September 9, 2024 Board of Education Meeting

001good evening thank you for attending September 9th 2024 meeting of the Westerville City Schools Board of Education this evening's agenda will be displayed on the screens in the front of the room printed agendas are available for you at the back of the room um or you may find them on your mobile device by connecting to the district's website at www.wcsoh.org click on the our district link select the Board of Education and then follow the board docs link to our current meeting agenda there will be two opportunities to address the board this evening the first being agenda item 7.01 the first set of comments is relative to agenda items 8.01 through 12.02 please State the agenda items you're referencing at the beginning of your comments the second opportunity is agenda item 13.01 there's a signup sheet

002located at the back of the room in the on the table each speaker will have 5 minutes to address the board a timer will be shown on the screen and um with that Miss Hendrick will you please call the role good do we have to do okay all right may I have a a motion to appoint Laura hris as treasurer prot tempor for the September 9th 2024 Board of Education meeting so moved second will you take the vote Mrs Alman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meer yes now will you please take the role M Davidson yes here sorry Mrs Valentine here Mrs Alman here Mrs Meer here and will you all join us to for the Pledge of Allegiance please I PL alance to the flag of the United States of America

003and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right next up is the fun part of the evening we get to recognize um Mark Twain and Robert Frost and I'm going to um welcome Miss Alman to the podium thank you president Meyer members of the board uh Miss Hamburg and Miss Hendrick it is my great honor um to be able to share about the 50th anniversary of Mark Twain and Robert Frost so would Mark Twain Elementary principal Tracy white and Robert Frost Elementary principal Angela Hayes please come up and join me thank you thank you we are recognizing Mark Twain and Robert Frost elementaries this evening for celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year both buildings opened in 1974 and are named after celebrated writers keeping with

004Westerville history of naming its elementary schools after influential American author both buildings were also built as open space concept schools I went to both as as open space concept schools um and in 2002 I'm glad to say that Mark Twain and Robert Frost were renovated with the addition of four classrooms and permanent walls to create separate classrooms Tracy Angela congratulations to you as well as your staff and families for celebrating 50 years of excellence in providing children with an outstanding environment in which to grow learn and succeed and I also want to acknowledge staff members for Mark Twain and Robert froster in the audience this evening would you mind standing up if there are any other staff members for Mark DNE and Robert Frost so thank you all thank you and I just want to

005say I think there are some events people might want to keep their eyes out for about these anniversaries so um take a take a peek on the socials and all of that to find out about the event so please come on up and congratulations to Mark Twain and Robert Frost thank you [Applause] congratulations again moving along next up we have the superintendent report Miss hurg thank you um I have a few things to share this evening first of all I wanted to share with the board in the community that we had our first superintendent student advisory session of the Year this past week um definitely has been one of my favorite events so far since I've been here in Westerville we have um about 60 students total from our three high schools that participate on

006The Advisory Group and based on their feedback from last year they really enjoyed meeting here together so they got new ideas and were able to meet other students from the other high schools so we decided we wanted to do our first meeting here together and then our team will travel to their respective high schools to have conversations with them about changes they'd like to see in their own buildings so we were able to get feedback from them on topics like school spirit course offerings the physical facilities that they are in every day and all kinds of different areas um so a big thank you to our high school administrators and to our team here at the district office for helping to facilitate those activities we also um participated in an activity where they put together

007a big version of our We Are The Ville Bell um with letters that they designed to represent all the things they love about Westerville so that was a really cool activity that Becca Yanni LED so I appreciate everybody's help with that and we're looking forward to meeting with them back in their meeting in their buildings in October and then they will also be putting together their Hall of Fame induction Ceremonies for the spring as well so great group and really enjoyable to be around those students um would also like to share an update on Transportation uh we know as uh ry's actually here tonight he's going to be um talking to you about an agenda item here in just a bit but had asked him kind of for some information because we are struggling with

008getting routes covered and I just want to kind of give an update there uh he had given an update with his Transportation report I think just about a month ago when he gave that that we had some folks hired and in training it is a pretty long process to get drivers trained which is a good thing but also a challenge so I can tell you right now we have seven open routes we do have three long-term absences that will exceed Beyond September um we've had two resignations since the start of the year we currently have five drivers who are in active training we have another six are in the next phase of onboarding with the pre-employment processing so there are 11 folks that are kind of in the hopper that will greatly help us with

009our shortages and we just made another new hire last week so things are looking up once we can get everybody through the training process and able to take over we have had a lot of illness already as I'm sure folks have seen um covid and some other illness that has been running through the district so that has not helped with having those routes covered um we have three current on buus instructors which are our school bus driver trainers and one additional person was hired this summer from another District who is working on filling an additional training position it's been challenging for us um to have those folks free to do the training because they've had to cover routes because we have absent drivers so it's taking a little longer to get the training done but

010starting next week um rainy feels confident they're able to cover some of those midday assignments for two of the three to allow for some more training hours um we'll share we've had three early release days so far this school year and so there are other strategies I know he's mentioned before that we can consider with delays and different types of delays and early release uh but our goal is to make sure that we're at least getting as full of a school day in as we can typically those early releases or late starts have been more targeted at the old older kids so that the little ones schedules are not as disrupted so just kind of a quick overview there I'm sure if you have additional questions on that when Randy comes up to the podium

011we can ask those but uh wanted to give you an update on that because I know for all of us it's frustrating including our transportation department because they're working very hard covering extra routes trying to get our kids to and from school and we're still just falling a little bit short some days uh with that I do want to give a reminder um Columbus has been in the news because of having to cover um they've declared it impractical to cover and and again Randy may have more insight on this but um all of the routes to the private schools and so that's one of the things I know the board asked about last time when he gave his Transportation report is you know we do still have to cover all those even when we're short

012so we're doing early releases for our students but we're still having to cover those private school routes so that is a huge um challenge for us and I just want to remind folks of that anything on that before I move to my next item okay I did want to give an update I know we have several folks in the audience I'm sure um regarding LifeWise Academy so I want to give an update there I want to thank the many community members who've reached out on both sides of the issue we have heard from uh many people on both sides we appreciate your passion at the last meeting and I want to give this update now during my report because I know we have some folks signed up to speak so they at least have some

013context of kind of where things are last meeting our Board of Education voted to suspend the policy called absence of for religious instruction policy 5223 which that suspension was to be effective until the next meeting so it is back in place while that policy is now back in effect the district has concerns with LifeWise Academy meeting some of the requirements so we have been working on that um like to say I appreciate the documents and emails that LifeWise leaders have sent in those two weeks since the last uh regular board meeting during that time our team has had multiple meetings with our attorneys I've spoken with other superintendents and we've had multiple Communications with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Nutrition department about feeding students's students during the absences under this policy so we

014last met with our attorneys on Thursday afternoon and as I've shared with the leadership of lifeways our attorneys were not yet comfortable with making a recommendation they are working on anou um they did not feel they would have it for tonight's meeting for the board to be able to consider yet so we will keep you updated as we work through that process um and thatou is really geared at making sure that there's compliance with the board policy if LifeWise is is to continue operating so I just want to say while we appreciate LifeWise Academy's urgency we want to make sure we've done our due diligence in ensuring that policy compliance our team has spent a considerable amount of time on this issue as we've been trying to get the year started so thank you for

015your patience um we've attempted to fairly balance our attention attention on this compliance issue with all the many other demands on our time right now for our own programs so I just want to clarify I have received some emails questioning if we should be using our time as an Administration on LifeWise policy compliance I've confirmed with our attorneys that not only is it an appropriate use but we have a responsibility to make sure any outside organization is adhering to our policies so that was just kind of a quick update I wanted to provide I know lots of folks have reached out and were um interested on whether or not the board would be taking any action as you can see there's not a scheduled action item um certainly the board has board member comments at

016the end of the meeting where where they may make additional comments and certainly I'm happy to answer any questions at this time I just I have a question just for clarity sake when we say um compliance with policy we're not we're talking about criteria within the policy correct yes not the policy itself but just the criteria within the policy correct thank you anybody else right okay thank you Mrs Meer thank you all right moving along to agenda item to um the approval board minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting held on Monday August 2024 so moved second Miss HRI Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Salman yes Mrs Meyer I'm going to stain I was I had Co was here all right this is

017actually not okay and may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the special session board meeting held on Thursday September 5th 2024 so moved second um any questions comments Miss HRS M Alman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meer yes um next up is public comments and we have none um moving to financials and may I have a motion to approve the insurance premiums for calendar year 2025 so moved second and Miss henrix will you be talking to us about this sure okay great thanks yes um so yes it's that time of year where we uh have to review our insurance premiums and this year our medical premium is going to be increasing by 6.2% our dental insur insurance premium by 7.7% uh just a reminder that employees uh pay 10%

018of that premium for single and 20% for family uh Dental is 100% PID by by the board uh last year our premiums increased by 13.9% for medical so this is a much better outcome so far we did have a pharmacy benefit review that we did this year that helped keep that down a little lower as well um and then Dental has not changed for several years that's stayed the same rate so this is the first increase we've seen in quite some time any questions or comments no no just thank you for the work on that I know it actually takes work to keep the premiums down so please thank you to everybody who's worked on it all right take the vote Mrs ultman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may

019I have a motion to approve the purchases in accordance with Ohio Revis code 5741 D1 and board policy 6320 so moved second and Miss HRI okay yes so we have uh several on the uh board agenda tonight for you uh again this is when a purchase is made or a service is requested prior to the purchase order being open um sometimes that's just timing there are different things that can cause that so tonight we have four on the agenda for you uh one is a trainer uh that was for for Food Service uh purchase order was open prior to but it accidentally got closed in error so we had to reopen and we still have to follow these rules uh same for the second one whenever Park a chair Camp event there was a PO

020open and they thought it had gotten paid and it had not so same situation the last two on the agenda uh are for St Paul's one of our auxiliary schools so we do manage um funds from the state for those schools and it's a timing issue those funds are not available till July 1 but they committed to some training and software and at the end of last school year so it's just a timing issue all those funds were budgeted and planned it was just some timing issues and some a little bit of errors I'm closing some POS any questions comments okay Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meer yes and is it okay if I take the consent um agenda as one consent Personal Agenda okay or the Personnel consent agenda

021um may I have a motion to approve the Personnel consent agenda as one 9.01 through 9.15 so moved second and welcome Mr Cooper good evening president Meyer vice president Altman members of the board Miss Hendrick and Miss Hamburg this evening's Personnel consent agenda consists of action items with regard to resignations retirements leaves of absence contract status changes onetime pays and other employment related decisions additionally there are three M and one Mo MOA with our teachers union the Westerville Educators Association or WEA we have two staff members who have announced the retirement on this evening's agenda Karen mcmanis is retiring after 25 years of service and Gina Moore after 31 years of service to our district we appreciate all they've done for our students staff and community and wish them the best in their years ahead

