001hello and thank you for attending the April 22nd 2024 meeting of the Westerville Schools Board of Education it's really good to see all of you here tonight this evening's agenda will be displayed on the screens in front of the room and printed agendas are available for our guests or you may find at the back of the room or you may find an agenda on your mobile device by connecting to the district's website at www.w c.org click on the our district link select Board of Education and follow the board docs link to our current meeting agenda there will be one opportunity to address the board before it enters into a work session there's a signup sheet located on the table in the back of the room each speaker will have five minutes to address the board
002a timer will be shown on the screen and with that Miss Marsha will you please take the roll call Mrs Davidson here Dr NE breaker here Mrs Valentine here here Mrs Alman here Mrs Meyer here will you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all oh sorry thanks okay I thought it was loud enough all right next up we have the really fun part District highlights and recognitions and so I'm going to call Miss uh Dr Nancy um Nester Baker and Miss Jen Altman up to the podium thank you president Meyer and members of the board um Miss Hamburg and Miss Marshall these are our favorite
003days thank you all for being here um we have a number of recognitions we're going to do this evening and first we're going to start with the 2024 uh winter sports recognition so 2324 um and it's my great pleasure to get to acknowledge some of these great achievements of our students so we going to start with the 2024 indoor State Track Championship on March 1st at the Spire Institute in Geneva I'd like to call out Ben gableman from Westville North to join me Ben congratulations Ben I'm gonna read a little bit about what you accomplished here so Ben won the state championship in the 1600 meter run this is his second state championship win so far this year he won the state championship in the division one boys cross country individual race at the Ohio
004High School athletic association's CrossCountry state championships on November 4th and we thank you for representing our school so well and all of your hard work and we'd like to invite you up for a little H recognition there thank you thanks [Applause] then and while Ben proceeds I'd like to call up will Balman well is also from Westerville North and plays seventh in the long jump and Ninth in the triple jump so thank you for your uh wonderful performance and congratulations I would love to shake your hand thank you thanks please come on up and as will proceeds I want to acknowledge Johnny Jackson where's Johnny the track coach at Westerville North congratulations [Music] coach as well as Stephanie McGeorge assistant principal who I believe is also an audience this evening so thank you so much
005for your leadership and now moving on to Westerville Central I'd like to call up Elijah Harris [Applause] it's Elijah here I'm going to read it anyway so um so Elijah had a record season at the indoor track meet he's the state champion in two events the high jump and the triple jump that triple jump is an amazing thing well they're both they're all amazing things to watch um last year he was the state runner up in the triple jump at the indoor State track meet so we have something for Elijah and we will we will get that over but congratulations to Elijah also from Westerville Central Olivia Pace Olivia here come on up welcome Olivia congratulations congratulations um Olivia is the state champion in the 60 M Dash making her a four time champion in
006that event she and and she's also the state runner up in the 200 meter dash so that's awesome congratulations and then Robert Young Robert can you join me [Applause] Robert uh Robert is the state runner up in the 200 meter dash at the indoor State track meet and he's also competed in the 400 meter dash where he placs seventh so congratulations thank you for representing us so well and I want to acknowledge uh David mlo and Jason loffman the track coaches at Westerville Central I don't know if they're here but if they are okay and then Don SE the principal at Westerville Central and then moving on to Westerville South students who earned top sports um top placing at the indoor track meet I'd like to call up Alexis Roberts Alexis with us as Alexis
007come up comes up I will share that um she placed fourth place in the 60 hurdles and competed in the long jump where she placed in the 14th spot so congratulations thanks for all your hard work and AJ Smith is AJ here with us y AJ congratulations AJ AJ placed fifth in the 200 meter dash so congratulations please come on and shake some and I'd like to acknowledge Jimmy Gul and Jim Gul the track coaches at Westerville South are the GS here y thank you and Westerville South principal McKenzie way in the back thank you for supporting our students okay then next we want to recognize two students who earned top spots at the Ohio High School Athletic Association State swimming and Diving Championship meet in February and I'd like to call meline Bosler from
008Westerville North up meline placs third in the 100 yard breast stroke she also competed in the 200 yard individual medley where she placed ninth in the state and meline who was Captain of North swim and dive teams plans to study middle education at the University of akan where she'll be a member of the University Swim Team so congrat congratulations on all your achievements and good luck and I'd like to acknowledge the swim coach Matthew Phillips at Westerville North Matthew here congratulations as well as Stephanie Mc George who's the assistant principal thank you for being here this evening okay and now I would like to invite AJ Kier from Westerville South to join me while AJ makes his way up AJ is a freshman who placed eighth in the diving event at the state meet so
009lots of lots of great years to come yeah congratulations AJ and I want to acknowledge Rob du and Emma Weiss Gerber the swimming and Diving coaches at Westerville [Music] South and principal M Kinzie again from Westerville South way in the back now I would like to this is boy we've done some awesome things there's a lot of stuff here now I'd like to recognize members of Westerville North's cheerleading team and Stephanie McGeorge assistant principal at Westerville North High School so members of the cheerleading team is there any here come on up okay we'll just read through this so everyone knows their Great accomplishments Westerville cheer team placed fourth in the division 1 building category at the 2024 Ohio Association of secondary school administrators cheer and dance state championships in March and this is another impressive
010performance for the cheer and dance team Westerville North dance team placed first in the Contemporary and lyrical category at last year's cheer and dance state championships so congratulations to them too and just congratulations to all of our student award recipients and their coaches um an incredible amount of hard work goes into all of this we know and we're so grateful for your commitment so thank you let's pass it off to Dr [Applause] M and next we'll continue with recognitions this evening isn't isn't this just a wonderful evening it's delightful to be able to applaud everyone and to recognize all those who are here this evening so now we're turning our attention to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce recognitions the first recognition under this category is for 20122 2023 Ohio report card Awards would
011Mark Twain Elementary principal Tracy white and hooder Elementary principal AJ Hoffman please come [Music] up you so much we are recognizing Mark Twain and Woody your elementaries this evening for receiving the state's overall five-star building award this award recognizes schools for their performance across the five rated components achievement progress Gap closing early literacy and graduation Tracy and AJ congratulations and thanks to you to all of your staff to your families and your students for your efforts to become one one of the state's highest achieving schools we are deeply [Applause] proud we also have two schools receiving the state's momentum award which recognizes demonstrated Improvement and achievement while also continuing to show growth would heritage Middle School principal Dr Drew Tomlin and Blendon Middle School principal Kendall Harris please come [Applause] up Drew and Kendall congratulations
