outstanding and that's a strategic plan that we adopted from youth to Middle School to high school so this program did it better than anybody else we're still working on it but it happy to recognize these guys and I'll have Coach talk about these young men here but I just wanted to mention that as that strategic plan was important piece that we all did and you did as a board so Craig Wilson I'm

010not very good about talking they said a good head because this is our mouthpiece right here I just want to congratulate JT Hill another outstanding season he's a senior this year undecided so far for college he finished this year's Match away from placing at the state tournament Teddy Gregory going to be attending Slippery Rock in the fall for football he's a two-time state qualifier this year replaced fifth in the state was also recruited to play in the is it the North and South All-Star football game starting linebacker and Robert Davis is a junior Place fifth in the state this year glad to have him back for another year and one big thing with Teddy and JT they were our captains this year and it really changed our team the way they practiced the way they

011handled themselves those are the kind of leaders that you want your program to follow and they did it outstanding really proud to coach these guys good job yeah just go right across thank you [Applause] congratulations congratulations [Music] thank you I just say if you don't know much about wrestling the the honors and and what they these young men accomplished is absolutely incredibly difficult to do and we certainly are proud of you and honor your achievements tonight so congratulations next up is boys basketball our head coach Dave close also a 1976 graduate of stone Monroe Falls High School 24-3 overall record 16 wins in a row it was an exciting exciting year um District Champions 16 consecutive wins I think I said that and I'm going to borrow coach knox's comment there was a little Gauntlet

012of games we went um beating Walsh and Sandy at home which I'm a little biased but I love beating to private schools right we have to play by a little different rules and then we went to green and Brecksville and there was about three games there in a row that coach Knox and this document here which I call a Chronicle called it The Gauntlet of games so if you don't know what this is coach close it kind of Chronicles the whole year just a couple of these things what they say I learned right creating a perfect environment that everyone wanted to be a part of I'm forever grateful and blessed to have learned so many life lessons from still basketball and as you through there's multiple comments from coaches from players from it's it's just

013a great document so this was a fun team it was a great team and you could see it and when you go through the comments Island the number of times teamwork is mentioned and we all know what's important right in our jobs in our Real World Adventures as we go to work every day I mean it is throughout and this team exemplified that they were fun to watch and they did not care who got the credit and that's not always the case but these guys was a lot of fun so coach close and guys why don't you stand up and just kind of come across the front [Applause] thank you Kyle thank you Board of Education This truly was a very special group um you know there are a lot of cliches out there about

014the word team these guys embodied it uh every day they stepped on the floor we had some very good basketball players night in night out they weren't looking for their individual scores they didn't really care who scored how many what night they want to win a basketball game they took every practice seriously they uplifted each other they cared about each other they embodied what we all want a team to be a you know a special moment for me was we'd played buns awaken Brunswick at that time was climbing the state rankings and we had to go to their place and it's a non-league game's potential what they call Trap game a little bit because you get up for the league games in the non-league game and um and we played very well and it was

015like it was 30 to 11 in the second quarter our kids really played well but after the game their athletic director came up to me he goes coach your your program your team exemplifies what what every sports teams could be like how they play together how they act together how they talk to me before the game how they talk to the opposing team how they interact with officials and and they're cleaning up on the bench cleaning up your bench after the game and uh so that they weren't um just good basketball players they were stewards of what this should all be about and um we're proud of these guys and and what they accomplished I think what they accomplished was surprising and it's everyone uh they ended up ranked third in the state and there's

016a computer poll out there who end up because of that Gauntlet so to speak and the people that we were able to beat um would be a number of state-ranked teams they ended up ranked first in the in the computer poll uh stumbled a little bit you know sort of our goal and um but these guys accomplished so much so I'm just going to kind of read through these guys names and some individual accomplishments and again invisible conference really don't even fit because it was so much about team seniors first Nick Timberlake was an all-league player for us Nick would you just raise your hand wherever you're at there buddy that's a senior Titus Baskerville all League player for us um Nathan Boozer all League uh player for us and AJ pastels on it and

017go to be here he was all all league as well uh AJ happened to be uh first team academic all Ohio as well so we're proud of him there um three of those seniors at AJ Rhys are AJ Titus and Nick are all going to the same College to play basketball so this whole thing if you follow our tweets at all better together we're going to keep it together so that's exciting it makes you know only one trip I got to make to a school instead of three or four different trips to watch these guys continue their careers we're excited for them and and wish them the best and Nathan's going to play college football at wall so we're proud of him as well our Juniors uh Rhys Raymond Smith was an all League all

018League player and an All-State player as well as AJ Tyler fleshauer and emerging if you guys would raise your hands Michael Romano Juniors Tyler Spiegel Jr Tyler Harrington a junior sophomores cam Marconi Austin wilhoy Michael calcaterra and a freshman Jacob Harrington outstanding coaches coach Knox coach Knox right there did a great job for the amount of time he put into these guys in the season and we had to send uh see this carpal tunnel evaluated during the year you spends so much time breaking down film on his computer with huddle Mark Eggers our JV coach and Ben Johnson Bowers was a volunteer assistant I spent a lot of time with our JV annual varsity team couldn't be proud of these guys for what they did on the floor and what they did off the floor

019thank you very much [Applause] thank you congratulations [Music] thank you congratulations okay put it there you guys don't have to stop you can go as they're walking back I think the college that they're all going to is Bob and Wallace so I just want to say congratulations coach to you and your team the excitement that was brought to this community was amazing to see when you walked in the in in these playoff games the amount of people that were there it just blew people away and nobody rivaled our fans uh anywhere so the amount of excitement that you created for the community and for the school does absolute remarkable work and uh for for what we do here so congratulations and awesome job thank you once again thank you Board of Education Mr Brown thanks

020at this time I would like to bring up coach Terry Whitmer to talk about some CT or CTE Awards [Music] you know it is um it is my honor to introduce two of our four Varsity Esports rocket league players this is Logan Seaman he's to the to your left here he's in grade 11 and Matthew Coleman is a 10th grader we also have a senior Tyler Zepp and another 11th grader Brian Harper they competed in rocket league and I don't know how many of you know what rocket league is but it is a sport a video game where they're playing soccer with cars so and I have learned a lot we started the story in kovid and I thought it was just going to be a temporary thing and I can't stop the motion from

021happening it just keeps going so this is our third season in a row for winning the Eastern rocket league play versus Championship which is a great honor they play against it starts off with 128 different schools that they're competing with in the Eastern with against in the Eastern Time Zone and they won throughout the season I think they only lost two matches out of all of their games for the whole season which qualified them for the playoffs and then in the playoffs they played six rounds and one through that so they won the cup Logan you want to hold it up it's a heavy cup and then when students when the teams qualify for a cup they can I mean for the playoffs in the Eastern region then they can compete in the National cup