022under item 9.09 it is my pleasure to introduce Melania m to the Board of Education this evening she is our recomend recation for our new executive director of communications and Community engagement Miss Amato is a district resident who brings more than 15 years of educa of experience uh diverse communication experiences I should say to the district she most recently served as director of communications for the Ohio Secretary of State so welcome to Melanie our three M us and onea with the WEA this evening are renewals of previous agreements in place due to the current one-year extension of the WEA collective bargaining agreement it is recommended these one-year Agreements are also extended at this time I'm happy to take any questions you may have any questions or comments just congratulations to the retirees yes thank you

023Miss Hendrick right Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Meyer yes no new um no old business so moving along to new business um and we have our first reading of entrance requirements policy 512 and I'm going to invite Mr Doran and Miss rord up to the podium please welcome good evening president Meyer vice president Alman members of the board um this rord and I are here to present to you a change in the policy for the entrance uh guidelines age entrance guidelines for um kindergarteners moving that date from September 30th to August 1st the uh change is desired based on student performance and also student Readiness as we look to um make sure that the kids are are just better prepared before they start in that that curriculum let let's kinder

024curriculum but it's still Advanced curriculum you have any questions um I know that uh there is some uh leeway right could you talk a little little bit about that so for families that are just preparing for next year sure as you know um anybody it's been explained you know um to us that people plan for kindergarten for a very long time so next year while the age requirement will be in play um anybody that wants to opt in within the date ranges that were moved so from August 2nd to September 30th those students will not be eligible for unless they go through our early entrance procedural guidelines the following year this year they may opt into and and still start kindergarten as planned great thank you so they're all in or they have to request

025to opt in they'll have to just start the enrollment process so if they choose not to start the enrollment process if they choose to start they will be in I'm just wondering do the kiddos that are five by August 1st do they get are they automatically entered into all day if that's what they choose or could someone that is on the cusp and is part maybe September 1st I I guess I'm wondering how it relates all dayk is I'm sorry I'm sorry did how it relates to all dayk is that what I heard well I'm just worried about El eligibility with all dayk and kids that are meeting the requirement and the kids that aren't meeting the requirement but we're grandfathering them in correct that's what it sounds like that is correct and once a

026student is enrolled they are eligible for the AL day K lottery so it is that is definitely a lottery we'd have to change that policy if we wanted to change um how students got into all day kindergarten okay another policy we can look at that if the board would if the board would like us to look at that we can but as Mr Dorne said that would be looking at another policy yeah and I'm not asking for that I just was thinking about the questions that are going to come down the pike right like oh you've changed the policy and yeah okay and then how are we going to get the information out to let families know that we've changed the date we'll do that in the same way that we let families know that

027it's time to uh register for kindergarten so we'll start a media campaign for that relatively soon I mean outside of reading our board minutes right so but we'll start a media campaign soon because kindergarten enrollment starts in November so we're not that many weeks away so that campaign will be starting soon okay okay thank you um just one quick question on the on the dates right the August 1st and September 31st dat can you talk about why those dates well there are only two dates that we can choose one is September 30th and one is August 1st and and by yeah it's by law and I my belief I'd have to go back and research why they chose those two dates but because some schools start later and other schools start earlier yeah so if

028you're not going to start till after Labor Day you don't need an August 1 date yeah thank you I I that was was my recollection and understanding I just want people to understand we can't choose like the first day of school we cannot um by law there are two dates got to pick one or the other we we can't choose the entrance age so August 1st or September 30th and because we tend to start school in this late in the second week or the beginning of the third week of August a September 30th birthday has students who are four years old in school for several weeks and it just starts uh potentially uh some some concerns that will continue to grow great thank you I just wanted to clarify that if somebody next year wants

029to opt into the early entrance all they have to do is enroll there's like no testing or anything that the kids have to go through there's no testing okay thank you if they if they fall within the August 2nd through September 30th date outside of that date they will still have to use our early entrance testing requirements which is very stringent okay thank you and then following that year we'll go there will not be an opportunity other than testing into that is correct great okay any other questions all right thank you [Music] okay um next up may I have a motion to approve the resolution for impracticality of Transportation so moved second welcome Mr Snider good evening president Meyer vice president Alman board members Miss Hamburg Miss hend before you this evening is a declaration

030of impracticality for transportation for the identified students before you Ohio law allows for public school districts to determine the impracticality of Transportation after considerations of several factors such as the cost of providing transportation and the number of students transported this past July 8th the board passed a resolution declaring one student in Practical for transportation and before you this evening is a list containing 64 additional students deemed impractical for transportation the department of purchasing and Logistics of Westerville City schools has evaluated each listed private school student per the requirements of section 33 27.2 of the Ohio Revised Code and declared the listed students impractical to transport before you again this evening is a list of 64 students representing 21 schools approving this resolution would allow the district to offer payment in Le of Transportation in accordance

031in in the manner provided per the Ohio Revised Code the Department of Education and Workforce also determines the payment and lie amount which is paid for each student therefore it is our recommendation that the board uh proceed and approve this evening this declaration of impracticality for transportation and I certainly would be happy to answer any questions that you may have tonight any questions comments just for um audience members and people that may be watching at home what is the criteria for determining if a child is potentially impractical for transportation the first step is to determine if they're actually eligible for that Transportation the school itself has to be recognized by the Department of Education and Workforce as being a a school that meets the criteria set forth by that department Additionally the student and this

032when we hear about the 30 minute rule uh for for clarity but also as a reminder that 30 minute rule is not 30 minutes from the students residence to the school in which they are choosing to attend or the parents are choosing for them to attend rather it's 30 minutes from the school they would attend in their home catchman area so I'll use Hawthorne Elementary as an example if we were to determine eligibility for transportation there would be a timing determined from Hawthorne Elementary their front door to the front door of the non-public or Community School that the student attends um certainly a very important point of clarity is it's the 30 minute eligibility from the school in which the student would attend if they were to attend the public school of assignment and then

033after that we also determine really those honestly Miss Valentine are the two determining factors is the school credited according to the Department of Education and Workforce and the second is the student eligible for transportation based on that ruling and then we go to the six criteria and determine out of those six criteria which ones are um honestly met to declare that impracticality okay thank you um thank you Mr Snider so related to Transportation issues and challenges and um having enough bus drivers and so on what is our latitude in terms of adjusting the way we've approached impra impracticality to transport if we're having trouble getting our own students because of a bus driver shortage to and from school state law um just a couple of years ago this law hasn't been in existence for very

034long but once a School District starts a school year they are not allowed to reduce their service levels whether it be for their public school students and I'll use an example if we had a policy in place that um we we have those policies in place so so bear with me but if we have a school that is provided transportation to a certain area it's within that non-transportation boundary up to two miles that we're we're permitted to go up to if they were the board were to decide we're going to increase that distance from the school for the non-transportation area that would have to be done during the summer we're not permitted to reduce Services through the school year certainly we could increase Services if um parameters were to change or opportunities um were to

035present themselves to do so but we're not permitted to reduce service and that does include um declaring students impractical for transportation once we're providing that service at the beginning of the year um thanks for for walking through that because I think as we get into the year and you know we've had a few resignations and I know we're working on getting more drivers um up and running but and this is hypothetical this is not what's happened but even if we had the resignation of several drivers we still couldn't pull back on transporting students to non-public schools correct that's so I just want everyone to understand that this is a commitment that's made at the beginning of the year and so sometimes you know hear people say well why are we still transporting those students when

036we're having trouble getting our own and and that's why once we start the year we we can't reduce that um so I would just be very interested in learning more about how we might approach this next year okay thanks thank you any more questions comments okay take the vot thank you thank you Mrs Valentine yes yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve out of state overnight field trips so so moved second and welcome Miss Balwin good evening president Meer members of the board superintendent Hamburg and Miss Hendrick I have two trips for you to consider this evening the first of which is Westerville Norse AP US Government and US history students and teachers would like to plan to go to Washington DC in February

037students would not miss any class they would leave after school on a Thursday and then that Friday is off for students and a professional development day for teachers and then the second trip to uh request tonight is Heritage Middle School taking sixth graders to New York and this would take place after the school year so this is an enrichment opportunity available to sixth grade family and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have any questions or comments all right thank you Miss Bal you will you please take the vote M HRI Mrs Alman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meer yes okay now we're um to public comments and um I'm going to ask that as you approach you please state your name and your address each speaker will have five minutes

038to address the board a timer will be shown on the screens and Mr Doran will call time when your five minutes have elapsed if you have nothing I'm going to ask because we have a lot of people here would' like to move through make sure every you know we hear all of um the information and the comments but if you have nothing new to add I'm going to ask that you just state your name your address and you know I'm in support or I'm against and you know if you have someone that you really appreciated their comments and I I Echo so and so um please keep your comments professional avoid the use of inappropriate language and refrain from identifying individuals in the event of a complaint please address your comments to the board and

039not to the audience if you um choose not to speak because of the fact that someone's already mentioned everything that you said you can provide your comments to Mr Doran I promise you they will be read um but with that I'm going to call up Miss Beth Eddie welcome it's it's on thank you for letting us speak wonderful Westerville Board of Education I am Beth Eddie my address is 5571 Dutch Lane Johnstown Ohio not Westerville but as some of you might know I taught in Westerville for 25 years I was a chemistry teacher at Westerville South and I loved Westerville South and I loved my students very very much and I kind of retired in 2020 because now I teach three days a week and one of those days I teach for LifeWise at Northridge

040Elementary which is just where I live and I wanted to take you back to February of 2020 um I was I was eating lunch with my colleagues my science colleagues and I was talking about how I wanted to changed the curricul not Chang the curriculum but Chang my classroom I wanted to improve it I had put all of my classroom in schoy and I thought this is going to be great little did I know the next month it was really going to be a good idea but one of the teachers turned to me and said why are you doing this why are you changing your classroom around this is the last year you're teaching I said because I really love my students I want them to love chemistry and love learning and I love them

041and it really makes makes a difference to me I have uh looked at uh Bible School curriculum for over 40 years and I can tell you that the LifeWise curriculum is the best curriculum I have ever seen and that's why I'm a LifeWise teacher I don't take pay I'm a volunteer because I love it so much every week my students come to me and they find out they are cherished and they are so loved by us and they are special I let them know there's nobody in the history of the world like you and there never will be and God has a plan for you and it's your job to find out what that is they get that message every week and you know what um we say it's going to be rough uh life

042you're going to have depression and anxiety and we say and here's what you can do to fight it so we give them coping tools well it's a terrible time friend I've never seen such anxiety and depression among my students I still teach chemistry one day a week but you know what you have a way of bringing hope to the students through keeping LifeWise here at Westerville and I hope that's what you do thank you thank you um next up next up we have Miss Aaron Taylor welcome thank you president Meyer board members and superintendent Hamburg uh my name is Aaron Taylor I live at 329 Mary Avenue Westerville Ohio I'm a former public school educator a Westerville resident and mother but today I speak to you especially as a veteran LifeWise teacher who's been serving

