James A Garfield Board of Education meeting
Feb. 13, 2025
4:30 p.m. – 5:44 p.m.
Here’s an audio recording of the meeting:
- Call to Order
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Moment of silence for alumni and military
- Roll call: all members present
- Motion to approve board meeting agenda
- Public comments: none
- Recognitions:
- Board of Education recognition month is January. Recognized all board members for their hard work and dedication this month. Board members received gift bags and cards from students and staff.
- Recognized Abigail Ritondaro for mid-year graduation. Ritondaro came back from Bio-Med to finish her graduation requirements at Garfield. The board had a mini graduation ceremony for BioMed during the board meeting.
- Recognized Core Value Recipient for Responsibility: Shelby Clark
- Recognized the Student Support Specialist Team and received Certificate of Excellence including: Kristi Fiorentino, student/family liaison; Emily Ahrens, student resource officer; Jeff Livingston, guidance counselor; Shelby Scirocco, guidance counselor; Jason Downey, guidance counselor; Krysta Krause, case manager for behavioral health
- President Guy Pietra chose not to give a report this month, but had a small discussion about items he had sent to the other board members.
- Patricia Brett gave the Maplewood report. The meeting from last month at Maplewood was organizational, and Mary Kaley is the president. It is also Career and Technical Education Month.
- Ellie Delvaux, student board representative, gave a report on student leadership and mentoring, upcoming planned activities for students, the Cavs Leadership field trip and the results of the boys versus girls plate frisbee competition.
- Ted Lysiak gave the superintendent report:
- Spoke briefly about the G-Men report sent out in the mail and the feedback received.
- There was a JAG BioMed hearing.
- Grants JAG will or has applied for: A million dollar technology grant with a March 6 deadline; two attorney general grants, one for $40,000 for updated inside gym doors that will be able to lock and another for $5,000 for security cameras; and one for AI in school opportunities. Lysiak was invited to attend a session with a national speaker at Chardon Middle School. Garfield High School has been offered the opportunity to work with AI OWI, which has a curriculum for students about ethical issues in AI. Garfield was one of two schools in Ohio offered this opportunity.
- Treasurer’s report: There was a cafeteria audit from the state at the elementary school. Everything went well, and the inspector was impressed. There were only a couple corrective actions in the letters; working on correcting those and will finish soon. Financial audit is almost complete, and only has a couple more things to turn in.
- Approved some events for board members to attend and money for room and board during these events.
- A five-year contract extension for Tracy Knauer for treasurer was approved.
- Treasurer recommendations were discussed and approved:
- Jan. 9, 2025, board meeting minutes
- January 2025 monthly reports
- Contracts with Inter-State Studio for portrait services in 2026-2028
- Donations accepted: $450 PTO for Camp Fitch scholarship/5th grade class account; $1,000 Crash the Class grant; $246 Lake Farmpark field trip/elementary school
- Transfers to close out Section 125 programs for 2023 and 2024 school years
Approved July 1, 2025, tax rates
- Superintendent recommendations discussed and approved:
- Continued membership to OHSAA
- Open enrolled students for 2024-2025
- Classified substitutes
- Academic supplements
- Accepted resignation for Caroline Crow, who is currently on leave for maternity and is not coming back. Also accepted resignation for Sean McDowell, who will be leaving at the end of the school year.
- Approve open enrollment for 2025-2026
- Approve early release for seniors
- Approve seniors for graduation, as long as they meet all criteria
- Discussed state requirements and guidelines for if the district chose to have online learning instead of a snow day. Lysiak stated the district would have to be able to take attendance and the students would all have to be in front of their devices for a certain amount of hours per day and the school district does not have enough bandwidth to maintain that requirement.
- Motion to adjourn at 5:44 p.m. was approved.
The following is an AI-generated transcript of the meeting. There will be inaccuracies in the text:
Unknown Speaker 00:03
First, Thursday, February 13, 2025
Speaker 1 00:18
this was the monthly meeting of the James A Garfield Board of education stands one. Silence. Please remember all of our
Speaker 2 00:40
and current folks serving in the military, both in the US and above.
Unknown Speaker 00:54
Thank you.
Speaker 3 00:57
Miss pinauer, please call the roll Mrs. Brett, Mrs. Carella here, Mr. Ben here, Mr. White here,
Speaker 2 01:07
late for a motion to accept and approve the board meeting agenda and addendum. Second, any discussion.
Unknown Speaker 01:14
All in favor. Is
Speaker 2 01:18
there a recognition of public comment? Is there anybody that has public comment? Thank you very much. We appreciate that. If you think of anything you would like to speak up, don’t
Unknown Speaker 01:33
worry about it. We’re always welcome.