012to you and to your respective School communities your staff your families your students everyone for earning this award under your leadership and let's also take a moment to acknowledge the hard work that goes into achieving these kind of awards these very special very rare rewards thank you so much for what you've done and last but most definitely not least would Suzanne Kyle please come up [Applause] congratulations Suzanne is our director of the preschool program here at the early Lear Learning Center and also at Point viiew Elementary and we were very pleased to learn that this program earned the state's 2024 preschool step up to Quality five-star award the step up to Quality is a five-star tier quality rating and Improvement system it's created to recognize and promote Early Learning and the development programs that meet
013quality standards over and above health and safety licensing requirements far over and above those requirements these standards are established by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Ohio Department of Education congratulations Suzanne to you your staff your students and of course all of the families [Applause] thank you such wonderful recognitions and now we have the opportunity to move into even more recognitions as we talk about the A+ Awards the A+ awards are presented twice during each school year once in the fall and once in the spring to employees who distinguish themselves through a single or ongoing demon demonstration of exemplary performance the selection committee's decision is Guided by evaluating how each Nomine actions demonstrate support of the district's mission statement which is to prepare students to contribute to the competitive and changing
014World in which we live a willingness to go above and beyond normal expectations in support of students and behavior consistent with one or more of the District's values including respect inclusiveness Community communication collaboration Innovation nurturing trust and accountability and we will begin this evening with HBY Elementary and teacher Beth dalan Beth thanks Beth was nominated by parents Jesse Chen and Ashley Suter the following comments were shared in the nomination from Jesse Chen Mrs dalen tries to equip her students with a global vision she integrated the Asian culture especially Japanese culture into the curriculum through her everyday teaching special events student group projects and field trips this inspires students to introduce their culture to the class my daughter was encouraged and enjoyed to present Chinese new year and Moon Festival to her class and other classes
015inviting her we are living in a global village and diverse world kids who are open-minded and have global vision will fly higher and make this world better Mrs dalen also has the magic of motivating the kids to go above and beyond she is so dedicated to help her students to learn more in a fun way with Mrs dalan I saw my daughter was booming I can imagine other kids also I really appreciate Mrs dalen and she is no doubt an A+ teacher in WCS I wish we have more teachers like her and Ashley Stalter writes in her nomination Mrs dalan has made a lasting impact on my child and most likely all the children she has taught over her career as parents we hear how important reading is for our children however we also know
016the struggles to instill this in our child I thank the powers that be for placing my child with Mrs dalen this year she has ignited the fire to read by matching her ability and interests she has also provided the books out of her vast personal classroom library reading is only one lesson she has instilled in the children she teaches she also shares her love of travel history and culture we learn something new every day via the Dal classroom Mrs Dal is a one-of-a-kind educator I am forever grateful we were able to have her teach our daughter in her last year before retirement Thank You For Preparing our future generations to be successful and thoughtful individuals thank you be [Applause] congratulations staying with h elementary um our next A+ award goes to intervention specialist Megan Hedges
017congratulations Megan was nominated by cooworker Esa yario who wrote Megan is incredibly warm caring and empathetic and kind she always gives her students all of her time and more often she takes lunch with students for going her own lunch hour she cares about all students even those not assigned to her her classroom is a safe haven for so many of the students at the school she always has the time of day to make everyone feel special and cared for she goes above and beyond what her job requires she has the ability to work with parents and staff to support her students and she's such a special person as her coworker I have personally seen her calm and teach students to help them through a tough day always professional always giving of her time she is
018truly a stellar employee and a superstar at what she does she should definitely be recognized for her work so thank you so much Megan thank [Applause] you we have another A+ Award winner from hany this evening teacher Brooke Smith [Applause] Brook Brooke was nominated by cooworker Kathy mono Cathy's nomination begins with this simple message Brook is amazing she goes on to add that Brooke has her hand in so many aspects of our school I don't know how she sleeps she is an excellent first grade teacher as a reading teacher I'm in all the classrooms regularly picking up my kids her students are always on task and working quietly she is always working with a small group of students she attends all of the PTA meetings and keeps the faculty informed she is also a WEA
019faculty representative at large which requires her to be at two meetings a month plus the work she does to represent us Brooke worked tirelessly on our very first literacy night she had two main functions she came up with a computer-based fluency and fitness station in the gym and she ran a tech session for parents so that they could learn how to log on and use the various District apps like Lexia and I ready she was my go-to person for all things Tech rated for the literacy night like putting together surveys and communicating with families she serves on our building leadership team Brooks is a brook is a Bridges math facilitator I often find her working away after hours she collaborates well with other teachers and never seems bothered or put out by our interruptions in
020her after school work she has two young boys at home I honestly don't know how she does it all and with a smile on her face brooksmith is an A+ educator [Applause] wonderful and moving on now to McVey Elementary we have teacher Brandy hus Brandy come on [Music] up Brandy was nominated by parents Paige M and Raven Johnson congratulations thank you for being here Paige writes that Brandy goes above and beyond caring for our students which made the transition so much easier with a teacher like her she's amazing and puts so much joy in working with the little ones and that takes a truly special person so thank you for that um Raven adds bry's communication skills are amazing one of the best teachers I've ever experienced from my child Brandy is always attentive and
021understanding towards parents and the children my son has learned so much there are lots of O's there because of her Brandy is an all-around amazing person so thank you and congratulations [Applause] Brandy and again from McVey Elementary El teacher Heather Lewis Heather Heather was nominated by coworker Evan McIntyre and parent and cooworker Kate Baldwin Evan McIntyre writes in part Heather Lewis demonstrates her commitment to the students well-being and development by ensuring their preparedness to perform at a level where they can quickly integrate into their environment by achieving the communication skills necessary to succeed Heather Works diligently with each student demonstrating compassion patience and kindness she provides her students with a welcoming and inclusive environment that makes them feel respected safe and valued Heather is always looking for Innovative Educational Tools and opportunities to enhance the