043a group of students right here from an elementary in Westerville for the last two school years um in fact this Thursday I would be teaching the students whose parents have already signed them up again for this year if it weren't for the suspension of the policy that allows LifeWise to operate to my knowledge none of you have seen a LifeWise class in action so I hope that my perspective gives you Insight so that you know the truth about a program that's directly affected by your decisions from the moment I and the LifeWise volunteers enter the school we take great care to be compliant inviting and positive in our attitude toward every adult and student with whom we interact LifeWise students begin arriving with their lunches in the hallway while all of the students in the

044same grade levels are also transitioning to either lunch or recess so the movement to line up for a LifeWise class Blends right in with the home of activity present in that area of the building myself and the LifeWise volunteers greet the children by name and welcome them with a smile and an attitude of anticipation our weekly time together is the highlight of the week for the LifeWise staff we don't teach these students every day all day this is not the middle of just another Thursday for us we are serving these children with fresh energy and excitement to be with them so for about 1 hour a week because their parents want them to my students are leaving the school building what they are not leaving is a fully staffed and safe environment with challenging learning

045goals including memorization and critical thinking the students enter the red bus with adults whose sole purpose is to sit with them on the bus ride and listen to them connection is in the very fiber of every LifeWise class and we know students need that if LifeWise did nothing else for the students the benefit of of them just being heard is undeniable but that's not all we're skilled at listening to the students and encouraging them to apply the principles and character qualities we've been learning together we listen and guide and they open up many students share things they want to pray about or things they want to celebrate some visit with friends from other classrooms who share their same interest in learning from the Bible the time spent on the bus as well as throughout the

046LifeWise time is organized intentional and most importantly Rel upon arrival at the LifeWise site my students are taught in a brand new building with safety features in place they eat lunch with well- trained and caring adults they participate in games and movement activities and receive a well-planned lesson on character using biblical examples they are challenged to apply what they have learned to become better students community members and friends and then they returned safely to the school during the same time that all of their classmates are also transitioning back to class class from lunch and recess when my students are leaving their time with me they often express an interest in including a friend or a classmate in LifeWise and I tell them that they may invite them to ask their parents I have never once

047in the two years I've taught promised or provided any incentive for this invitation finally it is important to note that many of my LifeWise students are from families that may struggle to have access to other extracurricular activi activities many of my students are from families who are new to the United States most live in apartments I believe many of them receive a free reduced lunch all that to say LifeWise is a big deal for the students from the school in which I serve students that might be underserved in other programs have access to a highquality bible-based character education class during school hours with LifeWise I want you to be aware of the population of students that your decision to pause the release time religious instruction policy will hurt I urge you to continue the RT

048policy that allows LifeWise to serve families in the community that clearly desire it I know that your participation as a Schoolboard member is motivated by a desire to serve the community and make decisions in its best interest and ensuring that everyone belongs allow LifeWise to continue doing just that giving Christian students and those interested in the Christian faith a place to belong work with LifeWise to overcome any obstacles it is worth finding a way for students to eat lunch in compliance with State policy my students are literally waiting and counting on you to act on their behalf thank [Applause] you thank you all right next up we have Dana and I'm GNA appreciate that you did some pH Fanatics here J Goan did I say it right yes you did thank you good evening president

049Meyer members of the Westerville City Schoolboard superintendent Hamburg and Miss Hendricks I'm Dana Jam Goan 6320 Mount Royal Avenue Westerville and I'm here as a LifeWise Westerville teacher to share my support for LifeWise Academy and for religious release time instruction I have lived in Westerville school district for nine years I have an elementary education degree and have served children all my adult life last year year I was a classroom volunteer and a substitute teacher as such I experienced the program in all of the Westerville schools participating I never saw any candy gifts parties or any kind of bribes to reward students I never saw any signs of bullying at LifeWise I never saw any staff tell children to recruit other children and I never saw children arriving late back to school or any problems with

050the office staff what I did see were children who wanted to be there were eager to experience the stories were encouraging to each other and were actively participating in the games all while showing the character traits that are such a major part of the LifeWise program I've heard and read many negative comments about LifeWise most of these extreme examples did not happen in Westerville some are from websites and videos around the country they are exaggerated pulled out of context and did not have the complete facts again they were not in Westerville we've been trained in classroom management first aid CPR child abuse awareness and even EpiPen use I've had the same amount of training and screening that I received to teach preschool through Ohio to work with children at my church and as a girl

051scout leader we have required teaching training sessions before we can teach bimonthly teacher training sessions during the year online teacher forums and constant support from our LifeWise Westerville board the life LifeWise Westerville board has worked with each individual school on what would work best for pickup and drop off and we abide by the their wishes we are very aware that we are guests in your buildings our church doors are locked while we are there and we take the students safety very seriously each class has a teacher and two volunteers sometimes more one adult is never alone with a student this year I will be teaching first grade classes and of course the lessons will be suitable for their age level Westerville LifeWise would never tell children they're going to die if they don't believe children

052interpret in their own way and what goes home or back to school is not always what was said that is why parents receive weekly emails with the upcoming lessons and followup activity so discussion can continue at home and we are told not to share our personal faith or opinion the Bible lessons that were presented to the school board as examples were out of context and stop short of the rest of the story The True Heart of the LifeWise story every week that Jesus is here to save and love not to condemn I ask you to have faith in our Westerville LifeWise board for their integrity they have set a very high standard for us as teachers and they have not nor will they promote anything that would put students at risk I also ask you

053to consider your release time decision and how it affect those students of any religions in our Multicultural District I thank you for your time and I eego await your decision thank you and next next up we have Elise Smith welcome I my name is Elise Smith I live at 380 windamir Drive in Westerville Ohio thank you so much for the opportunity to speak tonight I'd like to take a moment to read from a LifeWise frequently Asked question sheet this is written and published by LifeWise I'll provide a copy of the page and its entirety to your email this sheet is for instructors on how to answer tough questions from students these students are Elementary School students and I really want us to bear that in mind I have a novel's worth of editorial comment I

054could add as my reaction to the information below but I'll think I will let LifeWise speak for itself student question how can I honor my parents stepparents grandparents livens who do not follow God LifeWise answer we can't expect people who don't love God to follow him but we should still be respectful toward them and try to live peacefully with them when faced with a choice to obey God or our parents we should obey God first student question my mom's boyfriend lives with us is that a sin LifeWise answer in Genesis 2 God created the first man and woman to have a romantic relationship within the boundaries of marriage this is his special and best plan when two people reject God's plan and choose to live together without getting married first God says it is a

055sin student question my parents are divorced did they break God's rules LifeWise answer Mark tells us that when two people get married they are joined together in a very special way God does not want this bond to be broken apart but God promises that when we repent and confess our sins he will forgive us student question what does the Bible say about being in a same-sex relationship LifeWise answer God designed the first man and woman to have a loving relationship with one another in marriage this was and still is God's perfect plan God's word tells us that anything different from this kind of romantic relationship between a husband and a wife is a sin student question does God hate people in the lgbtq plus Community LifeWise answer God loves each person no matter what they

056do but God is also Perfect all sin angers him and makes him sad God wants us to turn away from sin and do what is right before I read the last one I just want everyone to visualize the context this is a first through fifth grade student asking these questions the answer is coming from an adult volunteer who is required to only have two years experience in teaching Sunday school the parent is not present and was not given any of this ahead of time student question what should God what would God think if I changed my gender LifeWise answer the Bible teaches that God made us male or female no matter how we feel or how confused we are we should trust God and respect God's Perfect Design and how he created us I will

057close by saying in a public Facebook post LifeWise says it welcomes all students and families regardless of Lifestyle Church affiliation or faith they go on to say in their Facebook post if a student asks a question about cultural issues LifeWise leaders are trained to respond with compassion humility and respect I'm not sure I agree that the answers above exhibit compassion humility and respect I also think it's an enormous overreach for these adult volunteers to be discussing these topics with elementary school children in addition to this being wildly irresponsible there's another message I take away from Life wise's own words all are welcome but they are welcome despite and regardless of their differences the thing I love about Westerville is that differences are celebrated this does not represent the Westerville I know and love thank you

058for your time thank you um next up we have Eric [Applause] Smith hello how's my volume you're fine welcome uh thank you to the board for allowing me to speak here tonight Eric Smith 380 windir Drive Westerville um I'm a Westerville resident with two small children in Westerville Public Schools I am a champion of public schooling because I believe that those who dedicate themselves to the education of our youth are the best of us I'm not a teacher but I have teachers in my family and I have seen firsthand how difficult that job can be and how often how thankless it is so I'd like to thank every employee of the Westerville City School District tonight the janitors Librarians art teachers Home Room teachers administrative staff all the way up to the board what you

059have chosen as a career path is admirable and we parents appreciate you thank you I would like to point out that you have repeated requested that there is a repeating message to please submit it to you to be read later they're going to keep coming up here all night with the same copy paste wash reuse statements I would off I would like to offer a fresh perspective to this narrative like I said I'm not a teacher I'm an engineer by training and what is drilled into our heads is design and tent what was the architect in tending when they landed on this solution with that context I would argue that life wises architect has drawn up a deliberate attempt to manipulate children's social interactions to increase their participation rates in this program they proudly claim

060that their goal is to reach unchurched children they take these kids off campus depriving students of the benefit of lunch with their peers and recess to teach a curriculum that they're not very excited to to show everybody out publicly all right in fact they're embroiled in a lawsuit with a man who published the curriculum and they're hiding behind patent law but let me go back to design intent when I was a child my favorite days were ones in which I had a doctor's appointment you want to know why it's because I knew that I would come back into school with a Happy Meal all my friends would be jealous how is the man of the hour right that's what these people are doing they're sending their little red shirts back into schools with Tales of

061candy ice cream parties begging their friends to join them midday recruitment works best send them back to school with a Happy Meal so that the other kids will see and be jealous of could they use the red school bus to provide an after school program that lets children who are already of Faith deep in their connection they could but they won't that would not work for the agenda because the design you see is for the kids to be visible at school after riding sugar high on the Magic School Bus and telling all of their friends about it for the rest of the day it is all by Design I'm G ask I'm sorry sir can we please keep the Clapping to um sorry can we refrain from clapping thank you it's all by Design is

062an attempt to reach out and scoop up as many children as possible by manipulating what kids do best talking to their friends it's not a bug in the system it is the feature of the system now let me turn from design intent to risk assessment another major part of my field of work is looking out over the scope of a project and assessing the risk involved when I look at this project of theirs I find a big red flashing light a warning sign that there is something that can go wrong big wrong participation in this program can be had through online registration one of my kids has the biggest case of fomo I've ever seen he will never take note for an answer if it's something that his friends are doing all right so where

