001e how does the white shot look to you e I like call to order our regular board meeting for today December 17th 2024 we'll begin with Section 1 1.01 which is a moment of silence of reflection if we could all stand please thank you Treasurer please call the RO M Barnes presid Mrs varwig here Mr Vasquez here Mr Parker here at this time we have the Pledge of Allegiance recited by Mrs Roberts fourth grade class from East Broadway Elementary following by the mission and vision statement recited by weight High School senior Margaret h i PL Al to the flag of the United States of America for it stands one nation God indivisible andice for all okay go ahead we provide Innovative educational opportunities that ensure each student is prepared for their future vision statement we
002Empower each and every student to lead and live a purpose-driven life thank you ID like to request a motion to adopt the December 17th 2024 board agenda so move second it's been mov and second any discussion if not Treasurer please call the RO Miss Barnes yes Mrs marwig yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes at this time we will now go to section two presentations and turn it over to Mrs Maser thank you and good evening uh tonight's special presentations we will congratulate our retirees for this month we have Kelly reple she is in eighth grade teacher at Oakdale Elementary with 25 years of service Lynette Taylor She's a food service worker one at Hawkins STEM Academy she is retiring with 27 years and one month of service and Jill Nagel she's a second grade
003teacher at Old Orchard retiring with 38 years of service for a total of 90 years and one month of service to to Public Schools awesome thank you Mrs Maser this time we'll go to section three which is community comments and there are none at this time so now we will go to our organizational input Mr Ramirez tab please just thank you and and happy to be here I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy holidays and hopefully you get some time with your family uh and friends and get a break thank you thank you we will now go to section five which is our comments by the board Mrs vwi sure thank you um certainly want to thank Mrs Robert's fourth grade class from East Broadway Elementary for the pledge so it's great
004to have our students involved in our board meetings in one fashion or another and then also thank you to the weight senior Margaret Hiles um for reciting the mission and vision um again it's great to have student participation and then certainly a thank you to our retirees um we appreciate their service to the district and certainly to our students and we wish them well um and then I'm just going to leave with uh I wish all of you a happy holiday it is welld deserved time off for all of our staff members and I know the students and families are looking forward to it thank you Mrs Barnes thank you Mr President uh I will try to make it a light note but sometimes it get heavy but first I want to say a happy
005birthday to a wonderful person who helps us uh do better hold us accountable and uh advocates for our district so boldly and so proudly and I don't know what we will do without her so happy birthday to Amy natak we should have sing Happy Birthday to her I think we should do that you want to sing Happy Birthday Mr President I love you but I'm not going to well we'll sing afterwards um and so just thank you for showing up and always uh making sure that we are doing our best to keep our students and our staff safe and welcomed um so this is where it gets Heavy after that light note um to this date for the past year or two anti-lgbtq plus bills have been in proposed across the country out of 43
006States um this is time time that our state lawmakers across the country are using to attack usually Youth and right now here in Ohio we have harmful bills that are on the dock that's supposed to been heard today but they will probably be introduced and pass tomorrow that's how they do it in the dark um these are bullies they're attacking our children um the bill that is up once again uh is is saying that because of a identity that is not the majority they are trying to remove them from our schools or at least remove their safety when they're in our schools 725 bills this is not talking about housing food insecurities gun violence although we had another uh school shooting they're not spending time on the things that is needed they're focusing hate and
007harm towards one% of the population that we have um and then also they are doubling down being cowards and Bullies by doing it when people are not looking they supposed to have talked about this today at 3:00 and they chose to suspend and wait till tomorrow when people are not looking to to introduce this and this is forcing schools to to do things like of course the trans uh the bathroom bill um that's already passed as signed by dwine and hopefully you'll be challenged but it goes too far to outing our students even though National social workers Ohio Social Workers counselors uh therapists you name it people who have went to get their education has licenses in this uh field say that doing this will cause harm and in spite of them listening cuz they
008didn't hear them they just listened they'll still try to force our schools to then it's called outing our students even in a harmful situations um as a queer person thinking back about my childhood I am glad that my parents were welcoming to me when I did come out but I have heard stories I have helped Youth and adults uh who have not had that experience who have been subject to harm physically mentally and sexually um and so this is what they want us to put our students in harm of without any regards to their safety and I don't see how lawmakers can be held to a different standard than us because if we do something like that we're going to be held accountable either by the community or by law but now lawmakers can do