022which has a four thousand dollar prize per team they played they started playing last week they got through rounds one two three they played the fourth round today they were in the top eight of the nation and unfortunately they lost but they put up a good fight they really did and I think that's a tremendous tremendous accomplishment for them and unfortunately we have one senior we're going to be losing but we've got some others on the JV team that I think we're going to do some great things next year as well thank you would you like them to come out okay congratulations hey congratulations [Music] for something that most of us never heard about until Cove had hit um I tell you what our students and Coach Whitmer you guys took off with it that's

023for sure and uh wow a lot to be proud of there and congratulations to your students and best of luck as you continue forward now you don't get to leave yes you've got a couple more introductions I do Emmett Johnson I believe Jared so they couldn't make it here today I know Emma Johnson this is Emma Johnson and Jared dakovic are both CTE programming and software development students which are they're in my CTE program and every year we compete with our Career Technical student organization it's called business Professionals of America and I'm very proud of Emmett he won um I think was it second place at regionals last year or first place first place Originals last year went to State competed in Python Programming and then this year he won first place at regionals went

024to State won first place Python Programming at the state level that was qualified to proceed onto Nationals he then went to Nationals in April Anaheim California for BPA Nationals and he competed against top winners among the states who participate in various business and I.T technology skills competitions so Emmett won second place in Python Programming at the national level he also participated in Certification testing and he earned I.T industry credentials while at the conference I'm very proud of Emmett and he's an amazing amazing I.T programmer he's going to do great when he graduates he is a senior this year so best of luck to you congratulations thank you you're not going to carry the job congratulations foreign [Music] having been a former Career Tech director I can tell you that getting to those levels is nearly

025impossible with the amount of students that compete in those events so what an absolutely amazing accomplishment uh at that level so congratulations thank you at this time I would like to bring up a coach or I shouldn't say coach Mr Mike love and Leslie hanum talk about the Kempton spelling bee [Music] thank you so much for having us here tonight and uh it is it's very exciting it's awesome and you're to watch a spelling bee it really is your your I don't know the words what they mean or how to spell them and it's just shocking how the how great they do and how how well they participate so a big part of that I do want to introduce our library media specialist Miss Leslie haynem she's our spelling bee coach and she does an

026amazing job with amazing kids thank you Mr love Ford um I need to bring it up here with me Mayan and Lori Bonk if she's available because I cannot take this credit at all by myself with Maya uh Maya came to me this year as a seventh grader and she said um hey I know we're practicing for spelling bee but I need more words and I said you need more what because no one in seventh and 8th grade asks for more words they look at me when I hand them lists and they say um but Maya asked for more words and then she came back again and she said um I don't I don't think you gave me all of the best and I was like whoa we're in big trouble now so um Maya

027went to the city spelling bee and that's the spelling bee where we compete against Kempton competes against Lakeview and holy family and uh she took first place there so she just really killed that and then went on to The Summit County Spelling Bee Where She Went multiple rounds to earn second place and so we have really high expectations for Maya she is an amazing student she did a she did a fantastic job in spelling bee this year I don't know that Stowe's ever had anyone do that well in the county B and I don't want to jinx anything but I would really be surprised if we didn't maybe get an opportunity to go to Washington DC next year so that would be really awesome so this is Mayan [Applause] coached Maya all the way through

028Lakeview so they had really great relationships so I wanted her to share that yeah thank God congratulations thank you thank you thanks I think Mr love said it all about spelling bees and most of us as far as uh words and understanding and then having to spell them so congratulations Maya I look forward to big things from you next year at this time Mrs I would be bringing up Mrs Don Baker who's our transportation director but she has some personal issues that she has taken care of this evening so I will be doing reading what Mrs Baker left for me I would like to bring up for the front um Tom Bukowski Jan Carlton Patrick Crawford Allison Laughlin and Jen Simpkins are you all here come on [Applause] thank you these are are What's called

029the Rodeo bus drivers uh winners that's a huge contest amongst bus drivers that they have to come they don't have to compete and they volunteer to compete in and they did extremely well they practiced for three weeks during their break and on Saturdays all of which is volunteering then they went to Streetsboro on Saturday April 22nd 2023 to compete against a hundred other individuals from the region still placed a third in the group which is four drivers total combined scores they are tested on basic knowledge of school bus rules and regulations and general knowledge of laws there are 100 questions in that test then they drive the bus through a course with a judge on board and the route consists of correct procedure of railroad tracks Maneuvers correct procedure for student pickup and drop off

030and again they went there they competed as a team and they took third place amongst 25 other teams so congratulations to our drivers [Applause] oh God it's nice to see those drivers on our team it means our kids are being well taken care of so congratulations to you guys once again at this time I would like to invite the following principals up to recognize the retirees in attendance tonight for their buildings so first on our list is Mr Dave ulbrich principal at Echo Hills [Applause] should we have the retirees come down can I have Kim Harrell join us at the front please here sure that'll be fine uh good evening everybody tonight I have the honor of recognizing Kim Harrell Kim has been an aide and our special education classrooms here in the district for

031a remarkable 27 years during that time she's taken on many roles within our program in particular she's known as a bit of an organizer and a cleaner if you were to leave something behind in room one at Echo Hills I can almost guarantee you it's Kim who will get it back to you and she's not over the years she's refined her ability to push our students to achieve maximum Independence while providing care and compassionate support but most of all she leaves us with a legacy built upon laughter even on the toughest days in our program Kim can always find a way to lighten the mood and keep her colleagues laughing and feeling good about being a team room one and Echo Hills will not quite be the same without her so Kim on behalf of

032the entire Echo Hills family I want to say thank you and good luck [Applause] this time I would like to bring up Miss Tracy white from Indian Hill or Indie Trail sorry Indian Hill I used to be from Cincinnati and there's a school down there called Angelina I apologize Indian Trail good evening everyone thank you for allowing me to present Mary Ellen Missy please come on down as you all know I'm fairly new to being a principal so I haven't been with Mary Ellen for all that long but one of my um one of the memories that I have from Mary Ellen that just means the most to me is of course during covid we had a teacher that at the last minute had to go gold which I know we're not really allowed to

033say but had to teach from home and Mary Ellen stepped up and she said I'll move to another building she was the senior teacher of the group of teachers but the other two teachers had young children at home and she knew it would be way more challenging for them so she stepped up she moved her as there are worlds our classrooms our worlds she moved her classroom to Echo Echo had a wonderful you know year there and then was able to come back with us which we were so glad about but that story just shows her selflessness she would do anyone anything for anyone especially her students she's a very out of the box thinker she does everything she can to help students solve problems give them the opportunity not just to learn in the