022students learning process and progress Heather also provides numerous opportunities and unique learning experiences like a yoga class for the students at McVey both during and outside the school day she also provides essential support to the music department by assisting during before and after school with the fifth grade musicals and the 85 member student choir she goes above and Beyond to assist students in practicing their lines rehearsing their songs helping with props makeup publicity and assisting in any way possible to support the students and staff in ensuring the success of their performances most recently Heather launched an Afterschool Girls on the Run program for McBay elementary students these are just some of the examples of how passionate Heather is about our community and providing fabulous opportunities for the students Heather Lewis is an extremely valued staff
023member and team player who's always there to help others and to contribute to the development and success of all students and faculty and deserves to be recognized for her everyday exemplary A+ performance thank you for your consideration of Heather Lewis received the A+ performance award for spring 2024 and Kate Baldwin writes my kids aren't English learners but they still know who Mrs Lewis is because of how involved she is at McVey when my fifth grader was in the musical Moana it was fun to see Heather out there pushing the boat around and getting involved in an after school event on a professional level I work with Heather and always appreciate the attention to detail that she puts in whether she's reading a book to my kids at spooky reads night or coordinating an organized and
024efficient parent teacher conference with multiple families and interpreters I appreciate the effort Heather puts in for all of the students at McVey and we will make sure that she gets her [Applause] Awards also from McVey Elementary I'd like to invite up Sarah Shepard Sarah was nominated by parent Bethany Sheek and Bethany shares let me put these on so I can get this right um that in addition to keeping a peaceful and respectful class CL room Mrs Shepard is always trying to teach the children practices that will help them in real life one time in particular as the children had been learning about checking the reliability of a source Mrs Shepard used an unexpected email as a life lesson she' received a scam email and took the opportunity to teach the children about the dangers of
025trusting everything you read on the internet they called the scammer and learned that some some sources will lie and try to deceive you to take advantage of you we thank her for using unplanned experiences to teach our kids about life so thank you and congratulations Sarah thank you and next we'll recognize McVey teacher Mandy Walker Mandy [Applause] congratulations Mandy was nominated by parent Samantha Manders Samantha States in her nomination that Mandy Walker has done everything possible to support my son in being comfortable and successful at school he gets distracted and overwhelmed easily and as Walker talked to him about what would help they decided to move him to a singular desk versus a group table he also gets headphones to wear during crowded events she also discussed with us the option of a school counselor
026for him which he's been working with since December he has made huge strides since all of these changes have been in place he gets recognized often as having good behavior at school and I've noticed a big Improvement in his handwriting and attention span and he generally looks forward to school a lot more most days managing a classroom of 25 kindergarteners is a ton of work and I am so thankful to Miss Walker for doing everything she can to support my [Applause] son next we have from Genoa Middle School assistant principal Steven SMY nominated by parent ma Molly friselle congratulations and SOI begins her nomination by sharing that she has had three children so far at Genoa and feels like they are supported and safe with Mr SMY in command her nomination continues all three have
027given testimony of Mr SMY consistently working with students to make them feel included and part of the school's Community I myself have worked several school events with the PTSA and have found Mr SMY to be a great example of a role model and dedicated assistant principal he goes above and beyond his title to support the district's mission to prepare students to contribute to the competitive and changing World in which we live Mr SMY is able to lead in a way that the kids learn that they can be respectful and still have fun at school specifically you see Mr SMY in the lunchroom daily he's never afraid to lend a hand whether it be helping with food service cleanup or helping a student with math homework his tallan stature may be intimidating at first however once
028the students get to know Mr SMY they quickly see he's trustworthy and gives great guidance in many situations Mr Mr SMY has a big heart and will go above and beyond to make sure students aren't being bullied he also make sure the bully is held accountable and understands this Behavior won't be tolerated all of my boys that have had Mr SMY have had great regard for his character and would agree he gets an A+ for the amazing work he does so thank you so much thank you and next we'll recognize intervention specialist Sarah deaney from manura Park Middle [Applause] School Sarah was nominated by student Erica Lotz and Erica writes I am nominating my intervention specialist Miss dainy because she helps all the kids out regardless of race sexual orientation or religion I am always
029appreciative of how kind helpful supportive and encouraging she is to me every day I deal with bullying and I'm blessed by and I'm blessed by the fact that she is always finding ways to keep me positive feeling a sense of selfworth and treats me as a valuable and important part of my school she looks out for me and is a huge supporter of my academic growth that I have experienced and I feel she is most deserving of this A+ award for the spring semester I would not have achieved the growth I have achieved this year in my IEP and academics without her support thank you Miss deaney for looking out not only for me but all my classmates at manura Park Middle School and always exhibiting above and beyond the qualities the Westerville school district
030is known for [Applause] next we have from Walnut Springs Middle School the sixth grade team of teachers um that includes Amber Ferguson Jeffrey Holmes Maria swason and Pete wagley can you please come up congratulations congratulations um they are nominated by parent Heather Ivory and Heather's nomination reads in part my sixth grade daughter gets the privilege of being on this team of teachers at Walnut Springs Middle School our first experience with this team of teachers was their curriculum night they demonstrated how solid they are as a team while hosting a joint curriculum night in which they describe the year and how they work together it was evident from that moment that my daughter was in good hands my favorite part was that I left the meeting feeling like the transition to middle school was going to
031be great my daughter was going to be challenged supported and learn in a fun environment each week they also have a pack meeting where the entire team of students comes together pack awards are given for being and these are some of the qualities that they award persevere accountable courageous and kind as well as birthday cards for the students this is such a great way to build trust in community their willingness to go above and beyond to keep kids engaged in the learning while also keeping it challenging is no easy task some examples of them being Innovative in their lessons is the snowplow project students were challenged to collaborate with their peers and use math concepts to design their snow plows even more amazing they actually got to put their plans on the snow plow these
032were displayed in front of the school imagine how proud the students felt as they walked past those each day and most recently they completed a project for black history night as a mama of three black daughters I fully appreciate seeing my daughter create a project for this event they also read articles on the benefits of recess and offered evidence to change recess in middle school I'm certain I'm missing some of the amazing things this team does each day but I do know the impact they've made on my daughter she loves going to school and has learned how to advocate for herself and to be accountable for her learning this has been made possible because of the nurturing environment her teachers have created so thank you so much thank [Applause] you our final A+ award this