Unknown Speaker 01:38
I’d like to jump right into educational excellence.
Speaker 4 01:42
Alright? Thank you, Mr. Petra. We have four educational excellence things to recognize this evening, and we are going to go in all kinds of different orders in respect for people’s time. And the first one is a very, very special something that I don’t think it ever occurred here at Garfield, and we have a young lady with us tonight, Abigail rittendero. She is a recent grad, when I say recent as of December, Garfield graduate, and has a really unique story. Was with us up in up through middle school that attended biomed and came back to us just this past fall, and is very, very happy to provide her with a Garfield diploma. And we really felt like when we got her that diploma, and really kiss Ben for helping her sort through credit, everything that needed to be done, but felt a little bad. You know, graduation is a big thing. We didn’t want you to miss out on that. There are certainly not balloons at graduation, but there are flowers, and we provided it. We’ve got that for you tonight. We’ve provided you with a cap and gown. We have your diploma. And one of the things that we noticed was when you graduate, you get to sit there and listen to about an hour’s worth of speech. So I hope that this trend doesn’t spread. Don’t tell your friends about it, but we did in those speeches, Abigail, there’s a lot of good advice, and I think what makes your situation unique is the way you persevered and came back and advocated for yourself. We’re very, very proud of that. You’re really a demonstration of our core values coming to life. And have all we expect from our kiddos. So we do have a speech prepared for you, and it’s a little customized, I believe. So Mister Peter,
Speaker 2 03:43
tonight we celebrate perseverance, resilience and the power of community.
Unknown Speaker 03:50
Abigail, I’m going
Speaker 2 03:51
to say your last name, wrong, right? Tim Britton, Rick and Dara started her journey right here at James A Garfield, right here at James A Garfield along her path, took her elsewhere for high school, she never stopped being a G Man at heart. When she faced an unexpected obstacle, she did something remarkable. She didn’t give up. She reached out, and because of her determination and the support of this incredible school community, she stands before us tonight as an official graduate of James A Garfield high school. But no journey is taken along. Abigail, your strength and perseverance are inspiring, and so is this unwavering support of your family. Your mother and sister have stood by you, believing you and every step of the way tonight, we also celebrate them, because behind every graduate. Is a family that lifts them up. Abigail, your journey is a testament to the fact that no challenge that finds us, our response to it does. You have shown grit, grace and the courage to advocate for yourself. We’re so proud to officially call you a graduate, and we know that whatever path you take, how are you doing, furthering your education, entering the workforce, or chasing your dreams? We hope you do that. You will do it with the heart and determination of a true genome. Now
Speaker 4 05:37
the fun part we’re going to have the board stand up here in front office where you want to grab your camera. At graduation, you would walk across the stage and shake all these folks hands. We’re going to have you do that now. You would pick up a rose, but since it just leave, you got a few more, and we’ll all congratulate you.
Unknown Speaker 06:06
I know right, where do you
Speaker 5 06:10
want to go, sir, no excuse me.
Speaker 6 06:17
Alright. Abby, y’all are ready. Look, you don’t have stairs to navigate. Alright? You
Unknown Speaker 06:40
right up front for one more picture with the whole group.
Speaker 4 06:56
And this really makes it official. So the superintendent of the James A darkfield local schools, I certify that Abigail has met all the requirements of the state of Ohio and this Board of Education to graduate from high school. Congratulations, Abigail and Gucci.
Unknown Speaker 07:30
Speech I know,
Speaker 4 07:43
each so I ask that we formally recognize Abigail, a recent graduate James A Garfield schools, for her dedication and perseverance and achieving her diploma. Abigail’s commitment to her education and determination to reach this milestone are truly commendable. Hard work and resilience serve as an inspiration to others, and we congratulate her on this well, well earned achievement. We wish her very well in the Ben very we wish her well in the in her future endeavor. Could we get a motion to move by
Unknown Speaker 08:22
Mrs. Brett, seconded
Speaker 3 08:27
by Mrs. Brett, yes, this is carilla, yes. Mister Petra, yes. Mister Ben
Unknown Speaker 08:31
said, Yes. Mister White, yes. Stand.