034way that they need to learn but also to think through that process for them so Marilyn Maryellen we thank you for your service it's been wonderful thank you [Applause] at this time I'd like to have Tracy cosmack from Riverview come up thank you for the opportunity and could Cindy Williams please come join me thank you so Cindy's been with us for the past six years and I had way more to say than I'm probably allowed so I cut it don't worry Mary Poppins that song about in every job that must be done there's an element of fun you find the fun and snap the job's a game Cindy does just that she works in one of our special ed programs as well I've not seen her carry a giant bag to Riverview but I have

035seen her use the tricks that must come from that giant bag so she is going to be missed greatly um she's also the kind of person that just brings an infectious smile and a positive spirit all the time she's willing to jump in whenever I'm eternally thankful I'm going to miss her and I am going to say that she did say she's going to come back and volunteer some so we're going to hold her to that thank you on behalf of Team Riverview sorry Mrs McElroy this one's on me so I get to talk about you why don't you come up there and stand in front oh Mary Lou McElroy is retiring as the elementary principal at Woodland effective at the end of this school year with 34 years of service and Stow Mary Lou

036started her career in 1989 as a vocal music teacher traveling between Lakeview Highland and Riverview in 1993 she moved to Kempton and remained there for 18 years in 2011 she became the assistant principal at Lakeview for two years then in 2013 she became the principal at Woodland and there is where she will complete her tenu tenure at Stowe Mary Lou has been a valuable employee to our district and definitely a long-standing rock on our administrative team she will be greatly missed and we wish her well with her retirement and on the golf course congratulations this time let's bring up Mr Andy and Tunis from Lakeview if we could have all the Lakeview retirees step up to the front I'd have you line up at the front like the basketball team did there's a couple of

037us anyone left Andy just a handful come on we gotta do it I believe that it must be an incredibly unique feeling to celebrate the few remain days of the school year and the final chapter in a career of service to others we can all feel the excitement anticipation that comes as the school year comes to an end but for our retirees I can imagine deep layers of emotion because it's not simply the end of a school year it is the Final Chapter tonight we recognize Suzanne always sixth grade teacher Nancy Burris fifth grade teacher Lori Bonk sixth grade teacher fadine fifth grade teacher Larry Gabriel intervention specialist Pam Gillespie sixth grade teacher Kathy Schmidt school counselor and Liz Latimer educational aide the challenge for me is to find the words powerful enough to match

038what each retiree has accomplished over the years for all of our retirees teaching is not simply what they do but rather it is truly part of who they are their impact is truly immeasurable if we were to recount the number of students share individual stories or hear from former students who are now successful adults we could never fully understand the silent impact they have had how they have made someone smile how they have helped solve the problem and how they have inspired others I want Suzanne always to know about herself as she walks into retirement whether former students who returned to visit each year know about her that she is a rock of stability always there to guide and push students to the best version of themselves they have come back year after year to

039say thank you and tonight we all say thank you I want Nancy Barris to know she has inspired me and I hope that I can maintain her positive outlook and kind heart her classroom is as warm and welcoming today as it was when I started at Lakeview in 2009. I want Lori Bach to know that her detailed and meticulous approach to each day to each lesson translated into the Apex of success for her students her professionalism her passion and her disciplined approach has brought out the best in her students year after year I want fadine to know that despite her quiet and role with an attitude I always appreciated her and admired her ability to reach students whether it be in a self-contained classroom in the very back of the building upstairs in a connected

040classroom working with a teacher partner and intervention specialist we're on the first floor down the hall working with a partner across the hallway no matter the circumstance Faith simply did what was best for our students without complaint she always saw professional development to improve her craft and always cared for her students I want Larry again and the long hours were appreciated worth it a teacher's job obviously extends past the school day but Larry spent countless hours working after hours and at home drafting IEPs completing progress reports looking at data and planning different Pathways for Student Success the skills she taught were carried with her students Beyond Lakeview I want Pam Gillespie to know I will never forget the jig she danced in the hallway before spring break this year that little joyful sincere dance of

041happiness embodied her Joy of teaching and the enjoyment she got being with her students each and every day she found excitement in each day even if it was a routine longitude longitude lesson she saw the best in each child in each class and in every situation her positive attitude was always contagious and made her classroom friendly and bright I want Kathy Schmidt to know that she always lifted students guided students and supported students when someone was down facing adversity or battling a life challenge Kathy was there to hold their hand and see them through she is a Cornerstone of Lakeview intermediate that provided a safe place for students and staff her contributions to the well-being of others is unmatched and her kind and caring heart is the reason so many students find themselves and discover

042their success I want this Vladimir to know how far we are reaching her impact at Lakeview has been I relied on her teachers depended on her students needed her she was the first to open the door for students she was the force that ensured we had the materials we needed and she was the right hand for many teachers her tasks and duties ensured Lakeview operate efficiently their impact reached every student and staff member in the building the empty space that each retiree will leave behind is infinite someone can fill the position that the person cannot be replaced each person is a part of the fabric of Lakeview we will not be the same without them I hope each of you enter retirement knowing what I know about you and knowing each of you is the

043best at what you do congratulations we will miss you thank you this time I'd like to bring back up Mr Mike love Kimpton thank you uh we have two retirees here from Kimpton Middle School first I'd like to bring up Mrs Kendra Jose [Music] all right Kendra you have made such a difference at Kimpton first as an invention specialist and then as an English language arts teacher you've done so much for the Kimpton staff you always bring us together always connecting others always you made us a team you celebrated Kimpton and that's 50 plus years for the birthday and you made it special you celebrated the amazing staff members the amazing memories and you play in an incredible birthday party for all of us speaking of birthdays you never miss anyone's it makes everyone feel

044special to have a card from Kenda Kendra in your mailbox on that special day you devoted your time your energy your effort and your husband Frank to make sure that our drama club flourish and had a proper stage for our performances most importantly you love kids and made me you you always went out of your way to help kids no matter what they were going through you cared and that makes you so special you also treated me with such kindness and compassion as I became principal and I appreciate that more than you know thank you Kendra for choosing to teach at Kempton thank you for making such a difference thank you for letting me be a part of still family and I want to thank my mom and dad for being here and my son

045who's going to become a teacher an intervention specialist for Akron schools he just got a scholarship so we're really proud I'm sorry I had to say that next I'd like to bring up Mrs Margaret gravier Margaret is an intervention specialist at Kimpton Middle School and over the years Margaret has been my partner we've spent so much time together especially walking the track and finding different solutions to help kids you are an amazing teammate always willing to think creatively to make a difference for kids no matter what that difference meant you put everything into your students and because of that your students always felt loved and always knew that they had someone in you in their corner when I think about you I smile because I think of your kids the impact you've had and the