063does the liability fall if my son signs himself up online gets on one of their school buses against my knowledge and God forbid that school bus gets into a car accident and my son is injured or is dead all right their little registration form has the liability and dimity checked off they're not liable guess where I look next I look to you guys and my first question is how could you let this program go forward and all of my other questions will come from my lawyers finally how hard did you fight after Co to get the students back into the school buildings and now you have this group of people trying to climb over the wall of church and state to drag them back out of your buildings don't let them these people have every

064evening of the week and two days on the weekends to preach to their masses your motto is where you belong correct me if I'm wrong but the you is the children not Evangelical prizers they think that they can educ the educate the youth better than you they don't respect you you can tell this by how not a single one of them tonight will submit the repeat messaging to be read later they have no respect for you these people know that once they are allowed in they will be exponentially harder to get rid of so I close them a personal note if somebody knocked on my door and asked to take my kids away to study something that they won't openly show me and in the same breath have to explain that the rumors about them

065being politically Affiliated or occult are not true I would tell them to get off of my property this is your property they're knocking on your door what are you going to do thank you thank you I'm just going to we have about two and a half hours of public comment here so I'm just going to ask if you have nothing new to repeat just feel free to come up state your name your address and say whether you're for or against and submit your comments I I do promise they do get read um next up we have I'm might pronounce this last name wrong and I'm G to apologize Scott zi zun zun am I close you're doing good okay welcome hopefully you'll state it for us thank you yes my name is Scott z uh

066I respond to anything that starts was Z and sounds remotely close 377 Delaware drive thank you members of the board for your service and for providing this forum to the community coming from a deeply concerned parent with a daughter in the Westerville Elementary system the LifeWise program is not good for the Westerville Public School Community we can listen to testimonies from those affiliated with LifeWise all day and I'm sure some great individual things would be highlighted I mean LifeWise teachers and support LifeWise crazy uh but without sitting in on a session which is not permitted and I find that to be an enormous red flag and without without the ability to monitor children's interactions across a school day all we really have to look back at are the last two board meetings to have a

067clear look at how divisive this program is look at what this has brought out in otherwise tight-knit community and listen even if I'm being generous and I give those involved in the program the benefit of the doubt that their intentions are good the program clearly causes division which has been evident in this very room I know we try to safeguard our children and we think of them as shielded from such vitriol but they are often smarter and more perceptive than we give them credit for so to believe this division has not already crept into the schools and does not impact children's relationships actions judgments and sense of belonging is is just naive the division is unnecessary and can be REM remedied by removing LifeWise as any part of a public students School standard day I

068heard several LifeWise Advocates voed last meeting that LifeWise was a choice and we could simply choose not to participate in the program but to rebut that I already chose to have my child attend a school with no religious affiliation when I made the choice for them to attend a public school if you believe wholesome values need to for whatever reason be anchored to Christianity or a certain religion don't you have the choice to send your children to a Christian school or a private school from what I've witnessed for my daughter in her two years in the Westerville Public School System you guys are doing a fantastic job all on your own instilling positive values fostering inclusivity providing diverse educational options and develop strong personal character for my child so thank you it's appreciated one speaker

069from last meeting really bothered me when they compared rights granted via the RT guidelines and this was they went into which these allowed students who celebrate Ramadan to be excused from school activities for a religious observance mind you in private and not advertised and they compared that to the LifeWise rights to continue utilizing a mechanized recruiting machine with branded red buses shirts treats Etc no doubt purposed to apostate and indoctrinate young students to one certain set of religious beliefs what plat false equivalency I mean this is at best laughable and at worst incredibly concerning if those affiliated with LifeWise are as passionate and dedicated as they portray in these meetings then please take your energy and focus it in the programs that can happen outside of or are totally disassociated with the public school system

070run the programs outside of school hours or work towards making this a standalone private school take this out of the Public's hands in closing thank you again to the board for listening I beg you to please discontinue any AFF affiliation with this organization thank you thank you um next up we have Mary Jean botler botler Mary Jean berler okay 6546 hadam Place West Westerville members of the board superintendent I'm Mary Jean batler retired Presbyterian Pastor who lives in anhur and Volunteers in the anhur elementary school I'm a lifelong supporter of public education and teachers union as is the denomination that I have served for 40 years for 12 years I served on the board of Westminster John Knox press one of the most respected religious Publishers in this country country in fact I chaired that

071board the publishing House's newest children's imprint FlyAway books is an award-winning collaboration of top biblical Scholars and academically trained Christian Educators this is all to suggest that I know something about good children's curriculum and can identify toxic children's curriculum I would Place LifeWise curriculum in the category of toxic theology I have great concerns about embedding that curriculum into the public school day what that means for the mental health and well-being of children under your care I listened to the public comments last time online many parents offered anecdotes about their children's enjoyment of LifeWise of course every religious program from the most egregious to the most respected can offer such ex uh such and itd does we all speak well of groups in which we are engaged however the responsibility of the board of education is

072to look Beyond those comments and connect the dots let me share how I began to connect those dots I was making muffins one day my earphones were in or Earp pods pods were in and I was listening to cpan book TV on which authors appear promoting their latest book this day's guest was new to me his name was Corey Angelus d'angelus and I soon learned that his passion was advocating against teachers unions and what he called government schools he promotes the abolishment of the Department of Education and is a strong supporter of public money vouchers being funnel to private schools same line that I have heard many times nothing new to see here however my ears perked up when he began to talk about the way in which Public Schools were indoctrinating children and those

073children were growing into adults who were politically active he pointed out that only a small portion of students were in private education and therefore there was a great need to reach children in the public schools before they could be indoctrinated with woke woke ideas he somewhat gleefully described the loophole many had found in the RT law it opened up a new and these are his words a new Mission fi the same language and approach used by LifeWise and promoted by its funders now what is this all tell us this is not about character education although I would contend that what LifeWise teaches have little to do with character andhurst Elementary is teaching character education it's just not the kind of loving and inclusive character traits that life wise's narrative view of the world endorses narrow

074view of the world endorses this is not about character education it's not even about religious education that could be done after school that can be done on the weekend it is about political power it's about supplement it's not about supplementing what the school is teaching it is about replacing P public education in this country when I visited the LifeWise offices to learn more about the curriculum I asked the president what public school his children attended no surprise his children are not in public schools I would wager that most of those who design and benefit financially from the from this business model do not have children in the public school my admonition play in your own sandbox and leave our children and our Public Schools alone you have a plethora of religious schools in which you

075are free to promote your wares the Westerville board of education is the only thing that stands between our schools and the political agenda of those who would and I quote and this is my final quote weaponize race identity and Faith to dehumanize and endanger vulnerable marginalized communities and dismantle public education these are attacks these attacks are rooted in white supremacy values your time is up I'm sorry thank you for um next up is uh Rick nut oh you already knew welcome thank you members of the board my name is Rick nut 65 Adam Place West I I'm professor emeritus of religion at muskingham University my field is US religious history and I'm here to speak to the question of the LifeWise release time for religious instruction or RTR program this is only a matter of

076church State separation in a peripheral way for good or ill the Supreme Court declared RT programs constitutional that's not really a matter about which we need to debate here more in one sense is what LifeWise teaches theologically a matter for your concern to approve or disapprove of the theology or religious teaching in such a program is beyond any government entity's purview however if that religious instruction contradicts the values the district promotes and disrupts community in the schools for instance if it denies the value of all religions or the affirmation of all gender identities then the school board may want to deny the program the only constitutional question would be if in fact School Personnel play a role in promoting or supporting student participation in LifeWise in any way beyond what is necessary to allow the

077children to take part in it that would be unconstitutional and such support or promotion would be important information for you to have my concern goes in another Direction I have seen some LifeWise curriculum approximately 10 lesson plans and I'm convinced that some of what is taught is in contradiction to what students are taught in Westerville schools for instance one lesson plan dealt with the creation of the universe in the Book of Genesis the creation of the world was taught in a literal way emphasizing what was created on each of the six days of creation an activity for the students was then to match various items say trees humans Stars with the day on which they were made one choice was to identify the day on which T-Rexes were created I assume I hope that no

078science teacher in our schools ignores the accepted understanding of evolution and that none teaches a scientific view in which dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time in history this is just one example of a contradiction between the life wise and Westerville curricula of which I'm aware I've heard reference to the quality of the curriculum I can assure you that a Biblical approach which does not acknowledge that there are two creation stories in the Book of Genesis would not be accepted by biblical faculty and our best theological institutions there's another matter I would raise should LifeWise continue in the Westerville schools and eventually grow into the middle and high schools I'm concerned that when dealing with with us history the students might be taught a basic idea of Christian nationalism that is that the United

079States was founded as a Christian Nation and should return to its Christian Roots the understanding of the role of religion in our nation's founding is complex and it requires a great deal of nuance as religion related to secular and cultural and political factors in the colonies and our new nation but it is never correct simply to assert that our nation was founded as a Christian Nation or that Christianity should have priority in our national life in any way there are other important elements to this question that you've heard I have chosen here uh as I leave others with more expertise as Educators to address those other issues I wanted to put before you my concern about an area in which I think I'm qualified to to speak thank you for your time and for your

080hard work thank you um next up we have Tobias Gordon and just a reminder if you have nothing new to add you feel free to come up state your name your address support or against and just hand your comments to Mr Dorne welcome good evening board super attendant thank you for your time to taking the time to listen to me uh I'm here today to ask that you fully resend the district's release time for religious instruction policy I spoke here at the last Board of Education meeting requesting that you adjust the policy I'm sorry I forgot Tobias Gordon 6688 Callingwood Drive Westerville Ohio 43082 oh I spoke here at the last board meeting requesting that you adjust the policy due to con I had with life wises pro pro damn that word was hard proing

081uh and intentional coercion of students with the false appearance of school sponsorship while those concerns remain valid after further research I have taken a stronger position regarding RT there is no way that RT cannot cause deleterious effects to the instruction of students whether they opt in or out the school day simply has no time for this time type of regular disruption every class core and special lunch and recess all have well documented proven benefits to students school curricula and the entire school day is valuable by Design the value of school lunch and recess cannot be overstated these provide well researched benefits in the areas of among others improved academic performance socialization skills improved attention in the classroom and important nutrition the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement The crucial rule of recess in school which

082they reaffirmed last year uh states that safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive social emotional and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to di diminish it a 2023 study the educational outcomes of recess in elementary school children a mixed methods systematic review by howi hoe at Alia suggests positive benefits for behavior and either positive or null benefits of recess on academic achievement a 2022 systematic review how Elementary in school play opportunities relate to academic achievement and social emotional well-being systematic review by Burston and castelli found that student behavior and social emotional outcomes improve when recess is incorporated I could go on but I want to call your attention to one specific study uh LifeWise claim specific similar benefits for their R rtri program but their evidence consists of a