Unknown Speaker 08:39
If you’d like to escape now’s the
Speaker 2 09:00
time for keeping us in your
Speaker 4 09:11
hearts. Thank you. On to item number three. This is actually for all of you, and congratulations. We are very fortunate that I tell everyone, and I think the folks that are in the audience, the administrators, can echo what I’m sharing, especially one administrator who’s been a superintendent, and share how appreciative we are for a board that’s so stable and so supportive and really just always acts in the best interest of kids, that makes the work that we do here so much easier. And I know that January is board recognition month. Our January board meeting is always organizational. It seems rushed. So we have always pushed us to February. So I. The gifts that are in front of you are cards that were made for kids, and then a collection from the staff of some things for you. We’ll let you take a look at all those, all of those, and some really fun cards, heartfelt cards from our kids and our staff members. And we wanted to formally recognize the James A Garfield Board of Education for your dedication, respect and responsibility in your unwavering service to our schools and communities, your collective leadership, built on decades of experience, provides stability, strength and steadfast commitment to doing what is best for our students in a time when public education faces constant challenging challenges and is often under attack. Your fearless leadership keeps our staff feeling safe. Each of you ensures that our schools remain a place of opportunity, excellence and support for every child. Guy Petra has served since 2002 David Ben served since 2002 Tricia Brett has served since 1998 Colleen careless since 2024 and Daryl white since 2003 with decades of service between them, this team’s ability to work together has been the foundation of our district success. We recognize you this month and every day because your dedication to students, staff and families has made a lasting impact. We are sincerely thankful for your leadership. You have to vote on yourself. Thank you. Thank you. It’s been
Unknown Speaker 11:39
an honor. Motion. All in favor.
Unknown Speaker 11:53
We do appreciate everything you make our jobs. You make the
Unknown Speaker 12:02
job. This is to
Speaker 2 12:06
be on the school board. It really is, because to work with folks like you, this is fun, and sure, there’s tough times. We’re lucky to have a community and support groups that support the schools and such great educators, classified employees, our officers in charge, our SRO and all the support behind her. PTO, just everybody you guys are. Ben, you guys are fantastic. And you know, you wish you could get up every and I always tell I’m lucky to work in another school district right now. I just tell them, you just don’t know how lucky I’m lucky to do this school board, and it’s because of you guys. So thank you.
Speaker 5 13:05
Anybody else, I will echo that, and also the fact that we’ve had one president for 33 years, it’s been not only an honor to be on the school board, but with with guys professional capabilities and his capability to bring people together, it’s really, really made this board somewhere to to look forward to, and I really appreciate his and of course, all ours opportunity to be representing Garfield. It’s been truly an
Unknown Speaker 13:50
honor. Thank you.
Speaker 4 13:58
Moving up the list, this is a very quick one. I’d like to recognize our core value recipients for this month, Shelby Clarke for demonstrating our core
Unknown Speaker 14:06
value of responsibility. I move any
Unknown Speaker 14:18
discussion.
Speaker 3 14:22
This is Yes. Mr. Petra, yes. Mr. Ben said yes. Mr. White, yes. Mrs. Brett, yes.
Speaker 4 14:30
All right, one that a lot of people in the audience were very anxious about. We always try to recognize students. We have student now representative on our board that comes and La does great job presenting updates. But there’s a group that works within our district, which really are a group of heroes. I think, in my opinion, I talk with them nearly every. Day, multiple times a day. Oftentimes on the weekend, they’ll be calling or texting about students. Their days don’t stop. And they are kind of the support specialists that I refer to the Support Specialist Team, and they do some things with kids that oftentimes we can’t share with you, because it’s so private and it’s so confidential in what they’re doing with kids, because the kids are really struggling with certain things. It may be at home, it may be a court battle between two parents, it may be some some physical things that are going on, and I have never worked with a group of people as dedicated as these folks. I’m just so pleased to have them here. And just to give you a flavor of what they do, I’d like these folks. They can go in any order they want, but I’ve asked them to kind of prepare a a very brief kind of think of one instance that they’ve transformed the life of a student here at Garfield and asked each of them to kind of help with one and share it. So All right, so
Speaker 7 16:20
the element went back and forth about who was going to go first. And you would think from individuals
Speaker 6 16:24
who speak all day long, none of us would be, you know, nervous about it,
Speaker 7 16:28
but here we are. So a good evening. Thank you for having us tonight. My name is Christy Fiorentino, and I work here on district. Live at jag as the Family and Student Liaison. I’ve had the privilege of working here in the district, since 2018 is on capacity, providing mental health services and support to hundreds of kids and many, many families. Actually, I didn’t know that Abigail was going to be here, but I provided support to Abigail back in the day when she was here, so it was really exciting to see her move on. My mission here at jag is to continue to continue to build strong relationships with our staff, our students and their families, to ensure student success. The power of relationships is so incredibly important, and we all, we all know that we want to make sure that their days are impactful, that we see that they deserve to be seen and they deserve to be heard and supported, providing support to assist, or, I’m sorry, providing support systems for our students will lead to their success, and we know this. We’ve seen this every day, and we see each of our students growing and learning and just thriving each day because of each of these individuals, the work I do daily can only be done with the support, guidance and the confidence that comes from rest of this amazing support team addressing mental health concerns will only lead to long term positive outcomes such as improved academics, positive self confidence and consistent engagement. Lastly, I want to personally thank each of you here on the board, the administration team and for recognizing the value of student and family support in our district.
