February, 17th 2026 Board of Education Meeting

001Starcher >> here. >> Goodight >> here. >> Kleinhens >> here. >> N >> here. Degan >> here. >> Please join me in standing for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> If I could please get a motion to approve the February 2026 board agenda as presented and amended. >> So moved. >> Second. Uh, Degan, >> yes. >> Nar, >> yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. >> Starcher, >> yes. >> Good rights, >> yes. >> And a motion to approve the minutes of the January 6, 2026 organizational meeting, the January 6, 2026 work session, and the January 20th, 2026 regular session. >> So moved. >> Second. >>

002Kleinhens. Yes. >> Starcher. >> Yes. >> Goodight. >> Yes. >> N. >> Yes. >> Degan. >> Yes. >> All right. At this point, we will move into the best part of the agenda, the recognitions of our students. So, we'll start with Cornerstone. >> Good evening, community members, members of the board. My name is Gabrielle Montgomery. I'm the proud principal at Cornerstone Elementary. I have two incredible first grade students to share with you tonight. They are both great leaders and we are excited um to share them with you and share how special they are. So, the first student I have with me is Miss Emma Graham. Emma, you can come on up. Emma is um a first grader in Mrs. Maloo's class. She's joined this evening by her family. Um, her mom and dad and grandma

003and grandpa in the back. If you would like to give a wave, thank you for being here. And then Mrs. Maloo is here to share about Emma. Hi everyone. Emma is truly a special member of our classroom community. She is kind, compassionate, and consistently shows a genuine care for others. Whether she is offering a helping hand, including a classmate in an activity, or sharing encouraging words, Emma demonstrates what it means to be a wonderful friend to everyone around her. Emma is also so incredibly hardworking and resilient. She approaches each day with a determination and a positive attitude, even when tasks feel challenging. Her resilience shines through in the way that she keeps trying, asks thoughtful questions, and never gives up on herself. Watching her push through difficulties with cou Watch watching her push through difficulties

004with courage and confidence is inspiring. Her passion for learning is one of many of the qualities that Emma that stands out with Emma. She is curious, engaged, and eager to grow. As an educ as an educator, I am continually inspired by her enthusiasm and love for discovering new things. She takes pride in her work and strives to do her very best in all that she does. Emma has made tremendous growth in both her reading and her writing skills. She has worked diligently to strengthen her decoding, her fluency, and comprehension in reading. The progress she has made is a direct reflection of her perseverance, commitment to learning. Emma should be incredibly proud of how far she has come. She's not only growing academically, but is also shining as a compassionate leader and friend. I am so

005proud of her and grateful to have her in my classroom. I love that I get to watch Emma continue to grow over the next few months with me, as well as the next few years at Cornerstone. Congratulations, Emma. Great job. Our second leader to introduce to you this evening is Griffin Girt. He is joined by Mom Melissa and Fan Club. Thank you all for being here today. Griffin's first grade teacher, Mrs. Mayor, is here to share his nomination. Hello everyone. Is more than deserving of receiving this award. Whenever he walks the halls of Cornerstone Elementary, he consistently will greet you with a smile and a wild story from his big, beautiful mind. He's the kind of kid whose gigantic imagination turns every ordinary afternoon into an epic adventure. And no matter how wild or wondrous

006his tales become, you can't help but lean in and listen to every single word. Griffin is an amazing student who works hard, makes thoughtful choices, and shines just as brightly in the classroom as he does in his stories. He understands the importance of helping others and will always help anyone in need, whether it be with reading, math, or even solving a problem while playing with his classmates. He is such a hard worker and always wants to learn more. I know Griffin is going to achieve great things in his academic years and I am so proud of him. Good job, Griffin. Nice job. Good evening parents, members of the board. Um Darren Ash, the principal at Keen Elementary. Um, I am excited to recognize Joy Heler, um, from Mrs. Robinson's first grade class. Um, before we,

007uh, talk about the wonderful things about Joy, I'd like to recognize her parents and her sister in the back there. Mrs. Robinson couldn't join us this evening, so um, I have the honor to to share this with you. Joy exemplifies what it means to be a thoughtful, caring, and dedicated first grader. Whether we are sitting on the carpet or working on on activities at her seats, Joy is always attentive and sitting quietly, ready uh for learning to begin. She often finishes her work efficiently and then asks if she can help other students who may be having difficulty. Joy consistently makes positive choices and is a great friend to her classmates at school. She completes her reading and math homework and has progressed to second grade learning in her online math practice program, Zern. I am

008so proud of all of her hard work this year and know she has a very bright future ahead of her. Congratulations. All right. Our next student we're going to recognize is a fourth grader, uh, Kayen Norris. Um, before we, uh, recognize him, if his mom and I believe the stepdad and sisters are in the back, if you can wave and recognize them. Thank you. and he'll be recognized by his teacher, Mrs. Chapman. >> All right, I nominated Kayen Norris. Kaden has shown outstanding growth both academically and behaviorally. Kaden consistently puts forth his best effort, stays focused during lessons, and demonstrates a positive attitude towards school. Behaviorally, he's been making responsible choices, showing respect to peers and adults, and has been a wonderful leader in and out of the classroom. Kaden's hard work and dedication does

009not go unnoticed, and we are so proud of his progress, Kaden. Keep up the amazing work, and congratulations. >> Awesome. >> Congratulations. You rock. Mhm. So sweet. Little tie. >> Good evening. My name is Jamie Tucker. I'm the principal at Melrose Elementary. I have two kindergarteners to share with you tonight. First is Mila Deweiler, who's here with mom Amber and brother and sister. If you want to wave to be recognized. I'm going to let Mrs. Rosco share her nomination. >> She comes to school happy and ready to learn every day. She is a friend to everyone in our classroom and always goes out of her way to help those who need it. She is empathetic and has taken on the big responsibility of helping a new student in our classroom right now. She makes sure

010that this new student knows what is expected with our routines and our procedures. She helps her get out things, organize her belongings and supplies, and make sure that she understands where to be at center time. Mila is the greatest helper and still makes sure to get her own work done as well. She has been working really hard in writer's workshop and math, and she shines daily. She always has writing that she wants to share with me and always works hard to have an answer to math questions. She keeps our classroom clean and organized and always makes sure to help others with classroom leadership roles that maybe they have forgotten to complete on their own. Mila is focused and hardworking during the day, but she also knows how and when to laugh and dance and have

011a good time. She is a leader and she exemplifies the seven habits. I have really enjoyed having her in my classroom this year. I am so proud of the growth that she has made, her positive attitude and her kind heart. I know she will go on to do great things in her years here at Wester City Schools and I look forward to hearing all about your successes. Our next student is EMTT Halter, who's here with parents Sarah and Austin. If you'd like to wave to be recognized. I will let Miss Watson read her nomination. I chose EMTT. Hang on, I'm tall. Okay. I chose EMTT as my board student of the month because in addition to being a wonderful student, he is consistently a kind, inclusive friend both in and outside of our classroom. EMTT

012gets along with all of his classmates and shows compassion and patience towards them no matter the no matter the circumstances. He makes others feel included and welcome and he has embraced the notion that we are a classroom family. EMTT is also the most excited and engaged student during our lessons. He shares insightful answers and observations, and his enthusiasm for every activity makes it so much fun to teach him. It is truly a privilege to be EMTT's teacher, and I appreciate his positive energy and ability to care for others every day. Keep up the great work, EMTT. MYSELF. I would have said and I know I'm probably throwing you for a loop, but we had to switcheroo the order real quick because we have a family coming in hot on two wheels and we want to

013give them plenty of time to get here. So, my name is Heidi Hos. I am the proud principal at Edgewood Middle School, and I have two wonderful students we're gonna brag about tonight. Um, the first one is Talia Maguire and her mom, Elizabeth, is here. So, Elizabeth, if you want to give us a wave. All right. Okay. And Talia, Mrs. Young, and Mrs. Greenfelder, want to say a lot of cool things about you. You ready? All right. Here we go. Talia is a wonderful example of what it means to be an engaged and supportive member of our fifth grade team. She brings a bright, positive attitude to school each day and approaches new challenges with enthusiasm and confidence. Talia's creativity shines through in her work as she often finds unique and thoughtful ways to express

014her ideas. She's consistently kind to others and always willing to collaborate, making her a dependable and encouraging partner during group activities. In addition to her strong character, Talia has shown impressive academic growth through her hard work and determination to improve. Her positivity, creativity, and commitment to learning make her a truly deserving student of the month. Congratulations. All right. And my next student of the month is Jaden Reynolds. and his mom Ashley and dad Josh are in the if you want to wave. And it looks like some other some other younger admirers are there as well. All right, so Mrs. Young, are you up? All right, Josh, you ready to go? Or Jaden, you ready to go? All right, here we go. >> Jaden consistently demonstrates what it means to be a role model on our

015fifth grade team. His strong work ethic is clear in the effort and care he puts into every assignment. Always striving to do his best and never giving up when facing challenges. Just kind of make sure Along with his dedication to learning, Jaden shows genuine kindness to his classmates, offering help and encouragement whenever someone needs it. He is responsible and dependable, completing tasks on time and following through on his commitments without reminders. Most of all, Jaden brings a positive attitude each day that brightens our classroom and inspires others to do the same. For these reasons, Jaden is truly deserving of being recognized as student of the month. Congrats, Jaden. Nice job. That's awesome. Good evening everyone. My name is Margaret Davis. I'm the principal at Worcester High School. I'm super excited to introduce two of our

016students tonight. The first one is Autumn Vi. She's joined tonight by mom Becky, dad Gregory, and one of our awesome parapros, Mrs. Craft. If you guys want to wave. And here to share a few words is her teacher, Mrs. Gerber. All right. I've had the honor of having Autumn in my ELA class for the past two years. She is a part of Best Buddies, works in our school's coffee shop, and is the definition of a true leader. She pushes herself through challenging assignments and tasks, advocates for her needs, adds humor to our days, and is so extremely kind. To summarize the type of student and person Autumn is, here are some things that Autumn has independently taken upon herself to do for others. She delivers water in the morning to staff in the building daily

017with a smile on her face. She always makes it a point to let me know if Mr. Gerber is not drinking enough water. Um, she collects pop tabs for her science teacher, Mr. Heler. She carries and puts away Mrs. Craft's lunchbox and coffee cup every day. She communicates class assignments that need to be completed, not only for herself, but for her peers when they need a little extra support. Finally, Autumn's class job in my room is to take attendance. We both know it might not get done um if she didn't do it. She has not missed a single day the entire school year. When she knows she's going to be absent, she reminds me that someone needs to cover for her and even writes the date and marks herself absent to help us out. She's

018helping even when she's not in the building. Recently, we had a new student join our class. She asked me to print out new roster sheets probably four times. And then it sort of became a joke between us, but I realized just how much I appreciated how she was holding me accountable. She wasn't asking because she was tired of writing his name on the bottom of the sheets. She was asking me because she truly wanted to make sure he felt and was fully included in our classroom. She cares for everyone around her, even on the hard days. And I could not be more proud of her. Autumn, I'm so thankful to be your teacher, and I can't wait to see the amazing things you accomplish. Congratulations. Our second student of the night is Vincent Vandervel. He's

019joined by his dad, Nick, mom Jennifer, and sister Willow in the back. if you want to wave. Vincent was nominated by his social studies teacher, Mr. Smith, who could not be here. So, I'm going to read a few words on his behalf. He writes, "Vincent has done an outstanding job of consistency consistently showing RISE principles by respecting others, showing integrity with his work, providing a safe environment, and being engaged in whatever we're doing in class." Vincent is the type of student who may go unnoticed, and he may even prefer it that way, as he doesn't seek accolades and doesn't seek the spotlight. But one of his most impressive skills is his consistency. Vincent is always focused and engaged with whatever we're doing in class, even on the hard days, persevering through rigorous training and sports

020schedules, and dealing with the winter sickness that seems to be hitting all of us. Vincent brings a positive and no excuses attitude that has helped him to attain such a high level academic success. Congratulations, Outstanding. Congratulations. Hi, good evening everyone. My name is Katie Roth and I am the principal of Park View Elementary. Um I am here to talk about two of our incredible students. The first is um Susanna DeMarco if you want to come stand up here. Susanna is joined by her teacher, Mrs. Buckton um to share her nomination. Hello. All right. When I met with Susanna's mom for our first parent teacher conference, I was telling her how amazing she is and how lucky I feel to be her teacher. And at this conference, her mother described Susanna as delightful. And after hearing

021this word, I just cannot I could not agree more. That is the perfect word and the perfect way to describe Susanna. She is just an absolute delight. When asking her classmates what they think of Susanna, she is always described as kind, a nice friend, and always looking so great. Another student said, "Susanna is the best." I think the whole class finds Susanna as a dependable and reliable friend. She is at school to learn, follow directions first time, help anyone when needed, and also to have fun. If anything crazy ever happened to me during the school day, I think Susanna is the closest thing we have to an adult in our class. Miss B said, "Susanna is a hard worker and has a positive attitude. She always looks for ways to help others. So, thank you,

022Susanna, for being a leader, having a kind heart, and being an absolute delight to spend our day with. Please. Right. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Yep. Kids are the best. Our second Park View student is another kindergartenner. um she and her family were not able to make it. It is um Zarya Coleman who is here with um Mrs. Haiduck to read her nomination have the wrong time because she's the youngest of four and her three older brothers have probably been here as student of the month. So they'll probably show up just a little bit later. Um but I'll go ahead and brag on her and hopefully they'll get to see this. Um so I'm thrilled to celebrate Zarya tonight as our leader of the month. Uh, let me start by telling you why she's so deserving. As some

023of you may know, I returned to the classroom from maternity leave in December, and this transition was both exciting as well as challenging. Zarya was the first to step in and help me with anything and everything that I needed, such as finding the pencils and the pencil sharpener and basically all the school supplies. She also helped her classmates as they adjusted to me as their new teacher, because that was a big adjustment for them. She has held numerous leadership roles in our classroom such as the teacher leader, the line leader, and she's currently serving as our substitute. One thing I adore about Zarya is her enthusiasm for learning. In fact, she chooses to come into the classroom early every single day to help set up the classroom for myself and her classmates. She is also

024empathetic and always sees those in need. She's the first to comfort a classmate who is having a hard day. If she sees something, she not only says something, but she does something to help resolve po problems as they occur. Zarya is the hardest worker I know and always strives to do her best in everything that she does. She's the very best friend and she is an encourager to all. Zarya is patient and kind. She is often able to move from one activity to the next very quickly. Yet, she remains patient and she waits for others to catch up to her. Lastly, I appreciate Zarya's competitive spirit. She is always up for a challenge and pushes herself to try new things. She does not know the word can't because she always tries at everything. Keep up

025the wonderful work, Zarya. Uh, I am proud of your accomplishments and I appreciate your leadership. I look forward to continuing to watch you grow as a leader at Parkview and I'm always here to support you as you do. >> We love it. We love it. Uh, Indie. All right. So, turn this. So, first of all, just a thank you to Panera. Um, all of our students do get a gift certificate for Panera. And thank you to each of you for all you do to support our students. This is certainly a special time to recognize them. So, at this time, we are going to transition to the business portion of the meeting if you would like to leave, but you're of course welcome to stay if you're interested. Thank you. Yeah, it's like an offrain, so

026it's a little weird, but as long as it kills, we're going to kill a lot. Amy, you were good. You had something. >> Oh, yeah. Thanks. >> Did you guys need No, I think there was something with the lyric tonight. I saw that the lyric I didn't think of right there. So, it probably Well, probably good to hear something. something to think about. >> I was when I was at >> I'm a social studies like at a high level the money that's going to the voucher program could fund the fair school funding plan. >> Yeah, exactly. I mean so >> Yeah. Right. Right. All it is where there's no tuition. Yeah. >> All right. At this point, we are going to transition to reports. So, we are going to um have a presentation from the

027social city social studies adoption team on their recommendation for new curriculum. Thank you. Good evening. Um so, I have a team of teachers with me. Um several from Edgewood and then one from elementary. Unfortunately, we had a couple people sick that um we're we're here. We're going to present. So, Misty Bessie and Scott Miller, but I am happy to do it for them. So, we'll be all right. So, here are a full list of committee members. So, you'll see um a large variety from kindergarten all the way up through the high school that helped with this process. Um this isn't our first time running this process, but I'll kind of give a quick overview of what it looks like. Um year one is more of the vision and mission statement. We're looking at our curriculum