033evening goes to South High School teacher Adam Pope [Applause] Adam was nominated by coworker Lauren sepon in her nomination Lauren declares that she could write a novel about the things that Adam does for all of his students but in particular the things he does for this group of students who need so much support she continues with no formal training himself these are just some of the things Adam does he translates all of his own documents into Arabic French and Spanish which are the current languages spoken by some of the students in his class it's not uncommon for me to receive a text from him on the weekends to brainstorm an idea or a way to make a concept or text more accessible for all students and then in turn his emerging populations he stops by
034my room to do the same thing since he teaches physical science bio and I teach Cam and Anatomy our content vertically aligns he will often ask what do they need to know to succeed at the next level when planning his lessons and activities Adam also keeps his phone open to Google Translate so that as he speaks it translates his words for the students who don't understand spoken English but can read their primary language he will switch between Spanish and any other language they need and go back over ideas as many times as needed so that all students get what they need he does this in a full classroom with 30 students he somehow makes sure in that time that every student emerging or not is on Pace and understanding this requires an amazing amount of
035observational skills and brain power his students respect him they love his class and they get work done they are learning they are engaged and they are learning not only English but also science terminology they are all being prepared for State tests and their future he sets the standard and they respond in kind the A+ award is about going above and beyond it's about the district mission statement it's about portrait of a graduate Adam is doing all of those things I am proud to know him and proud to work with him congratulations now before you all decide to leave and not stay for the rest of our meeting I want you to know that all of our award winners will be having a picture taken out in the lobby and see Charlie boss out there back
036there raising her hand follow the woman in the red shirt and before you go let's give everyone one more round of applause [Music] I know thank you [Music] how terrible enjoy the ceremony with your daughter super EX you're not you ready ready Nancy sure okay okay I just wanted to make a quick announcement that Miss Altman you might have seen her um take off she is going to a important family um event over at Westerville South for her daughter so all right moving along and may I have a motion to approve the District Credit Card spending rebate report I'm sorry oh okay all right so next up is the District Credit Card spending rebate report Miss Marshall uh thank you president Meer members of the board uh so we are required under board policy in
037Ohio RIS code to report annually to the Board of Education the annual uh credit card expenses and then any rebates earned so for calendar year 2023 we had a total spend of $519,450 48 uh we earned a rebate of 5,681 $ 5,681 60 and that percentage rebate percentage is right around 1.09% uh and that is the report that I have for you any questions or comments okay thank you all right now moving along and may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting held on Monday a uh April 8th not August so moved second any comments or questions okay M Marshall Mrs Davidson yes Dr Neer breaker yes Mrs Valentine I'll abstain I wasn't here I'll abstain I was not here Mrs Meyer yes and may I have
038a motion to approve the minutes of the special session Board of Education meeting held on Monday April 15th so moved second that's okay Trac any questions or comments just congratulations again to the award winners Miss Marshall Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Dr Nester Baker yes Mrs Meyer yes okay and there's no public comments so moving along may I have a mission to approve the financial reports and Investments for February 2024 and March 2024 so moved second Miss Marshall will you please talk to us about this yes thank you again so we have two months worth of a monthin financial reports uh we had only one meeting in March and we present these at the second meeting of each month so they'll probably have two this month uh for the month ending February 29th leap
039year this year uh we had year-to-date receipts in the feral fund of 176.000 and year-to-date expenditures of 132.5 million for the general fund uh February ending unencumbered fund balance we ended at uh 24.7 million for all funds for February we had year-to date receipts of 237.000 and year-to-date expenditures of 212.5 million we ended with unencumbered fund balance for all funds funds at 256.000 million for the month of March uh we had year-to-date receipts in the general fund of 184. n million year-to dat expenditures of 149.6 million and we ended with an unencumbered general fund balance of 27.2 million for all funds we had year-to dat receipts of 21.5 million ion year-to date expenditures of 234. n million and we ended with unencumbered fund balance for all funds at 249.000 million and that is what I
040have for the financial report thank you any questions or comments okay M Marshall Mrs Davidson yes Dr neest breaker yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the revised Appropriations for fiscal year 2024 so moved second M Marshall will you talk to us about this too yes uh so we have several adjustments due to changes in uh Grant allocations we also received some additional uh local grants that we're increasing the Appropriations for and we had some uh budget requests revisions in our district managed or our Student Activity accounts um and that's what's on the adjustments for this month any comments or questions okay seeing none M Miss marshel Dr Nester Baker yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to
041approve the purchases in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 57 0541 D1 and board policy 6320 so moved second and Miss Mel yes uh so just a reminder these are what we call the an now purchase orders this is where we have a purchase order that is dated after an invoice date anything in the excess of $3,000 uh requires board approval before it can be paid uh in this case we had a purchase order that was opened due to a change order so it was after the fact uh it all of the funds are within budget so I do recommend that the board approve this purchase so that we can get the vendor paid great thank you any questions or comments all right Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Dr neest Baker yes Mrs Meyer yes
042and is it okay if I take personal consent all one okay and may I have a motion to approve the personal consent um agenda 8.01 through 8.10 so move to second and Mr coper welcome good evening president Meyer members of the board Miss Marshall and superintendent Hamburg this evening's Personnel consent agenda includes action items with regard to resignations retirements leave of absence contract status changes one time pays and other employment related decisions we have one staff member who has announced her retirement on this evening's agenda Kimberly deoy will be retiring at the end of this school year with 33 years of service to our district we appreciate all she's done for our students and certainly wish her the best in her years of retirement ahead at this time I'm happy to take any questions you
043may have any questions or comments no questions I just think I want to block the door and not not let Kim leave she's an amazing teacher and has done wonderful things in this District yeah just a big thank you to her nothing else Miss Miss Marshall Dr Nester breaker yes Mrs Davidson yes m Valentine yes Mrs Meyer yes and no old business and moving along to new business um we have the first reading of um policy 24301 and Miss Baldwin good evening Miss Me members of the board superintendent Hamburg and Miss Marshall I am happy to be here to represent our teaching and learning team with a policy recommendation for to update our guest speaker policy and for greater efficiency for buildings and classroom teachers to secure guest speakers changing the timeline from 90 days