Speaker 6 18:08
I’m Krista Krause school case manager from children’s advantage. I started with children’s advantage back in 2015 as a community based worker, and then in April of 22 I jumped on board here to the chat family. And I think one thing that makes my position so special is my ability to meet families where they are, and so protecting confidentiality, but sharing a little insight into my position. I think one of my big wins of the past years I have been attending court once a month is court, and this past Monday, we got to see the perpetrators sentenced to 42 months in jail and become a registered sex offender. And I’m so proud of kiddo from reading the their own statement to the court, which, you know, we practice and prepare. And it was a long time coming. This started back in February of 24 and didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, and just sometimes getting them to come to school and knowing their support, it was, it was great to see that come to an end, and then just jumping out we I’ve helped one of our kiddos transition to behavioral school and literally hold their hand to walk through the door the first day and just attend countless appointments and getting these kiddos and services and attending assessments, because mental health is best treated as a team, and so such a great team here, and I have my team back at the agency, and I think being that advocate to bring them both together just really helps our students and families thrive here, so I thank you for letting me provide services here.
Unknown Speaker 19:48
Alright, I’m
Speaker 8 19:50
Shelby Sirocco, and I’m school counseling and grade I’ve been here since 2009 and I really feel like working with the students on a day. A basis, listening to them, trying to help them with whatever goals that they do you have. And it could be as simple as just What classes are you going to take next year to help them succeed and be successful in the years to come? Or it could be helping students with friendship issues. It could be helping with mental health issues in school, working on cases with all of the team, it’s been it’s been wonderful to do that and to be able to help students, and then it’s just been such a privilege, and in order to help them succeed and things that they’ve done here, I can’t ask for a better team or administration. And thank you to the board for having those people here, because they really do help every single student
Speaker 9 20:42
I’ll go next. My name is Jason Daniel, the school counselor here at the elementary when Mr. Liza guests, it’s about, speaking of one student trajectory and those kind of things. Last week, I thought to myself how I couldn’t pick one student. So in my career in education through high school, teaching at the college football being here, it’s just it’s hard to explain, like we work as a team. Everyone’s kind of, you’ve noticed that the kind of the theme is team. We’ve changed so many kids last year, being my first year here, their trajectory and their families. Just by how much we surround them with supports, I’ve been blown away by our family meetings. Like, if a student struggles with behavior, we have meetings after meeting after meeting, trying to change their trajectory, using this term, or helping the family. So, you know, other places I’ve worked in education, excuse me, one meeting, and then they can figure it out themselves, from our administrators to our superintendent, everyone being involved, coming with ideas. It just makes it really proud to say I get to come to work, because I know we’re all here for the same cause, like we all work together as support staff, and we bounce ideas on each other. But you know, talking about some students, specifically, we have students who can’t control themselves at all, behavior, violence, and then we need a team to bring in the family over and over again, and we see changes, and now they’re doing great this year. They might have little hiccups here and there, but if you look back last year or what I was told you before, like it’s amazing these changes that we see, but it’s because we’re working as a team. So yeah, we help out students individually, but like from our administrators to our intervention specialists, everyone, I’ve been amazed being here. How special the place it is, because the time we put in just to help one student. You know, we do what’s best for kids, but we really do here, like we’ll spend the time and meet over and over again and come in early. Everyone will do these kind of things. Our administrators, like the time that they put in what they want to change the culture. It’s contagious. And the families, just the other day, we had a family meeting with a student. The family members and the parents came in and they actually talked, had their own kind of conversation, which I don’t think would happen if we’ll still take that coming of ideas like seeing these kind of things that we as agents of change, just bring that opportunity. It’s really it’s impactful to work here, because you see that, and us putting in that time, from, you know, Officer Emily, being in meetings, you know, and everyone else being in meetings, and showing the families we’re here for them, not being negative, like it’s just all impactful to me, because we really do change these kids future, and it’s top down, but it’s everyone. No one’s better than the next that just we pass each other along, we work, we bounce ideas off each other, and we really do, like, it’s amazing the work that we do, because we’re supported in the time we put in, you know, the leadership’s amazing. And we’re allowed to kind of really navigate. You know, sometimes it may not be. I think what Christy said something very cookie cutter, like, we change and we adapt and come up with plans that most places don’t do. And that’s why we see success with these students behaviors and the families and they want to come back. And it’s great. It’s kind of cool. I mean, I really enjoy it. So thank