028maps, our resource rubrics, and initial kind of review. Year two, we are um hoping to do pilots, which we did quite a few of those this year, which were pretty neat, and it's a great way for them to really experience the resources. We had vendor presentations um began to work on a scope and sequence updates and then we develop our implementation plan and start to provide some professional development and then year three which will be next year will be our full scale implementation. We'll continue some professional development as needed and you'll hear some of them talk about that a little bit finalize our curriculum alignment and scope and sequence work and then provide some days for them to work as a grade level because committee members we don't have everyone on every grade level team

029there. Um, so we want to make sure that everyone is up to date and knows what what's coming next. Um, I'm not going to read all of this, but we do at the beginning of each curriculum adoption kind of do some visioning work and talk about what is our why um what do what's important to each team. So the obviously this is for the social studies um committee. So we talk about what do they want to see in their learners um for the students. The first team up is our Edgewood social studies team. Wow. Thanks, Heidi, for that. Appreciate that. My name is Steve Fox. I am one of four of the team members from Edgewood. Um, I came onto the committee late. Um, but we we looked at different resources to see what best

030fits our students needs. And we came upon Gallipade. And, you know, I've taught social studies now for 15 years, both at the fourth grade and fifth grade level. And as soon as I saw it, this was like a dream for me because like everything was there. It met our standards. And then that correlation was there between the um digital versus the uh tech version of it. And then there was a nice connections. We've noticed as we've piloted it this year, there's a good connection between other content areas. So this is why we as a social space team are recommending Galipade. All right. I'm Natalie Skellyy. I teach sixth grade social studies at Edgewood. Um, these are just some of the key features we liked and that we found since we've been piloting it. Um, it's

031really accessible to students. It's a really streamline uh login, so they can go right through Clever. We don't have to type in the email and password every day, which is really helpful. Um, it really helps kids be more independent. That texttospech feature really breaks down some barriers for a lot of our kiddos, especially with new vocabulary and things like that coming their way. Um, it's got English language uh translations built in for pretty much every language I've ever seen. So, anything in the online components can be translated to any language we need, which we've never had that before at the social studies department. So, that's been super helpful even just in this pilot uh pilot session. Um, it's very interactive. the digital components. Uh it's got a variety of supplementary materials online as well as

032the ebook online which like I said can be translated. Um it's very well organized and we're really hoping the consistent structure from grades four, five, six, 7 um will really help students as the years go on get used to that same structure, same login, same platform which we again have never really had that vertical alignment before. So, Gallalipade is the main um Oh, I'm Sarah Wilt Trout. I am uh I teach sixth grade social studies and I'm the social studies department chair. Um so, Gallalipade is what we would really like to have at the middle school level. Um fifth and sixth grade feel that it would be best to still have a workbook textbook um for the kids to use in our classrooms. Fifth and sixth grade still tend to do a little better when

033they are actually interacting with the curriculum and writing. Um, seventh grade would like to just do the online version. As kids get older, it's a little bit easier for them to navigate those pieces and parts that are only online. Along with the Gallipade curriculum, um we would also like to add a scholastic news um across the vertical alignment with the high school and the middle school. We saw a need for um current events, better instruction with current events, getting the kids interacting with um the the news that's that's going on in a way that's appropriate for their age level. Um we also enjoy doing uh project based learning. Um and we have a lot of projects that we would like to do. So um we would we're also asking for an open purchase order um

034so we can buy consumable projectbased type stuff like um poster board for when we have kids making posters or making projects that go along with the our curriculum. So those are the pieces and parts that we're asking for at the middle level. So throughout you'll see some different points where we're aligning vertically and as they said Gallipade is one of those areas. So you'll see it in the same in fourth grade. They are going to have the workbook as well. And then the Scholastic news is actually now going to be second through 8th which you'll find out um which is important to us to kind of have that consistency throughout. I'm going to present on the different high school areas. Um this is there's it's a little different because they're all separate. So there there

035isn't a lot of alignment you can do between um dangers of a difference and geography. So you'll see a couple different ones. I'll just highlight some of the reasons quickly that they chose these. So Paige Arnold worked on the preap world history and geography and that's a new course for us this year and that was on purpose to make it for our freshmen. We're trying to hopefully get more freshmen in that class that want to take an AP class. It really gives them an introductory course that helps them get ready for that. So, she's choosing a book um that actually will be consumable. So, she's not going to do online digital access to this book. Um but she chose it because it also includes primary sources and has writing prompts. She felt like it was

036great for freshmen who may not quite be ready for traditional college level textbook, but also expected to learn a variety of new skills. Um she's also going to pair up with Misty Bessie in the new geography course, and they're going to use part of the global geography book from HMH. So when there's they'll kind of share that they have separate books, but they'll share those chapters um to make sure they're both exposed to that. She also like that it emphasizes key themes and vocabulary throughout. So we're pretty excited about that class. I know Margaret is as well um and hopefully it goes well next year. Paige also worked with Joel Schmidt on the US history um resource adoption. They really liked that the digital materials integrated well with the ele um learning management system. Um

037and Savas text performed the strongest on the selection rubric. So we still use rubrics for all all of our curriculum adoptions that we create in the beginning and then work through throughout the process. It provides excellent opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving and the materials offered include primary and secondary sources from diverse perspectives. Um they also they also liked that they have a robust u multilingual learner supports throughout and it's easy to access ebook. that was something that came up throughout all of them, all the different um resources we look for. They were really looking to see if the if the ebooks either match up to the book um or are close. And then some of the things that we found out is now they are updating the ebooks yearly so you don't have

038to wait for a new copyright. So sometimes that's um especially in history kind of helps with some of those um updates quicker. Um they said yes that the ebook is identical to the printed one right now. And then AP US history is also Paige was a part of this one. Um this is just the updated edition of the book we've been using since 2020. Um it combines content skills in a way that aligns extremely well with the college board. Um she said that there's again easy access to the ebook and she would likes the way she can use it in conjunction with resources from AP classroom. So that's fabric of a nation government. Um, and you can read there. Obviously, they considered several books, but I'm just kind of going through the ones and why

039they chose. Um, they selected HMH, United States government. Ryan Smith worked on this. Um, he also felt that it performed the best when evaluated on our rubric, particularly in the areas of critical thinking and problem solving and application to real world context. The HMH textbook and online resources were current were piloted in the classroom and he and he also received some PD from HMH. And it's nice a lot of times they give that to you part of it for free um to because they want you to buy their product. Um HMH resources are backed by the history channel with access um to their resources. It also he again noted the connection and support for our ML MLL students. Geography again is a new course this year for us. Um I believe there's going to be

040one sectionish one section this year. Um and then she looked at Savas and HMH and the went with the global geography from HMH. Um she selected it due to its alignments with the standards and she was really looking for a textbook that would be easy for the students to use. Um and she felt like this was the right choice and again that will overlap with our world um AP world history. Our economics course is also a new one this year. Mark Kester worked on the um adoption process for this for this resource. um he's teaching it for the first time and he went with Savas because they have more online um curriculum than HMH did at the time. Um he's also working very closely with our very own experienced econ teacher um from the past,

041Mr. Tutor. He's going to help him. Mr. Kester also teaches Dangers of Indifference. Um there are limited options for this curriculum, but he did take a look at a couple different ones. facing history and ourselves and echoes and reflections and he chose echoes and reflections. It's a digital curriculum that organized the material in a very clear way for students. It also has a strong focus on primary sources and has a good amount of video survivor testimonies which he felt was very powerful for the students to hear. Financial literacy is taught by um Mark and Misty at this time and they worked on this resource adoption. So they chose next generation as a digital um nextgen digital curriculum with no textbook. The curriculum is very organized with visuals, articles and video clips which are engaging for

042the students. Um there are many real real world activities, simulations and games that reinforce the financial concepts covered that also is the material that was is frequently updated um to the latest figures which is beneficial when learning about taxes and interest rates for AP psych and psychology. Um he considered a couple different options and Mr. Sullivan would say that the one he chose is a proven winner. he went with the book that he has used in the past, but we updated the digital access um to those books. And then for eighth grade, um they were able to work um in a very successful pilot program. So all three were we were able to give all three of the teachers access to the pilot. Um so they've chosen National Geographics, US history, American stories. Um this

043curriculum emerged as a top performer on their evaluation rubric and received a lot of praise from the teachers. They were all three of them were very excited and adamant that this was the right one. Um and then as we talked a little bit, they're also going to use junior scholastic. Um so it'll be the same kind of moving up in from seventh grade too. And then our K4. Hi, I'm Abby Maloo. I'm a first grade teacher over at Cornerstone. Um, as a part of the K4, we looked closely at our HMH ELA that we just adopted this year. Um, and we really wanted to see what aligned with those standards. Um, we did find that a lot of it did, which was really exciting, but there are still some of those standards that were missing

044in HMH. Um, so looking at that, we want to look at some readalouds that we could look at and purchase as long as well as some um, project- based learning as well. Um, we've talked about doing maybe a trimester or I'm sorry, a year starting with a year project, maybe working towards a trime trimester project. Um, but we're really liking how H.M.H. is aligning with it, but still missing some of those standards. Kindergarten is fully equipped with everything that they need and fourth grade is looking at Gallipade as well. Um, but for second and third, we're definitely still needing some of those readalouds to help us meet those standards and maybe some money to help us um with those project- based learning that we would like to start doing. So, it's pretty neat that our

045curriculum that we bought last year overlaps with social studies in the elementary world and helps us save some money, which Amy loves. Um, but also crosscurricular is always something that is a benefit for our students. Um, and as she said, we don't need anything for in kindergarten. a lot of the readalouds that they overlap with their standards are also a part of our patterns of of wonder. So, we've already bought those books for them. And then um linked on the board agenda is a list of all the books that we would purchase for the students in first, second, and third. And then there are some in fourth as well. Um and as I said, they would have galloped um >> recognition. >> Oh, yep. I'll call her up. >> Um fourth grade has a lot

046of Ohio standards and so that's that's an area where Gallup really covers those well. Do you have any questions? >> We do, but I want to >> Let's finish this first. >> Okay, you're okay. Okay, I'll keep it brief. Um, I looked at all the books. They were really interesting. Um, so I thought Gallipade was organized differently from my old brain. like at the beginning like the way I wrote it down was that it started out with a topics based and then moved to a timeline. Did I get that right or did I miss something? I mean there's probably a million books. >> So each each grade level will have their own book with their grade level standards that they use as the resource. >> But I felt like they started with a topic. You

047know, we're used to history and a timeline and I felt like this started with a topic and then kind of gave all the different like I felt it was organized differently. Did I misunderstand or is that something you experienced? I'm just trying to follow through on Yeah, >> I know. >> Correct. And you're And I'm just curious. And that made sense when you went. I mean, it was different. It's good. >> Well, because the way we Yep. >> we do our curriculum. >> Can we make sure everybody's talking to the mic so people can hear, >> please? Thank you. Enjoy. >> The way we've done this sequence. >> Yes. This year it did not go with gallopades in order. So we kind of taught things out of order based on our scope and sequence. >>

048Got it. >> From what it was now we may look at that scope and sequence in the upcoming years and decide whether we're going to adjust that or not. >> So like we started out the year with maps. >> So maps maps was a little differently >> which is perfectly great. Okay. So that that just threw me a little bit but it sounds like it worked for you. question about voice to text. Who uses voice to text? Everybody, anybody? >> And how is voice to text used? Because well, I would have a lot of questions about that, but I'm just asking. >> Agree. >> I think that it um so voice to text is used if it's in a student's IEP or 504 plan. >> Thank you. So, just some children would use it, but

049not all will use it. So I think it depends on the teachers if they want to let all the students use it for different different purposes, but it's often in >> So why would just I understand why a student on an IEP might use voice to text, but I just would wonder why would another student use voice to text? Can they request to use voice to text? Are they all going to use voice to text? Is it just when it's needed? What if I don't need it, but I want to use it because it's easy. Just want to understand lovingly lovingly because I love this stuff and it matters to me so much. So, I just want to at least understand. >> Well, I know >> I support you 100%. I support you 250%. >>

050Well, I know um what I was referencing earlier too with the text to speech was Yeah, it will it will has the ability to read it to them, which um even my kids who aren't IEPs, like I have struggling readers who are just struggling readers. >> So, I think it helps them access the curriculum instead of >> I understand that. >> So, that's why I use it. Could it be that I could be in your class and be a struggling reader, not on an IP who never reads a word that school year? >> Just asking. >> I suppose that could be, but I will say I wish more kids would use it because I feel like they're not sometimes accessing it or using the tools that they're given. But >> so you feel ultimately there

051will be better comprehension from listening than reading? >> No. >> Okay. I misunderstood. >> I'm I'm hoping they're doing both as it's happening. Yeah, >> I misunderstood and I apologize. Okay, thank you. Okay, >> I think Joy to go back to your question about the curriculum all in all areas we do um we do do curriculum adoption scope and sequence work and we may not always do them in the same order that the publishers suggest that we >> indeed which is great which is wonderful which is heavenly. >> So what's the origin of the scope and sequence? Is that locally driven or state driven? >> I would say locally but there are many schools in the district in the state of Ohio or even in other states that use a scope and sequence. that helps

052helps all of our teachers stay aligned in different classrooms. So all >> so the scope and sequence is uh developed locally. >> We develop it. Yes. >> Okay. >> Now the resource the curriculum resources do have there are suggested scope and resource scope and sequences but oftent times especially in in the elementary world we're looking at multiple subject areas in a day and then we break it down by the week and sometimes they are overlap and crosscurricular and so we want to use the same readaloud so it's easy for them to have it all the way across one week and so they can see everything that's going to happen. >> Yeah. Were you done, Joy? >> Yes, I can. >> I need to hop in there. >> No, no, no. I want you to jump

053in. I beg of you. >> So, um, so my concern, not I mean, you guys should get whatever you want. I mean, I mean, I'm okay with that. I mean, I don't care about the the stuff that you get as long as it's what you want. So, that's my concern, but my concern is with content. So, as we looked at our current curriculum versus what we're going to be using or what we're going to be adopting, do you feel like that um some of our history was minimized in any way, shape, or form? >> No. No. This we have more resources with this adoption than we've had in the past. >> Okay. So, Okay. >> Not resources. I'm just talking about the content of the stuff that the kids will be learning. are do we

054feel like um any part of our history has been minimized? >> No, >> I can add that I went through I'm not going to say every book, but I went through a lot. Um and I looked at a lot of maybe topics that one might be worried could be sanitized or changed. Um and I did not feel that way. And of course it varies by age level, right? Um, I went through some recent books which I think were high school books if I and I please. It was a lot. >> Thank you. Um, and I I felt like I was learning. So, I'm going to say it that way, you know, because like when you're old, you have understandings, but you don't remember every detail you ever learned. I will acknowledge that. So, I honestly

055felt >> it was interesting and beneficial myself to review it if that helps. That was the high school level. Yeah. So, I did I I did look at that specifically and I feel comfortable if I can jump in just to be supportive of your process. >> You're welcome. I was like pretty militant on this, Rick. >> I'm just hoping that it reflects what we know, not what people want us to know. >> No, it was good. And there were some really interesting yeah some of the books were really very good actually about pulling in you know kind of at the end there were there's always checks and all the things and they were varied which I liked and then there were a lot of like you know different pieces of information about different people that

056I thought were relevant to some of the sensitive top I thought it was very good in in fairness the high school books I really loved them also significantly more more resources for them for the teachers to use online as well so video clips and different articles that they can also use not the textbook Yeah, >> whatever it takes. >> Yes. All >> right. Thank you. >> So, thank you very much for letting me ask questions and I appreciate everything. >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. I don't know if I need to raise my hand. Um, I have somewhat similar concerns to joy on text to speech. I like I think masking nonie reading deficiencies is something we address in reading, not by reading the book to them. I worry about taking a test. If they can't

057read the book, can they take a test that's only in written language? So, if they have a an accommodation in their IEP for um to to have that, they would have it in their to take tests as well. >> But someone who doesn't, they would then need to read the test, right? The test won't necessarily be text to speech. >> That's where I would depend on the teachers to make that decision for the students what's best for them. >> Are there overarching programs that can convert anything to text to speech now? Like, do we need this book to have text to speech or are there various platforms available for taking any text and turning it into speech? >> We can. There are platforms we can use. It seems to go much better when we use

058the ones that the textbook creates, the publisher creates. They It just aligns easy. It's easier. >> Um in your sequence of like year 1, two, three, where are we at in this presentation? Are we in year one? >> We are in year um we're in the middle of year two. >> Okay. So, we're we're at the middle of year two before implementation. Um the high school books I think any new class obviously we have to select books for like new AP US history like what's the gain? So that >> higher scores, more engagement, like why? >> Usually they update the book. So the ones that we had were quite a bit older. So that's why she asked for the updated version or um it's just a new copyright. And it depends. Um like Mike Sullivan

059chose not to get the newer book. He said there weren't there weren't a lot of differences. So they compare the books and see how much has changed. A lot of times the newer book versions also align better to the online resources. they match them so that when they're telling a child um student to turn to page 33 in the book, it's the same online. Um or so those are things that matter to them. >> Do does everyone in those classes access the online version? Like in g like >> in the classroom >> the internet barely existed when I went to high school. So is it common now for students to sit with a computer or iPad and look at a book on it or do they still in the classroom mainly use a text form?