044for prior approval to 15 days so some flexibility there and then our suggested activities would be presented to the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning or designate and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have any questions or comments yeah sense all right wonderful thank you thank you all right next up we have the first reading of employment of substitutes and Mr Cooper is joining us again hello once again should I just stayed up here uh with regard to the first reading of policy 3120.4 employment of substitutes the suggested additional language includes a change from House Bill 33 that the district May employ individuals enrolled in the education preparation program in colleges and universities such as our student teachers uh these individuals would be required to fulfill to fulfill all other requirements of our
045substitutes including successful background checks and being employed through our Educational Service Center Additionally the district will coordinate with relevant universities and colleges to ensure their students are permitted to substitute and allowed to be compensated for that substitute uh work uh an additional recommendation within this policy is to to update current language with regard to pay pay and benefits for substitutes employed for more than 60 consecutive days in one specific assignment um this language adjusts the threshold from 120 days of the consecutive substitute service in one position to 60 to align with Ohio Revis code any questions or comments one question I'm very pleased to see these these changes as you look at the change from the 120 to 60 do you have uh any sense of kind of a typical rough ballpark idea of how
046many uh Subs that would affect in a year yeah typically within about three to five I would say it's a normal amount okay thank you yeah sure thing thank you oh and you might as well just stay here so on the first reading of the termination and resonation Mr gooper is it okay to address both of these since oh yeah 140 4140 so they are parallel language there so regarding these first readings for termination numbers ation of certified staff 3140 and 4140 termination and resignation of our classified staff members additional language is recommended to reflect changes in House Bill 33 once again this language ensures the district obtains proof that any notice of termination has been received by the individual the suggested language in each of these two policies is the same any questions or
047comments makes sense to me thank you thank you and next up we have a bunch of Transportation first tradings um policies and we're going to invite Mr Snider up to talk to us about uh 10.05 through 10.08 and um Randy please thank you president Myer members of the board Mrs Hamburg and Miss Marshall uh before you tonight the first policy recommended for revisions and updates is policy 8600 which really is our principal policy for our district in regards to school transportation is recommended for review of according to the Neola recommendations and board policy um a noted adjustment in particular is regarding the name change from the Ohio Department of Education to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and another notable adjustment is references to Vehicles other than school buses um as we know as
048the board and the community knows that's referring to our Myan program this policy was originally adopted in December of 2009 and was revised in December on December 12th of 2022 as well as most recently the following year December 11th of 2023 um I'm pleased to share and continue to promote that Westerville Transportation policies and administrative guidelines to continue to exceed the state minimum requirements for our community it's our recommendation that this policy be revised as presented this evening any questions or comments okay okay and then policy 86004 regarding driver certifications this policy is recommended again for review according to board our current board policy and Miola recommendations this policy was originally um adopted on December 14th of 2019 and revised in uh February 12th of 2018 there are references again in this revised policy referencing
049the name change of the Ohio Department of Education the Department of Education and Workforce I'm pleased to say that Westerville training program for both our school bus drivers and my van drivers continue to exceed the Department of Education and Workforce minimum standards and therefore are recommending tonight that the board approve that policy any questions or comments all right see none we can move along to policy 8640 okay 8640 our next policy up for revisions is our transportation for non-routine trips oftentimes referred to as field trips for extracurricular and co-curricular activities this policy is recommended for review and updating again according to our current board policies Neola recommendations and needed language housekeeping to align this policy with updates to the Ohio Administrative codes and revised codes this policy was adopted initially on December 14th of 2009
050Westerville City Schools continues to support and provide access to our extracurricular and co-curricular activities through District provided transportation and our transportation services team supports over 2,000 co-curricular and extracurricular trips each school year most of which these bus or these trips involve more than one driver or school bus just a note for today alone we have 21 drivers out tonight supporting 18 trips throughout our district for our high schools and middle schools today and it is recommended that the Board of Education approve policy 8640 as presented thank you any questions or comments okay and the last one 8650 policy 8650 Transportation by Vehicles other than school buses closely related to the previous policy I just referenced policy 8650 is recommended for review and updated according to current board policy Neola recommendations again needed language housekeeping to
051align this policy with updates to the Ohio Administrative Code and revised code policy 8650 was adopted initially on o on December 14th of 2009 and this policy as presented aligns with the language is applicable with Ohio Administrative and revised codes it is our recommendation that the board approve this policy as presented you any questions or comments I have been unrelated to these policies but I it had me thinking about how many routes um we have where we bus students to private schools and charter schools so certainly are uh St Paul routes that are paired with our magnet routes total 22 buses that serve those three schools together and then we have seven additional buses that provide service to nine um non-public community and private schools and so when we are when we're short bus drivers
052we know that we you know we have early release for high school and middle schools does that impact the private and in the Treasure schools I know some are on the magnet buses so not all of them but by law do we still have to transport them per the time that they need to yes we do um our district has the ability to adjust our school days as necessary like you referenced the early releases to cover our routes however we don't have that Authority allowed to us to adjust if you will on the Fly um a private or non-public or Community Schools school day based on Transportation needs I think a lot of people probably don't understand that in our community and at some point it'd be really great to to have a presentation and
053fully understand some of the what we do how many routes and and just the constraints certainly I could work with Mr Dorne and um Mrs Dennis um to prepare an update and a presentation on that topic for sure thank you so much pleasure thank you all right moving along to standing business um computer for and may I have a mission to approve these wonderful donations as presented so moved second and Miss Marshall uh yeah so you this month you have a little over $18,000 in donations that uh bring our year-to-date fiscal year-to date total up to $238,700 uh we have an attached list along with that so the WPA donated and then we also have several individuals that donated as part of that so that is an attachment to the agenda there just want to