Speaker 10 23:57
you. Hello. I’m Jeff Livingston high school counselor for grades 1011, and 12, I think with the work we do in especially the 1011, 12 grades, I feel like a middle man in a lot of the work I do with managing some different programs, with students, with other colleagues, and especially with families, Some of the different programs, like the College Credit Plus program or advanced placement program for seniors, we host a financial aid night. And one example that kind of sticks out to me with Mr. Liza prompt was the very start of this school year. We students, Garfield students, but also Maplewood students, who are kind of dual students, and we don’t always know where they are, and we just ran into some issues of truancy and not attending school, and we didn’t know why, and back and forth with Maplewood, just trying to kind of understand that through several weeks in a number of interact. Actions with the juvenile court, like we worked, like we kind of talked about as a team, always with the team in supporting our families and a student who, I don’t think they probably attended school for the first day until maybe end of September, and has now that we got them, you know, the family, the support that they needed and got back on track. Like they don’t miss school. They have fine grades. They are here almost every day, like back on track, a student who was so close to getting GED drop out, back in school and back on path for that diploma. And I think our district is special, and our families, many of the families of our students, may need support services that there’s not aware of and they don’t know how to access, and and then there’s no shame accessing them either, and that as a counseling team, we can help provide sometimes that bridge, sometimes it’s not necessarily directly related to school. We’re also doing a huge like driver’s ed program right now. We’ve been helping some students out with where we can help families and their students get their ultimate goal, which is walking across the stage, you know, getting that diploma. And so I think of our team based work, not only as a district counseling team, but also a lot of those team meetings and family and administration, I echoing what they say, like, feel very lucky to have this district team to call these folks, colleagues, especially our administration, having a principal who was a former school counselor is like the gold mine of like, understanding what we do and supporting us. So I feel very lucky privilege to have the role that I do, and just very thankful to be here.
Unknown Speaker 26:57
Thank you. I think you should be working
Unknown Speaker 27:00
on the next voice of the Gina,
Speaker 11 27:07
last, but certainly
Unknown Speaker 27:15
not least, normally, arms, school
Speaker 12 27:18
resource, the whole district, it’s School Research, the whole district. I feel like I have a very unique job here, because I deal with such a variety of different things. And to be kind of honest, it’s like the crappiest situations ever these kids. It, it really is, I get pulled in because it’s it’s bad, or there’s something going at home, or it’s criminal. So like, I really see the worst of the worst. I’m very grateful for the team that I work with every day. I don’t think we’ve had a better team of administrators, to be honest. Like they’re phenomenal, and I work so well with them and the counselors, whether it’s asking for advice for my child or just venting over certain situations, I’m really grateful for them, and I definitely take a different approach here as an SRO, not like typical SROs, because I believe that there’s always an underlying issue. When we deal with the child, if it’s a behavioral issue, there’s always something else. And this the whole team really, we really go into the issues and see what’s going on. And when Mr. Isaac said, you know, to bring up a certain thing, I had such a hard time, because it really is negative. Like what I deal with is negative, but some of them have positive. So I was kind of going through files, and I was like, a good one would be, it was very negative. We had some kids being abused, and when they came here, we had a little bit of a rough start, but then they were doing really well in school. However, there was issues going on at home, and it was very unsafe for them to be there, and they got removed from the home, and now they’re in a fantastic place. They’re driving home and they’re driving at a different school, unfortunately, not here, but they are driving now. So it’s a negative that got turned into a positive so that’s, that’s one thing that you really think about, is it might be negative, but then we all have this impact on a child, whether it’s direct or indirect. And I think that’s, that’s one of the most important parts, because it’s getting involved with these kids and having them take a different turn in life, because if they stayed on that path, you never know where they might end up in life, and just having that interaction can lead them to a better path. I’m very grateful to be here and take a different approach and build that rapport with the kids, and really is great. So thank you to. Thank you. The
Speaker 4 30:13
last thing I’ll say about this group, before we present them with their certificates here is we just had a leadership meeting yesterday, and I know Kathleen is going to get really excited, because she loves the basketball coach, but I really kind of compare our administrative team to the Chicago Bulls of the 90s. They said, when you look at every position, there is just you would never look around at another team and say, Well, I’d rather have that person than this. You look at this team and you think, this is why we keep winning and this and when you and I feel the same way about our support here is you are. The reason our kids keep winning is because we have an all star of every position, and then the work you do is just so
Unknown Speaker 31:05
important.