060>> So I think it's a little bit of both but it is common. Yes. for for the students to access the online versions. Even your student Yes. And I think it depends on the on the courses and the teachers what they expect and what they they you hand them the book, they're going to use the book at that time. But they are able to print off chapters of the books. They can print off chapters of the books in a different language often. Um they could send them home if they needed to because a lot of times textbooks don't go home with the students. So if they don't have internet access at home, we do have ways to help the students. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Just a couple things from me. Appreciate everybody that that

061came and presented and and you know I think at this point we're it's almost routine. We're used to these presentations once a year for this and I just want us to remember the work that does go in to getting to this point. Um I would take our textbook adoption or curriculum adoption process up against any in the state. I think it's really one of the reasons we've experienced some of the um student successes in the past couple of years as we do things with such purpose. Um and you know you guys talked a ton about vertical alignment. Those things don't happen without that process and working together to do that. Um it did come in under budget which was nice. Not the not the uh um not the number one priority but it was nice

062that it happens. is every year Amy does put a certain amount in for curriculum adoptions and we choose one content area to do. Um, last thing I would just say is you guys had some of the questions on the content as well as we are, you know, very cognizant of that in any of our subject matters. And so this is one of the the things that we approve in a two-read process, right? So your approval this evening, if you do, is not actually the final approval for the textbook adoption. Uh, it will come back on next month for a second reading. Um, kind of like we do with policy. And if you approved at that time, that's when it would um you know be purchased and moved forward in that way. And um it's available

063then. Um obviously the stuff that's online you can see online. Any hard copies are available at central office and that's on purpose so the public can come and observe those uh and look through anything that they would like um in the next month. >> What was the budget? >> Amy, what was our >> just under 250,000 >> 250? Okay. Right. Any other comments? >> Great job. >> So, yeah, thank you again for >> Thank you so much. We left. >> All right. And um yeah, thank you for all of the discussion as well. Um with that, we will transition to public participation on agenda items. >> We have a couple I think >> agenda items. Two out of the three are The first one is Bridget Okconor from 907 North Grant Street and she's here

064to speak. Good evening everyone. I would like to present a new path forward for Worcester City Schools while preserving our past. After reviewing the successful renovation of Lachland local school district's 1912 iconic school due to reopen this fall of 2026. It is clear that Worcester can use this example to achieve success in renovating Cornerstone. Lachland like Worcester had two failed levies and came to the conclusion that the community wanted to preserve its heritage and invest in the beautiful building and property that already owned. The OFCC, Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, funded 87% of Lackland's reconstruction, close to $3 million, while the the community funded 13%, $4.5 million. Lachland's master facilities plan has done a remarkable job in listening to its community, saving an iconic structure, delivering a 21st century safe learning environment, all while costing a

065a mere fraction of the total cost to its taxpayers. Worester's master facilities plan could also listen to the wishes of 63% of the respondents of the last community survey and save our iconic structure, deliver a 21st century safe learning environment and maintain a downtown presence. I urge you, Worcester City School Board, to use Lachlan's example to forge a new path forward for Worcester City Schools while preserving our past. Thank you. And in addition, you can go to uh type into YouTube Lachland local school district renovating main campus and watch a 1 minute and 4 uh 8 second video that is very informative. I welcome any questions if you had any. >> Thank you for your input. Thank you. questions. >> The next one is from Lynn Thomas, 121 East Liberty Street in Worcester. Um, she

066also had a comment on facilities. Greetings and thank you for your service to Worcester's terrific school system. I would like to understand how we let our gymnasium deteriorate so badly. It's an embarrassment. What needs updated? Number one, air conditioning. The fans in the doorways did nothing during the volleyball games and people were taking clothes off during basketball games. Number two, the seats with backing were cheaply made when built, but now the paint is worn and certain ones are questionable when leaning back. And number three, the flooring in the seating area is so worn it is ridiculous. Paint it or replace it. I also attend many sporting events at other schools and Worcester High School is the worst. Not only my opinion, but those of visitors and overheard conversations. Other comments unrelated to my opinion, but

067those of the visitors in the unrelated to board. Number one, scoreboard during basketball games not showing players in their game and their score scoring stats for JV basketball games. Number two, scoreboard inaccuracies reporting player stats for varsity games. And number three, love the pep band providing tunes during the basketball games. Kudos to the director and kids that participated. Please tour the gym before after one of your meetings or let me know an email address that I can send you pictures. I love Worcester High School and there is revenue obtained from attendance at games. Please consider funding the updates to our gym because it has passed due. Wr >> the other one's not on an agenda item. It's on a non-aggenda item. >> I don't know. >> Yeah, I think maybe it was under on agenda

068items. We have another one that to read. >> Yeah, good point. >> Yeah. We just have one more that we're we're waiting for. Next one is Barb Friedhoff, 4457 Woodlake Trail in Worcester. As a part of tonight's or upcoming treasures report, would it be possible to give the district's stance on the state's expanded private school voucher programs and in and their effect, if any, on the monies that should be available to fund our district? As was presented to the board last year in 2023 24, there were 282 students living in the Worcester City School District who used private school vouchers, and each of those students could receive up to 8,47 from the state. Outside of the fact that we as taxpayers are funding private education, to what extent is the state's voucher program hurting the

069financial situation at our and other public schools? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> At this point, we are going to move into the consent agenda for the treasur. So looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda for the treasur please. >> So move >> second. >> Okay. So uh tonight I have the financial report for month end January 31st 2026. Um when you look at revenue right now um um if you remember the forecast that you approved in October um we're we're looking where we're at 7 months of actual five months of projected um we're projecting right now that revenue will come in about a half a million dollars higher than the forecast what was approved in October. Right now we're in the um collection of property taxes. Um, so we have received two

070um, payments and we'll receive a third and then a final. Um, so we'll kind of know where we're going to end um, with property taxes at the end of probably April um or March. Uh, expenditures are um, trending unfavorable right now of about a million dollars. Um most of that is due to um the understatement of salary and benefits which I'll talk about um when I present the forecast. So we're looking net, you know, to be about $460,000 unfavorable at this point. Donations tonight, I have um two donations for the gymnastics team. We have a donation for a general's closet. And then um finally, we have a donation to assist with some of those old delinquent lunch fees. So, no fees really this year. These are fees from previous years. And then, um I have

071three new funds to bring to you tonight. Um we were awarded uh a school bus safety grant and um that'll be used um to um track um uh cars that run red lights. Um, so some more cameras for our buses. Um, I'm presenting um to add a fund for the class of 2030, which is our current eighth grade class. And then the final one is a state grant um that we had received for some um training um department of develop development for AI training. And then I don't have any transfer of funds tonight. And that is my consent agenda. Any questions or comments? Yeah, I know I know community members have been great about in the past helping us with delinquent lunches. So, I mean, if if somebody is making a donation for that, do

072we let them know of the new program and I guess I'm just wondering like and we kind of ask them if they're intending to pay for >> I would assume so. I'll be honest, I was not involved in this donation at all or >> I'm not sure how it came in. >> It might have come a lot of them come >> some come to food service or the high school. >> Okay. >> And so I I'll be honest, I'm not sure what's >> But there are even though this year there's no new fees. I mean there are kids that are >> getting towards graduation that have acquired fees over many years, right? So that will still be an issue. >> Pay down those balance. Correct. But maybe lingering year over year. Okay. That that helps.

073Okay. >> Do >> Thank you. >> Do we have a total balance of aars like one sum? >> I haven't I haven't asked for one for I don't even know that I have this year. Last year we were at like 130. Yeah, we were at 130,000 at the end of last year >> abundaid. >> Yes. >> Really? >> Yes. >> Wow. over after after COVID districts including ours really experienced kids got really used to getting lunch without an issue. Um and uh so as students came back that continued to be an adjustment and we did not uh elect not to give kids a lunch uh if you um if they came through the line anyway. So, that's kind of why one of the reasons why we have considered and done the C program this year,

074um, which we'll probably discuss more in in a in a few months as we kind of get closer into the year and and continue to decide what we want to do with that C program moving forward. >> Okay. And what is the AI and education grant for? The funding from the state covers like a hundred different sections of stuff. >> We had uh how many administrators went through that? 15. >> So then they know about AI or they know how to use I like what which direction is it working? They're learning about it or they're using it to learn. >> Okay. Okay. >> Any other comments? >> Uh, goodight. >> Yes. >> Starcher, yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Degan, >> yes. >> Um, looking for a motion to approve the

075consent agenda for the superintendent. >> So moved. Second. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Starcher. Um, first personnel. We have three resignations. Uh, one for retirement, Hillary Day. So, we wish her the best in her retirement. And two resignations, uh, Mrs. Wingard, who is, uh, going to pursue a counseling um, degree to to do that as that's kind of a passion of hers. And Mr. Vatital, you might have seen in the paper, he's going to go to Wayneale and be the football coach and, uh, a teacher there. He is a a Wayneale graduate. So, um, wish them all the best. Um, on the certified side, we have our summer school coordinator, uh, Miss Kovatch, who is a lit coach for us. Uh, we have one job share, Mary Carpenter and Holly Delaliss. Mary has been

076in a job share before. Holly has not, but, uh, based on their growing families, that really worked for them. Uh, a job share is something where they basically split one contract. We do not have to grant their request. Um, it's really if it's a win-win. This is a great example of a win-win. You have two great teachers that just based on their family dynamics aren't ready for full-time work right now. Um, and we're able to and it works really well in preschool because one can do morning and one can do afternoon. >> They both get benefits though, right? >> No, one gets benefits and they that's all in the out uh spelled out in the contract and they agree they decide who's going to do that and agree to that and they sub for each

077other when they miss and things like that. It's all in the in in the agreement. We have uh long-term subs uh which we really much appreciate as well. Long-term meaning um we don't know exactly how long but probably longer than 15 days. On the classified side um we have um a couple uh we have resignation um Heather Curts uh Angie French. We also have a medical leave and you'll also see Jim McKinley who has been a bus driver here for over 30 years. Um and uh so wish him well in his retirement um and appreciate his service. Um on the classified uh side there we have one new hire in Lina Fukqua uh and some substitutes. The academic supplementals are really just the um fine arts festival and preparing for that which is coming up

078in early April. um music in our schools. Every year in March, we designate kind of just an official, as most districts do, a resolution emphasizing um how much we appreciate and encourage arts in our district and music. Um I would say what's better than that is what we do all year with it, right? The way that we have orchestra, band, drama, choir, um you know, music in the elementary schools that really emphasize our art program. The fine arts festival that will come up soon uh is a great display of the talents that our kids have. We're going to do one more year of the resolution to do third grade for uh paper um testing for ELA. So, um we you if you want you can test paper-wise. If you don't fill out the form, you

079just automatically do online. We did transition to online in math. Um, we are building towards that transition in ELA. We got good feedback from our teachers. We we we think at a certain point it will better reflect the achievement of our students as they become more and more comfortable with this. At the same time, we want a little more time to just kind of make sure that um all our ducks in a row to to kind of move into moving away from the paper. So, uh, that resolution does that. The next three are CCPUs. any place that offers CCP that a student of ours would use or utilize, we have to have an agreement with. And so these are just theus for the year. As again, remember my consent agenda is primarily things that you

080do year after year. Um handbooks for the year, not a lot of significant changes. Uh main update was in attendance to align with the new attendance law and things like that uh related um to the way hours are counted and reporting reporting structures. the OSAA membership resolution we have to do every year to continue to be a member of OSAA. Um and so that resolution is on there for your consideration. And the last is um and this got added because of the way that they performed this weekend. Uh robotics um will be going to kind of the state tournament in Dayton depending on how they do on that. Um could could be those that qualify for the world tournament which we have had in the past. Um but this tournament would be required for that.

081And since it's an overnight trip, um it is on here for your consideration. It would be it is being paid for by the robotics uh club. Um as I know that's always a concern for us is how we're paying for these kind of experiences. And um not only how that you know from a our perspective of what we're paying, but also what we're burden we're putting on families as this primarily is going to be paid for out of the robotics club fund. And that is my consent agenda. We have to be the first school in the state of Ohio to have the handbooks approved for next year. >> Yes. Well, we were late when I first got here. It was like Junior July. So, you know, Molly is a little bit of an overachiever and

082so we >> we've moved up a little bit. >> Good job. Wow. It it's it is somewhat purposeful though as we want that that to be at at when you know people are filling out final forms and things like that because what was happening before is we open up final forms for like kindergarten and preschool and then soon after for everybody else in like May and if we don't approve the handbooks until after that technically you're not you're not approving the correct handbook and so that was that was why we did that. I appreciate everybody getting on that but you are right we probably are the earliest. >> I would research that. >> All right. Any questions or comments on the consent agenda? >> Did I Did I miss theus with the different universities? Was

083I reading? >> No, I uh we do those we do this every year. For any any kid that's going to take CCP, we have to have their standardou approved. Um and so those are it doesn't mean like for example Tiffen we currently don't have any students that use Tiffen for CCP but if a student wanted to use Tiffen we have to allow them to and we have to have the agreement to solidify the uh the cost structure >> and if they did like is the Tiffen student in class with the Stark State student UA student or does it is section one >> those would be so inhouse we do Ashlin University for most of our core and we do Stark State for um like our computer science and robotics and things like that. >> The

084rest of these are all out. So whether online or Wayne or Yeah, that kind of thing. >> Good enough for me. >> Uh Degan, >> yes. >> N. >> Yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. >> Goodight, >> yes. >> Starcher, >> yes. >> All right. Moving into the regular agenda for the treasure. Uh, a motion to approve the FY 2026 spring forecast is prepared for required submission to the Ohio Department of Education. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Great. I'm going to go to the podium and do something different today. Okay. So, um tonight I'm presenting to you the um spring forecast uh for fiscal year 26. Um if you if you remember from the fall, well, Bonnie and Clayton, you weren't here, but uh Department of Education moved the timeline in terms of um when

085we have to submit the forecast. So, now it is February and then August. So we were bringing the fiscal year 271 in August. Um previously we did it in May. So um really you know when we're looking at current fiscal year as I talked before we still have five months you know of of expenditures that um we're just estimating at this point. So purpose of the forecast really has um three objectives. One is to engage the board, the district community in conversation about the financial future of the district. It uh gives us the ability to sign our 412 um certificates which are any contracts um you know and and it says that we have the money to pay for them. And then it also allows the department of education to look and foresee of any

086um you know financial indicators um you know or problems u with the diff district. There we go. Okay. So um really just to look at the current fiscal year. Can I put that? Okay. So looking at the current fiscal year right now we are projecting still a um projected loss for the year of about $3.4 um million. So again this is based on seven months of actual five months of projected. I really looked at where we were in our spending this year tried to align um from our budget management process align that back to um you know where um we are with our forecast. Um, so I don't feel like this is as accurate as it could be, you know, coming in May or bringing this to you in May, but you know, we're fulfilling

087the requirement um of the Department of Education. So, first of all, I want to talk about revenue. Um, so these are um, you know, our local taxes. We get about 68% of our revenue from local taxes, about 26 from our state um funding and then the remaining 6% comes from other revenue. When you talk about our investment income um and and just some of those um smaller items that we get revenue from. One thing that I did want to mention here because I'm going to talk more specifically about local taxes and state funding in the next two slides, but you know, we have seen a drop in our investment income. We've been really fortunate the last couple years to have an increase in investment income, but seeing that decline this year. So, as we look

088out to the forecast, I am projecting, you know, um less income from investments, but um want to talk a little bit in depth about property taxes. So, um you know, there were a lot of things that came through the legislature this year, as you know. So, here's here's we're go where we're going to see um property tax revenue in the next 3 to four years, and it's very flat. We're not going to we're going to see very little revenue increase in property taxes this year. So, as you know, House Bill 920, we talk about this a lot. um you know increase in property values does not equate to us getting an increase in our funding because um as property values increase um the tax rate decreases and we get the same dollar amount. Okay. So