009that and it reminds me of something and I know it's going to ruffle some feathers but I'm going to go ahead and say it it's laws La AWS legally allowing white supremacy that is what we're currently doing when we introduce bills that is attacking anyone anyone um identity um and putting them in danger and removing them from the books and removing them from history like they don't matter and so I want us to remind ourselves what people are doing in the dark instead of us enjoying um our family and the holidays some of our families in Ohio have to think about relocating some of our families are safety planning uh with their schools about how to best show up and make sure harm is not there so I don't want to make it too heavy
010which is too late but this is the reality we cannot run from the heaviness that we are going to be going into and so I would encourage everybody to call your State Rep and to say no uh against a house bill8 which now includes House Bill 6 206 which is is expansion of expion and that's a whole different other time I won't spend but it's also uh criminalizing uh different behaviors uh that we should have funding for to support those students through during that time um but I want you to call your state reps because while they're doing this in the dark they're getting paid to harm kids and we can't let that happen thank you Mr President thank you m Barnes Mr Vice President thank you Mr President uh my only comments are that
011uh want to I want to congratulate our retirees um and I also want to acknowledge uh Mrs Roberts fourth grade class and uh um uh Margaret for the excellent uh uh recitation of the uh uh Mission vision statement um I also want to uh say that uh since this is the last uh uh meeting from the uh uh this year's uh school board that uh I'm looking forward to uh next year and all the great things and we we have a lot of great things uh that we're looking forward to doing um and I want to just say what an honor it is to serve on on this board uh and I um uh really appreciate the trust uh given to us by the voters that's all thank you and again I want to reiterate
012uh thank you to Mrs Roberts for grade class and uh to Margaret for reciting our mission and vision statement to our retirees uh congratulations to you for your service uh to us as well again um so as I reflect on this evening tonight is my final meeting as the president of the Board of Education and yeah and I am really filled with gratitude with humility and with hope um this year has been particularly meaningful for me because not only am I completing this term as president but this marks the first year that I got to serve as an elected official instead of an appoint appointee and so that's been profound for me because it really reflects the trust that's been placed by the voters the families and the community that we serve and for that
013I just really want to stop and pause and say thank you I want to say thank you to my colleagues for allowing me this opportunity to serve this year thank you so much and each one of you have your passion your perspective and your dedication uh which has inspired me um this position is not about an individual person it pretty much means that when the rock is thrown uh they elected me to be the first one to get hit with it and so I'm thankful for that Dr Durant to our awesome superintendent thank you so much sir for all that you do to the staff and the Educators and our students who really have a commitment for the mission of Excellence for to the public schools and I do think that as we celebrate the
014progress that we have made this year I think we cannot ignore the challenges that we are facing and will continue to face as it relates to public education um but I do believe that I can speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say that we are not going to back down we're going to remain steadfast in our belief that every child deserves access to Quality public education and so we're going to continue to fight to protect and uplift the schools that we serve in our neighbor neighb hoods and the Cornerstone of that I shared with one of my colleagues this afternoon that we can't do this alone and I do know that we don't have a lot of viewers that watch us by way of live stream but it's my hope that we all
015understand that to really win this fight and to really strengthen the future of public education we need our families we need Community organizations we need our Community Partners we need our faith leaders your voice voice your advocacy and your support is really vital to this Mission and I do believe that when we unite we stand together for our children there's no challenges That's too great there's no opposition that we can't overcome uh I know that whoever steep into this role next will continue to lead with vision and with heart and I pledge to support you in this District in any way possible because the work we do here is more important than about titles I leave this Ro proud of we've accomplished but also with a greater sense of urgency for the work that's ahead
016thank you again my colleagues for allowing me the privilege of serving as president it's been my honor to stand on behalf of this District this board and most importantly our students let's continue to move forward let's continue fighting for what's right and let's keep believing in the promise of public education I am forever TPS proud thank you down and I'm taking my G with me when I'm done thank you we will now go to section six which is our consent agenda agenda items 6.01 through 6.41 are the consent agenda items and board members May request to pull an item from the consent agenda and move to the discussion section of the agenda item 6.01 through 6.03 is our human resource staff development and training committee chair Mrs P Taylor girkin co-chair chair myself Randall Parker