083single study sponsored by Ambassador Enterprises LLC which is per their website a missionally aligned team that invests in four income and four impact markets for financial cultural internal it's my emphasis returns a legacy they are a legacy minded private Equity Firm investing to glorify God in other words entirely biased in the outcome of this study a cursory review of their report of the the study report available on life wise's website reveals a number of issues in the analysis including as far as I can tell the conflation of grade levels when comparing benefits of reduction and behavioral issues I I strongly encourage you to look close closer at this if this if it is part of your analysis in consideration the logistical overhead of art is an undue burden for teachers and staff with one organization

084requiring the pulling out of a subset of students management of departure and return attendance and many other factors it can be nothing but disruptive the logistical equivalent of a field trip on a weekly basis is a significant use of District resources the overhead and disruption will increase with the addition of each extra organization requesting released time there are other organizations in the Columbus area using released time think of the impact of two three six organizations at a single school that would require an absolutely untenable amount of school district resources and be a major disruption to learning I for one want my teachers and staff focused on instruction not worried about getting their kids kids to a religious instruction which should be performed after school there are 8,760 hours in one year and a child only

085spends a man minimum of 910 of them in school that leaves over over 7,500 hours for parents to fill their child's life with religious teachings they do not need to take another 36 hours away from teaching by trained professionals please resend the release time for religious instruction policy thank you thank you um next up is Roger walin I think that's an N Roger walin is it an N Walker Walker um sorry my bad it's okay thank you welcome thank you thank you for giving us the opportunity to address the school board board of education I unlike some of my uh previous individuals I learned about this meeting about two hours ago so I don't come prepared with a uh a Litany of things to say uh I raised for all four of my children excuse

086me I uh reside at 6884 meal Glen Drive South Westerville raised four children in the Westerville school system have the greatest respect for uh the knowledge and experience they had there and I appreciate what the uh Westerville City schools has done for my family uh I don't have a lot of of data other than to say that life wise has been a blessing to our family uh they have grown because of demand across the United States the 550 schools in a few short years states have approved uh the LifeWise curriculum as they must and should Implement in many of the school systems Indiana and other states uh there's been tremendous confidence in the LifeWise curriculum and how it's managed uh I I implore you to consider prayerfully the fact that this kind of education is

087not disruptive is done out of love and out of concern for every student uh in all of our schools thank you thank you we have about two more hours of public comments so I'm just going to ask again and remind you if uh you have nothing new to add please feel free to just come up and state your name and whether you support or not next up is GA Amado am I correct amadio my apologies welcome my name is GI amadio I live I am a fifth grade fifth grade student at HBY Elementary um I live at 359 Wildwood Drive and I have been looking forward going to LifeWise since the last lesson in April and I know a lot of other students have too some people are telling you to like get rid of

088LifeWise and by getting rid of it you're getting rid of one of the most fun parts of our day as a fifth grader I know everyone was told that they would be able to go all through Elementary School a lot of students are expecting that promise to be kept I heard people talking against LifeWise and someone said that they thought that kids who go to LifeWise like me were bullies and that hurt saying the kids who go saying that kids like me who believe in Jesus are mean and violent is so true it's kind of sad another person said that LifeWise talked about lgbtq but we've never had a discussion about that I also want to make something clear as a LifeWise student I know from experience that we did not get candy so I'm

089not sure why people are talk complaining about that I heard people talking badly about LifeWise and they didn't even even have kids in life in a LifeWise school yet so that didn't really seem fair um aot at lifeways we do a lot of like really fun stuff we still get to talk to our friends during lunch and then we watch a video about the Bible story we're learning about that day we also have a resour where we get to play fun games about the lesson and then um if we have time other games to there there isn't anything bad about that about the whole safety issue every day when we get when go to the church someone always has to use a key or some sort to get us in just like at school we're

090very clearly safe life should be the Parents Choice not the choice of other people thank you for your time thank you next up is Keith Walker [Applause] welcome I'm Keith Walker 5499 Lake Shore Avenue Westerville Ohio um I'm a Westerville resident taxpayer and a graduate of Westerville City Schools thank you very much l to every my all my teachers love my principes um I uh truly appreciate the Westerville City School System um I just wanted to make a couple points I didn't have really time to prepare but um I really appreciated the the child that just spoke and just spoke from her heart and I just want to second that uh and I think I would have felt the same way if I had that opportunity uh back then I'm a lot older now of

091course uh one one of the comments though I wanted to make was um I am a Westerville I'm a taxpayer and uh I pay a lot of taxes and uh we uh uh I I I a lot of folks can't afford to put their kids in private school and it's just I just wanted to call out that this opportunity just once a week this opportunity is such a wonderful thing um it's a small thing it seems but it's a big thing for these kids and for some of these parents and it's a great opportunity uh and if they can't afford if parents cannot afford to put their children into a private school and even if they do they still have to pay taxes that go to the public school so there's it's very expensive to

092D get double taxed you get you pay taxes to the school system and you have to come up with a uh the the payment for the private school so that's one point that I thought is important and it's a great way to mitigate that by letting their children still be benefiting from the Westerville school system and if they and if they choose they can let their child to be part of this program um the second thing is uh we always talk about choice choice choice choice and this is a choice um it's optional and I think that it's important that um if the if a parent and a child does they don't they don't want to be involved in the program it's fine uh and if they do it's a wonderful opportunity and I really

093really wish that I would have had this opportunity when I was going uh to the schools here and uh thank you very much for hearing me out thank you up next we have Becky medley welcome thank you for the opportunity board my name is Becky medley I live at 15815 needles Road in Johnstown but I am the student minister at Westerville Christian church and have been on staff there for over 20 years now we were one of the locations for LifeWise Academy last school year and um I speak for our church to let you know that we believe that the policy of release time for religious instruction is a really important um issue for our community I think we can all agree on that tonight the RT policy represents a commitment to nurturing the spiritual

094development of our children and upholding the values that help shape our kids into being kind and compassionate citizens in our community LifeWise curriculum complements the moral and ethical foundations that are vital for personal growth but also social responsibility and by integrating faith-based education into the school week we can help students develop a sense of purpose compassion and integrity through faith in God RTR lets parents make that choice for their children I can speak for the faith community that I'm a part of at Westerville Christian that we want to walk alongside the public school to care for the children in Westerville I see that we're on the same team last school year I volunteered two hours a week in one of our Middle School's mentoring students and helping with schoolwork and just this morning I dropped

095off my application so that I could do that again this year our church provides weekend meals for over 120 Westerville School families as well as school supplies and gifts at Christmas time our church is alive and active in Westerville and wants to partner for the well-being of our students we are committed to showing that there's hope in this world not just with lip service but in practice hosting LifeWise Academy was just another opportunity for us to love the students of Westerville LifeWise is a beautiful way for for the schools and Faith communities of our town to come together to impact our students in the areas of mental health character development academic achievement and social Integrity LifeWise and the parents who choose it celebrate our freedom of religion and choice isn't that what we all want

096for our kids in advocating for LifeWise Academy we are not seeking to Strongarm everyone to our way of thinking or Force any political agenda but rather to offer an option for those who wish to incorporate the their faith into their education it's about providing choices and honoring the diverse needs of our community if we have any agenda at all it is to love God and love people in all walks of life the goal of LifeWise as well as the example of Jesus Christ is not to indoctrinate discriminate or alienate but to serve all people in love so I urge the school board on behalf of the local church and to consider the benefits of release time for religious instruction and by doing so we can stand by our commitment to the wellbeing and growth of

097our children giving them the opportunity to thrive both academically and spiritually together we can bring more passion more service to families and a lot more hope into the community that we all love so much thank you for your time next up is Mary Franco Mary Franco welcome good evening board my name is Mary Franco I live at 606 Retreat Lane North in Powell and I just wanted to uh share a little bit about my perspective uh having worked for LifeWise I am a public school teacher uh worked 20 years for an and Tangi and uh prior to that 17 years in inner city Los Angeles and I I was asked to uh volunteer for LifeWise for ol and Tangi I knew nothing about the program stepped in um and I just wanted to share my

098perspective in ol Tangi this is my my third year the the first year uh we had about 56 uh students enroll the second year it was about 250 and then this past uh this upcoming year we have uh over 400 470 some students enrolled and um I would just really encourage you to do uh to to perhaps visit a LifeWise class because like these other uh folks said it is really a very joyful uh classroom atmosphere that children are introduced to God and the Bible uh they learn scripture and they walk away they are delighted and when you hear this uh you heard this young young lady in fifth grade uh we just graduated about 12 fifth graders last year it was a glorious um uh celebration the children love it the parents love it

099I am in the public schools all the time I have uh friends that are teaching currently and talk about the changes that they see in these students coming back into the school and uh I I could go on about those stories but it has had a very very positive effect on the students on the parents and on the uh in the School classrooms themselves so I would very much uh encourage you to think positively about your decision that you have to make uh because uh it it is a fantastic program that really does uh benefit those who choose to take part thank you very much thank you so we have two more pages left and I'm wondering if nobody has anything I'm I'm going to invite if you have other things to say that hasn't

100been said yet to do so but I'm going to ask if things have already been said that you've already um that you might want to say and you are in support of LifeWise if maybe we could just stand up and then we can note that and sit down and those that are against could stand up and sit down um but uh okay next up we have Nicole Elliott welcome president Meyer members of the school board superintendent Hamburg I'm Nicole Elliott and I live at 396 windcraft drive and um I will be brief for the sake of everything you've been saying so I'm addressing you as a Westerville resident uh parent with a student in the Westerville schools and also a LifeWise teacher I'm an Ohio Department of Education Elementary license holder with a master's of

101Education degree in curriculum and instruction and 20 years of teaching experience during the 23 24 school year I had the privilege and honor of teaching about two dozen Westerville Elementary School students in grades 1 through 4 whose parents chose to enroll them in LifeWise Academy I personally taught over 100 LifeWise classes so I'm qualified to share my firsthand experience of what actually takes place in the classroom many false accusations have been circulated about LifeWise recently so I would like to share the truth of what our program really is we are absolutely not political we have absolutely zero political agenda we don't coers or bribe students in any way LifeWise highly values student safety and well-being from the time we picked the students up in the school office to the time we return them safely an

102hour later the students are loved appropriately cared for well listen to thoroughly and challenge to learn about and exhibit moral characteristics such as honesty kindness and respect this is accomplished in an encouraging and uplifting way never through shaming judgment or unkindness in any form we as LifeWise teachers strive to embody extravagant love kindness and patience and set a positive moral example of how to live in a world that is ripe with negativity and unkind words we talk about ways students can practice these character traits such as learning learning to forgive a sibling or a friend when they do something hurtful or learning how to show respect to parents and teachers by listening and obeying learning how to show compassion by helping others who are hurting we honor student creativity and the unique ways that God