089we don't see increase there. Um previously we got in you know we would get increases in property taxes on new construction and our inside millillage. Well, um, in House Bill 335 that was passed this year in November, it puts an inflationary cap now on inside millillage. So, it's based on um gross domestic product, which is about 8%. So, if you think about um, you know, last time our property values um increased, you know, we were at 3540%, so we saw an increase on that. So, we're not going to get any more than 8%. um this year we're going to go through reappraisal you know in Wayne County but it's not going to have any effect on us because of the um cap on inside millillage. Um the other thing that um is is happening as

090well is when you talk about our public utility um that is going to um decrease because House Bill 15 shifts the tax burden on utility companies and lowers their assessment rate by 70%. So, we're going to see a decline um in that as well. So, again, even though we're going to go through reappraisal in 26 and again in 29 because it it happens every every 3 years, um we're our our property tax is we're going to just be flat, you know, for the next next four years. So, state aid um you know um what again it's it's um going to go down next year and then remain flat. And this is this is due to a c a couple things. um projecting flat enrollment and um you know currently though we are on the formula

091for our state funding. But as um but because we've had rise in property values and we look like that we're a rich community with our flat enrollment and the fact that the um fair school school funding formula hasn't been fully funded. We're still on 2020 based cost. Um, we're going to be moving to the guarantee in 2027, which means, you know, our our funding is not on based on enrollment. It's just a guarantee. And so, we're gonna, you know, we're going to see um again, no revenue growth on that. Um, so really, as far as revenue, it's it's going to remain very flat for the next um three years. So, let's talk about expenditures. Um we have um um done a lot of work I guess as our admin team to talk about um you

092know how we can reduce cost because um our revenue is going to be flat. So um this is our projected analysis for expenditures for this year but I really want to talk more about what this looks like for um the the years moving forward. But specifically um we looked at 2027 as a starting point. So the admin team really you know I was kind of just a spectator but they worked really hard to see what positions within throughout the district we could reduce through attrition. So I want to be very clear that we are not cutting staff. We are just looking at positions that we don't maybe need to replace due to retirements or re resignations. Okay. So, I built that into the forecast for 2027. We um believe that we can save about $600,000

093um in those um jobs that we potentially will not replace. The other thing that I looked at are the retirements that we're going to we that we have so far this year. Um you know, the the income that those retirees made was a lot higher than potentially somebody coming in. So, we looked at what are the savings and I used about 25% of the salary, you know, that we would save with that. But I think it's important to know that we're going to continue to evaluate where we are with staffing moving forward as as well. So, with that benefits too, um with the reduction of those um positions, you know, obviously that we're going to we would have a savings in benefits as well. So I took that into account for with insurance. We are

094um projecting 8% increase in health costs. So we haven't seen that in the last couple years, but you know trying to um I guess be a little bit conservative in that regard. So this this last slide just kind of paints a picture of you know where where we are with um revenues and expenditures. And you can see that every year we're in deficit spending. Um cash balance you know projected um you know by um I think I have it on the next slide. We we show like where we are on days um cash on hand number of days of cash on hand. Um so we really need to be thinking about in 27 28 potentially going out for a levy. Um, one thing that I will say, um, if you remember, last spring we did

095the $23 million transfer to the capital projects fund. So that money is still there obviously and so we have had discussions about potentially moving that but money back to the general fund. We would have to actually resend that fund. Board would have to approve it in order to move the money back to the general fund. So, I've done a, you know, um, forecast moving that back and obviously it prolongs, you know, the the need for a levy even longer if we would move that money back to the general fund. But some of that is contingent on what we do with our facilities, like where where are we going to best utilize that 23 million from a facility standpoint, you know, from a forecasting standpoint. So, it's something that we we really need to um take

096a look at. So this last um or actually this slide really just talks about um annual change and revenue. So again projected change over the next three years very very little not even 1% um and expenditure change you know um when we look from historic to forward because we are looking at some savings you know um we are we are keeping a hold on our uh expenditures as well. But the last slide really shows the cash on hand. So a few meetings ago, we actually passed a cash balance policy if you remember and we said in the policy that at 90 days we would make consideration of 90 days of cash on hand consideration of going out um you know for a levy. So you can see that without the 23 million in the forecast,

097you know, we are looking at potentially 27 um 28 of cash on hand. Without that, you know, we're looking at 2930. I mean, with the 23 million moving back into the forecast, we're looking at um you know, 2029 2030. So, um, with that being said, tried to take all the information I had available to me, you know, to do this forecast. It's it's a place in time. Things are changing, things are evolving. Um, but, um, one thought is, um, that we would bring I have to submit a forecast to the Department of Education in February. We can do a new forecast at any time and I can submit updates at any time. So, as decisions are made, I can do a new forecast in May or June, submit that to the bring it to you

098for approval and submit it to the Department of Ed if necessary. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Yeah. Um, so, um, in terms of the 23 million, just as a reminder, remember that was kind of placed in a holding pattern because there was a time when we, uh, were under the impression that there was going to be a provision to how much cash we could have on hand. We've left it there really until we make facility decisions. And, you know, Amy worked really hard on this forecast and trying to think about what to do with that. And obviously it looks not very good when you don't use that 23 million. I think that's important. We need to know that. At the same time, obviously we can decide how we utilize that moving forward and she can

099adjust. You know, I think really why are we having these conversations? It's what Amy just described. Revenue is decreasing and costs never go down, right? And so, you know, we are in terms of a levy cycle, we're moving into the back end of the levy cycle. We are trying to be as thoughtful as we can and um doing a pretty significant attrition right now uh as Amy said with trying to reduce where we can uh kind of as far away from impacting students as possible. Um as we would love to not do any of that, but I don't really think in the current environment we we can do that when we're going to move to the guarantee. Um and so we're getting hit both on the state and on the local level. And we didn't

100even talk about federal because we don't have any really idea what happens at the federal level. So um you know that's why we've got to be as conservative as we can. >> Questions? >> May I just make sure I'm understanding the big picture which is something I always need. I want to confirm that when you talked respectfully when you talked about the fair school funding formula that was the well vague attempt to fix the problem from 199 something when it was ruled that funding was unconstitutional. We went through oh bunch of gymnastics and minations but never really fixed it. Then the court closed it never fixing it. So, we remained in a state 97 is that 30 years. I can't even do math right now, of course, because I'm losing it a little. But we

101remained in a state of underfunding that the court determined was unconstitutional. We tried to fix it. We failed at the legislature. Then they closed it. And now the fair school funding formula is well, another attempt to fix it, which also isn't really fully funded. Is that in with all due respect to all parties >> they didn't >> accurate or am I missing something here before I >> the problem is they kept them at the 2020 levels right >> so they kept the formula in >> so they tried to fix it but didn't really fix it >> they didn't adjust it >> by doing a little >> slight of hand shall we call it lovingly so in essence in Ohio we remain underfunded by the state in terms of what one would consider a mandated activity

102that we provide to our citizens which would be education. Is that a fair >> y >> all lowercase levels assessment of where we are in Ohio? >> Yeah. Property taxes 25 years ago, right? >> Uh was about a 50/50 split with state and now it's about a 3070 >> split. Right. >> 68 68. >> Okay. Okay. So, I just want to make sure I'm understanding like the problem definition and the problem definition is remain in a state of unconstitutional status where we are not properly funding what would be considered a basic activity of our state of Ohio. Got to make sure I can say that over and over again. I don't know if I can accept. Okay. So, from that point forward, we now have to creatively maintain the high levels that we do and

103figure out how to do that. Yeah. And it it is the dichotomy of 20 mil floor versus non20 mil floor comes into play too. >> Correct. >> Right. Our revenues are flat because we have voters who put us above it. So our revenues are flat. >> And if you're on it, then your revenues have exploded with valuations and ours will simply not change. >> I'm just saying from the standpoint of conceptual decisionm where we're at because I just need her understand what what are we to do with that kind of defies. So you Amy, thank you for making it understandable to us in terms of like on the ground what we have to actually do given the circumstances we're pre presented with which are completely outside of our control. >> Thank you. >> I was

104going to say that >> excellent presentation and it was helpful. I I I think you know one of the things like from our state association like Gabes's the um well OSBA your association Gab's mind you know just talking to our legislators about what I mean and and and trying to put our our information in front of them to say this is where we're at if we don't you know support the fair funding formula and the plan. Um, I mean there was a ton of that done this last year and still >> meaning that everybody's trying valiantly to portray to our lawmakers >> Yes. >> the vital importance of funding education and how critical it is and how underfunded it is that. >> Yes. >> Okay. Respectfully, yes, >> lovingly. >> Good job, Joyce. >> Kindly

105have people on a majority of districts are telling the opposite story. In a majority of districts, taxpayers are paying much higher tax rates because their tax rates have gone up with >> the value of their homes. And in our district, that's not true. >> But in the nine surrounding district or 10 surrounding districts in the county, that's absolutely true >> because they're on the floor. >> So they also hear from that group saying, "My taxes have gone up in a hu in an unvoted manner to double triple exactly whatever the percentage or value your home rose." I'm going to add that I remember when we had a discussion um about unfunded federal mandates because that's another little pleasant area where we have all kinds of things we are required to do by law and don't

106have money to do. So, I'm just kind of saying it because I just personally as an educator and a board member and someone who literally does value education as transformative can't get my arms around it. Crazily, I'm just going to say this. I read an article written um I won't say by whom but it's a good article and it's in a reputable source and like it's interesting how closely um education is tied to the economy in various countries because a lot of countries actually like mandate federal monies be spent at x number of I mean it's just so it's really quite interesting um and I'm just very sad at the moment but I'm going to stop now other than I want to make sure it's known to every single person in our district what Everybody

107is doing working hard trying to fix things putting together new plans figuring out how to provide a top-notch education while we are grappling with real issues. It's not just like but it's everything. It isn't just like paper or erasers or school lunch. It's at every level. Everybody is working very hard under the circumstance. And I'm saying it because I care so deeply about education and people do a lot of hard work in the district and this is looming. So I just want that out there. I'm sorry. I say this because I I think everybody does a good job and I value this process and I want to thank you again Amy and I am sorry for the soap box. Needed to say it. >> Thank you everybody at Worcester City Schools for working hard. >>

108Just one quick question. This could be yes or no. Um, so in that forecast, um, there's no anticipation of a premium holiday from the COG. >> Oh, yeah, there's one in there. >> There is. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> We have had one the last couple years. >> Okay. >> So, premium holiday is when we have one month where we don't have to pay a premium for um insurance, which is about $900,000. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> So, >> yeah, >> there is one in there. >> Good. Good, good, good. >> So I just I just had one question about the annual change in expenses. So I mean it's that chart is I mean quite honestly both the revenue and expenses it's pretty significant. Is I guess that transition from the 16.54 to the

109-2.28 is that mainly the attrition that you're talking about that's what's driving a lot of that decrease and >> I I would Yes. Okay. Okay. >> I just didn't know if there was any other plans or anything else that we're looking at. you know, staffing is your primary because it's 80% of your budget, >> right? Well, I would say some of it, too, is um, you know, we're we're working with Brian and Gabe on, you know, capital outlay and purchasing of, you know, buses or vehicles and things like that. So, we're really pushing to pay for that kind of thing out of PI money rather than general fund, which I've done in the past. So, that's some of it. Very, very tiny piece of it, but >> All right. Yeah, >> supplies is in there

110a little bit because, you know, through curric curriculum adoption, social studies isn't going to cost as much. So, there's some tiny little in there. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Very nice presentation. Any other questions or comments? >> Well laid out. Thank you. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sorry. >> We ready? >> Yes. Um, Starcher, >> yes. >> Goodright, >> yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. N >> Degan, >> yes. >> 7.02, a motion to approve the contract with Vasco in the amount of $91,353 for the resurfacing of the track. >> So moved. >> Second. >> We are going to use um funds within the capital outlay for that. Um, and this is it's not a band-aid, but it is uh not a full like we're not grounding it up and restarting. That will have to happen probably

111next time, but this should get us another seven, eight years. Um, and so, and this is the company that did the original track. >> Uh, good, right? Hold on. Sorry. Did you >> How many proposals did we receive for this? >> Three, I think. Okay. Yeah, we reviewed three. >> Yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. I'm sorry. That's okay. >> Okay. Good. Okay. Degan, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. Starcher, >> yes. >> Good. Right. >> Yes. Again, >> uh, one one thing I would note, too, uh, a lot of times with things like this, they're consortium purchases. So, as long as you use uh different uh cooperatives, um, even though we still get we still get multiple quotes, their pricing is state approved. And so it it's another kind of level of

112oversight for these type of projects. >> Okay. >> All right. 7.03. A motion to approve the electrical upgrade contract with Summit Construction at Melrose Elementary in the amount of $295,000. >> So moved. >> Second. >> So um this is obviously um electrical upgrade at Melrose. We did go out for bid for this. We received three bids. Um so this one with Summit Construction came in at the lowest. >> And you know, obviously we we got a lot to talk about with facilities. This has been um kind of in the works for a little over a year at this point. We've had several outage issues and uh kind of some safety hazards with their electric. Just the demand at Melrose versus what's there to provide for it. You know, if I knew for sure that we

113were moving out of the building, would I still recommend this to you? I I think I probably would because this one's pretty pretty urgent and needed. Um because even if we move out, it's not right away and I don't know if we're going to move out, but I think that's a question we would ask. This is on the horizon for Park View. It's a similar need. It's just not as urgent. So, and we did not do it this summer, and so we would be able to kind of um avoid doing that if if need be. When will the I don't know if it says when the work will begin if we approve it. You did you already say that and I told him >> I don't I don't know if we >> but that is

114just something it's a summer when the kids aren't in this building. >> Can you comment just on what issues is this meant to remedy? Like what is it being what are we experiencing in the building? >> We trip breakers. Um we've had some overheating of of electrical issues. Not not like a fire or anything like that but kind of fire hazards that the fire department would recommend this as well. Um uh those have been kind of the the main the main reasons and it's it's a combination of you know internet servers in the building. Um >> we have the air conditionings air conditioners in the window which pull a lot of power. Um you know and when this building was built in the mid60s neither of those kind of things were true. >> Yep. >>

115Any other questions or comments? >> Uh Starer. >> Yes. >> Goodight. Yes. Kleinhens, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Degan, >> yes. >> All right. And then the last item under the regular agenda for the treasure is uh MO looking for a motion to approve the then and now certificates as recommended. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um so I have two then and now um certificates um for you for approval. One is with the multi-county juvenile detention system. So this is tuition for resident student. And then um we needed to purchase more salt from the city of Worcester. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Any questions? >> Kleinhens. >> Yes. >> Starcher. >> Yes. >> Goodight. >> Yes. >> N. >> Yes. >> Degan. >> Yes. >> All right. Transitioning to the regular agenda

116for the superintendent 8.01. Looking for a motion to approve the Worcester Health Technologies overnight trip to the HOSA future health professional state leadership conference April 15th through the 17th 2026 in Toledo, Ohio. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh this is just an overnight trip due to the success of the health tech program. Uh typically I would put this on the consent agenda, but if I put on the consent agenda and one of you can't vote the same, which uh may be the case here, um I need to to do this separately. So that's why this is separate. >> Okay. Degan, >> yes. >> Nare. >> Yes. >> Kleinhens, >> yes. >> Starcher, >> yes. >> Good. Right. >> Abstain. >> 8.02. Uh looking for a motion to approve the first reading of the 2026

117social studies curriculum adoption. >> So moved. >> Second. >> So this the presentation. We'll have these things available for the next month uh for anyone if they have any questions. Uh and then uh if approved tonight, it would just move it to a second reading in March. >> Is this an all or nothing choice? >> Uh it does not have to be. >> I'm just curious. >> Yeah. No, it doesn't have to be. We could pull things out. I would just um that would probably be feedback. I would like tweak, you know, I would tweak. >> Yeah. It's not for right now. I'm just I'm just curious. >> Yeah. >> Uh Deacon, >> yes. >> Ner, >> yes. >> Kinhens, >> yes. >> Starcher, >> yes. >> Good. Right. >> Yes. >> All right. At

118this point, we're going to move to new business. Um we're just going to have uh open discussion about uh the facilities. Um just talk about facility needs and act any action steps. >> Yeah. Thank you, Miss Starcher. So just you know phrasing this really put this on as a information and discussion not anticipating action this evening. I mean obviously board has the right to you know do at any time what they want to do but the point was just really bring it up for discussion. Uh just a reminder we did a presentation in November uh with different options that could address our facility needs. Uh, a couple of those were kind of repair. I mean, cornerstone's the primary discussion point, but it's not the only factor uh in the in the conversation. Um, a couple