017iiii items 6.04 through 6.14 is finance and business operation committee chair Mr B Vasquez co-chair M Chris barwig item 6.15 which is our Workforce Development and partnership committee there was no meeting this month our chairs Mr Bob Vasquez our co-chair Mrs ply Taylor girkin item 6.16 which is board curriculum instruction and academic Excellence no meeting this month chair Mrs pay girkin co-chair Mrs Chris Barwick item 6.17 through 6.36 is our policy committee chair Miss Sheena Barnes co-chair Mr Bob Vasquez item 6.37 which is our Arts Athletics and Student Activities Committee no meeting this month chair Mrs Chris varwig co-chair myself Randle Parker III item 6.38 through 6.39 family and Community engagement committee chair Mr Bob Vasquez co-chair Miss Shea Barnes item 6.4 through 6.41 is the approval of our board meeting minutes I'd like to
018request a motion to approve the consent agenda items please so move second SP move in second any discussion not Treasurer please call the role M Barnes yes Mrs barwig yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes section seven of the agenda consists of reports and minutes from the month's committee meetings and are here for information and reference nor actions required so we can now proceed to Section 8 of the agenda which is our discussion item which is the December 17 2024 non-certified section I would like to request a motion to approve the December 17 2024 non-certified section so moved second been mov in second any discussion if not Treasurer please call the RO Miss Barnes yes Mrs barwig abstain Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes we will now go to 8.02 which is the resolution opposing
019Senate Bill 295 and I would like to take a moment to read that a resolution opposing Ohio Senate Bill 295 whereas the Board of Education of the Toledo City School District the board is committed to providing Equitable access to Quality instruction for all students including students with disability English Learners and other vulnerable student population whereas the Ohio Senate has proo proposed Senate Bill 295 sp sp 295 that will create new criteria for the closure or restructuring of poorly performing schools which are defined as a school serving grades four and above that is in the lowest 5% for performance and 10% in growth among all public schools for three consecutive years whereas SB 295 represents legislative overreach that threatens public education as the bill expands criteria for laboring students as poorly performing thereby forcing more districts
020to take drastic actions such as closing schools undermining voters Choice by transferring control to private operators or replacing staff therefore overriding collective bargaining agreements whereas the punitive approach of s SP 295 threatens a students's neighborhood School while failing to address root issues Bey Educational Opportunity gaps including poverty un underfunded Mental Health Resources and educator shortages whereas the board believes that any efforts truly designed to improve a district would start with deep data driven understanding of the district and its students and would not conclude reactionary aimless punishment such as closures and takeovers wherever the board where excuse me the board urges the legislator to invest rather than devest in its most vulnerable communities excuse me now therefore be it resolved by the board that section one the board remains opposed to S SP 295 and other
021legislation which would impose drastic and unfounded consequences on vulnerable schools and students without even an attempt to understand the needs of a district or to offer appropriate Student Center Solutions section two the board reaffirms his commitment to investing in a TPS community that is designed to work for all students where every student receives a quality education section three this resolution shall be in full force and effect from and immediately after its adoption it is found and determined that all formal actions of this board relating to this resolution was taken in compliance with all legal requirements including section 12122 of the Ohio Revised Code open up for discussion Mrs so moved oh second move the second discussion thank you yes please um thank you Mr President um I I guess I would just have to ask
022all of the school districts across the state of Ohio um who wants to be in the bottom 5% for performance or 10% for uh growth uh I would say no one there's always going to be a bottom 5% and there will always be a bottom 10% so what is we just like every year we're closing schools right where do they go who's going to take them over what's going to happen I am exhausted with the amount of bills towards public educ ation where I feel like there's not truly a um a valued thought process that goes into these bills it's just what's going to stick to the wall how can we attack public Ed next and so I look at this bill and I think what who created this what were they thinking like what's