046lives that have are now better because they knew you I will miss you Margaret I'll miss your humor I'll miss your well-time jokes I never expect and thanks for showing me how important it is to make kids feel good thank you Margaret thank you Mike thank you [Music] this time I'd like to bring up Jeff Hartman from the high school where is all these back behind the TV [Music] hello Sue Schwartz Mandy badar paclos Dave close Terry Whitmer or Jen Wolfe Karen Forsyth and Patty Newsom can you come on down please I see you Patty come on and Terry we know you're here already so you can't hide that's fantastic that's fine that's great there's only four of you so take a quick second so I want to recognize all of these individuals for the

047years of service that they've given to Stowe the uh I read a quote recently it said if you have a larger than average human heart that's because you're a teacher and every one of these individuals cares about kids connects with kids and has for decades when I talk with Dave and he talks about 35 years of being in in education it just it blows my mind I don't know what my beard will look like in 35 years so the fact that you still have hair is impressive but the the service that he's given the connections he's made the fact that kids come back to him uh it just says an awful lot about his commitment to kids and to the families that he's made those connections with over the years Terry is another individual that

048is making connections on a daily basis and brings so much value to our school and in addition to all of the other things that are happening she's also in charge of our senior class and this time every year she is calm cool and collected even though I think she may not think so but she definitely is and puts a professional face on what it is that happens at Kent State and all of our senior activities here it's amazing to see what it is that you do you're welcome and Patty Newsom has another is another individual that has been around with us for decades and continues to care about kids and I always appreciated Patty showing up and saying what can I do and she was never short of asking questions about how she could contribute

049to the school to the community we have felt her presence missing in our building since she left in September but it has been a a true pleasure to work with her over my time here and he definitely made this place a better place Patty so thank you for your service impact close last but not least is just another amazing educator that we have here at stow and really exemplifies all of the traits that we want in our teachers kind compassionate caring empathetic listener she has had her moments of coming in and wanting me to listen as much as I have sat with her and she has listened to me and that is not just something she's afforded to me but to many many other Educators that are in our community in our district so thank

050you for your patience everybody thank you for your dedication if nothing else for putting up for me with uh with the eight years that we've worked together but thank you for everything you've done for our kids and for having that larger than average human heart foreign as everyone makes their way back to their seats I certainly want to extend to you my best wishes on your new career path beginning next year as a superintendent at Galleon and we wish you nothing but the best of luck and we thank you for your service here thank you hey I am the last presenter and of course I am doing transportation again because Don Baker could not be here so we're going to start with Beth Hunter Beth could you come on down please [Applause] uh Beth retired

051as Transportation supervisor effect of February 1st of this year with 28 28 years of service and Stow that started her career at Stowe in 1994 as a bus driver in 2000 she went to Lakeview as a custodian and remained there until December 31st 2019. on January 1st of 2020 she became our interim Transportation supervisor and then on August 1st of that same year became our permanent Transportation supervisor and she will retire and she retired from that position on February 1st of this past year Beth really really really helped us when we were in a bind to fill the transportation supervisor position it is not an easy position to fill and then when you do it's even harder to find somebody of best quality to do it Beth helped us to bring so many different perspectives

052to the table for the drivers for the classified positions and and just for everybody that that she touched because she was a wealth of knowledge and she never said no anything he asked her to do she was always there for you and she's just done wonderful things for our school district and we wish her nothing but the best in her retirement best of luck to you Beth thank you foreign ER Steve is retiring as a bus driver effective May 31st of this school year with 17 years of service and Stow Steve was hired on February 14 2006 did you know that did you remember that and has been a bus driver throughout his tenure at Stowe I hate watching people with this much experience leave our district because they just know and they know the

053expectations they serve at the district so well and our students so well and your experience and your service are greatly going to be missed sir and I thank you for devoting your career to the stove Monroe Falls City School District thank you all right just to wrap up for everyone that those are the end of our recognitions of our retirees but I thought you might find it interesting to know that we have an incredible challenge ahead of us the leadership of the district because with this group of retirees we are losing 751 years of experience wow that's pretty tough to replace and there's nothing that can be that it can't be said that experience doesn't bring um great things with it and so we thank all the retirees for your service and your lifetimes of

054dedication to our students and to our district and uh I just wanted to say one more time thank you to all of you so thank you Mr Bratton if I could say something please as well um it never escapes me that when we have teachers walk out the building for the last time we are losing 30 now 35 years of experience and it's like turning the whole Leaf back over and starting with the one year teacher than the two-year and you know eventually you know they gained the expertise and so forth but the teachers we have in Stowe are amazing we take it for granted because we live in the city but I talk to teachers all over the country all the time and the teachers we have in Stow are just amazing they go

055above and beyond all the time so when your own children are singing at home on a rainy day at the kitchen table doing things you may not want them to do they have conversations and they talk about these teachers and that's when you truly realize the impact that these teachers have on their lives and I can't thank you enough really um and if I could slide this in also because this is my eighth year to sit at this meeting and hear all these celebrations and stuff and so it is with excitement and incredible sadness that that I'm here to tell you that I have except very exciting career opportunity and it's going to take me away from being a member of the stove Monroe Falls School Board this was extremely difficult for me and I

056have been honored every single day to serve the community and to support the students and the teachers but as of effective June 1st I will no longer be a member of the school board I will explain more of that at the end but I just wanted to put that in because really I just wanted to be part of this party but thank you so much I appreciate everything and so forth [Music] well that came from out of left field wow you mean John didn't tell you oh to new actually surprisingly I just want to throw this in there as a parent in the district I have two sons who graduated and so many of the teachers who are leaving us and and this and AIDS and things and bus drivers I know Mr Latimer I

057know you drove my sons um and they were good boys but just and even friends of mine who are teachers I I I I appreciate all that you do for the children and I'm glad that that's recognized but don't overlook what you do for the parents as well because often as parents your parents yourselves you know that there's times as a parent you don't know what to do your kid is struggling you know you're struggling you know as a parent I'm struggling at home and I could reach out to teachers and be given very solid advice and I'm looking at you Nancy Schmidt um but just I just Kathy Schmidt I'm sorry I'm sorry um but just and I'm looking at Nancy Barris and I'm looking and thinking Kathy Schmidt because Nancy Barris was the

058same way but just you did a lot for the parents as well and Bravo to everything you did for the children but for my parents heart thank you very very very much this is like that moment in Hamilton where they said can we get back please what's his face is crying because this is sad um all right at this point I'm going to ask for a motion for us to go into executive session for the person's purpose of discussing employment issues once we do that then I will be we'll go into recess for you guys so do I have a motion for us to go into executive session so moved second roll call please Johnson Bowers aye wind aye Brown aye all right we are going into executive session at whatever it is 805 p.m