119options were building new buildings. I presented a 35 and a K5 building. Um, and then uh also the use of kind of trailer or modulars. Um then in December uh kind of based on some feedback and it what seemed to be more interest in more of a build in building than uh renovating uh discussed um possible possible ways we could do that between a levy andor cops which basically means paying for it on your own and paying a payment for that. um at that time uh we discussed a 35 just based on cost you know in Amy and I's conversation I will say um you know as honestly the from the state and property tax news um the budget probably doesn't get any better at any day um you know I I don't you know

120I think now would um you know the cops be what we would recommend at this time I'm not sure I think there are pros and cons to it but I think there are pros and cons to any of situations and I think that's the the reason why you guys need to discuss today is just really kind of thinking through and um you know maybe we can get some direction for uh you know how we do move forward in the long run >> anybody have any initial thoughts they want to start with I mean I think you know in the past we've talked about levy versus cops um you know I think from my perspective with the with the um forecast that we just saw that just continues to create some the cops option continues to

121create some concerns for me. Um you know so I think as we as we think about our needs I would my personal opinion is you know a levy would be a better option and also again continues to engage the community. So guess other other thoughts or things we want to talk about as a group? Well, we know something needs to be done. Obviously, um we have a site that um some of us feel like um we need to get kids out of. Uh it's not that we want to get rid of the building, but we want to give those kids. I mean, our job here is or my opinion is is to do what's best for kids. And at this point, um, with some of the recent activities or things and stuff, I don't think

122that's best for kids. So, as we move forward, I'm fine with whatever the board decides, um, as long as we do something. Um, that's kind of a I don't know. I mean, we've talked about this joy and stuff, and >> I can share the thoughts that I've shared in the past. Um, I think in summary, what I said was how lovely the Cornerstone Building is historically, how many really incredibly cool things there are in the building. Um, and how much potential it has if um utilized in ways that make the most sense. Um, I did say on the record, and I'm happy to say it again, that as an educational space, I personally, um, as a board member, as a resident, um, with my experience see that there are a lot of learning barriers in

123that building. Um, and I'm not going to go on and on because I already kind of used up some of my time um, on other topics, but God, I I I continue to feel that way about the building, which is a very lovely building. um with many lovely memories. Um and does have potential to be a lot of different things. Um but as a learning space, I see mostly barriers. Um I continue to talk to literally anyone and everyone who will still talk to me. Joking. Um to find out where people are. I want to reiterate that if I recall, we had roughly 11% voting yes and 12 voting no, which still leaves at us with a large percentage of people that didn't tell us their opinion. And that leaves open the question, who is

124my audience and what is my job? Um I believe in learning literally from the top and the bottom because it transforms lives um wherever they may go and in whatever direction and the end result doesn't look need to look the same for everybody but growth happens and it actually does matter to individuals to families and to societies and as I referred to before you know investment in real rigorous meaningful education also has economic benefit to the community. Um, so I continue to seek an outcome that makes the most sense for everybody. Um, I recognize some people love Cornerstone and don't want to leave it. And with full respect to all they feel and have experienced, I understand that, but I I just can't get my mind around how it's going to work for education. And

125I'm more than happy to talk to anyone who wants to email me. I've worked with kids for more years than I want to admit and so I really do feel like I have at least a little bit of an understanding of how buildings can impact learning and all the things. I've been in Cornerstone lots of times when circuits have broken when things I mean just I could go on and on and I really don't want to and I'm not trying to disregard people's feelings. I'm not trying to disregard the beauty of the building or the history that resides there not even remotely. um like you know we're at a really important inflection time where we have to think about what we are doing for students with their learning needs and I I just can't leave

126that platform. I can say more but is that have I missed something? I can say more. >> I want to hear what people think. I'm happy to respond to emails. I'm happy to have conversations personally. Um I know we've discussed transparency. Um I feel sad to think that people think we're not being transparent. I'm trying desperately, but of course, well, we all know that, you know, I don't know what happened 100 years ago and I'm trying desperately to do the right thing, but you know, so those are my initial comments. Um, I don't know that I I'm going to say what I think is the best thing at this moment because we're a group and we're a community, but that's certainly how I feel about Cornerstone with all due respect and concern and all the

127things. So I'm saying that because I think it needs to be said. Um I don't know the best way forward at the moment. I again I'm going to pause. I could talk a lot but I'm going to pause. Is is that help move the discussion forward a bit? I can make more comments whatever. >> No I so um Gabe or Mr. tutor could what what kind of commitment or conversations have we had or where's Worcester Growth in the helping of that building occupancy. >> So Worcester Growth um last April indicated they would be interested in um you know acquiring the building. is if you remember um if we sell a building uh we do that at auction to the highest bidder unless um there's a few different ways you can sell it to government entities

128and so Worcester Growth would qualify in that. Um had a follow-up conversation with them, Mr. Goodright uh just last week uh at Worcester Growth. Mrs. N was there with me and just kind of reiterated um uh the kind of the the thought that if we did choose to leave the building um it would be very important for them to engage um because we really do um want a really positive outcome on that site and hopefully that building um and Worcester growth would be the avenue that that could happen. um they did express um continued interest and support in that um to the point where we even discussed if again I think it was the same as when I had people reaching out before the the past levy of interest within the building. You know right

129now we have almost 400 students in there and so no real investment is going to take shape when that is still a possibility. Um, we did talk about that if the board, you know, found a plan that moved them out of the building, um, even if that took a period of time, we would probably be able to start the process of negotiating what that would look like so that we could get Worcester Growth involved, which would then allow investors to get involved even while we're still in it as long as we weren't going to be in it long term. again until with that unknown that's really so in short Worcester Growth does seem to be continued interest and I think shares the interest in that space in that building. >> So we have public meetings

130and we have this on YouTube or whatever but does um but there's really no newspaper to report on what we talk about what Growth talks about. Do they wait do they have a way of communicating out their thoughts on the potential so people know? Yeah, I think I know they did a letter in April, but I think that they from what again we can't speak for them. We're not we're just they're talking to us. >> Yes. But I think they would be willing to continue to express that more, you know, more aggressively. Yeah. Um as Mr. Anel who led Whistler Growth did kind of seem to indicate that. Would you agree with that, Bonnie? >> Yes. >> I talked to him last week. Okay. Same question I just asked you. So, I mean, >> yeah,

131>> it's it's kind of like, >> you know, talking to one person, they're the one to give the message, but it'd be nice if Worcester Growth would help with that, getting that message out there. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. You know, and I think if if if it helps in terms of, you know, phrasing, you know, the one question is cops versus levy, right? And another one is renovate versus build. Um, you know, I I think in my conversations and even in our feedback, I think I would say that I I might, you know, be speaking and please confirm that, you know, a K5 is attractive from the standpoint of it would be efficient. Um, it uh we we're about ready to spend some money at Melrose. I mean, we have needs in other buildings. Um,

132you know, and you know, we we do see some value in grade banding. It's not a perfect plan. There are positives to neighborhood schools. Um and uh and and there you know Parkview Keen Mowers are great places, but I guess I would say if if if we're leaning towards a levy, I would think it would make more sense to consider the K5 versus the 35 just because I think there's a lot of narrative there uh from a financial perspective um to consider. One other thing as a reminder, whatever we do here, um you know, I think there's two reasons there's urgency. Um the first is um as I've said before and if if you know putting significant money in cornerstone is the direction the board wants to go I will do that. The key is

133it needs to happen though right like we are at a we are at that inflection point where you know um the needs of that building continue to be very significant and they're costly and they're even impacting the educational environment. Um, the other reason that this is important right now is the OFCC, right? If we want to partner with the OFCC and have a portion co-unded, um, we have until November to gain our to to gather our money, whether that's through a cops or through a levy. Um now you don't we can wait and that can lapse and that's that's a but just I think that's a factor as we think about like I think that's two reasons why this discussion is important at this time. Forgive me. Can you remind me if it lapses? This

134is for the sake of my understanding. What would happen then? Let's say we feel we just need a lot of time. We're going to figure out a temporary fix and we let it lapse and then in five years, whatever. What would happen? What do we have to do? Are we starting over from scratch? Are we >> Yes. No, you your master plan still exists. Indeed, you would reapply. Um there's no guarantee because every year I mean funding is approved for the state, right? Um but uh if it was still there, you could get it again probably at least a two-year delay as there'll be some new districts come online and then but as long as funding remained, you don't stay lapsed forever. Okay. >> Thank you. >> If we use the OFCC, that means we

135have to have a levy in November. Is that correct? >> Um, yes it would. Um, unless we did COPS, we could build. You can build with the FCC doesn't care how you get your money as long as you have it, whether that's taxpayer approved or using, you know, a COPS program. Um, I think unfortunately though, as our budget constraints continue to be more significant, as Amy presented, I think it's starting to be more realistic that if we do partner with UFCC, it would have to be through a levy at this point. If we do a levy in November, have we considered um the timing of that with this possible property tax elimination vote for Ohio? >> It's a great question. I mean, I think uh we don't know what's going to happen with property taxes

136in Ohio. Um you know, I I think there's, you know, I think there's a couple considerations there. Um, one, you could still go with a traditional property tax, um, which does divide the new tax amongst the most amount of people in your community. You could avoid a property tax and go with an income tax or an earned income tax, which doesn't seem to be as much under assault by the legislature. Um, you know, I think, you know, I I think the legislature can, and it's not just this legislature, but I would say this one, it's it's unpredictable. I don't know exactly what's going to happen and obviously this would be a referendum. Um if property taxes do go away in Ohio unless the state comes in and and immediately creates a different way to fund

13760 to 70% of most school districts budgets. School districts will go belly up and we won't have school districts. So I don't know where that all goes. I don't know if that answers your question exactly. I think that it is it is up in the air. I just I think it's it's up in the air enough. I don't know if it's a factor, but I don't know if we can rely on it because I don't know what to rely on. >> I think we can know by July 31st. We will know. It will or won't be on the ballot on July 31st. They'll either have the signatures in and approved or they will not. They'll be due on July 1st and then they have, you know, two weeks to review them and two weeks to

138attempt to correct any deficiencies that are presented. What I've understood from people at the state house currently is like they are supposed to provide an update or supposed to be some clarity. They're at like 150ish thousand. They need 413. There is a certain distribution of them they must achieve. Um so July 31st you could know you could say is this going to be on the ballot in November. I think running I >> I'll start over cops versus levy. I think we need to have a levy to have the local voters behind the concept of their local schools. When in the world we exist in the unconstitutional world of school funding in Ohio, uh we need the local voters behind the plan to fund their local schools. I think it's a fact that if we run

139against property tax elimination and property taxes are eliminated, it will make our levy null and it will make all our other levies null, too. And then we'll be in some type of existential crisis, which I've probably said that phrase more times in the past few months than I ever have in my life. Um, so I do think we we need a levy. I also think that the the long-term facilities needs of Worcester. Let's imagine we tear everything down behind the facade of Cornerstone and build something brand new behind the facade. Well, it took us 30 years to go from building this high school to building that. And how old are Melrose and Park View and Keen going to be in 30 more years? They're going to be 100, too. And we're already seeing their age.

140We're on them at 70. So I think that the consideration of how long it takes us to build schools typically here the needs that are going to come up when our other schools are 100 years old. I I don't know if we can totally focus just on cornerstone as a problem remedy here when we're thinking about passing a levy here is hard. It take multiple tries to build a high school. It'll probably take multiple tries to do something different with this. I I think our our our best effort needs to go behind changing all the elementary schools in a way that updates all the facilities for everyone and not just addresses one and leaves now the other threequarters of the students are in buildings that are 75 years old have their issues have their maintenance

141needs and not be repeating ourselves in 25 years that Parkview is a really old school now was built in the 50s. we need to we need to update this um all as one package and obviously we're going to need an operating levy of some kind in the near future that we can avoid um and we didn't get an opportunity the past few years the way some the rest of the county did to either save money and or spend money on different things because we don't experience revenue rises outside past operating levies and we're going to have to address that too and and I think we need to take those two issues headon at once like we need to either like you said we can invest whatever ever the minimum is in Cornerstone to keep it

142functional. Or we need to pass a levy that addresses all of our facilities in a way that everyone benefits from and everybody gets something out of to not be repeating the same cycle over and over every 20 years. >> Yeah, I think that's a fair point. I I guess I would add so I I um I mean I you know we had the the comment tonight public comment tonight about Lachland and I have reached out to um their school board just to try to understand a little bit more about um you know what got to them to that point some of the the background I would like to understand some of the math that went into you know why is the OFCC funding so much of that. So, so I want to be open to

143multiple options still because we haven't, you know, come up with one solution. But, but I would personally agree with what Clayton just said is that we can't be just focused on one school. Again, cornerstone because of the historic nature tends to be the center of a lot of the conversations, but we need to think about a holistic plan for our district, for our community that um sets us up for success long term. And so, you know, again, I'm going to continue to explore and continue to be open to other ideas, but I do feel like again, I agree with your comment about getting the community behind what we're doing. Again, we we know that it's hard and that there's a lot of challenges with that, but I think we need to continue to work that

144and think about funding through a levy. And I do think that we need to think um about all of our aging buildings and what is going to be the best thing for our students and our community long term. And so I am also leaning towards you know that the K through five is the right um right option. >> And what did you find was the and Gabe you might be able to comment too within the scope of OFCC when you look at last fiscal year Lachland's the 55th poorest school district in the state and we're the 400 roughly 450th poorest. Is that the main factor in percentage funding? >> It is. Yes. >> Are we are we about to get 87% funded to do anything? >> No. So, I mean, you know, that that's a

145pretty good uh >> the list. If you're high on the list, you get a higher percentage if you're low on the list. So, we're in the bottom 50%. >> Correct. Yeah. And 31% what you know, there are districts that get like 10% and it's not even worth pursuing because, you know, and 31 is, I think, substantial enough that it is worth um engaging with because you'll save more than you you spend off the OFCC because OFCC does have red tape, right? And so, you do spend a little bit more on some things because of it. Um but at like 10% you would at 87 you know that would >> Yeah. When you ask if we if we only had to ask for 13% of the money this would be fairly simple to do a lot

146of things. >> Yes. >> Um is it prescribed I couldn't find the chart. Is it prescribed what the maximum contribution for FCC for our district is? >> Um no it depends on the scope of work. So um once we determine if we are going to change our master plan which right now still sits at a 68 from when we failed in May. Okay. >> Um, so if we decide to build a K5 or a 35 or even a 68, whatever it is, it will be updated based on that 31%. >> So what the state does is they come in and the OFCC determines what is the basically the least expensive way that you can build those six grades. I can tell you that this the OFCC is going to tell you that building it in

147one building is going to be their preferred choice because everything is cheapest. So, it's still 31% of whatever their lowest amount is. And then anything you do above that is called LFI. So, like I'll use a a simple example. If you were going to build a new high school and you wanted to build a gym and not well, you're going to build a gym in the high school. They're going to say X number of seats. Maybe you want more than that. Maybe you want an auditorium. Maybe you want a swimming pool. They're not going to pay for that. So they'll give you 31% of what they say is required and then you pay 100% on what you want outside of that. That's LFI locally funded. >> Yeah. I do think, you know, one thing as

148we talk about this, if we are going to lean, you know, towards a potential, you know, levy ask, you know, I think timing, you know, November, you know, we have we we pursued May the last few times kind of to try to be the focal point. I don't know if that's always um you know, whether that's the the right decision at that time or not. You know, November, you know, is a different time. Maybe it would get more people to pay attention to that. The other thing I will say is it is February. Um, if we are going to pursue something, um, we don't need to decide tonight. I wouldn't want to decide tonight, but I do think it's something we want to think about sooner than later because there's a lot to communicate to

149educate people, right? Um, and there's OFCC work to be done. There's resolutions. And so, you know, um, that'll be something to think about. >> How many reads? >> Two. Two. >> Two reads by when? >> Um, technically you have until July. >> Okay. >> No. um or is it the end of June and No, I think it is July. It is July. Um um so but you know that would give you three or four months to to present your plan. Um I think the more time we have for that the better. >> You know, I think we should we should start coming to a conclusion on a plan nearly immediately and then we'll have to make a go no-go decision come I would say on the on the back of the property tax referendum. We

150we shouldn't go through the exercise of competing against the referendum with a property tax as they may be eliminated. And if we know it's not going to be on there and we feel good about it, we can push forward with it. If we feel like it's going to take 18 or 24 months, what do you think the investment is in the meantime so that the school is, you know, wherever you think Cornerstone needs to be? Is it $2 million? Is it 5 million? Is it 15 million? any way >> um >> if we need to buy, you know, if we need to buy more time in the building. >> So, you know, we would have to probably look into that a little to to fix not everything, but to get it up to what we

151would say would be an expectation for Worcester. We're we're predicting about 34 million. Um I think, you know, >> I'm familiar with that >> for for about probably for about 10 million. Um, you could do, um, you know, maybe the HVAC and maybe the windows. Um, but I think you need to do HVAC, windows, um, safety and electric. Um, so I can get you that exact number, but I'm saying probably 15 at least. >> Can I clarify the question? I didn't quite get it, and I don't mean to be rude. Are you asking what it would cost to renovate and use or what it would cost to be usable while we wait? Yeah, usable while we wait because we decide 18 months is a more relevant timeline. >> Thank you. I just want to make

152sure I follow I apologize. >> You know, does it need is are we getting from any source that it requires work to be functional right now or is it functional for 18 more months? Does it require two or three million to stay functional compared to what it is today? >> Yeah, I think it does. Um I mean we're we're you know we're dealing with you know different different issues from uh you know leaky pipes, windows that don't close. roofing has gotten better because we did a pretty significant roof patch last year. Um, you know, there's still there's some electric issues in in the building. Uh, we have some foundation issues that we're exploring and investigating um that, you know, could be costly. Part of the issue, anything you do there is costly just because it's

153an old building that, you know, kind of requires kind of some expertise in order to do that. Um, >> spending $10 million seems like spending good money on a bad project. >> So, to clarify, because we haven't done anything yet and we still need to do something, forgive me, >> we're spending all these millions of dollars to keep moving forward. I >> Is that what I'm saying? >> Right now, we have not. >> No, but I'm saying if if we would if we would we would have to spend 10 or 15 million to buy ourselves time to get to our next step. >> Correct. because we haven't done anything yet. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Well, we've done some things. The roof's back. >> I'm not saying we haven't done anything to fix the

154building. I'm saying we haven't made any forward progress on our last two levy bond issues. >> So, we're kind of in suspended animation. And so, now we're having to spend 15 million just to buy more time to get to another bond issue. >> What is the cost of trailers again? >> I guess I'm going to ask it now that I'm hearing that. >> We uh eight to 10. Yeah, probably I I I quoted six to nine depending on if we needed like a cafeteria space, which we don't think we do. Um, but we also, you know, it's the trailers alone are not the only costdeed. Um, sidewalks, fencing, connecting. Um, so I would this very conservative would be 10. It probably would be less than that, but I'll go very conservative. That would be 10.