054make sure you saw that thank you any comments or questions just thank you so much for all these generous donations yeah each and everyone great Community Miss michell Dr s breaker yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the out ofst State Overnight field trips the many of them so moved second and Mr Dorne thank you um there are many uh overnight field trips out of state out of country field trips on the agenda tonight I just want to point out that for all of these trips no school days will be missed um the majority of them are for the 25 2 or 26 school years uh proving these early allow for our our teachers and EF Tours to actually spend some time recruiting kids
055to fulfill these trips we do have two going this Summer that are on tonight's Agenda One to Italy and one to Japan but outside of that um these are all way down the road I like the early planning any comments or questions Dorne are you going with them not on any of them no I apologize sorry about that all right yeah thank you this is Valentine yes Dr Nester Baker yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion um to or may have a motion for a resolution to suspend Robert's Rules of Order so moved second great and we are going to be talking about the facility master plan we need to vote yeah oh yeah sorry we do need to take a vote on that Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine
056yes Dr Nest breaker yes Mrs Meyer yes apparently I was really excited welcome we can go for [Music] excitement Mr Schwarz did you not want to join us to see is he not he he doesn't want to come on so miss Dennis and Mr Schwartz and Mr n he's trying to stay away be very clear all this works doesn't want to answer the question heavily involved time I was an active listener that's hard for me we recognize that too sorry I really thought it was in the audience the doctor away that for the board president yes welcome welcome all right good evening um at the March hear me I don't know if who can hear me who can he me um so at the March 18th board agenda work session uh Mr dor Mr Schwartz
057and I shared updates on the capital projects that have finished the ones we're planning um upcoming um and the status of our current facility master plan work um along with the planning of the second phase of the facility master plan um at that time I recommended that the board consider amending the second phase of the facility master plan largely related to the inflationary cost of construction versus when the plan was originally created um the amended phase would address the building's Construction in the 1960s so that would include shington Huber Ridge Blendon middle school and Walnut Springs Middle School uh and a new phase would be created to address the buildings in the 70s to include Mark Twain Robert Frost and then Westerville North um at that meeting the board asked us to seek feedback uh
058about the potential changes in the upcoming committee meetings excuse me I had the opportunity to share the presentation with the finance committee on April 1st and the strategic planning committee on April 10th Mr Dorne shared um the presentation with the Westerville parent Council on April 17th the feedback we received was overwhelmingly in support of amending the second phase of the facility master plan and understanding that it was largely based on cost um we also have received the estimated project cost from Alford um who we have been working with on the estimates along with the potential project timelines which every wants to know how long is this going to take their estimates um estimates have totaled um just under 134 million for those first four buildings the buildings construct in the 1960s um those estimates include
059escalation contingencies so continuing to see any changes in that along with design contingencies um we would like to continue to investigate the cost of the expansion of the ELC versus um an Al alternative site which did come up in a theme in some of the feedback we received um along with defining the work and getting cost estimates for the Performing Art spaces Stadium support spaces a parking lot and playground work um to consider using existing funds to fund those projects um we plan to still address um the need for Jim walls at Mark tween and Robert Frost Elementary School we have upcoming projects at um McVey uh Wilder and Heritage mle schools for their balconies as well um through Capital planning we address those projects uh we now um we know the asks need to
060be reasonable for our community to support this work uh we have Bond millage coming off so umer to Mrs Marshall to discuss that yeah thank you Mrs Dennis so uh as we've discussed uh previously the we have a 2,000 bond issue that has bonds rolling off the millage that's collecting today according to the county auditor is right around 1.7 mil so our payments about $6.3 million a year we do have the opportunity to with a new ballot issue um we could ask our voters to support a sort of a no new millage situation that would let us generate right around $140 million which would be enough to to um take care of the four buildings that uh we were talking about based on alford's estimates so as we move forward and we have our work
061session in May and we update the five-year forecast I'd like to have those conversations through that work session um to figure out how we can maybe use some existing resources for the other things so that we're not going back to our community uh for additional millage ask with the bond issue Mrs Dennis could you give just a quick update in case somebody is just catching this and didn't watch the initial meeting although I would encourage folks to go back and watch the March 18th work session of how we would address those other three buildings in the next phase and specifically I know we've gotten a lot of questions even in the feedback about how we would pay for the north project absolutely so um we would look for um a bond ask to support the
062work at the next two bu buildings as well and those would be Mark Twain and Robert Frost along with needing to have um community support for any work that would be done at north um even when we become eligible for the cfap funding um classroom assistance facility facility assistance progr facility assistance program have those letters out of whack there could you just explain that real really quickly because there may be people in the audience that don't know what that is yep yep thank you so um in 2019 we joined the Ohio facilities construction commission's um expedited local partnership program what that meant is at the time with the Ohio facilities construction commission we were not eligible for funding at that time so we opted to um go in and go ahead and start the work
063we take um credits on the approved work based on the Ohio um classroom design manual and it basically sits as a credit um that just kind of waits for us to become eligible and that eligibility is based upon funding that the state provides to the um ofcc so when you become eligible that's when you are considered cfap eligible classroom facility assistance program eligible um our district is at a 35% match so 35 cents of every dollar of design work that's in the manual um so we have right now with the work that has been completed in the phase one of the facility Masterwork that's been approved by the ofcc roughly 24 million in credits we'll have additional credits for the work that will be completed this summer um um and then any work that's done
064in this potentially amended second phase the facility master plan credits hopefully we become eligible by the time North becomes um up to us so let's say that that is double what we have now at $48 million um that we could apply towards a project like Wester North a segment of the work that we're doing in our facility master plan um and when you become eligible they take that 35 cents on the dollar off the top of the project at that time um so that's what we would look to do to fund a project like North understanding that um there's still a lot of concept around what we do with North given what I presented in that with a 76% of the educational spaces not having any access to Natural Light um in modular Wall Systems