023going on I don't know like they're they in it's Insanity at the state house um I'm going to leave it at that I just can't thank you Miss Barnes thank you Mr President so this is defunding public education this is what it looks like when you're looking at the lowest uh percentage or percentile it's going to be in a school district uh with high uh numbers of black and brown students uh Spanish speaking students or families from Spanish speaking homes um this is how you defund and once you defund that District you move on to the next and you keep doing it to where your options to uh have access to free high quality education uh is limited then you close the charter schools and then you be able to pick who gets into private
024schools which they already do that so this is a way to Ure ensure excuse me that our future won't have access to education and this is a bigger thing right this is not just in Ohio un unfortunately they're going after PBS uh and they're cing canceling Sesame Street they don't want our youth to know the truth because if one thing happened after November 5th it showed how much education uh was a lack in adults um we talk about the literacy rate for our students do you know uh the adults American uh adults is about sixth grade um and it showed after November 5th as people were Googling what things were promised or not promised by someone uh that has now will have power so it is a is vital that we have to fight for
025our public education so we will know the truth we will unlearn these mistakes that we are doing and keep fighting but that's why they're scared and they're going to continue to try to defund us they're going to continue by attacking doing this by attacking our students by putting fear into our staff for teaching the Truth uh by removing literacy and literature that they don't approve of from our libraries um and then taking our funding away to ensure that we can still show up uh for our students mentally emotionally and physically um and so I am so happy to stand uh with our fellow my fellow board members and opposing this bill as another tactic to defund public education thank you m bars Mr Vice President I'm going to take a little bit uh different uh
026Direction on on this and what I want to do is I want to I want to thank all of the teachers in the districts uh that uh make up Ohio educational system I want to thank all the staff and everybody out here for all the work that you do with all of the challenges that you face every day and uh you still work at it you still plow through you don't give up but we've said from the beginning that down at the legislature they're measuring the wrong things so this is based on the wrong measurement to begin with the foundation of this bill is wrong to begin with and I think that what it doesn't do is take into account all the hard work our principles our teachers our cafeteria workers our bus drivers our
027custodians and everybody's doing to try to make sure that our children in Ohio are educated um and I just want to make sure that they all know that we uh do congratulate all of those staff on working so hard every day thank you Mr Vice President and I stand and oppose the Senate Bill 295 uh because again like our vice president said they started off with the wrong measurements on what this looks like and how you can't punish schools into success and I just really feel like instead of punishing schools the state should be intentionally investing into our schools fund our schools support our teachers give our kids what they need and so this bill does the opposite and that's why we stand against it because I believe our students our family and our neighborhood
028deserves better treasur please call the r Miss Barnes yes Mrs vwi yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes we know Pastor Parker presid Parker if we could make sure that the once uh these resolutions are passed or not um hopefully they are but if we could have them sent to emailed tonight uh because the legislature is voting tomorrow so if we could have those sent that would be great absolutely thank you Mr R we will now go to 8.03 which is the resolution opposing House Bill 666 I'll move on from that and I'm going to ask Mrs Barwick if you would please read that [Music] resolution no ma'am you can go ahead and read that thank you for all right a resolution opposing House Bill 666 and this was actually brought by um a local
029representative uh Mr Williams whereas the Board of Education of the Toledo City School District the board is committed to an inclusive environment where all individuals including students staff the general public and business associates are treated with dignity and respect whereas the board recognizes that maintaining an inclusive learning environment includes welcoming immigrants and supporting Toledo status of certified welcoming whereas the Paramount importance of educating children is canonized in Ohio's compulsory education law which requires all children between the ages of 6 and 18 to attend school and punishes truancy whereas the board elected by Toledo voters seeks to support its students and community members by providing a quality education to all School AG children in our district and by supporting their families whereas the Ohio House of Representatives has proposed House Bill 666 which under the authority
030of the Attorney General one would require state and local authorities to cooperate with the federal government in the enforcement of immigration laws and two would cut funding for state and local communities including schools that do not comply with Federal immigration actions whereas House Bill 666 represents presents a dangerous escalation in anti-immigrant sentiment by targeting vulnerable communities under the guise of Law and Order whereas the Supreme Court of the United States held in pler vers doe in 1982 that denying a public elementary or secondary education to undocumented students violates the equal protection Clause of the 14th Amendment whereas both Federal and state courts have found that one a state statute that withholds from local school districts any state funds for the education of undocumented students and which authorizes local school districts to deny enrollment in their