059um there will be action continued meeting at the end of this so enjoy a break and those of you who don't want to stick around have a great evening thank you [Music] thank you foreign thank you foreign okay okay turn on your mic [Music] yeah I know does anybody want to come up and do song and dance for us we're open to entertainment Dr Hartman would you like to you know sing and dance for us you always said you were going to have to dance or something right was that you or you need the road how about a good you can do the the Cell Block Tango know when it's back listen okay we are back from executive session we're having issues with the lights it's a bit metaphorical that we're in the dark up

060here but we're going to continue from here the next thing on our agenda is a building report from the high school is that correct absolutely uh Dr Hartman would you like to come up and give your last building report for the high school please is this thing on there we go I don't really have a building report uh what I will say is the acknowledgment of the staff that has worked so hard over our time together the uh the last eight years has definitely been a journey we've been through a lot but I can say with the educators of retiring that are retiring this year and the ones that are remaining into next year the new ones that we have hired there is a lot of good momentum building in the building and uh I

061mean you can take a look at our map scores and they're they're moving and trending in a positive direction there is conversation that is happening uh in the building that hadn't happened when I arrived here in 2015. um you know one of my favorite memories from this year was when uh Meg shorts came running down into my office and she was so excited because a student of hers had had moved his map score in the positive direction for the winter Administration the part that she came down to tell me wasn't that he moved in a positive direction it was because he was so excited to tell her that's what was so exciting and so you know our educators are are are writing the ship it is a big place it takes years to do what

062many other smaller schools can do within 24 months it takes a much much longer time period for us to do that but once it's here it's here and we are moving in the right direction our teachers have the right mindset they're having the right conversations they have the right tools and I couldn't be more proud of the work that we've all done together in spite of all of the other challenges covid and not that have happened over our time here so that that's really the building report we have a lot of hard-working smart people doing really good things in our building and I hope that that whoever the successor is because you can never replace me um is able to continue and build on that work because there's a lot of folks that have invested

063significant amounts of energy and emotion in the work that we're doing with kids to improve those interactions and uh and our teachers deserve someone who's able to continue that momentum forward so thank you for the work that we've done together um resignation will be forthcoming thank you Dr Hartman we wish you the very very best you're going to be a great superintendent and good luck with your board so you'll have lights yes tractor lights anything else all right we're going to move on to our first section of comments at this time in our agenda we invite citizens to share their concerns about items on today's agenda that will be voted on only those things that are going to be voted on tonight comments on our non-agenda non-being voted on items will be heard later in

064the meeting all comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than three minutes we will listen to and consider your remarks but there will be no conversation aside Forum from clarifying questions if you are seeking a direct response or further information we ask that you submit your request in writing and please begin your remarks with your first and last name there any comments about items we will be voting on tonight okay we will move on to our consent agenda and bear with me while I work through my confusion on this all right um we already amended so please ignore when I read this if it happens to scoop up something that we amended and took out okay because I think that would be even more confusing if I tried to do

065that all right fair so I would like to recommend the Board of Education approve the consent agenda items B through R however with the Amendments included or yeah the amendments to the agenda included also this time I'd like to read the name and information donations listed and consent agenda and thank these folks for what they do for us and our students to the high school speech and debate team the following donated a Lakeview PTA donated a hundred dollars National forensic League donated 500 PTA Ohio Congress Echo Hills donated 300 dollars the SMF Community Foundation donated a thousand dollars and the high school PTSA donated 500 dollars the following donated to the high school boys basketball team Nancy Kovac donated 25 on behalf of Ted Miller who retired in 2003 he was the eighth grade boys

066basketball coach and her coach close and was a supporter of the program John and Judy taraba donated twenty dollars in James and Elsa Winterburn donated 150 dollars the following do I needed to Highland Elementary Don Ebert donated miscellaneous use the books and pure realm First Christian Church donated mailbox shelf mailbox shelving and Julia roach donated miscellaneous clothing to the clinic following donated to Fish Creek Elementary School Sandra Brown donated 100 to pay off student lunch accounts Bruegger's Bagels donated four dozen bagels and cream cheese for the raccoon run Kiwanis Club of stone Monroe Falls donated 300 and Richard Patterson donated 24 Art Supply boxes other donations include include amerisign the Talmadge Ship Center then a 150 150 to the high school Special Olympics event and Sean Christie donated twelve hundred dollars to the high school

067bpoa which is the business Professionals of America Club thank you so do I have a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda so moved second comments questions I do have a couple of questions I was I was curious I noticed the translation agreement um for Asian Services in action do we have other translation agreements I was just curious we do have a few um so it just depends on because we need availability so um but Asian Services is one of the primary ones so they provide a lot of interpreters for parent meetings but they also have a phone call option which is really nice if you need somebody on the Fly they are generally able to provide someone nice okay and I was I was curious why we're Contracting with Medina ese versus Summit so that's

068my fault um as a former Medina County person um so the um director of special needs initiatives at Medina County is a registered Behavior bcba so bone certified behavior analyst and she has an area of expertise and has she started those kinds of services and those weren't available at the Summit County EOC when I got here so I called her up and said hey I need some help so we've just started with that and we've continued with it so we have a behavior specialist in District two days a week great thank you sure any other comments or questions all right roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye Now we move on to the treasurer's consent agenda um or we go back to the we have to go back to 9B the thing

069we okay that's what I wasn't sure this would be 9B minus the administrative Cosmetics all right so that's what we will do now is the 9B administrative contracts okay I'm Wrecking that the Board of Education approve Angie farnes for a three-year contract uh starting next school year and running through 225 226. motion moved we'll call please question comments okay wind Johnson Bowers absolutely Brown aye I'm recommending that Kyle Feldman receive a three-year contract from 2023 to 2024 all the way through 2025 2026. motion moved second um it's questions roll call please Johnson Johnson Bowers absolutely wind yes Brown aye I'm recommending Laura Fortune receive a three-year contract 2023-24 all the way through 25 26. motion so moved second it's like roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers absolutely you betcha I'm just gonna mix it

070up today I'm recommending that Evelyn hot receive a three-year contract 2023-24 through 2025 2026. motion so moved second questions comments roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers absolutely Brown aye and I'm recommending Andy and Tunis receive a three-year contract 2023 through 2025 2026. motion so moved questions comments roll call please when no Johnson Bowers yes absolutely Brown aye that is it for my addendum right we have to Circle back to 9B the consent agenda personal recommendations minus the administrator contracts I'm sorry okay I recommend that the Board of Education prove the consent agenda for 9B minus the administrative contract section so moved please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown absolutely and the last thing I would like to say is um they are here this evening um our two new principles uh or they may