103has created each one we are coming alongside and supporting the same kinds of traits school districts throughout the country are striving to impart to their students students in our program have expressed how LifeWise is a place where they feel loved and accepted a bright spot in their school week on several occasions in my personal experience a student would arrive in the office at LifeWise pickup time after having a difficult morning for whatever reason during the course of our class their mood would begin to lighten as they engaged with the caring adults and their peers they were encouraged they experienced prayer they learned about the love of Jesus and they had fun playing games by the end of class these same children would have a complete mood shift because they felt seen known and supported so

104whatever is underlying this opposition to LifeWise let us agree to discuss and work through the problems so that students in Westerville whose parents choose to enroll them can continue to benefit from this incredible opportunity please don't take this important option away from our students thank you right thank you next up is Alexandria gtis my apologies I think I butchered it no problem uh it's garrettson so Alexander garrettson and I'm at 778 L Crest Drive in Westerville I have added my uh comments today and have also em them to you so I will not read my entire thing an interest in time um I have two children that attend Mark Twain Elementary School um they were up until a few minutes ago in the Overflow room and were quite hurt to be called white supremacist during

105this meeting my oldest son has participated in white LifeWise Academy for several years and my youngest will will be participating for the first time this year I'm very disheartened by your decision to consider a suspension as these classes are wonderful opportunity for my children to connect with other Christians in our community and learn valuable character lessons with a basis in scripture and with no interruption to their instructional time it hasn't been mentioned today so I would like to bring it up this the US Supreme Court has ruled in 1952 in the case zurak versus clawen that instructional programs like wife LifeWise are fully within the confines of the Constitution removing this right because some in our community would prefer that we don't offer it is a violation of my rights I respectfully ask that you

106keep the RT policy in place and make no changes thank you next up is Sher Gau welcome thank you for allowing me an opportunity to speak my name is Sher gos I live at 6360 Thrasher Loop in Westerville uh I live there with my husband of 10 years Brian and um my seven-year-old son Henry who attends HBY elementary school last year our then first grader came home from school with printed life wise material in his backpack he had been recruited or attempted to be recruited by other students in his class he sees the right the bright red bus as a field trip and wants to understand why some children get to go on a field trip once a week that not all kids get to go we have spent the last seven years as parents

107teaching him to look for similarities in himself and in others when we ask a CH when he first asked us about a child who was in a wheelchair for the first time I pointed out all the things that he and that child had in common and all the things that that child could do just like him and when he asked about people of a different skin color I pointed out that we all look different but we all have so many similarities despite what the LifeWise Representatives tell us their intentions are this program is divisive in our School classrooms it's divisive in our communities and you see it here the topic of LifeWise is not something that many parents want to bring up in conversations at birthday parties because it's or picnics because it's a Hot

108Topic it has come up however in a few discussions that I've witnessed and for my experience the majority of handby parents do not like this program at all in fact we all feel like this program somehow snuck in the back door and the parents did not have any say about it luckily only three or four of my son's classmates participated in LifeWise last year the lack of participation is an indication on how parents really feel about it I have attended the last two school board meetings in fact they were the first school board meetings I've ever attended at the last meetings just like this one there were a lot of red shirts in the room I can't help but wonder how many of the people who are wearing them are actually a current parent or

109guardian of a Westerville City School District student that's all I have to share thank you for your time thank you um next up is Jessica goer welcome I'm sure if I said it wrong you'll okay correct me thank you very much um superintendent and U Vice superintendent and um president of the board for allowing me to speak for a moment my name is Jessica Geller um I am uh eighth generation Delaware County uh my great great grandpa father graduated from Westerville and I live in sunb Ohio at 189 Lut Avenue um I just wanted to tell you how Wonder ful LifeWise is and seeed the rest of my time and I hope that you continue to uh keep it as a part of the adoption policy for the school system thank you thank you next

110up I think this is an oh so I'm sorry Kathy bowler is that right okay welcome good evening I'll keep my comments brief I'm Kathy bowler 6671 Meadow Glen Drive South in Westerville president Meyer board members superintendent Hamburg thank you for continuing to work hard for our students for our families and for considering all the input that you've received tonight I'm here to support LifeWise and I ask that you continue to support it and I thank you for your time thank you um next up we have Jeff Harrison welcome hi everybody my name is Jeff Harrison 497 Blue Heron Court first time doing this so bear with me please um actually I'm going to cut mine in about half as well just to you know take of time um I think everyone in this room

111can agree that some of the most important questions in life is like why are we here what's the meaning of life what happens when we die these are not questions that any scientist or uh school can answer however as the philosopher met Shan dway said where science ends Faith begins we as Christians know that we have the answers these questions through our faith in God for these and many other reasons I've enrolled my daughter in LifeWise Academy LifeWise gives our kids a chance to grow in the understanding of their faith which is an opportunity that I and many other parents want them to have to be be sure public education is great kids and gives our kids wonderful experiences and knowledge that they'll have for the rest of their lives I went to Tangi back

112when there was only one olangi and uh the things I learned and many of the friends I've made are still with me to this day however public education does not Pride provide our kids with the knowledge of the Bible that we as Christians want them to have and once a week on Sunday only goes so far life wives gives our kids the opportunity to grow in their faith while also not sacrificing any of the school learning that they receive daily we as parents are responsible for teaching our kids about what we believe for sure but with the busy schedules that Modern Life Now requires it often leaves just a little bit of time to talk to our kids about these things thus LifeWise helps us as parents keep our kids learning about God without having

113to constantly struggle to find the time to do so LifeWise Works within the framework of our kids school schedules and does not interfere with any part of the school day they take the bus to a local church which happens to be the church that I go to um where they get Sunday school like instruction for a few minutes once a week and then they come back to school at the time recess is over I really don't see how anyone at all could see the harm in that especially when it's completely voluntary and only those who want to go will go every other teacher student and and parent at the school is completely unaffected Westerville schools and its families lose Nothing by LifeWise being a part of the community but those of us who choose to

114make our make it a part of our kids education have only to gain from it as far as we're concerned if you do not want your children to go to participate in life wies that's fine and I certainly respect your decision I would ask however that as a parent to extend to my family and others the same courtesy who want their children to be able to seek the answers to Life's more most important questions thank you thank you next up is Jacqueline fry welcome okay are you ready for it I would like to speak to the policy changes on policy 5112 hold your flets um my daughter is a very bright student she is not a young Sheldon but it has been noted by her pediatrician and preschool teachers to be gifted her birthday is

115October 26th we were not able to enroll her last year in kindergarten even though all of her teachers had stated she was beyond ready for kindergarten because her birthday is October 26 while she is bright she likely would not have passed the early Entrance Test which is very rigorous and basically requires a student to know most of what would they would learn in kindergarten before kindergarten I was lucky our preschool had an accredited kindergarten program and we were able to progress her according to her educational needs and she was ready and well prepared and is now a 5-year-old first grader at Hanby I feel moving the date back will cause harm to bright children who are turning five between August 1st and September 30th August and September are the top most common birth months I

116should know because I deliver babies for a living and this mama is tired this change would affect a large number of those children this would affect parents who have ready their children for kindergarten years in advance please don't move the date back and force other parents who have very bright children to face the challenging test that their children wouldn't be able to pass last year we were cut off because my daughter's birthday was 26 days late now sorry on to LifeWise I would like to address comments made at the last meeting and it today repeating that no one has seen bullying at LifeWise we never said it was happening it LifeWise it is sometimes happening later in the school days and it's not always outright bullying it is microaggressions the microaggressions with student coming back

117and discussing what sin is and what happens to those who sin LifeWise says it doesn't happen because it wasn't reported to them they are denying the lived experience of children who either briefly attended or parents of children who are bullied for not attending bullying and such aggressions are rarely brought to school administration much SL parents bringing them to LifeWise themselves when Bullying happens we do what all mothers and parents do we Comfort our children and reinforce their internal magic and tell them they are smart they are brave they are kind they are beautiful and their family is also just because it's not reported doesn't mean it's not occurring and the parents who are speaking on behalf of their children should be believed again there are 8,7 160 hours in a year our children will only

118spend 900 of those learning and being educated in the Westerville schools that leaves 7,860 hours of the year for parents to fill their children's life with religions for Christians a deep love and life focused on Jesus do they really need 36 more hours thank [Music] you thank you next up is Jennifer Jerry I'm just going to remind everybody if you have nothing new to add feel free to just state your name your address and say whether you support or against welcome good evening my name is Jennifer jury I live at 571 Apple Street and I'm the program director of LifeWise Westerville um just want to speak again um to say thank you to the board and the superintendent for your hard work since the last um school board meeting on August 26th when the um

119policy for religious release time instruction was suspended um we appreciate the time that you've spent um in those two weeks I just would like to just quickly reiterate the things that LifeWise also has done um and just highlighting the fact that most of the RT policies are not even being called into question with how LifeWise has complied with those over the past two years our program is conducted off District property only with parents permission we maintain attendance records and consistently make those available to the district uh so I know the two main questions at the board and the superintendent raised at the last meeting um were surrounding the question of liability and also the question of student consumption of school provided lunches off campus um so in regards to the question of liability um I

120just want to say that LifeWise has decided to remove the parent release of reliability waiver from all LifeWise permission forms this went into effect last week so hopefully that will help clear up any questions about liability since LifeWise does assume assume liability for all students in our care and as has been mentioned we have proposed signing a memorandum of understanding with the district just to clarify any other liability questions or details so we are happy to continue to discuss that um since LifeWise students attend during lunch and recess they don't miss any Core Curriculum transportation is entirely the responsibility of LifeWise or the students parent or guardian and of course again liability is assumed by LifeWise during that transportation um no District funds are expended for the conduct conducting of LifeWise programming so I understand

121the question in response to the reimbursement for off-site consumption of lunches so in regards to that I just want to clarify that the odw does have an active notice on their website which clearly indicates that meals will be reimbursed but I know there are some lingering concerns um so I just want to reassure the board and the district that LifeWise will be happy to do whatever is NE necessary to make sure that every student receives a nutritious meal while they're at their program um so that if that means us reimbursing the school for meals or helping provide meals that um for students that need those or encouraging families to pack those if they're able I just want to reiterate that questions about lunch reimbursement are not a reason to suspend RT policy we're happy to

122continue to make that uh that question and address that as needed additionally I just want to remind the board that the the district RT policy which Echoes the state policy states that staff members shall not promote or discourage participation in release time programs for any religious instruction program and that nothing should constitute an endorsement of religion or infringe upon an individual's First Amendment rights since release time religious instruction is by its very definition religious in its content we understand and would never expect that every student or family or Community member would agree with the particularly specific religious teachings of our particular program that's why participation in any RT policy is always optional and always a matter of Parents Choice we also understand that it is not up to the board to determine the content of