031Public Schools violates the EPC and two a state statute that requires verification of citizenship and immigration status of students enrolling in public schools violates the EPC by infr ing on undocumented students rights to a public education whereas the board concludes compliance with HB 666 would create an irrep irre I'm sorry irreparably not a good night for uh words insecure situation for undocumented students whereby many would be forced to forego safety or violate Ohio's treny laws which undoubtedly inter interferes with our students ability to receive public education and thereby directly violates the equal protection Clause now therefore be it resolved by the board that section one the board remains opposed to House Bill 666 and any other legislation which would compromise providing essential education and support services to the students and families in our community regardless
032of their citizenship status section two the board reaffirms its prohibition of discrimination and harassment based on race color national origin ancestry citizenship status religion sex sexual orientation gender identity economic status age disability military status in the workplace academic setting or in its programs or activities and remains committed to providing all of its students with an inclusive safe learning environment section three this resolution shall be in full force and effect from and immediately after its adoption it is found and determined that all formal actions of this board relating to this resolution were taken in compliance with all legal requirements including section 12 1.22 of the Ohio Revis code so moved second it's been mov a second any discussion Mr V yes um actually I wrote some things down on my phone so I'm going to open
033that up very quickly um and I really just want to point out that after the election and this kind of ties into it because this truly is political in nature um completely political and again is attacking vulnerable students from staff members I received comments about their students running to them after the election in tears worried that they along with their families were going to be deported back to countries where they felt that they were going to be murdered every day let that sink in for just a moment you can imagine a sixth grade student after the election in this country worried about being deported back to a country where they felt they were going to be killed and for some reason half the country seems okay with this I'm going to leave it there so
034uh uh this statement or comment is not on beh be on behalf of the board state representative Josh Williams my dude I'm hoping you you know watch CU you like to Google yourself I heard what do you think they're going to do to you you are other just because you're voting like them and bringing crap like this does not mean you're part of the family once they are done with this community and other communities they will come for people who look like you and me um the sad part is that you are a lawyer and yet you are okay once again with harming students kids and yet you call yourself a man I will call you something different and I will gladly say that to your face when we impr Prive it Mr Vice President
035once again this legislation attacks in my uh opinion the very Foundation of Education public education was founded on the basis that all students deserve a quality education and C Public Schools is here to educate all students all students that come to our doors are to be educated what happens is that they are using our schools such as celebrated institution everywhere in our nation as a tool again people and in no way do I think our schools should be tools for anyone to use against our students our families anywhere in this nation thank you my colleagues have summed it up uh in various ways but collectively we oppose this house bill if I was on another platform I would talk about that 666 but won't um because I feel like that's how it's being birthed from
036a very dark place treaser please call the RO Miss Barnes yes Mrs barwig yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes we will now go to 8.04 and at this time we will need to have a nomination for the president protemp for our 2025 winter or organizational board meeting okay well since no one else is going to do it I'm going to nominate Sheena Barnes as protm wait hold up um I I'll nominate Chris barwig oh I see you have to take a vote first I thought you looking that's not fair know right okay second I second uh any discussion Treasurer please call the rooll Miss Barnes yeah yeah Mrs barwig yes B told Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes Amy I said happy birthday to you though that's settled so now we will go to
0378.05 where we will establish the date for the organizational meeting if we can look at January the 7th that will be the Tuesday does that work for everyone is that the 7th of January this proba that works for you yes that works for me okay that works for all of us all right uh I'd like to request a motion to approve January 7th as the date for our organizational board meeting so move second it's been moved to Second any discussion Treasurer please call to rooll Miss Barnes yes Mrs barwig yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes we will now go to section nine which are walk-ins are there any walk-ins this evening if not we can proceed to section 10 which is our early childhood education action items chair myself Rand Parker II co-chair Sheena