065that were used during different phases of that building's um additions and and uh reconstruction so um it it's best to kind of delay that work did I answer that fully you did I would just add to that from a timeline because I know we've been asked a lot about that that we did have a meeting uh with the state and we're now 29th on the list so if you want to talk a little bit about kind of how that works maybe yeah so 29 sounds long right um don't be discouraged by that there are typically districts who become eligible and will defer their eligibility at that time um so they can kind of see back and forth they can't guarantee us anything they can't tell you it'll be X dat and this year um but
066they do um continue to share with us that we're looking at somewhere in that fiveyear range um potentially no promises I don't know um we'll keep working towards that uh Mrs Marshall did ask a really great question at that meeting if you don't mind me you can go ahead and share what you asked uh so I have worked with the oh high facilities construction commission for a long time but I had been asking them for as long as I've been with the district you know how far out are we and it's always has been five six seven years so I asked them so if we come up with eligibility but we we already have all of our projects done and we are sitting on a $50 million credit will you just write me a check
067so that I can pay back our bonds with that by me she means the Board of Education yes that's what but that was the question uh and they said yes um so they don't know how that would work exactly but they do think that that would be due to Westerville um and that's what if if it got to that hopefully our time would come up um I do have concerns about some of the conversation that our state legislators are having around um providing Capital dollars for private schools uh I do think that that could potentially slow down our um eligibility timeline so very concerning it is and so you mentioned Mark Twain and Robert Frost as another Bond but we're talking just for clarification purposes we're not talking we're talking like five years out correct
068yeah we would look at a similar this phaseal work to be a fiveyear plan and when um within that fiveyear plan we're starting to look at the next fiveyear plan uh we believe uh overall that this facility master plan is starting to develop an ongoing fiveyear plan as we move forward just to make sure that we are um keeping with our community current on on um the status of our buildings and I know there was some um comments and and um questions about the safety and rber Frost and and Mark Twain and you had mentioned we're going to be putting some walls up um to try to make sure that they are safe during voting periods yeah so uh Robert Frost and Mark tween's elementary school gymnasium still remain open to the building um and
069the board of elections in statute has um the right to use our buildings regardless of how we feel about it um so we recognize this to be a challenge um at those locations and we believe it's important to go ahead and address that sooner rather than later would just add to that so we are looking at it from a facility standpoint just so our um parents are aware we are also talking with the Board of Elections encouraging for some alternative sites in the meantime um so we are looking at that from some different angles too um I do think it's important to share too in that conversation with our consultant from the Ohio facility's construction commission I asked um if there was a resolution resolution specific to amending that second phase of facility Master work
070because um the board did approve a resolution to re-enter that work um and there is not a resolution specific so that is at the local level when you um make the decision to to support that Amendment um we would just know notify them so there's no formal resolution required at this time Nicole do you want to give a a little bit of background when we talk about the possibility of a no new millage for a bond and uh that was a 2000 bond issue right and give a little bit more um info on that you know where are we collecting it now and what would a no new millage mean for the community so it's a current bond issue that's been in place since 2000 um we are making payments to that on those bonds
071every year and so when if the community passes a new bond issue instead of that millage falling off it would remain at its current level so the millage wouldn't change going forward so as we have looked at the facilities master plan uh I came into the district in 2018 uh the district had already gone through um numerous numerous facilities Master planning committee meetings and had had a plan and priorities in place and all that and so my job when I got here was how do we pay for it right the plan was already there but how do we how do we get that done and so we looked at with Westerville South we issued um some certificates of participation using our current Pi dollars so that was using existing resources from a levy already approved
072by our voters we discussed the first five years with the um 2019 bond issue so that was for $103 million and it was estimated on the ballot at 1.95 Ms we've never collected that at 1.95 Ms I think when it came on in 2021 it was probably closer to I don't know 1.2 Ms something like that because of the way values work and I have a whole presentation on this if anybody's ever interested in hearing about it um so but at that time when we looked at what we had coming off in terms of millage so we just had another uh former issue that just dropped off I I don't know that anybody really noticed it but it was around a half a mill that came off of the tax rols um and that was
073from another bond issue um from years back and so we have seen we knew this was coming this has been part of the timeline we knew that that we would have this drop off it's coming in 2027 but we're able to structure the debt that will allow us to capture that with level payments that won't that our voters won't see a difference with the millage so we knew this was coming this has sort of been the plan all along we were actually originally intending on being on the ballot last November um but you know all the things with Co and everything that happened um and so this is where we are with the phasing of the work and I think the construction inflation uh you know we built our new elementary school that opened manova
074France Elementary opened in 2223 for $18 million to build that same school today it would be closer to $36 million so it's almost doubled um so that's a significant reality that we're dealing with um as we look towards the future and we want to be mindful of our community and uh I we know that we can't continue to put more and more on them and so we do want to make sure that we stay within that to not add any more for the bonds I think it's a delicate balance though right like we've got to meet the needs of what the students need and our staff and then just keep the community in mind and it's really hard um I do like um the amendment of the plan makes sense to me um I'm supportive
075of it I like it as well um during the presentation the initial presentation um I was very concerned about the cost the potential cost uh to the community and uh looking at it in the way that you know our thoughts are evolving and getting that input from people about um what is feasible what is not feasible as regards what the community needs from us as well as what we need from the community obviously but uh making the change to the plan and focusing on the uh bondages rolling off so that we don't Place additional burden Bond burden on the community I think is the um most appropriate way to look at this especially when you balance that with the potential uh for State dollars to come in potential down the road and hey haven't we
076moved up weren't we like 80 something on the list and now we're up to 29 so we are making significant progress so that and I know never bet on what the legislature is going to do um but at this point in time that idea of using um a no new millage for the bond and looking at how we can capture as much uh from State resources as possible is in my mind the most prudent way that we go about um achieving this funding the other component I think is extremely important and I want to go back to it is the utilization of existing funds that's another big piece as we look at how we structure the facilities plan how we structure operating dollars all of those pieces going forward we're going to have to pay