123any RT program that again is a matter of parents choice if that aligns with their family they're welcome to participate for this reason it's our expectation that the members of the board would render any further policy decisions regarding RTR based on facts that have been presented about our compliance with the policy rather than succumbing to the influence of individuals or special interest groups that have expressed their own personal disagreement with the content of one particular program since all of the board's previously stated questions and concerns about LifeWise compliance seem to have been addressed and because we haven't been notified of any other questions we're excited to hear that the RT policy will go back into effect at the conclusion of this meeting um continued suspension of the RT policy would be construed as a means

124to discourage students participation in religious programs and might infringe upon students First Amendment rights so again we reiterate that we're happy to work with you to clear up any further questions that remain and we look forward to continuing to work with the students in the district thank you thank you so we have about 40 more minutes of public comment here so I'm just going to to say if you want to um just come up and state your name and his uh address and whether you support or not feel free to do so James Harrison welcome sorry it took me so long my name is James Harrison I live at 7160 jacn Court Westerville I'm also the national director of the natural Family Foundation I want to cut to the chase in terms of tonight's meeting

125what you've heard all the speakers there's two sides here one is a Christian side and the other is a secular humanist side and that's what you're hearing and that's what it all boils down to you've got man's Wisdom versus the Bible and the problem is what's right and what's wrong right that's what that's what you have to decide and I learned a long time ago I was I was one of those oh Bible pastors I had all these questions about this and that and the other and somebody asked me one time said well what would it take for you to believe the Bible I said and I thought okay okay okay the Bible is the inherent word of God all I need to do is get in there find one error and I'm out of

126here and I'm figured what two hours later right two days later two weeks later two months later six months later and what I was doing is I would take a piece of the Bible and I would compare it to what I would see in nature and what I learn is that there are natural laws they physical laws and their spiritual laws I could jump out the window here and identify as I'm not going to fall but I'm going to fall a child needs a mother and a father one each and if you don't believe that go to the prison systems and ask them about that I I see some shaking the heads and I understand that again we're in a battle between secular humanism and Christianity how do you going to determine what's right and

127what's wrong and I would say that having Christianity in the school is not a bad idea and by the way Christianity and secular humanism are both religions in 1961 the Supreme Court made that decision just just for your information so we got two religions at War here one religion that has control of schools which is secular humanism and the other Christianity wants to expose the kids to a little bit of that I pray that this school board members teachers take that in consideration because if you invite Christianity out you're going to create a vacuum and God help you when you let something else in thank you very much next up is Dan Cary my name is Dan KY I live at 106 Whisperwood Court I understand we're having some time I'll try to make my

128comments brief uh Bard uh and and the superintendent thank you for the letting us do this and I want to tell you how much I appreciate I'm sure your efforts in running this Westerville school system I am not a lawyer I am not a a theologian I I've never even read the entire Bible um I'm not an engineer but I am a father of a daughter that went through 12 years of Westerville schools and we were pleased with all of that I'm also last of all grandfather and my grandson is at uh Emerson go turtles and we're very pleased with the program my pastor in Sunbury told me about LifeWise as a matter of fact this year our church will host LifeWise for the first time there in Sunbury so I decided to investigate although

129I don't have degrees of all this I'm not even an educator but I am the President of our Church's Sunday school and I have taught Sunday school most of my adult life I have seen life wisey's uh program I've seen their their their agenda I've gone to three other informational meetings and going on two bus rides and two classes and I find nothing to justify what I've heard tonight and at the last board meeting and in finalizing my comments I in I have the opportunity today to pick up my grandson he goes to HBY for the after school he's in third grade what a character I love him immensely I've decided to volunteer for LifeWise this year and I asked my daughter to enroll him he's enrolled if there was a problem with this program

130would I allow my grandson whom I love who goes to Sunday school and Vacation Bible School would I let him do this would I be that stupid and today when I picked him up we got talking and he brought up LifeWise he thought he was going to be in the program tomorrow it breaks my heart to say no and now I'm not even sure I can tell he'll be in the program at all if I'm hearing correctly you're going to kick that can down the road and I'm not happy about that I want you to work with us work with Jennifer she just mentioned earlier he also showed me something I want to share with you all last of all Emerson student council application it says at the very top would you like to make

131a difference in the world now there's a question maybe LifeWise could answer that too do you like to work hard there's a good question do you strive to promote and good citizenship by example I wonder if LifeWise would help in that you want to part be a part of a positive team and meet new people he wants to be a student of LifeWise and he wants to be in student council that's the kind of little guy he's going to be and I pray that he will be the good man he needs to be because he's gone to Sunday school vacation bible school and LifeWise Academy thank you thank you um next up we have Deborah grabert I think those are ours okay welcome thank you you all have been very patient my name is Deborah

132gerbert uh 265 West Fountain that's in Delaware but um I have been involved actually when when we moved to the Delaware area I had lived in four different countries for about an equal amount of time about 14 years each so you can calculate how old I am um and that was 14 years ago if you really want to add it all up so I have experienced um a number of school systems as you might imagine in fact the uh the first one that I experienced was was as a student in Japan in a Japanese um public school elementary school and uh later an American public school and couple of boarding schools and then with my daughter we were overseas in England she went to a English Public School and uh later to an international school

133in France uh actually it was in Switzerland we lived in France but drove across the border for the international Balor and I have tutored math at various points and actually taught uh English national curriculum math in France in a French public school so I have uh a fairly wide range of different educational experience expences and I am well aware that the culture of a school makes a huge difference in how kids learn what they learn and the kind of person they become and what I see here which has been remarked upon um by several people already but you know what we're looking at here is is essentially a culture War you know there are two belief systems these are belief systems both of them there's no um factually um what can you say proof that

134that there is no God which is basically what one side is saying you know that's not what we're saying okay okay please Le talk okay well let's just say it's it's it's very much um pretty much a secular you know secular humanist it's we're not we don't want to include the concept of a Creator and the things that flow from that but to a child uh these things are critical as one of the fathers mentioned you know your concept of who of who you are as a person what is the meaning of life what is the purpose of your life all of these things flow from who you think you are are and who was going to tell you that this is this is not something that you should just create out of whole cloth

135you know this is something that generally parents pass on to their children we teach them what we believe to be true about the world and what we believe their where their life comes from what their responsibilities are and and so on so that's that that is my comment and you know this is this is absolutely crucial and I think when you see the incredible epidemic that we have now of children who are anxious depressed suicidal and so on you know this is not coming because they believe in a in an Angry God this is coming because they are lost they they have lost their sense of who they are they don't know why they're there and people are telling them all kinds of different things so I would like you know I want to encourage

136you to follow some of your you know on your website you have all kinds of things like it inclusiveness every person should have an equal opportunity to access and participate in all educational offerings and I think one of the things that is not offered in the school but is being offered uh through LifeWise is something that's very important every child should have have access Community we are an integral part of the community and contribute to its success I mean that's all part of that communication Foster opportunities to listen question reflect and share thoughts ideas and insights I mean this is an incredible opportunity to do that how you know collaboration we Embrace Embrace diversity interdependence importance of learning from and with each other throughout life okay I see my time is up thank you but

137I think um thank you yeah hopefully um next up we have David [Applause] long welcome thank you to the school board and uh District staff appreciate your time and attention tonight uh David long 6469 with thrust Drive Westerville Ohio 43081 I'd like to speak in favor of the release time religious instruction policy I have a future uh member of Westerville elementary schools he is 8 and a half months old so he has a few years ago uh my concern is if the removal the release time religious instruction policy uh will create a precedent where we remove the value of collaboration that the school board has put forward as being a key value of the board I think if we remove the release time religious instruction policy that limits uh people sitting at the table uh

138one of the issues that I see going into this election year is the uh inability to discuss multiple ideas and come to uh levels of discussion and agreement and collaboration uh instead creates Division and infighting uh and I believe that if we remove the release time religious instruction policy it also does not let let important minorities have an opportunity at the table to be able to collaborate and participate in the school system as well thank you for your time thank you next up we have Doug krinsky welcome no LifeWise again I'll move on to a different topic uh let's talk about my favorite topic the levy so on behalf of we now have a nice little group formed uh called Westerville Levy concerns have a nice Facebook page if you want to look it up

139um it's business owners senior citizens retirees parents uh there's quite a group that has formed um let's talk about the impact of what the levy will be if it passes um this permanent school levy has a lot of domino effect to it let's talk about business owners first um again the 16% increase to school property taxes what does that do to business owners it forces them to raise prices they can't just absorb another cost increase so what happens when you raise prices your sales go down it hurt your business we don't need more failing businesses second renters apartments and homes that are being rented in the Westerville School District what happens to those folks well landlords again like a business owner you're not just going to absorb another school property tax like the re-evaluation we

140just had so what's going to happen there I'm betting rents are going to go up so do apartment people like that people that are renting homes like that no so what's that going to do force them to move out of the district um move somewhere but rents are going up I can pretty much assure you if this passes it's going to happen senior citizens 16% increase to their school property taxes what does that mean uh means a lot um and what it means is sacrifices food medical what are they going to have to sacrifice again again after the reappraisal of real estate property values that just happened so are they going to move where are they going to move to all the values are up so they can't move they can't afford to stay they

141can't afford to go their prices are going up what are they going to sacrifice um I know many senior citizens now since I'm 64 I know a lot of folks that are retired senior citizens on fixed income it's not good for them so the impact of those folks not good all residents in general 16% increase in your school property taxes what are you going to cut back on I've already thought about what I would have to cut back on is it payto playay school activities is it medical is it food what is it going to be it's a sacrifice you have to give to the school system when you're taking it yourself now what are you going to have to do sacrifice so overall it's a sacrifice for everybody it has a huge impact on

142the community business owners renters landlords everybody so the problem is if property taxes are going up on average $172 for every 100,000 valuation what does that mean well the average home value in zip code 4381 is $354,000 believe it or not after the last reevaluation so what's that going to cost you as a homeowner if that's your average valuation it's $688 that's what your increase is going to be next year so because it's a permanent tax levy it's not only going to be $68 this next coming year over the next 10 years it's going to be $6,800 I've lived in my house for 31 years so the next analog is after 20 years what is it going to cost you $2,177 if this Levy passes so it's not just one year it's five years it's

14310 years it's 20 years it's a permanent Levy never a chance to vote on again you can never rate the system on whether they're doing a good job or a bad job with your money so as an example the $30 million that was just transferred from a general operating Levy which that's exactly what we're talking about now just got transferred from General operating to Capital so once this gets voted in and if the law doesn't change they can do whatever they want as a board with that money home value if you're 500,000 which is a lot of now $500,000 values that means over the next 20 years you're going to pay $17,200 more so all this simply means is it's permanent it's expensive and it's totally unnecessary those are the problems the solution I would

144encourage everybody to vote to register if you haven't already by October 7th if you just recently moved into the district change your address so you can vote and when you do vote vote no on this issue 44 and I would encourage the board to redo the five-year projections make them more realistic transfer back the $30 million so we don't need any more money over the next 5 years and if anybody like to join our group it's west of a ly concerns on Facebook see you next board meeting thank you next next up we have Heather Reynolds welcome hi um Heather Reynolds 100 South Hemstead Road Westerville 43081 um I just read my email because I am horrible at reading email so I did not prepare ahead of time however I am I came today in