071have gone home by now oh there's some stories I can't see because it's so dark uh Mrs Nicole Marconi will be taking over at Woodland next year we welcome you here I mean in the Indian Trail next year I'm sorry she was at Woodland forever I'll be taking over Indian Trail next year for Mrs uh White and uh Mr Chris Keating will be taking over at Woodland for Mary Lou McElroy we welcome both of you welcome [Applause] [Music] it's good to have a fan club all right now are we at the treasurer's consent agenda yes cool I sure hope so we really are in the dark up here again I wish the board of Rec which to recommend to the Board of Education improve all items listed in the treasurer's consent agenda have a motion

072so moved second questions comments roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye okay Treasures new business okay I wish to recommend that the Board of Education improve the alternative tax budget 2024 for the stone Monroe Falls Public Library motion so moved second questions comments roll call please Johnson Bowers aye wind I brown aye [Music] yeah we'll see if it works let's hope my ITC experience could kick in [Music] thank you no you're sure there's some light okay now there's enough lights okay I think we're good okay Public Finance is always fun to talk about thank you okay so just a disclaimer every year by law the school districts have to give a five-year forecast the first one is in November and they have to do a follow-up one in May so by the

073end of November and may that has to be approved by the board and submitted to the Ohio Department of Education so just kind of some of the requirements the fiber forecast is only on the general fund there are multiple funds associated with when it comes to Public Finance but the main one that the state is concerned with is the general fund itself these slides are attached to the agenda so I'm not going to go over all of it um just because it's a lot of information and to go over it would take a lot of time and I don't think it's really that important so also the fiber forecast is a snapshot of what the district will look like in five years with the data we have today that we could kind of forecast throughout

074the remainder of the years so it's not 100 accurate there's obviously Ebbs and flows prior years you know we did not know code was going to happen and what that would affect Ed okay so I'm a very visual person so looking at graphs and charts makes a lot easier to understand where we are at so as you can see in the first bullet doesn't really help but the district started to deficit spend in fiscal year 17. so every time we deficit spend our cash balance is reduced so when that cash balance carries over to the following year you're worse off than you were the prior year um you know even though we did thankfully with the support of stone Monroe Falls we were able to pass the new money in November and the emergency Levy

075in this may with that being passed we are still in this situation we are in so looking at the graph on the top you see the red is expenditures and the blue is are the revenues and the green is the cash ending balance so these are in the Millions on the side and this is the zero line so as you can see it's projected by the end of fiscal year 26 to be at a zero cash balance or close to it and then in fiscal year 27 to be about 5 million by law it cannot pass cannot hit zero or exceed zero at that point we are going to be in a fiscal watch and we'll be borrowing from the state which we want to avoid at all cost just a different form of what

076it was so it's recommended to have at least 30 days most districts like to have 60 to 90 days of cash on hand and this is what that kind of looks like roughly it's about five million dollars for our district so as you can see as we get to fiscal year 26 even 25 um you know that's pretty hard to make ends meet with especially payroll only our payroll is on average of 1.2 million to 1.5 million every two weeks so even with the renewals and the new money you know we're still at that that spot where our cash is dwindling every time the expenditures exceed the revenues we're going to have a deficit in that year so our goal is to always have a bottom line of zero or how about positive for that

077year like I said I like the charts it's just visually easy to see and this is where we get a revenue our we get revenue from real estate taxes predominantly and a little bit from the state in federal as you can see we're 62 percent real estate funded so that's all the properties in Stowe in Monroe Falls that contribute to our the school's education a little bit from the state and Federal as you can see we get a lot of ours locally funded which is nice to have such a huge support from the school districts and a little bit from the state which also helps a lot I'm going to skip this slide because a lot of this is kind of just uncertain what the bill that's going through the governor's past the house it's

078in the Senate so it's a lot of uncertainty of what's going to happen we're staying optimistic we're hoping for the best um so when it goes to the expenditures this is the nitty-gritty of where our dollars are going as you can see wages and benefits make up about 82 and a half percent which is nice because we do have a very good supportive staff here at Stowe so we try to eliminate only cut one we absolutely need to and even when that it is determined it's not a very easy determination to come to you know we saw throughout covert that costs are just always Rising so Rising costs doesn't mean we get more funding which is what the state is trying to to do so it is difficult to save dollars when it's needed especially

079when you have older buildings that are going fast so as you can see just a different form you the red is the seller in salaries lose benefits material capital and other expenses so this kind of just shows that even if we were to cut some materials and other expensive like it would only make a dent in the budget even though saving some money is better than not saving any money we're really trying to avoid making cuts until we absolutely need to just other things about finances about the future you know like we're happy with our support the community for renewing those levies it's kind of a fast and presentation of that but I do have the actual five-year forecast I did want to see show you um actual versus forecasted so you see the revenues

080are up top other Finance sources and expenditures compared to what was presented in November this is extremely better I know someone says it always works out and it really did work out it does which is always nice so ideally we want to see black um zoom in a little bit more black is good bread isn't the best as you can see we are deficit spending throughout the fiscal years and just compounds on each each year by fiscal 27 if this still is read by November we will most likely be in for school watch or the stable kind of like Hey we're seeing that you're looking a little scary um we'll have to have a plan and me and Tom wants to come up with a plan with the board to say how we're going to

081get the red back in the black and we have to follow that and if not then they're going to say like you guys need help we're going to step in and hopefully it doesn't come to that because I hear it's a nightmare and then down here is um our next renewal would be for the in 2020 is 27 for the and when levies are bringing money it's half the first year and half the following year so you're not going to see what it what the levy amount was for that first year so otherwise we're trying to maximize our dollars is starting to invest more of the funds we have available we start Ohio right now is about five percent so the longer we could keep our money our dollars in Investments we see a bigger

082return rather than just sitting in a regular bank account it was very broad overview but anything you would like to ask or for me to dive into more so if if I'm understanding the numbers right by year three we start to get really close to that line and we're going to need either Cuts before then in terms of staff and benefits which would be our biggest source of where our money is going out the door and or we need more operating money coming in the door that's correct yes within two to three years yep okay and are the insurance holidays in your forecast you knew I was going to ask that I did and I knew I I've read it yes this does reflect the uh one bring Holly which we'll see this July and

083then also the oh gosh Severance what was that the retirement incentive is all calculated but when we're talking about um 25 26 27 those years that's on that's all so that so that goes into the category of it always works out you know because that's eight hundred thousand dollars each yeah it's a ton I mean so if you add two holidays that's 1.6 million dollars right so that if you add 1.6 million dollars to 2026 and another 1.6 million dollars or 2020. we're Whistling Dixie you know I mean it's I think we've only gotten one tax holiday last year in this year though that's correct last year was yeah before then we got at least two right yeah every year yep we did so that's that's that that's nice you know thing they have in