Unknown Speaker 31:06
So so
Speaker 4 31:08
thank you. So I ask that we formally recognize the unwavering dedication of our student support specialists is truly embedded in the fabric of the James A Garfield schools. Their commitment to our students, staff and families goes far beyond their daily responsibilities. They are a source of guidance, stability and encouragement for all their compassion, integrity and engagement, create a school environment where every student is supported and valued. Emily arms our school resource officer, Jason Downey, school counselor, Shelby Sirocco, school counselor Jeff Livingston, school counselor Krista Krause, school case manager and Christy Fiorentino, Student and Family Liaison, we are deeply grateful for your tireless efforts and the positive impact that you make each day. Your work embodies our core values and strengthens the Very part of this community.
Unknown Speaker 32:07
Thank you. Second discussion,
Speaker 13 32:22
yeah. You guys are what helps hold the focus on the will. It’s just
Unknown Speaker 32:33
amazing. It’s all about things
Speaker 2 32:36
you do behind the scenes and just keep and it helps keep the will going. Thank
Speaker 14 32:42
you. Thank you. You, Jason, I can remember you back in school. Tells you how you’ve grown and become a big, integral part of the school district and
Unknown Speaker 32:53
lost hair. Yeah,
Speaker 14 32:58
it’s ton of color for some reason, why? But to see your growth, in your change in how you’ve impacted students here in one short year just amazes me. And thank you. Thank you for letting me do
Speaker 5 33:14
and I’d like to thank the police department for providing us such a resource, such as Emily, she has been phenomenal, not only her dedication, but the fact that she gets along so well. Is these folks. It’s it’s an amazing mixture of talent. Thank
Unknown Speaker 33:40
you. They feel pretty sacred.
Speaker 3 33:54
Casey, Mr. Bucha, Mr. Ben said, Yes. Mr. White, Yes, Mrs. Brett, Yes, Mrs. Carol, yes,
Unknown Speaker 34:02
we get a photo of
Unknown Speaker 34:12
the entire team up there. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 34:39
are you asking?
Unknown Speaker 34:49
You’re highlighting
Unknown Speaker 34:56
anything?
Unknown Speaker 35:04
You, 123, good, okay.
Unknown Speaker 35:20
Sorry. Thank You
Speaker 15 35:42
For okay. This Is this is My supervisor.
Unknown Speaker 36:47
Yes, someone.
Unknown Speaker 37:00
Just do it anyway.
Unknown Speaker 37:40
Be Another person,
Unknown Speaker 38:01
absolutely,
Unknown Speaker 38:03
I love your speech.
Unknown Speaker 38:10
Yes,
Unknown Speaker 38:12
call everybody you do so well, whoops.
Speaker 2 38:20
Nothing weird you do so well. The last time you did this, you were awesome. You were like reports next. I’m a passionate mother. I sent you guys some information on the school vouchers, vouchers for schools, and I’ll be following up with you guys. If you want more information, you’re supposed to have, they were supposed to have a slide deck last evening. It’s in the video. If you want the video, I’ll send you the video, the YouTube video, but they also supposed to be posted a slide deck. And I couldn’t find it today, but I’ll keep looking.
Speaker 3 39:14
Was that the League of women’s voters, webinar and legal women voters? And
Speaker 16 39:21
yeah, I plan on trying to get a little bit more active, not to make people like wild or anything, but I think, I think we have to, and
Unknown Speaker 39:30
if anybody else go to these things,
Speaker 11 39:38
appreciate you.
Speaker 17 39:48
Fish. I’m sorry. Well, that’s right for the Maplewood report. Last month was our organizational meeting, so it’s pretty dry by Mary candy is the new president, and. Um, I do want to just say that this is Career Technical Education Month on February. And so I reached out and asked them for this list of our state qualifiers. The students attend the Skills USA competitions. And we have the following students. I go ahead and do is just read them very quickly. Um Gabriel coverage and Gary white for urban search and rescue. There team. That’s a robotics team. That’s what the search and rescue is. The robot searches and just gets rid of the device. And then grace. I don’t know if it’s Patel or idol for basic health care, Abigail Kaufman For Medical Assisting electronics. Technology is Jonah meno and dental assisting, Megan, I don’t know. Becky, thank you. So those five so we will be Thank you. Ted will be recognizing it next month’s board meeting, but I did want to view them out tonight, and then thank you all for responding and planning on attending next week the Maplewood board meeting. And program, Future program, is power equipment,
Speaker 13 41:18
2018, correct the 2020, from 10. Today? Yeah, that’s what.