145supportive LifeWise I'm highly offended by a lot of the things that were said today and the stereotypes placed on myself and my son by the other part and I feel like what's being said is that you can make a choice on what your child can do only if we approve and we approve of what's being taught and what I if they don't approve of my religious beliefs my child is going off campus he's not even on campus he's going during lunch and recess he is not losing any instruction by the way I would not mind if he did but he is not losing any instruction and if you're saying that I can go to a private school at one point in time I did pay for my children to go to private school I was

146paying 2,600 a month for my children to go to private school so I did make that choice for quite a while and then if you are saying why don't you go after school well I'm a teacher I've been teaching 29 years I have been in the public school system and I'm busy teaching I can't get home to pick him up after school if he's in an after school program so if I'm busy and I can't get home how many other parents are working and they can't get home to pick their child up from an off after school program the nice thing about LifeWise is that it is done during the school week during the school day and my child loves going I would be completely offended if they took it away I I just don't

147I just feel like you're treating Christians as an ugly stepchild I know in the high school they have a prayer room room for other religions but we can't let our kids leave campus I just find this offensive and if it's taken away I'll vote no thank you next up is Connie pmore good evening and thank you for letting me speak my name is Connie prore until this week I was at 5:41 tany Lane Westerville uh I just moved to Delaware I just wanted to say that you've heard the credentials from the teachers that spoke here this evening and how they have been trained the degrees that they have I'm a volunteer I'm also on the board but I have a ba degree in Christian education from Asbury University I also have a certificate from the

148international teacher trainers Association to teach I ended up I was I started to go to a program similar to this in Virginia to start as a uh my job but instead went into nursing so I have a diploma in nursing I have a b ba degree in nursing and as of this year I have an active RN license for 50 years I also have a master's degree in uh Intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary and I'm a volunteer the people in life was are well trained they are each one we have to go through the background checks and if we don't pass it then we're not working with LifeWise but I wanted to stress the fact that the diversity of students that we get in LifeWise is amazing I've been to the mission field twice

149to South Korea as well as to Colombia and we have Egyptians we have Mexicans we have [Music] um multiple Africans in LifeWise and they are all treated the same as the children from the United States of America because they're all Westerville students and they're valuable valuable people and I love that fact that there's such a diversity I also wanted to challenge those people who spoke up LifeWise has a LifeWise 101 every month now and any one of you are invited to come see what life was does see what our what uh goes on in the classro and I challenge each one of you come to a LifeWise 101 see what we do see how the students respond before you speak up and share things that just aren't right and aren't true with life was so

150I encourage you to keep the RTR um the way it is let us continue and I thank you very much and next up and last up is Linda went welcome oh yes okay well that concludes our public um comment period and um next up is board comments who'd like to start um I'd like to start thank you very much uh to all the speakers on all the sides I never say both sides because I truly believe there are multifaceted issues um in any any contentious situation um superintendent Hamburg if you don't mind I I have a clarification question for you this is regarding the um release of liability right so um I know there's back and forth happening I want to understand and this may not be a question you can answer now but this

151is this is the question I would like answered the difference between the the removal of a release of liability and the Assumption of liability yes so as the Director of LifeWise um Jennifer jur shared they have offered to um take their waiver form out of the equation which was originally not taking liability um and I think that's where theou would come into place so that's the piece that we've had to be had to work with the attorneys on is is to make sure it's not just saying um that they're waving liability but also that they they have to under the policy assume liability and so that's where theou would come into place um we would also want to make sure that there's a um signed acknowledgement that we have access to from the parents so

152that we know before students leave that that's all in place so we're working through that with our attorneys um which is the piece again that kind of takes some time okay thanks for that so um uh until that is ironed out the difference between the removal of a release of liability and the Assumption of liability um I'm not comfortable with the program proceeding so what I would like to understand is um at this point it's in violation of policy correct okay so in order for the program um to continue we need to uh correct isn't the right word but overcome that policy violation yes and as I mentioned earlier um LifeWise has provided a willingness to work with us on that we just haven't had time in the two weeks since that was suspended um

153they've given us some information pointed us toward another direction another District they' worked with so I was able to reach out to them and get a template so again we just met Thursday afternoon and so our attorneys need some time to make sure that they have all the pieces in there that they're comfortable with to make sure that uh this particular program is complying with the policy okay I did want to mention I know the food was brought up I think that one's a lot more minimal of a concern for us than the Assumption of liability but just to update the board um we have gotten conflicting information from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce as to um there seems to be a discrepancy between the state and the USDA on what qualifies as

154being it's not even so much about the paying for the meals as it is can we we even serve the meals off site if it's for a non-curricular purpose which this would not be considered curricular obviously it's not one of our programs and so we have gotten conflicting information including um Carrie Dennis our business manager has requested in writing and with they Center and writing was still not clear so that piece is not resolved and it's not because LifeWise isn't willing to provide meals it's just we're not clear on um whether or not the kids can take the meals regardless of who pay for them at this point if not they would have to be completely provided outside of the the school essentially um obviously that we would want to make sure that happens because

155we do have students who participate who have participated who are on free or reduced lunch and so we want to make sure they receive a lunch I just want to be clear that's not been a problem LifeWise has volunteered to make sure they receive a lunch we just need to make sure all that's in compliance with making sure that they are being fed so our previous model is kind of in flux because the information we continue to receive even as recently as Friday is conflicting from the Department okay we trying to work through that with our attorneys as well thank you so I'm G to I'm going to summarize the upshot that I think is what most people are interested in you tell me if I'm correct or incorrect that is that while um it's

156been determined that the program is in violation of the policy um it will not start so as a board member what I'm thinking about is um the suspension of the RTI policy is not necessary because the program isn't going to start until we have anou where they assume liability correct which our attorney is working on right now based on information that was provided to us from the LifeWise founder okay thank you MH I'll go um so I also want to reiterate thank you to everybody Who provided public comment whether you're here tonight or you have submitted via email we've gotten lots of emails over the past couple of weeks um so thank you that's what democracy is all about um addressing you know the topic of LifeWise tonight there's been a lot of comments either

157singing the Praises of the curriculum and this opportunity or expressing opposition to what might be taught at LifeWise many of you have reiterated via email or in person that RT is legal and it is as we've discussed so we have a policy that is now back into effect after this meeting and as long as a group or an org is in compliance with the policy that they are able to coordinate correct me if I'm wrong but at this time however we do not find LifeWise to be in compliance with the policy we do not have a clear understanding of how participating kids are going to get fed um within legal parameters and again this is more of a USDA issue it sounds like than odw um so just trying to get all of that squared

158away and until these issues are addressed it wouldn't be wise for us to coordinate our responsibility is to these kids and making sure that they are safe they are fed all of that I think you know in the meantime I'm sure LifeWise could continue to operate after school or on weekends I myself attended Sunday school I attended PSR Parish School religion class uh first grade through 8th grade at our Catholic church every Monday night for 90 minutes much to my sugarin sometimes during the school year and I spent 9th and 10th grade in Sunday evening youth Community um this was particularly important to my family especially my mother and she made it a priority that my brother and I got to these classes so you know RT is not the only choice parents have in

159fulfilling this commitment to Bible study and religious education for their children so I just want to make mention that several of you have said you know they're going to miss out on this education there are other options while we continue to figure this out um so that's I have to say about LifeWise I also have just a quick update um this isn't really legislative but on the vouchers hurt Ohio lawsuit that Westerville has signed on to um we are on track for a November 4th court date in Franklin County for that to proceed forward and that is about the constitutionality of the uh voucher expansion program so just wanted to give that quick update that's the day before election day so it'll be a busy week okay uh thank you to everyone speaking tonight I

160appreciate it um we're here for kids and students and staff and I'm going to bring that back around now with my comments so uh just want to highlight again Mark Twain and Robert Rost are returning 50 we're super excited Thursday night 5:00 p.m. there will be a celebration at Mark Twain uh Saturday 12 to 3 there will be a celebration at Robert Frost um September is National Suicide Prevention month so this is really um a heavy topic right and there's a lot going on with our students and staff all of our students and staff so I want to tell you some amazing things that um our district and our community has put in place that support our kids so first off we have hope Squad in our high schools and it's been there for several

161years it's a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program um and we are uh we have been lucky enough to partner with Westerville education challenge that raises money each year just did a huge fundraiser raised uh $31,000 and we have now um put hope Squad into our middle schools because of that so five middle schools so we are covering eight schools at this point on top of that school counselors licensed clinician clinicians Concord counseling um super amazing I did a little digging tonight on our website I should do more of that if you look at teaching and learning student well-being there is a Stress Management and executive functioning Strate IES resource Hub please go check it out there seems to be a lot going on in this room um I think all of us adults could benefit from

162that so I'm going to ask everyone to do that um and that's it for me so happy Monday um I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight too and taking the time to prepare comments and the emails that we've received I assure you that we read them all um I am going to say I I wasn't here here last week or last meeting because I had covid so I want to just share some thoughts that I've been having I do remain concerned about H the disruption that happens during the school day we do have the kids for a very short time um I understand that not everybody agrees with that but really what it comes down to is legality of the operations and making sure that it complies with the high revised code

163in our board policy this is with our lawyers I know that the honestly we have been spending so much time on this um and as as uh um superintendent Hamburg had stated you know we're just beginning the school year too and it's been taking a lot of time and we are working through it um but as I said it's with our attorneys I would like to uh call The public's attention to a house bill House Bill 240 this bill would change one word that would require school districts to allow for religious ree release time during school hours from May to Shell so requiring it it is um we are hearing that it will likely pass if not um in Lane duck and through a Christmas tree Bill where they just shove a bunch of stuff

164in or at the beginning of the next session um so just so the public knows that's out there as well um I also want to thank all the applicants for um putting forward uh an application for the vacant board spot it was really amazing to see how many people put something forward and it just shows how much support is in this District so really appreciated that we're still working through the process and like I said I continue to be heartened by the amount of interest and support for our Public Schools so with that I'm going to ask for a motion to move into oh um what's that you do your date times and meeting yeah yeah yeah the board will meet in regular session on Monday September 23rd 2024 at 6 pm at the earling

165learning learning center which is here 936 East Wind Drive Westerville Ohio 43081 and with that may I have a motion to move into executive session so moved second Miss HRI will you take the vote M Davidson yes M Salman yes yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meer yes you're welcome to stay but I don't know how long we'll be um but thank you okay we are back from executive session oh what time is it 8:52 um may I have a motion to adjourn so moved second and Miss Hendrick would you please take the vote M Valentine yes Miss Salman yes Miss stavon yes Mrs Meyer yes we jour