084your back pocket knowing that we're gonna get there appreciate the update you're welcome anything else [Music] thank you you're welcome thank you very much and these are also you could access this on um through the agenda on board Docs okay so we need to okay so I need a motion to approve the five-year forecast and any additional comments or questions all right roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye all right superintendent's recommendations thank you um I wish to recommend that the Board of Education approve Nicole Marconi as the elementary principal replaced Tracy white who is resigning at the end of this school year Miss Marconi's contract would be effective August 1st 2023 and it's a 204 day contract and so assuming and hoping that you you get approved up here I'd like

085you to come up and say hi to the boards real quickly okay well there is pressure yeah emotion still moved second okay roll call please any questions or comments I'm sorry okay roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye and while she's making her way up here because I know it's late I wish to recommended the Board of Education approve Christopher Keating as Elementary principal to replace Mary Lou McElroy who's retiring at the end of this school year uh Christopher Mr keating's effective date of higher would be August 1st 2023 that's a two-year 204 day contract do I have a motion so moved second questions or comments roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye okay excellent thank you welcome aboard hey congratulations thank you so much I'm very excited welcome

086nice to meet you thank you so much congratulations congratulations congratulations foreign I think we're done with people coming on stage yes ma'am that is um because you definitely wouldn't want the one I'm gonna do in a couple here okay which was the graduation class oh no we get to do that you don't want them all on stage tonight Thursday we get to do that Thursday and that'll be great but we get note next to the to letter b letter B is an easement agreement um I wish to recommend the Board of Education to prove the easement agreement with Celica partnership DBA Verizon Wireless as presented in exhibit 19. do I have a motion second questions or comments please Johnson Bowers hi wind hey and the last thing I have for approval this evening is I'm

087asking that the board approved a list of our graduating seniors this year's class has 410 graduates that will be recognized at Kent State Mac Center Thursday May 25th 2023 at 7 pm awesome do I have a motion yes so moved second questions or comments reading the list of names each year and it's I try to make sure I like read each name and give it give it a second because these kids this is 13 years and this is a special moment in their life this is exciting so yep yeah I personally was stunned at scholarship night last week to see so many kids who I remember as very small students working with them in book club at Echo Hills all of a sudden they're graduating I have no idea how this happened yes stop blinking

088happens quickly yes yes all right roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye all right new business under new business I have uh simply two reviews uh a is a review of the homeless word policy B is review of the title one and parent engagement policies per the Ohio Department of Education these policies need to be reviewed and annually by our board no action is required or needs to be taken it is included as an exhibit on board Docs so that's a and b um letter C this is the first reading of the bridges math textbooks that we would like to adopt at grade level five D we've removed and E we kept on didn't we okay um Mrs Winn do you want to um address that one uh the student representative policy

089yes okay uh yes this has been what six months in the in the making uh we've discussed together as a board a number of times uh the goal of bringing aboard a student representative to sit at the table and give us a little bit of student voice and student experience at the table this policy would allow us to formalize that it's pretty straight and to the point and has been through review by our board Council any questions about it at all no no great work on it thank you very much that is all I have this evening thank you all right at this point I will move on to our second section on comments from the audience at this time we welcome any additional comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the Board of

090Education all comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than three minutes we will listen to and consider your remarks but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions if you are seeking a direct response or further information we ask that you submit your request in writing please begin your remarks with your first and last name that you're reviewing I would like to know why in the provisions for uh convictions that would make a potential volunteer and eligible why felony and offensive violence a theft and Drug offense were all stricken out I'd also like to know in the anti-racism policy what is all this about Anonymous complaints there seems to be a lot of an anonymity around this place a lot of secrecy the Dei committee has not made them

091in its public they've been requested by several people but they have not received their public records requests there's more secrecy in this there seems to be an absolute lack of candor from this entire board and administration parents and taxpayers have a right to know about how their money is being spent especially since you just got two more levies and you still can't make ends meet hello my name is Rachel Jamison I'm a stone Monroe Falls alumni I'm here tonight to express my support for the anti-racism policy that's being proposed back in June of 2020 the Board of Education and superintendent released a statement committing to promote an inclusive and anti-discriminatory culture expressing this is a priority for the district and that you are committed to protecting staff students and families from discrimination and producing real

092change for them the anti-racism policy being proposed is an opportunity for you to show that these words still ring true in the same statement you said words without action are meaningless this is an opportunity for you to put action behind those words I urge you all to vote Yes and pass this policy to show your continued commitment to a safe and inclusive environment for all students in the district and to creating an environment we all feel welcome Stow his deep roots of racism and a tendency to shy away from difficult topics we've heard from students family and alumni time and time again about the racism and discrimination they face in the district these stories are part of what prompted your action in 2020 we continue to hear these stories at board meetings in community groups

093and even in the applications we accepted this year for the George R Garrison Junior Memorial Scholarship Georgia's story is one and a sea of others that have been presented to you and school administrators throughout the district's history if you've listened at all in the past three years since you released your statement you know this anti-racism policy is needed it's not something that can be denied in the face of parents students teachers and administrators who have time and time again brought these instances of discrimination to your attention although anti-racism and diversity equity and inclusion are not in the spotlight they were the way they were in the summer of 2020 the need for Action is not diminished it's needed just as much today as it was in June of 2020. when you vote I urge you

094to think about the students and families who have bravely shared their stories and look to you for help and support about the Stu the students who continue to experience racism and discrimination every day as a part of their school experience and to do the right thing for them and all the students in the district who desperately need this policy the action steps it outlines are crucial to creating a safe environment where they can learn and thrive I hope you will demonstrate that this is a district with a commitment to doing better one that welcomes everyone who comes through its doors Embraces diversity and does the right thing when given the opportunity thank you hello Carla Brown still resident I started an anti-bullying group because for years I've heard the same stories of bullying and inaction

095fly to schools after watching parents and Guardians afraid to step forward for fear of retaliation on their child or themselves or that they'll just make it worse for their kids I figured since I no longer have kids in the district I cannot be an intimidated by action or inaction taken upon them so I should lead it and here we are when I started the group people were hopeful for Change and shared so many heartbreaking stories with me stories that made me cry for these babies that come home defeated and then to leave the next morning terrified of what's going to happen to them that day and then stories of students who could take no more and sadly will never return home again while the adults who are supposed to protect them and nourish their minds