Speaker 17 41:27
And it’s a five o’clock and you will need your driver’s office in the building, so you just come to the front office and they’ll send you the boardroom, and everybody walks down to the lab together. I appreciate you guys coming. I’m excited. That’s it. Okay? Hey guys, so
Speaker 18 41:57
I’ll start off with student mentoring. We’ve talked about this before, but so
Unknown Speaker 42:06
last Wednesday,
Speaker 18 42:09
and the week before that, visualize, was talking to everybody about a boys versus girls competition in this Wednesday, the girls went first in logo lake. I had an idea, and we colored plates, and then we threw them like frisbees and saw who got theirs the furthest. A lot of kids crumpled them up, but that’s okay. It was really fun to see them having a lot of fun, throwing them, coloring, talking to everybody, what next? Next week? And the next week, we’ll be going on a bowling field trip, that’s 21st and we’ll bowl with all the kids and get pizza and just chill. So I’m really excited for that. Yeah, the second thing is the elementary club days. Dee was supposed to be here tonight, and she was supposed to talk about that. I like doing club day, at least for this one. But it’s March 21 from 2pm to 3pm and I think Dee said that she was gonna do a crocheting club day for the like, like coasters. I think probably what she said the third thing is, last week, we went on the Cavs leadership field trip, and it was so much fun. We got there, and there was a great panel that talked about leadership skills in basketball, and just yeah, they talked about leadership skills in basketball and how you can become a leader, and what moved them to become What they were in the Cavs organization. And then second was the tour. They showed us around all the suites and the front office. The pricing was insane on almost all everything. Do you remember
Speaker 4 44:36
really how much they said for one of those suites? The pile one who’s like, $9,000 maybe
Unknown Speaker 44:44
a game, a game $9,000
Unknown Speaker 44:48
Wow, wow. Yeah, 42
Speaker 4 44:50
games in the season. Those are all the corporate boxes you do the math. Those are the corporate boxes.
Speaker 18 44:57
Can you do? Like you can? Um. Rented out, like, for half of the season, or like a full season. And, yeah, it was crazy. But everything was, like, so cool. We even got to go into one of the suites, and there was, like, so many TVs everywhere, over $9,000
Unknown Speaker 45:17
Yeah, and this is Cleveland, so you can imagine what la right? Oh, yeah.
Speaker 18 45:26
And then we got to see the front office. I like the front office a lot. You could see everybody talking about just anything and everything to get people to buy their seats, and we weren’t allowed to bring our phones, so we had to put them in our pockets or and we couldn’t, like, take a picture of anything, because, you know, it’s all confidential. And then we went to go eat, and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. It was really good. And then we went back to the game, and we got bobble heads,
Unknown Speaker 46:05
which I thought was really cool.
Speaker 19 46:09
Donovan Mitchell, yeah, it was really cool, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 46:16
And then
Speaker 18 46:19
we went up to our seats, and the game was amazing. It was really it was really cool.
Unknown Speaker 46:27
Office was like Ellie that really surprised.
Unknown Speaker 46:34
There was so many people,
Speaker 18 46:40
there’s so many people, and just so
Speaker 20 46:46
many people talk about a phone, and it was crazy, yeah, Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 46:57
This was in the evening,
Unknown Speaker 47:00
before the game.
Unknown Speaker 47:03
Can you visualize yourself someday?
Unknown Speaker 47:12
Probably
Speaker 13 47:19
not. So do you covered the place and
Unknown Speaker 47:28
through the first piece, what was the purpose?
Speaker 18 47:32
Well, first, we wanted to beat the boys because, you know, it’s a competition. Yes. Okay. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 47:47
Tish, is Courtney still working up there
Speaker 17 47:50
she is, and I had texted her with the date, but she she had just gotten back from maternity leave, and she she is back to work, but she was in Detroit. She wasn’t, she wasn’t.
Speaker 20 48:07
Yeah, so first, of course, we wanted to be the boys, okay, yeah, of course. And
Unknown Speaker 48:15
so, like everybody colored this. And, you know, we need
Speaker 19 48:23
Well, in my opinion, competition is always fun.
Speaker 18 48:27
Thank you. Competition is always fun. In my opinion, and I feel like healthy competition is even better for the girls the boys and the kids. Um, so we called them and then we threw them. And it was so much fun to see everybody just throwing them and laughing, um, the mentors actually followed the rules, not there weren’t any rules, but they didn’t crumble their plates up. Definitely, the mentees, okay,
Unknown Speaker 49:04
like, yes, we
Unknown Speaker 49:09
some gay men are all the way over here
Unknown Speaker 49:13
from COVID,
Speaker 18 49:15
yeah. And seeing the laughter, and the mentees laughed at all the mentors, because when actually through the first week, it barely went an inch off the table. It was so fun to see them and laughing and having a bunch of fun when, you know it’s what, six, maybe 75 and you know, we only get 30 minutes with them each week and see them opening up. And is amazing.