155And that would be to rent them or buy them and resell them or done if we were building or >> Yes, you can rent them as well. You can lease um I think >> but I think last time we said you sometimes we buy and sell to you can do that as well >> respectfully. I'm just trying to >> most of the time and it we still could evaluate it but most of the time leasing is more if um uh you had an emergency you had to move out you needed it quickly and you were not anticipating using it for an extended period of time. Once you use them for a few years, it really doesn't make as much financial sense to rent to lease versus purchase. >> Seems like $10 million on modulars is

156a better expenditure than a band-aid. >> It would I mean modu look I mean I I'm not hoping we have to use um but they have come a long way. They can be used pretty quickly. Um, and you know, um, they, you know, they would look more like the one that you experience at Keen. And if you've been in the one at Keen and seen that, I mean, it, um, you know, it it can be done and we, you know, we are at least continuing to have preliminary conversations with modular companies just to be prepared for whatever decision is made. >> Y, >> so depending on our timeline, we won't know an outcome. So, we're going to kind of be making multiple decisions about what's coming. Yeah, I would say >> and that's is that

157right? Respectfully, >> but I think part of what I and this is more I tell myself this so because I think about this all the time. >> Um I would try to keep it as simple and one step at a time as possible. Um and you know so for example if if if one step is we have interest in the K5 and we have we don't have interest in trying to pay for something on our own then focus on that and then I think do we have other things that we have to discuss like what happens if we don't pass and what what you know those kind of things I I would agree and I don't think those king things can wait years or even six months. But, you know, take one bite of the

158apple at a time is kind, you know, and it sounds like what we what we kind of know for sure after Amy's presentation, which was good but depressing at the same time indeed. >> Um, is that we probably want to move the 23 million back in, right? >> Yeah, definitely agree. >> And we probably don't want to go out for cops, >> right? does. So, and we and and and as a group, I would say we if we are going to consider a building >> um the the K and if we're going to ask for money for that building, I think the K5 narrative for long-term planning, efficiency, savings, um probably makes the most sense knowing that, you know, we have a responsibility to think long time in the future and if we do this

159with a smaller building in how many years until the buildings that we didn't address become you know larger issues for us. So that's kind of and then I think there is a lot more to think about and all those whatifs of and but >> if you take it a step at a time. So, if um we were to investigate a K5 bond and then um that went down, do we continue to kick the can down the road as we've done for 30 years or do we invest in modulars? >> Well, I think that's something to think about as a group. I would say kicking the cannon on the road would be something I couldn't recommend at all. Whether I think your two option would would be you either decide >> we've done that for 30

160years, >> right? >> There was a a point in time where where the um our predecessors caved to public opinion and kept a building that was not good enough for high schoolers but good enough for elementary. We continue to currently we have a project going on at Cornerstone. Do we have a tab on what we've spent to date? >> You mean like the current current project >> or the total in in totality over the 30 years? >> We're probably already at 25. We'll easily be over 50 uh and that's if things continue to go well. What Rick's referring to is we um we had a Univvent leak uh which is a heater um in two rooms that led us to investigate. Uh we felt like we saw some some mold in those areas. So, we

161had a mold company come in, did identify it, and did some additional testing. The good news is in most of the building, the tests have come back very very good. Um, but um in the few areas like that that we've had to spend some mitigation money on, mold mitigation is not uh inexpensive at all. >> Right. >> I weigh a bit to the focus on the students. When we look at the performance of our schools, Edgewood performs the best. We're a single high school, single middle school town. We used to be in nine elementary school town and now we're down to four and we're busing kids from the corner of Gashy and N to Melrose. We have multiple neighborhoods where the kids don't even attend their closest school. They're being bus to a different school

162to because of the needs of the redistricting minus the other five schools that are gone. And that's another I think continuing to push for cohesiveness. We've done away with the elementary branding where they're different. We all I mean most of us went here when there's different feelings around when everyone comes together which elementary school you went to. If we all go to the same elementary school, all that goes away and everyone grows up in a single cohesive environment. You don't see a distribution of four scores from the state. We get one score and we have three high performing schools because our students are high performing across the board. When they're all together at Edgewood, they do really well. And when we get together at the high school, we do really well. >> Guess I I

163want to make sure everybody's had an opportunity to express thoughts. Joy, you're good. Clayton, you're good. Bonnie, is there anything else you want to add or Rick, anything else? >> Okay. >> Well, >> so I feel like >> Yeah, go ahead. >> No, I guess I mean just what you said. It feels like I mean there's just general thought obviously no action. We need to vote on all these things, but maybe just getting a little more >> information on what a levy would look like in November for a K5. >> Um, I mean, I think there's some work on where that building would go, feasibility. I mean, there's there's a fair amount of things that still need to be surfaced >> in order for us to make, you know, any kind of decision. So, >>

164and remember that even, you know, I think what um Amy and I will do is a couple things will um I I think I'm hearing that we will consider the the resolution for the 23 million to go back. That's more of a response to the five-year forecast than it is just facilities. It's kind of connected, but um and then we'll explore some options uh on on not only the the levy, but financing of that levy. Um uh you know, there's some work that you have to do in order to do that from trying to get a good scope so you understand at least what you're asking people for. Um and then you know um how those could be funded. Remember uh it's a two it's kind of like in a way it's kind of nice.

165It's kind of like the um curriculum adoption, right? It's really a it takes two resolutions. So even if we, you know, bring to you something to get the ball rolling, um I would encourage and us to continue to have some good discussion again next month similar to this. Maybe thinking about um continued how we might want to pursue that levy, but maybe also as we again if we take one bite an apple at a time. Um you know, kind of the the plan B, right? the solutions like I mean hopefully um whatever we decide to do is is what the community wants to support and um and we move forward but um at the same time I think there's probably going to need to be some continued discussion and on you know uh that's if

166if I'm a if I'm a taxpayer that's two things you know what um what are you doing and what happens if it if if you don't do what you're asking people to support right and so I think that's something we can continue to talk about as well next Um, I would just end it by, um, and I've told each of you guys this individually, this is not easy conversation. Uh, this is hard work. Um, you guys are doing a really good job of trying to be very thoughtful of this at the same time while um, urgency continues to build, right, because of different reasons. So, appreciate that. >> Yeah, I think there there's maybe like one or two other things I'd want to visit. So I think a lot of the interest too is in

167the in the fate of the building like I don't you know does it have to be a school how involved can we have the counterparty we keep hearing worester growth I think of that more as the city of Worcester >> you start involving the city of worester more what's the fate of the building >> you know they take it you know how much can they contribute to that and like say what will happen to it or do with it I don't hear a lot of you necessarily it has to be a school >> or it doesn't and then when I went to move here which 22 years ago as a sophomore, I was moving from Las Vegas. And in Las Vegas, I went to a high school that was brand new, like brand new. We

168were the first people to ever go in it. And I went to one that was relatively built because everything in Las Vegas was relatively new. And when we went to move to Worcester, I thought, "Oh, I I wonder what this high school will be like." And when I came to this high school, I was blown away by the type of facility that we have here. And when we toured Edgewood, I thought it was really like it's a pretty cool school. It has a lot of like it has character, but it's it's big. It's interesting. And then I've visited all our elementary schools. We've we've walked through all of them, Gabe. And and it's not a cornerstone thing. None of the elementary schools make me say, "Wow, this is a this is a really nice building.

169This is like this makes me want to send my kids here." You know, I think they all need attention in a serious way. >> All right. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you so much for the discussion. Um, moving to section 11, public participation on non-aggenda items. I do not believe we have anything. Right. All right. Um, so this time we're going to go to comments and questions. So just uh board members may comment on various topics and we'll actually have our student rep start with she has been so patient that we have been here over two hours. >> Um, >> all right. >> Okay. Well, um, Worcester High School is nearing the end of the regular season for winter sports and postseason events are just around the corner. The bowling and swim and dive

170programs opened up sectional tournament action on Saturday 14 Saturday February 14th. Um wrestling boys and girls ba wrestling boys and girls basketball and wheelchair basketball which I do participate in and I'm so sorry I missed last meeting but I did have a game um which we won which is great. Um uh that we all open up tournament play at the end of February with schedules to be determined. Um, Worcester has their second collegiate signing day on Wednesday, February 18th at 5:15. So, tomorrow in the pack, anyone who wants to attend and celebrate these student athletes as they commit to compete at the next level is welcome. I believe from what I've heard that there's going to be 19 students, so that is super exciting. Um, Best Buddies hosted the Improveners last week, an improv troop

171of actors with Down Syndrome. They put on a show during the school day for Edgewood and Worester High School. Best Buddies with additional guests from Ida Sue, drama club, and acting classes. The group enjoyed learning about the benefits of improv, including improvements in communication, confidence, and quick thinking. In the evening, they performed again for over 130 guests in the pack. Many Best Buddies members are excit were excited to attend Night to Shine last Friday at Grace Church. This was the 10th Night to Shine in Wayne County. Um, buddy pairs attended the event together and enjoyed dinner, games, and lots of dancing. I did um I was there for the improvers and I was there for night shine and it was my first year and I will say it was amazing to get to see um

172all that and be involved. I went with my buddy from school which was super cool. Um the general's leadership council will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 18th um tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. In addition, the second OC leadership event will take place um Thursday, February 26th here at Worcester High School. Um during this event, members of Wester High School's GLC will present on the service projects they have completed so far this year this school year. Um this is a great opportunity for our students to showcase their hard work, leadership, and impact within the school and community. They look forward to representing our organization and sharing all that has been accomplished. Um which is actually a lot, which is great. Slideshow looks super awesome. Don't worry, Miss Davis, we got you. Um, science club's last

173meeting was cancelled due to snow and extremely cold weather, but they are excited to be back on track. This Thursday, they will be making homemade ice cream as part of the lesson. While they mix, shake, and wait for it for it to freeze. Students will be learning about the freezing point depression and how adding salt lowers the freezing point of ice. All students are welcome and encouraged to participate. Um, green club has been staying active and looking ahead to new sustainability efforts. This week they will be holding a meeting to discuss implementing a compost bin for food waste from the cafeteria um gathering helpers and hearing club members thoughts on the idea. Green club will also be planning its spring events and activities including park cleanups and organ organizing the annual clothing drive that takes

174place during prom season. Um, and then lastly, student council is excited to announce plans for kindness week, including activities like compliment day, random acts of kindness, and a gratitude wall, as well as the upcoming dance for 8th grade and for Keen Elementary with music, games, and fun for everyone. They're also working to improve student council by making elections more fair, rotating roles, and increasing communication and feedback opportunities for all students. Um, stay tuned and get ready to participate in a full year of kindness, fun, and schoolwide involvement. And that is all I have. >> Very good. Thank you, Lucy. >> Sorry, that was so fantastic. >> It's all lovely. >> It is a really busy time of year at the high school though. >> So busy. It's all wonderful things. It's great. >> And that

175today is random acts of kindness, right? It was it was >> it was today. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I saw on the even the grade schools were >> very, you know, participating in that quite a bit like set up tables with nice cards and Yeah. So that's that's pretty great. How are we progressing on our million acts of kindness? >> How many are we up to on this, Richard? That's That's awesome. >> We're moving. >> Yeah, that's great. >> I did put mine in there, by the way, just so you know. Just so you know. Yep. >> 394,5. >> That's outstanding. >> Yeah, that's so great. >> It's such a great initiative and our kids do a great job with that. >> Well, thank you for for all the updates and thank you for

176>> for sticking around here with us. >> Oh, of course. >> All right. Any other board comments or questions that we want to talk about before we go to the next section? >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. Say something, but I won't. Okay. So, at this point, we are going to move to um a strategic planning session with the board. So, we're going to impact we're going to engage with the impact group to complete an analysis of the district's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. So, this will be used as a portion of the feedback for the larger strategic plan that is being worked on. Um, the district has communicated quite a bit that there's going to be some open community sessions. They're on the 12th and March the March 12th and 13th. There's also going to be

177a survey going out so everybody can watch for that. So, >> um, at this point again, I think anybody that's not involved, we do, we are going to stay as an open meeting. It's going to continue to be recorded. Um but anybody that um doesn't need to be part of this feedback session is welcome to to go and from here we will just talk about future board meetings and then adjourn the meeting. So thank you everybody for >> Yeah. Thank you guys >> sticking around here for two and a half hours >> and Miss Osman has been waiting. She got to watch the whole meeting. >> Thank you for that. Are we able to take a break? Yes. Maybe just run to the bathroom quickly. >> Yeah. Lucy, thanks for waiting around. >> Yes, absolutely.