038Barns and I would like to turn this over to Dr Adam please thank you we do have two items for approval this month the first one is a request for a disability waiver from our delegate GLC and the second one is an approval for an application for some new Head Start monies that became available in Lucas County awesome thank you Dr Allen I would go to 10.01 I'd like to request a motion to approve the disability waiver request move in second in discussion treasure please call the RO Mr Barnes yes Mrs barwig yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes 10.02 I would like to request a motion to approve the Head Start Grant application so move second second been moving second any discussion if not Treasurer please call to roll Miss Barnes yes Mrs barwig
039yes Mr Vasquez yes Mr Parker yes section 11 of the agenda consists of early childhood education report and minutes from this month's committee meeting uh and are provided for your information and reference no action is required so we can proceed to section 12 are there any walking Dr Allan okay now we'll go to section 13 through 15 comments from our superintendent again just want to congratulate the board our staff and thank you to the community uh and supporting uh the levy I can tell you that's a votal confidence for the work that you do as board members as well as the staff within this District uh you know something to be proud about that uh we have had eight levies we've had 100% passage of eight of eight we've had six renewals at an average
040percentage passage of 70% as well as two new money on an average passage percentage of 54% and that's a lot to be proud of in today's tough time so again thank you for all that you do uh again happy holidays Merry Christmas as well for the new year to you and uh again now and forever more Santa as well as all of us are TPS proud R Treasurer uh just wishing everybody safe and happy holidays you closing comments from our board Mrs vwi yeah I just want to say um Pastor Parker or Bishop Parker thank you for your service this year we certainly appreciate you serving as president um it makes my heart happy that you've had a good year it's been a busy year um but it's been a good year and especially during
041a lovey year so thank you for your steadfast leadership certainly appreciate it you're so well spoken and you know believe it or not I don't know if everybody has seen his Facebook posts um but he's not so quiet in church he definitely is more softspoken here he must save all that energy for church time because he is loud and out there I'm like wait is this the same person it is it is it's my brother it's my brother Andy it is but I I appreciate the fact that you are you have been the president this year and I appreciate all that you have your commitment and dedication to our district and our students so thank you thank you Mr presid M Barnes thank you Mr President okay I'm I'm going to do a happy note
042this time uh I want to first thank the district uh my fellow board members the staff um because of all the hard work and great work that you do um in Dei and protecting our students I was able to sit on a International Panel to discuss how to make sure uh we protect our students and show up for our staff so thank you for what you do and allowing me to represent you on such a a big stage um to president Parker um my brother thank you for showing up and being my Martin to my Malcolm um many times I have counted on your wise kind softspoken yet powerful words uh to navigate the challenges that we are facing or we have been through as a school board and so I appreciate you letting me
043be me authentically without trying to silence or police my tone my passion or my rage um and I look forward to uh just serving everyone next year in a new year um even under different circumstances keep it happy so uh I would want to say happy holidays to you all um and make sure you take those small moments and make them great memories awesome Mr Vice President yeah I just want to take this opportunity to uh uh mention something that Dr Durant uh brings up in one of his favorite uh comments and that is is that uh I do want to thank the community for the trust that they've put into uh the superintendent our staff the board um but he often says that with u uh trust comes great responsibility and and he and
044I have talked about that all the time but very recently too just before we walked in here as a matter of fact um the other the other thing I want to do is I want to thank uh Bishop Parker um you know you uh served your Steady Hand and as other my colleagues have pointed out you're quiet and we get a lot uh We've we've gotten a lot accomplished and um you do it very quietly that's not easy to do okay especially in these times yeah okay so I congratulate you on that I want you to know that I appreciate that you're a steady hand steady ship move forward keeping focused so I want to congratulate I want to tell you how much I appreciated that thank you very much thank you sir again Merry
045Christmas Happy New Year to all of you please uh rest refresh and as we go into the new year let's get ready to continue the work to my colleagues I appreciate you so much I tell you that privately I tell you that publicly that we are a a powerful board and together we can continue this fight um and then finally I was serious this gal was going with me when I leave um I don't know who I need to talk to about that but uh it's mine all right we're going to request a motion to adjer so move okay somebody second second it's been moving second any discussion not Treasurer please call the role Miss Burns yes Mrs BWI yes Mr vquez yes Mr Parker yes happy New Year and happy holidays