077really close attention to what we do with the existing fund balance so as we look at how that might work I'm interested in your thoughts about what and how we might use some of those monies and how that might impact our ongoing uh Capital Improvements ready yeah yeah we we got rid of Robert's Rules so you can just jump in whatever just checking so I think that um you know it's very important for us to to make sure that we've money that we've already received are currently receiving from our community is being used in the most appropriate way there are several items that we can address by using existing funds so while the bond millage that may drop off uh that will drop off May generate of I don't know 140 million and we know
078these projects are estimated at 134 million there leaves a little bit of a gap there that some of this work can be addressed through but also um addressing some of these other things we know that we have needs right now we have needs to improve our performing art spaces right now we have needs to um take a look at our existing but also some additional support spaces at our stadiums um things like locker rooms and restrooms just very basic items um but we're also talking about is this the right time to go through the district and and replace all of our T8 light bulbs with LEDs and then use some of that savings that we generate to pay for those projects so we've got a lot of things in front of us that are open
079for us to do and we just we're just looking for um that nod of commitment to to allow us to move forward I did just want to make mention that as we are sitting here talking about all of the funding needs for the district and having to go back to the taxpayers of this District that this is in part due to the fact that the state legislature does not fully fund their share of the public school systems in Ohio and we would uh love to have community help in contacting those state legislators to help ensure that they um continue to implement the fair school funding program uh there is no budget they're not doing budget negotiations this year they will be doing budgets next year in uh 2025 but if you need to know who
080your state legislators are let us know um I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this and the Very I I agree I think it's a very thoughtful approach approach where as Miss Stenson said we're balancing um the needs of our community and the needs of our our staff and our students um so I appreciate it and I'm supportive of um moving forward with that that approach I don't really have any other questions I so Louise I know this is a ton coming in kind of getting up to speed figuring out what we did in the past where we're going do you have any concerns I mean funding yes but yes aside aside from funding no I think this all makes sense yeah yeah okay so it sounds like we're all supportive thank you
081got a lot of work to do now thank you this is um this is sound and I I appreciate it you know I'm you've got the points right here the adjustment of the plan the no new Mage the use of existing funds the leveraging our projects for State dollars and to complete local projects those components make strong fiscal sense and they do a lot of what we need to do um you I do just want to mention with um setting the bond amount at the 140 million we will have a resolution before the board to so that they can get started on some of the work so it will be like a reimbursement resolution that we could thank you thank you Miss Dennis and Mr Schwarz and Mr Dorne appreciate the team's work on all
082of that I know it's a lot all right may I have a motion to approve the resolution to reinstate Robert's Rules of Order so moved second great Miss Marsh Dr n Baker yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meer yes and we are to board comments who'd like to go first hey well I actually came prepared with a legislative update today um periodically we like to share some of the things that are going on at the state legislature that might impact uh public education in our district in particular so I wanted to make mention of a few things um Governor dwine held his annual State of the State on uh 410 and a few things came up out of that impacting uh public education so um I shouldn't say they haven't impacted it yet
083but he's requesting for it so he has a request in for the Department of Education and Workforce to create an apprenticeship program for School principles to help address a need for more uh K through2 principles in the state he also put out a request for the state legislature to implement an additional requirement for graduation that the students participate in career planning to identify a clear path postgraduation um there are already some existing programs that engage both the parents and students so we'll see if there's further details that develop there um he also encouraged districts around the state to work with state agencies and with uh existing District resources to move towards a what is called a school B based clinical model so a handful of districts have implemented this school-based clinical model in areas where
084residents may not have ready access to Primary Health Care as a way to address those needs um within the schools it's been proven to increase attendance grades GPA reduce uh number of suspensions um but no further it sounds like no further dollars would be added for that it was simply an encouragement uh he also highlighted that we should expect a bill soon requiring all districts to create a smartphone policy to minimize use during school and I know this has been called out by some of our parents so um we'll look forward to seeing what that bill looks like so um nothing has materialized on any of these requests there are no Bills currently going through he just held this on 410 so we should probably look to expect some of these coming in the coming
085months um um one more thing to report from the state legislature HB 183 so House Bill 183 which is um I guess known as a transgender bathroom Bill introduced by State Rep Beth leer and State Rep bird um did pass out of committee that would require all schools to have biological males using men's and boys restrooms biological females using women's and girls restrooms locker rooms changing rooms Etc uh this passed out of house Committee of higher education on 410 it passed out of higher education but it applies to all schools not just universities it would be K through 12 as well a lot of questions still around on this one how would it be enforced how would we I you know identify trans students so more to come on this but uh this did pass
086out a committee and we'll see if it gets a floor vote so that is it um just real quick I want to thank um all of our award winners tonight it was delightful to have everyone here this evening um congratulations to Kim de Moy she will desperately be missed here um and I think that's it for me just thank you to the facilities committee coming together and presenting again tonight and letting us talk about it I really appreciate that time so thank you Alla ditto all that and then I'm just going to add one last thing too since Miss Marshall brought it up um president Huffman has stated publicly he is interested in using public tax dollars for private school facilities so instead of those dollars going to public schools for construction cost as we
087talked about they would send some amount of money to private schools for construction cost we already send 1 billion of public taxpayer dollars to fund private schools at the expense of our our real needs in our public school districts so if you feel inclined please reach out to your legislators now and tell them to keep our public taxpayer dollars funding our public schools that Miss Marshall next oh yeah our next meeting the board will meet in regular session on Monday May 6th 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at the Early Learning Center 9:36 East wi Drive West Ohio which is here it's hard to believe that we're almost in May all right may I have a mission to adjourn so moved second all right now yes now this is Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Dr Nester Baker
088yes Mrs Meyer yes 729