178>> Thank you. >> Lucy, will you email me your report? Email it to me. >> Oh, the report. >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. >> Well, just it doesn't have to be right now. >> No, I can totally do it right now. No, no, no. I'll just later next month is all at Garfield Mall. >> We're live. >> Oh, we're live. >> All right. So, yeah, we're excited to do this with you, Darin. Darin uh is with the impact group, which we know we've contracted for strategic planning. She was at the high school today, it sounds like, and been in a lot of different buildings. Uh, so looking forward to letting her get your guys' feedback tonight. >> Great. Um, thank you for having me this this evening. My name is Dorene Osman. I am a um

17925 I'm sorry, 35 year um public education veteran. I taught um I was a teacher. I was an elementary principal for 13 years. Um I was a curriculum director and then also assistant superintendent. I spent my last my first uh 14 years were in Maple Heights um and my last 21 years were in the Hudson City School. So when you were talking about facilities and um I do miss that fiveyear or four-year forecast um update um and facilities um it was it brought back a lot of memories. Um so but Gabe was worried about the timing. Um I told him that my latest board meeting went to 1:30 in the morning. So this was this is nothing. So, um really the purpose of tonight's meeting, um as Gabe just um Mr. Tutor does did say,

180um I was in the high school today. Um I've done other focus groups. I was at the bus garage a couple weeks ago, um and um with other staff members, worked with the um leadership team here in the Worcester schools and going through and making sure that voices are heard and there's opportun opportunities for voices to be heard. Um, and I know you did a lot of community engagement with your um, community, with facilities, um, and you are contemplating all of those things, but your current strategic plan is coming to a close this year, and it is time to look forward to what does that look like? So, if you don't know where you're going, how do you know how to get there? And that's what a strategic plan is. Um, and that provides that

181road map um, for you. Today, I got to see your high school students. They were amazing. and gave really great feedback about their experience. So many times school districts don't pause and say, "Wait a minute. Let's talk to our kids. Let's see what their experiences are." So your strategic plan is going to have something to do with students. You're those are your main I heard it over and over tonight. It's about the students. It's about their experience making sure they're safe and they're well. So this is a SWAT analysis um like Mr. Tutor said. But the first thing that I would like to talk about, I gave you a paper so you can write your notes. I am going to collect them um just because I'm going to try to keep up and facilitate at

182the same time um keeping notes and I'm trying to u make sure that our um families at home and citizens at home can see exactly what is going on um and your responses. So I'm going to do my best to do that. Um so but I am going I am going to ask to collect that. So the first thing that we want to start with is the vision. Um and I have some guiding questions for each of the sections. Um what do you where do you where do you want the school Worcester study schools to be in the next 3 to 5 years? What has happened? So fast forward um what has happened that is cause for celebration and what does your organization what do the schools look like? So what are some of the

183things what comes to mind like the facilities conversations to be behind us whatever that resolution looks like. So whether we're you know moving into new buildings um we have some resolution to that so that we can talk and focus about on other things. Not that there isn't focus on other things happening, right? I mean, we're maintaining focus on a lot of things, but it is taking a lot of time and energy. >> Hopefully, you're at a maybe a ribbon cutting or two. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yep. >> Say um educating the whole child, right? Um I think we've made improvements to that in the past year um or in the past in this strategic plan. Um, but continuing to figure out, and when I say the whole child, all of the different students that come to

184Worcester, we have students that are really, you know, trade bound. We have students that are collegebound, um, militarybound, uh, some that just, you know, um, start working right out of school. How do we, you know, and we're a diverse community, which is great, but how do we continue to like we need to continue to like in five years, are we supporting all of those different types of interests by the things we do? >> And just to add to that, because I had on my list a thriving career tech program like we've launched that, it's really wonderful that we have it. So, I'm going to totally support that, Gabe, with that specific comment. >> You're going to see um very educational um letters and acronyms. Um, so I'm going to keep just so to just to

185speed things up. I know what I I write everything up and put everything together so I know what I'm talking about. So when I say CTE, that is correct. That is career technical education. I'm actually um is anybody I will be with the uh Wayne County Board of Directors tomorrow night doing work. Bonnie >> Bonnie and I will Okay, I'll see you tomorrow too. You get to do the same thing tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> For career tech. All right. Anything else that what would what is cause for celebration? What do you see? What does that look like? What does that vision look like? >> I asked your students the same thing. So >> I I mean I I I mean continued instructional growth that is re uh related to our intentional um interventions and practices.

186Right. >> Exactly. because I really feel having sat here like we continue to be more and more organized and we're closing loops and we're analyzing what we're doing and so by those processes there's less waste so everything we do intentional is the word use so like I totally believe that's a success um and of course our report card was better but also I feel like a lot of really good I don't know staff kind of training and organization I think like we've had a lot good leadership on really being in the right direction there. >> I would I would certainly agree with those. Um and I just I think at least my my view is that the culture in the buildings is is strong. I mean I think about the leader in me program and

187how um I mean we're lighthouse schools at all four elementaryaries now which is a huge accomplishment. Um, and again that we talked about the kindness, the million, like the million acts of kindness. Like there's just there's so much positivity and engaging the kids and having the kids step up and have a voice. Um, I think is really special. >> Yeah. You think as I as I was running in the fall, I don't think that Worcester's in a situation where people aren't very proud of what we do. I think people are really proud of what we do. And I think some of the push back we get on changes is that people are very proud of what goes on here. And so continuing to produce people who are proud to have gone here and proud to

188support the schools. That same type of culture, you know, proud to be a Worcester General. And I think that um our community trusts the decisions that are made uh by the district and by the administration as referenced by uh we had no visitors here tonight at the meeting about the most recent snafu at um Cornerstone. >> No, we didn't. >> And we had nobody here. And that says that they trust the decisions that um central office has made to move forward to communicate to parents and to the staff. I think that's very impressive because I've seen things like that blow into a mess. So, >> yeah. And the communication of those actions, right, they feel informed. They feel informed so they don't feel like they need to come address it. >> It's timely and transparent.

189Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. And I think I mean, it's kind of fun to talk about this section. Um the the options available to our students. I mean, not just sports, but art, you know, music, drama. And then you heard tonight the update about Best Buddies, which which is a a newer group here. And there's a lot of excitement around that and how they're bringing kind of that, you know, the inclusive view to the broader students um population. Like that is it's just really fun to see. And you see those kids embracing some of that um which is pretty neat. our our service coordination model has improved so much. Service coordination model has improved so much the last few years. A lot of that is uh you know Mrs. Olsen and her team, we have

190a service coordinator actually now. Um that really helps align. We have so many options for to support families and kids in our community. But getting them all on the right page in the right sandbox has been something I think that we've improve improved upon. You see that in the things that then we we do from winter break boxes to you know um like our neighborhood bridges like online giving to um you know things that are then carry out to our kids like one acts of kindness and things like that that I think are really neat that again that's that whole child um mentality. So you are naturally going right into your because a lot of it a lot of that visionary work you want to absolutely continue but it's it's that stretch is the vision.

191Now we're getting into more of the strength. So I will I as I'm writing things up I will make sure that I'm capturing that continue because you want to build on the every organization wants to build on their strengths. So, um and I and I heard from staff today um about the um the um general the closet the the closet and how um people are people that are um food insecure that may have lost a job and nobody knows about but this community the school community steps up. That is that is a huge sense of pride with your staff and it should be. Um so going into strengths what do you feel you do well? What makes you proud and what cause you what causes you to celebrate the district's successes? >> We field an

192absolutely top-notch marching band. Having seen the other schools that come to play, like we put an awesome marching band on the field. Like that is something Worcester does well. >> I was like, what did you say? And then like we do have a pretty cool marching band. >> And I mean just to build on that, like we have a lot of great extracurriculars. I guess I'll just add I you know we have the full range >> for almost every interest >> for a school our size we offer more activities than >> the vast majority that would be our size >> and I think our organizations take advantage of the opportunities having the natiatorum we produce great swimmers like we have continually very competitive swimming programs how many high schools have a natatorium in the state

193>> a handful like >> I think Firestone there not many >> there's not many attached schools that's for sure >> not attached snow by your snow swimming. I think our staff I mean our staff like I mean even you just see it I mean you see it in so many examples but the level of commitment to the students >> is you know often when we have the student recognitions I mean our teachers are getting emotional about the relationships that they have with their students and >> um the commitment even to the social studies curricula. I mean, you just see it over and over again. >> And I think a lot of us sitting here today serving now can talk about by name the teachers who inspired us when we were in school. You know, I

194I can name my few directly who influenced my whole career path and choice of education and what I study and work on. you know, it's and and in in a few months and all the campaigning, I've received zero complaints regarding the teachers who we put the effort into having great teachers and and in the very competitive public education landscape for recruiting them. >> And I I would probably I would extend that to our leadership team as well, central office. Um I mean just you know I mean it really leads in I mean is what um your name would be Rick what Rick said um just about the transparency quick to make decisions um you know take action and you saw the financial >> report tonight like they're just >> they're they're just really strong we're

195fortunate to have all of everybody Brian the whole team >> and I'll follow up on that like we've put a lot of thought I mean Brian Alex Gabe like Molly with curriculum, but then also like security >> and technology. I'm trying to give some specifics because that's always helpful. Like I really do feel we're we we're seeing a lot of really thoughtful leadership in a way that facilitates the staff like doing what they're asked to do. I mean, I think that's kind of hard in schools, right? Because you we're relying on a lot of people to just do the right thing when no one's looking. And we have had a lot of great leadership processes and like I said closing loops being more efficient and I feel like overall people are coming around to kind

196of following the vision. I mean not if that makes sense. So I want to mention those areas specifically. >> I I also noted just communication. Um I mean I'll I'll talk about communication as an opportunity too in a little bit. But when I think about um just some of the some of the cons the consistency that we have in communication, I mean there's there's a nice schedule that we can count on certain things to go out at certain times. There's consistency across the buildings. Um I think the internal communication um is strong with staff. Um, and again, I think, you know, with what we're sharing with the with the community, if they're looking in the right places, it's there's a lot there's a lot of consistent information. So, we have um obviously the high school

197we're trying to we set kids up for success because we've uh invested in career tech which we put it down earlier and we have the general's academy um which is successful and and keeps kids moving towards graduation credit recovery. There's just things in place to um do what's best for kids. And I'll say like I feel like we have like a high ethical standards like Amy, you got that award, >> right? Like there's just not a penny out of place. Gabe and Amy. Well, no, but you did. You did. I mean, like there's just a lot of >> the state auditor award. >> Yes. I mean, I think >> the caffer or did you do the caffer? >> No. >> It's not the highest. It was the next one down. Yeah. Yeah. >> It's still

198high. >> It's very very high. >> It's really high. No, but it's great because like when all those things are in place again, you're reduc like I keep thinking about it this way like there's less air. When everybody's doing the right thing, there's just fewer things for people to complain about and fall off on and we can kind of stay focused on what we need to do. So that is said with a lot of gratitude because it is difficult work at times and it it does make a difference. What happens in the classroom certainly does, but when we have good leadership, we're more effective overall. So that goes to Amy too because you know that can become a things can get bad fast and they never have even remotely because we have so much trust

199in him. >> It is implied in here and kind of baked in here but I hear a lot of pride for your students. So um I I is it okay to put your students on here >> because I heard it's >> I heard it all night tonight. So um I don't want to put words in your mouth but um Lacrosse team made at the state championship. >> Pardon me. >> Our lacrosse team made at the state championship. >> Lacrosse is definitely a point of pride for Worcester. It's a special thing about Worcester. >> Laxes lacrosse. >> Yeah, lacrosse. Yeah, we have the the Worester starts with the lacrosse club. >> Um >> they raised lacrosse for sure. Both >> both. >> The boys made the state championship, but girls lacrosse program is very solid, too.

200>> Well developed. I think our our strategic plan that we're finishing up is something to brag about. And I mean, we've again, we've really tried to share with the community what it took to put that together. And it I mean, you you I'm telling you something, you know, well, but it's then the discipline. It's one thing to put it together, but then the discipline to stay focused on it and hold people accountable to the actions um that bring that to life. Um, I think it's a when we reviewed all the all the work that came out of strategic plan, it was amazing. >> I'm going to go back to the students. Um, like we have a school newspaper. >> Okay. So, I think it's awesome because they question us and they should, right? They come,

201they listen, they ask us questions. They're trying to learn. I love that deeply and I appreciate that we have a school newspaper and it's really, really good. Um, so there's a lot of little things like that. I you know we have a speech and debate program. Kids learn. Not every kid makes it to nationals and not every kid wins. The opposite of the lacrosse teams, right? But everybody learns because they're participating in something that stretches them. So I'll toss out some of those other things, but like I appreciate the newspaper because I get emails and they want input and they're thinking about things and then you get to share stuff with them. So we have great students. You have lovely students and they're all working so hard in all their ways and so I agree

202with you that they should be a central part of this >> to the extent that they can be. Thank you. >> They will be. >> We love them. >> Um so it is the best part of my job. I miss um I miss being with kids um in the school so much. I get really I get I get I feel so privileged to be able to do this work with kids um and and the adults and boards and community, but it's the kids that feed the soul. So, I'm so excited to work with middle school. I get to be with middle school kids tomorrow. Um Phil and Tom keep saying we really need to build in some kid time with you because um it it there's something there's something compelling about being in a school.

203So, um let's go to weaknesses. And I don't really like this word. Um I really feel this is you're just not there yet. Um because with intentionality there's always room to grow every organization. So what are areas you wish to improve and what requires deeper planning or resources or resource allocation? >> So for athletics we have two sports that have a program that's volleyball and lacrosse. Our other sports don't seem to have a program in place for success. Do you have boys and girls lac um boys and girls volleyball? >> No. Okay. Just just girls. >> It's been very successful program. They're pro currently looking for a new person to be a tough job to fill. And then lacrosse has been really good. But our other programs um there's not really in my opinion a

204program. We need to build programs >> from 7th to all 7th through 12th. >> However that however that looks, you know, we need to have coaches come in. >> You're Yeah. >> Yeah. We need to have coaches come in who want to build a program >> maybe like saying inconsistency among programs and throughout the Right. >> Yeah. I I put the ele in the room one which you saw us talk about for an hour but uh you know I put elementary facilities and fiscal stability. Um I think those are two areas in the forefront of our mind. >> I have those on mine too. >> Yeah. >> I also put um and it's not I don't think it's a weakness in a way. I almost want to say it's an opportunity because it really is

205both. But we we are such a diverse community demographically and very and and and with very stark contrast um where you know we're kind of just a little over that 50% poverty but that poverty is is pretty significant true urban cyclical poverty. Um, and then we have, you know, um, kind of a lot of affluence that I I kind of would say that the true middle class of Worcester has continued to be reduced in size over the past 20 years or so. In a way, I love that it's a great opportunity. At the same time, you know, you got two kids sitting in a class next to each other that got to school that day with very, very different experiences the night before. and you're trying to both teach them, you know, factoring an algebra

206one. And so, how do we do that? Well, um, and support them. Again, maybe I should put that more in opportunities. I don't >> Well, it's it's >> it's a challenge for sure. >> It is a ch it is I don't know if it's a weakness per se, but it is something that would require deeper planning andor resource resource resource allocation potentially. I'm going to piggyback on that because one of the things I have is staff burnout due to increased and varied learning needs if I may put it that way. I mean it's just a lot some days and it is difficult. >> That was me >> if I may say that respectfully. >> Yeah. No. >> And I think you could just say um >> however you want to put it. I don't want

207to. >> We have a great staff. We really do. and we've we've really been lucky and hired some great people over the past five years. I'm so thankful for that. At the same time, uh the education employment market is getting more challenging. Worcester is kind of a unique we're what we're what they call a metropolitan where we're kind of like we're not a suburb. We're not a rural area. >> We're not a full-blown city. And so it's just it creates kind of a a challenging dynamic at times in terms of recruitment. So we have a lack of diversity in recruit in in employees. >> I think kids should go to when they go to to school. I think the people who teach them I think the employees should look like the kids who walk through

208the door. And that's not the case here in Worcester in my opinion. The ratios need to be similar. >> Any other things that you feel need to be addressed in the next strategic plan? >> And so many of these are um they overlap and they connect. So, just like your your vision and what you feel where you want to go um from a board of education standpoint and your strengths, they they are intertwined. And so, you're we're going to talk probably um about weaknesses and then um threats too. We're going to end I don't like ending with threats, so we're going to do threats next. Um it's just a teacher thing in me. Um so, really the threats here are what are some of the external fears that can strike at any time? What items

209do schools, Worcester schools need to do to prepare? Um, we talked I'm going to give lowhanging fruit. The state legislature and school funding. So, you can't control that, but you have to prepare. You have to be nimble enough to understand your forecast and your carryover and your 90-day cash balance. And you have to understand what a bond issue with or an earned in income tax, all of those things. You can prepare for that. But it the vote that comes especially the bianial budget bianium budget is it matters. So things like that's what a threat is political divisiveness. >> I don't I I had written down other school school options. I mean, you know, those are private there's some private schools expanding here >> in the community obviously homeschooling >> and not that again we want

210what's best for the student overall and sometime but but it it is potentially making public education look different. >> Yeah. Right. >> Competition to public education. >> Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. >> In its various forms and the competition for funding and >> Yeah. >> diversion of funding to non-public education. misinformation. >> Yeah. >> Uh just, you know, so much um social, it's not just social media, but um I think it's a big factor of misinformation, but there's a lot of misinformation out there that um becomes easily believed >> and I think Yeah. And I mean I I had something just how you I mean it's really the same thing but how you get one version of the truth out just because local newspapers have gone away and you mentioned it in the meeting earlier tonight

211like how do how do we get information out um to avoid the misinformation. >> Yeah. I mean in today's world we we have the best ways of communicating. We do it better today than we did yesterday. We'll do it better tomorrow. But the problem is there's never enough. You know there's always I don't know that's not something for here. I'm just >> That's true. >> Chat communication is never done. It is not something that is a checkbox just like learning is never done. Communication can never just I'm done with it. >> Good thing we have an impact group. >> It is a really good thing you have an the impact group >> forever and ever and ever. I think for the survey today, of course, you know, we're looking at how how we as a

212board and communicate, a community can take a position on the elimination of property taxes, and that whole ball of wax contains a mountain of misinformation, potential misinformation, disinformation, or, you know, one-sidedness. >> That's a real fact. >> I don't I don't even know how to write that. I don't want to say I don't want to say existential crisis again, but >> yeah, >> it is um >> what >> property tax abolition. >> Specifically the bills that there's more than one bill specifically the bills that are um threatening property tax. >> Yeah, your referendum choice, you know, a full elimination is uh there is no plan amount of planning or saving you can do to avoid the significant consequences that will come with that. I recognize our community is, you know, potentially watching this, but I