096and do nothing to protect their souls total inaction well in action until the bullied kids stand up and finally protect themselves because the schools failed to and that suddenly there's zero tolerance and consequences for those actions after hearing these stories I ask first if they'll speak and they're always too afraid so I explain week of read for them to protect them from the public eye but that the administration will likely recognize the incident and there's nothing we could do to stop that and the Hope just drains from their eyes the intimidation they feel is a form of bullying in itself while bullying is a problem in all our schools I've noticed a drastic difference in how it is dealt with from building to building which leads me to believe we need a stronger policy one

097that addresses reporting to a centralized agency to report the district not to the principal who may or may not address it at all for transparency one that makes solid action plans to be followed by every building in the district and consequences for not following them accountability one that provides mandatory yearly training for principals and staff preparation one that provides counseling to both the bullied and the bullies intervention one that doesn't make students and parents too intimidated to come forward culpability one that notifies parents when their child is causing or experiencing bullying so it can be addressed at home communication if I can't appeal to your hearts maybe I can appeal to your pocketbooks I have three students of colors families currently looking to leave the district taking their tax dollars with them and I personally

098know two families who already left all due to complete inaction to protect their black biracial and Mexican children and the ones that left are thriving in their new climate of acceptance if they all only had one child at about twelve thousand dollars per student is it from public schoolsreview.com we're losing sixty thousand dollars just on those five families moving one child each and some of them have more than one those are the ones that I know about okay your time's up thank you hi my name is Ashley Doyle I have two children attending Stowe schools my 11 year old son Evan goes to Lakeview intermediate and is in sixth grade I'm here today to discuss bullying on Tuesday May 16th my husband Justin received a call from Principal Yan shunis informing him that our son

099was involved in a physical altercation with another student and then he was suspended for five days principal yanchunis went on to tell Justin that there has that there has been an ongoing issue with our son and the other student since the second quarter over the last two weeks unbeknownst to us the other student had been making threats to kick Evan's ass Mr yanchuna stated the two had been jawing lately and decided to go out to recess with them to keep an eye on them while walking back to go inside the other student began to shove Evan while telling him he was going to kick his ass Evan repeatedly told the student to stop the student did not and began to bear hug Evan Evan then made the decision to defend himself no student should ever

100have to make the decision to protect themselves while in school and with an adult present we are appalled that we were never made aware that there was a problem Mr yanchunis had plenty of time to inform us but failed to do so it is completely unreasonable to expect a child to allow themselves to be beat on we fail though we feel that this behavior is repetitive repetitive for mystery and Tunis not informing parents about their child's safety is not acceptable and allowing a student to be bullied for months is also not acceptable in February of this year a classmate threatened to kill our son Evan and Mr Yan Tunis didn't feel the threat was credible so he didn't file a police report my husband and I had to Mr yancehunis and the assistant superintendent Mrs

101Kristin Pro were going to allow the student to return to school until we pushed for weeks for them to be expelled a zero tolerance policy needs to be enforced students shouldn't be in fear for their lives while in school our son was not the aggressor yet he was suspended the same amount of days as the bully I emailed the assistant superintendent and was ignored only until I emailed superintendent Bratton the district's lack of effort to protect my son is reprehensible We Believe Mr yanchunis is a danger to the children at Lakeview the students and parents deserve better thank you [Music] before we adjourn I do want to give a shout out to The Stoke collaboration for change if you saw the the wonderful headlines in the beacon last week this was a group that they

102were dedicated to preserving the memory of their friend George Garrison Jr and they were told no repeatedly and they kept at it and now they have a beautiful Memorial that was built for him in Wetmore Park and we're able to establish a scholarship in his name and award that last week so I really appreciate how hard you worked at that how committed you were to preserving the memory of your friend and you made that happen and I just appreciate the stick-to-itiveness of that and Ms Johnson Bowers this is your last meeting I'm I'm kind of gobsmacked at that so I know you and I don't always agree but I do really respect how true your heart is toward this how true your commitment is to the district to the teachers to the administration to the

103students especially and how much of your heart and soul you have poured into this and how well you have served the district and I do truly thank you for that I appreciate that it's um something that you don't really realize but when you put your name on a ballot and thousands and thousands of teachers people vote for you it's overwhelming and when you sit up here on the school board it's an honor it's an honor because the community has chosen you because of your experiences and they've put their trust in you that you're going to do and think and help direct it and it's really an honor and so in my situation that was amazing the first time you know it's like a sport right but when I got reelected that was even better because

104that was a community saying to me look we really like what you're doing and we want you to do it more and I truly appreciated that I'm very honored it it saddens me but I'm excited at the same same time I've been up here for seven and a half years and there's been a lot of battles but I want to tell you that I for every teacher every custodian every secretary every one of the classified and certified employees in the district and everyone in the administration I hope you have always felt my support because as a board member that's one of our number one things to do if we can offer you support so that you have the confidence to do the job that you're trying to do then it's a great win and I

105hope you have always felt that confidence you know what I think back on seven and a half years ago one of my big things was social media like you know I'm not really on social media but I understand the power of it and so I didn't do that but my support of the district developing the social media was strong and so now they're on Facebook and they're on Twitter those are the ways that you impact as a board member standing next to Dr Hartman on the our first parking lot graduation was probably my proudest moment as a board member because I stood next to him as we were watching the cars assemble themselves and he looked at me and he said we're having this graduation like this because of you and at that moment I

106realized I impacted the district because I was on the committee and I wouldn't settle for mediocre I was that member of the committee that kept on saying come on we've got to do better than this and every other District was driving up having the principal hand the diploma out as they drove up and it wasn't okay and so I wouldn't settle for mediocre and all of a sudden Dr Hartman came up with the idea I didn't come up with the idea but as a board member I made sure the bar was high that's how you impact as a board when the track coach has their players come up to my children and thank them because they are still in track because I helped change the policy on grading the policy that keeps the kids on

107the field while we help them get their grades up to Snuff that's when you feel wow I did something and the most important thing I think we can do as a board member is to strategic plan and as Scott Campbell would be up here mentioning saying hey Lisa says like women looking five years down the road it's got to be big I was serious because when you make a strategic plan that's the thing the board actually gets to do with the administration actually change the direction of the ship and see how far it's going and my insistence on the Strategic plan I know had an impact because I wanted them to reach high when I heard Kyle Feldman talk about aligning things it's because we said we wanted that under strategic plan Sports matter and

108they make a huge difference and because it's on the Strategic plan it is intentional now in the district and those are the things when I think of the last seven and a half years on the school board those are the things that I think wow it was worth it so I appreciate and I am honored that the district and the community chose me to be up here and I just am honored and I appreciate everything that was kind of long hey you earned it all right anything else do I have a motion to adjourn Ed you got to turn on your mic so moved second questions comments roll call please wind aye Johnson Bowers aye Brown aye we are adjourned at 9 30. thank you for hanging in there with us tonight