213I we do have an aging community. So, I think I mean the stat is that only 25% of the homes in our community have students in them, right? >> And isn't that right? >> Yes. So um you know that just it does create challenges on I mean that certainly from a funding perspective but engagement overall and just you know continuing to have that dialogue around the value of public education on the community. I'm not saying that the aging community doesn't understand that but they're farther removed if they don't have grandchildren in the district or you know what that looks like. And so, but I think it really a lot of it comes down to dollars, but but there are other disconnects too when you're not living and having a daily connection to the school. >>

214So, aging community and connecting all the cool things that the schools are doing connecting those non-parent citizens, >> right? nonpar >> and that actually I'm not we can stay but I I do I think that's an opportunity. I put that as my number one opportunity and an opportunity >> is the community engagement non-parents, right? I mean, you know, >> uh half glass, >> well, you know, kind of guy trying to be, right? >> Um, >> I don't know if I don't know if they're a threat, but non not not >> not connecting them, not having connections with them could be a threat. >> Yes. Yes. Not having connected. Yeah. And I would say >> 80 to 90% of districts in northeast Ohio that is a challenge >> because in general the population is aging less

215people are having children. >> Yeah. >> It's just so how are we going to you know engage that >> maintain the value of investing in your public education. >> Yeah. And you know I worked in schools for public schools for 35 years and we got rid of like the mail home. It's like mailing things at home. But when we there are things that we learn. There are certain times that that that is one way to get commit to getting everybody that information. At least I know it's finances. I used to tell my treasurer that she looked nice today. Then she ran. Um anyways, um anything else that are threats? >> Yeah. So um it's lacking lack of involvement of our some of our community leaders in business and politics in the schools. >> Yeah, it's

216a it's a threat and an opportunity. I think just the the quick story of that Darin is in the '9s when you know this building was built there were some really significant wealthy individuals Rubbermaid and some others that did a lot from a both financial and proactive standpoint. Um there's some really good people that run large businesses in town, but just in general, not everybody lives in Worcester anymore, right? Where back then most of the people that were in those positions were Worcester residents. Um and so getting them, you know, getting that engagement from some of those influential people um and them seeing that value is is a probably threat and opportunity. So, let's go to opportunities because we're skirting back and forth a little bit between opport uh opport I'm sorry threats and opportunities

217because every threat a lot of the threats can be turned into opportunities not all of them but some. So, where can we find are there any available resources that you do not currently leverage? Who's willing to help us? And where can we find community support? So, exactly what you said. >> What are some of the opportunities? >> I think we could use help with all those questions. Oh, >> one thing I think about when we talk about our aging community and connecting people um is um I think about the football players that went out and shoveled snow for Oh, yeah. I saw that for the um I mean and just the kids that the leadership student leadership team that went to Night to Shine and volunteered and the Best Buddies. I mean like >> just

218these kids are doing amazing things and to support, you know, finding ways to support those >> aging people in the community. That was just amazing that they took that opportunity. It just shows how great our kids are. I put um Oh, go ahead, Judy. >> No, well, I was just I guess I don't know where the BAC fits. So, I mean, I don't know if that's a strength that we already have or if it fits here as an opportunity to think about who our attendees are. We've talked a little bit about >> I think it's both. >> Yeah. So, our BAC is our business advisory. You Okay. By law. >> Yep. Do you use the ESC for business advisory or do you have your own or >> technically to to meet the the law part

219the ESC does it but we actually have our own too. >> So just even leveraging the BAC >> and I we have a good active one but I think you know we just talked about do do we have an opportunity to get some people have been on it for a really long time which we certainly appreciate. So, can we add to that which then helps some of the other things we've talked about? >> I put um and it's really a combination. It could be AI. I mean, which has some potential for threat too, but I think has opportunity and I would the way I viewed it from an opportunity standpoint, glass half full, >> is efficiencies, which then allows for more time for other types of learning and other things. And one of the things

220that as I've been in some groups that have talked about AI and things like that is um really the importance and the ability to focus on soft skills, right? So, you know, there's a there's a lot of things that um you know, at this point AI can do for us, but it can't give you a good attitude. it can't have you show up to work on time. Um, you know, to to complete a task with with fidelity that you're supposed to do like things like that that like, you know, when they talk about the big demands of like in the work world today, they're all either like big like big tech AI driven >> or being a good human being. They're like those two things, right? So >> um >> I so appreciate that because

221in my mind it's been floating. I want to the soft skills thing is very important >> because I feel like you know 80% of the things that can go wrong don't if you have the soft skills to manage in the moment. So I just so appreciate that you said that Gabe because I didn't know how to say it. >> Yeah. >> But I feel reason that it's reasonable to say it that way if I may. That's an opportunity for us for sure if I can add that. Thank you, Gabe. That was a great great comment. >> I also put the I put the soft skills in potential threats if it's not attended. >> Thank you. >> If it's not attended to >> because I didn't know how to word it at that time. >> Yeah.

222Thank you. >> It's difficult and it's so hard because it's constant. >> It's like that constant wash >> and sometimes that's the stuff that's difficult to manage no matter how awesome your leadership is. So, thank you for getting that out there. >> I think we're in position to teach those things, too. Like, you can only teach chemistry and math to a certain level in high school, but you can teach soft skills to a very high level. >> We saw that here today with the with the girl up in Worester High School. >> Her responsibility and her attention to detail. And >> you heard it in the student celebrations and when the teachers were introducing them. Um, we didn't not a lot of straight A talk there. >> It was about their behaviors and their academs.

223So, it was if you take all of that, it was all about soft skills. I was so glad I was here tonight. >> You picked a good one. >> I I picked a great one. >> I I think that rings true all the time. We very rarely have people come up and say, "I've picked the best academic student in the class." Those are very reflective of the comments every every month on the awards. What are some other opportunities um available resources to leverage? >> I wasn't looking close enough. >> We should like I guess here would we talk about potent like grants? I mean I think the team does a great job of seeking those out but I guess alternative revenue sources maybe I didn't see her if I had said hi. Um, >> I

224you know, and I again, I don't know if this >> I know we've talked about the state piece, but >> you know, continuing to develop the relationship with our state reps and the legislators. Um, >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. congressman like >> yeah I mean I just you know I and I think you know Gabe has met with them but you know as a board what are we doing um you know are we inviting them in to walk the buildings and see our kids in action you know are there are there other ways that we could be engaging them to advocate for public ed >> yeah and I think you could say it's the I love that the state department just the the value of education and the value of the dollars that people are giving.

225>> Yeah. This is what your do your your dollar is in action, right? The dollar is in action and this is maybe what we can't do because of this is where we're limited, right? Because >> what do you mean? >> What do I mean? >> Well, I mean, well, I guess what we may have to cut if we don't get the funding that we need. So, how will that impact the students? So Gabe talked earlier tonight that some of the decisions we're making are as far from the kids as we can, but at some point we may have to make decisions that do impact the kids. >> Well, that particular last statement there is probably the most difficult thing that schools have to deal with because typically they are more concerned about what directly they've

226been given as opposed to building that relationship with us. >> Yeah. I mean really have a partisan look at that and it never it's you can build whatever relationships uh want but if um that's not what the goal the platform is you're getting nowhere. So that's really tough. >> It is. And then just even and I want to move it because you only have you have a state senator and state rep is what you have to work with, but you also have OSBA. You have your own advocacy groups too that you all can leverage in BASA and OASBO with Katie um what's Katie's whatever her name >> Johnson. Johnson. >> Yeah. Anything else? >> So, this is not a speak now or forever hold your peace. I promise. Um, Gabe has my um contact. I

227would um I think your is your normal procedure to go through the superintendent. Gabe. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, if you have other things to add, please um go through Gabe. We have one more activity because um looking at um cultural aspirations and then also behavioral expectations. So when you think about um about the Worcester City Schools, what do you think about um what what how do you want your culture to be um those aspirations? We talked about vision. So um in in Worcester schools, we are generals. It could be because that's an identifying group. I'm just going to get you started. So we are generals. We are >> doing what's best for kids. >> We're proud. >> We're kind. >> Some of us want our staff and faculty to be professional. But back to

228soft skills. I want really a high level of professionalism in an accessible way. Back to the soft skills. hearing >> about this mindset like to me um I don't I think about like responsible for everything around you or just that respect um respect open-mindedness like >> the things reflected in the rise saying right we could list them out here but that kind of gets out the goal >> for what we're going for and what we would say we are, you know, >> rising generals. >> Like what I'd love to see our kids be is like strong, resilient problem solvers >> because that's not about academics per se. It's just about the way you operate. And I just I like how that feels for the kids. Like you just want to see what needs to be

229done, what's happening, having that awareness and being willing to act, which I feel they do. I don't mean that, you know, like that's the way I'd like to think about it. >> I think part of it is >> because it takes out the academic piece. It's like like just solve the problem. Be present. Act >> trust it. >> Do give. You know, >> we are trusting this. And maybe because I'm starting to get sleepy, but like bleed blue and gold. Like I mean part of that's pride, part of that's the generals, but like >> you know, you feel such a strong allegiance here that you're always like like we think about our alumni being crazy proud that they came from here, right? Like I don't know. >> Like we want that to continue. Well, I

230mean certainly when you >> actually maybe that's an opportunity is to leverage our alumni. >> Yeah. I mean, >> but I mean, >> yes, I would actually agree with that. >> Yes, totally. Because I mean, what's better than a strong alumni? I mean, like we've got Harvard, you know, it's like you want your alumni to give back. >> So, that's a really great point actually. You know, you want that >> and you don't even you don't you don't need the Harvard kids. I just use it as an example of likeation gives you >> but no no no I don't want that one but it's like so true and how do we not think of it >> exa exactly >> I mean that's that's you're critical it's a great point Jody >> our alumni association has

231fallen off in the past four or five years and that that would be when you think about some of those things when you talk >> can I say to you Dorene while the powow I mean you have the emerald ball for the inter >> and we don't we that is something we probably don't at all do as much of >> public schools don't do a good job as >> at all right >> so if we are proud and we are respectful and we are caring um and kind and we do what's best do what's best for kids um sorry I needed a burp um professional and caring and respectful we are rising generals we are strong resilient and we are problem solvers we're trusting and we bleed blue and we have this pride. So if

232you if you that's how that aspiration is how do you act then how do you act so behavioral expectations so if I am kind what does what behavior do I show if I am kind or what behavior >> generosity of spirit >> ethical >> accepting I think I don't know if this fits here, but I mean Well, I'll let you catch up because they threw out a lot there. >> Yeah. Um Yes, I know I got lost and >> Sorry, that's No, that's good. >> Um you said >> what did you say? >> Accepted. >> Yeah. >> What's that? >> I said accepted. >> Yeah. are kind. >> I mean, I think demon like a strong work ethic, right? We want to produce kids that I mean, multiple paths. We want them to be good

233contributing members so a strong work ethic. >> I love the word fidelity >> because >> speed I guess go back to the students. Like I want them to grow and to change the way they act and the way they think. Like I want education to change them. >> Open to new ways of think. >> Exactly. >> Not any one way, but just to take it in in a way that it changes you. flexible, but that's openness to new things. >> Indeed. >> Fate in the bathroom. >> Be good. >> Oh, I know. >> How do we teach kids to act in their own self-interest when they're in high school? I say it with love. >> Did you say vacation? >> Did we say this? Maybe we did, but just, you know, not afraid to have

234a voice. I mean, that to me that's a I mean, if there's, you know, our whole see something, say something, but but also, you know, being an advocate for their friend or I mean, whatever that looks like. >> I think I mean that's true for staff as well. Mhm. >> Would that be would this be aligned or maybe >> I I'm going to I'll work on where which bucket it goes into. >> But aligned. I like that one. >> Aligned. We are aligned. >> Moving in same direction. Like I said, this is not your only um chance. And I um I will collect those. But if you want a your own copy to take home for your reference. Um it's not it's not brain surgery, but you can have your own copy. But if I

235can just collect them and then make sure that I have every all of your voices. So, I want to make sure you've placed your trust in me and I want to make sure that I am true to that and follow through. That's important. >> I started writing stuff down, but when you started doing that, I quit writing stuff down. >> Oh, yes. That's okay. >> So, did I have one? >> That's okay. >> I just want to make sure you can grab it. If that help >> doesn't matter if you wrote it down. >> I'm not looking. >> I don't even I'm just trying to help >> the survey. The survey, the parent community survey. um will be coming out I think next is it next week? >> Yeah. >> Yep. Next week. Um I

236know Rory asked me for the links and I just want to review it one more time. Um and so that gives an opportunity for people to have a voice. Um the week of um it's the 12th and 14th. I believe it's Tuesday night is in person and Thursday night is a virtual meeting um for parents in the community that could join. We wanted multiple um methods to get the word out and for people to if they choose to engage in that way. Um there's a business uh community leader um time on that Tuesday. Also um I'm continuing meet continuing to meet with students and staff members um making my rounds around to the buildings um and then I'm gathering all of that data. I'm also starting interviews actually this week um for community leaders that

237might not attend a um a focus group but making sure that they have a voice. Also, if you think about reaching out to some of those community leaders that and having them engaged, um I do talk to them about that they've been identified as this community as a community leader and want that one-on-one time with them. Um all of this information is put together and themes do arise um throughout the different groups. So it is not just a group of like 20 or 25 people sitting in a room and creating the strategic plan. It is um it is it is an opportunity that stakeholders are definitely engaged and then there'll be a lot of back and forth with goals and the objectives um that will come back it'll come back to the board um for

238final approval with again input from the board of education because that is part you know setting that strategic vision is part of your um in your zero thousands of your bylaws. Um, so do you use a do you use Neil? >> Neil. Yeah. >> So, um, being able to do that and then you trust the superintendent and, uh, to carry it forward. So, it's been an it really enjoyed my time, um, so far in the Worcester schools. Um, and I just thank you for the opportunity. >> Can I I'm I I don't mean to extend this, but I have two quick questions, and I think they're both fast. So, is it okay if we attend the focus groups, the community focus groups to listen, or is it better if we're not there? >> Um, I

239recommend that you're not there. Okay. And let me tell you why. I just, and this is in another district, I did have a school board member there and his intentions, the intentions are good. Um, but I had a group of parents come up to me afterwards. He left um at the very end and they're like, "We were not comfortable." >> And so, and it wasn't because of anything um that it was He wasn't doing anything bad, but it was just like we don't want to be we just want to be able to say our voice. Um >> Okay, that's fair enough. That's what I was wondering because I mean I think a few of us had put it on our calendar, so we'll take it off and then um >> just know that it's there.

240>> Feel Huh. >> Just know that it's happening. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um I guess the I feel like the last time we did this, we got some feedback because we only did evening sessions. So, if families want to attend and they work second shift, they can't make it if both sessions are 7 o'clock. >> I don't think they're both in. >> They are. They're both a virtual, but I can add a meeting. >> I mean, I don't I mean, like I don't want somebody to say that they couldn't um or they can't they don't have child care or >> I could add a meeting during it could be a meeting >> like a 10 a.m. one or something. >> Sure. >> Just do another virtual one maybe. >> Yeah, virtual I think is fine. >>

241Yeah. Um, we can do virtual. >> It's just an idea, but I just feel like >> think about different people's schedules. >> Yeah. >> Okay, >> we'll talk about it later. >> See, I told you they were fast. >> It could be, you know, and I'm out here quite often between Wayne. Um, >> yeah, >> schools career center and um, Worcester schools and we might be adding another district. Um I I if it if people want to meet in person, I don't it doesn't you're not that far from my house either, so it doesn't matter. >> All right. Well, very good. Well, Bonnie and I will see you tomorrow at 5. >> At 5. And you're having dinner at the culinary? >> Yes, we are. Hopefully, you get dinner, too. >> I don't know. Well,

242I'm here all day. I'm I'm I start with students and staff and then I'm just staying in work. I I went to your public library. >> Okay. >> So, yeah. >> Very good. Well, thank you for the time. >> Thank you. Thank you, everyone. >> All right. So >> we just need >> Well, I I need to do future board meetings, right? So, yep. >> So, just uh section 13 just uh future board meetings that are scheduled. So, Tuesday, March 17th, 2026, 6 o'clock, then April 21st and May 19th. Again, all six o'clock all here in the LGR. So, with that, uh motion to adjourn the board of education meeting. >> So, moved. Second. Um, goodight. >> Yes. >> Starcher, >> yes. >> Degan, >> yes. >> Nine. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you.

243If anybody watched the whole thing,