Speaker 4 49:50
Next little competition we have for our first month, we had Miss Christy and Mr. Downey and I. Were kind of arranging the activities games that they could choose from. Yeah, there
Unknown Speaker 50:03
was like a sorry and Uno.
Unknown Speaker 50:08
There’s like a mini and a
Unknown Speaker 50:11
big Uno.
Unknown Speaker 50:13
Yeah, that would be dose.
Speaker 4 50:16
So we switched it up and said, for the remainder of the year, we’re going to take turns and have the girls mentors come up with the activity for the kids, and then the boys will do theirs next week, and they’ve got something planned, so they have to plan it together and present it to all of the elementary kids and the high school girls don’t know what it is either, and then we’re gonna have a sticker chart. But every every student will get a sticker each week, and they get to vote after a round which activity was better crown the winner of mentorship activities at the end of the year, no you so much. Thank you guys. One thing, Ellie and Dee and I talked about that, I told her I would share with the group. You’re welcome when we were at the cash game. So you’ll see the food we have. There were there were schools. There were schools there from ordering,
Speaker 21 51:25
some of them sharing. It was like $2,000
Unknown Speaker 51:41
everybody, workers, people
Unknown Speaker 51:44
in other schools. That’s
Speaker 17 52:11
yeah, I want to tell you guys. Yeah, right.
Unknown Speaker 52:21
Thank you. Louise, picking up.
Speaker 17 52:26
That’s her. She loves trucks. Oh, so that’s an issue, and what she said is so pretty.
Unknown Speaker 52:31
Rosie was
Unknown Speaker 52:41
my favorite. But everyone you
Speaker 4 52:45
Thank you. I’ve just got a brief report for you, Gmail. Report. Did anyone get there? Jeff, Yeah, yesterday, very see Michelle shared that it when she dropped off the post office first thing Monday morning we had ours Tuesday. So yeah, that’s really good. We’re getting a lot of feedback from people like, when I was a rotary that don’t live in the community, but have a business, and it goes to the businesses. So folks that may not live here, but live here during the day, get a copy.
Speaker 5 53:19
What is ECR, w, s, s, I was on my newsletter, not resident or anything. Said postal customer.
Speaker 4 53:28
I think that’s the list that they use to mail out, yeah, and I think it’s because I
Unknown Speaker 53:38
was trying to figure out ECS.
Unknown Speaker 53:42
Today we had our biomed hearing. What did
Unknown Speaker 53:45
you expect? We won’t
Unknown Speaker 53:48
have any law on it for a long time. We
Unknown Speaker 53:51
can still continue to do what we
Speaker 4 53:55
do grants. We applied for three the rusty LT and the big million dollar technology grant is back up. We’re putting together the narrative now, and we’ll submit that by March 6. It’s a million dollars. Thanks to Emily, we’ve applied for two Attorney General grants, one for updated gym doors, the inside gym doors that we’ll be able to block. That will be $40,000 and then another formula based grant for about 5000 that will be security cameras to cover some blank areas that we have in the parking lot at corridors. Elementary School, we have AI and school opportunities. I actually was invited tomorrow to attend the session in Chardon middle school, they’re having a national speaker John Spencer, come in and talk about how schools are navigating AI with their students, so I’m going to listen to him speak, and then Miss kiss Ben and I just found out yesterday that Garfield high school was offered to be a a one of two sites in Ohio in. Correct, yeah, AI, ow. We’re gonna learn a little more about it tomorrow, but they offer a curriculum for kids on ethical issues in AI, the appropriate uses of AI, and kind of give a curriculum. And I want to see if this is working. The state of Ohio behind it, and someone heard about things that we were doing with AI, and said Garfield would be a good site. So we’re going to see that’s going to be a good fit for us, and we may be a pilot site. One, two in the state, and then cash crash the classroom. Shannon, sure, so local State Farm agent started a program this year where the administrators could apply, nominate a teacher for crash the class. $1,000 grant Mrs. Crane nominated Heather Brosius, and Heather received a crash in the class. They snuck her out of the classroom for a brief meeting, and when they came back, they had balloons, they had a video up on the screen and a very large, difficult to deposit, $1,000 check that they took her picture with and classroom supplies, I guess, real one. Shannon Sure. So very thankful for Shannon. That’s hard for it. Thank you. Yes,
Speaker 3 56:23
I don’t have anything for you, but we did have our cafeteria audit at the end of January. State was in and they did the elementary school. She was here for an entire day of service. She’s very impressed with the ladies and how they interact with the kids and all the wonderful selections that we have. She loved the variety we came out of that we had a couple corrective actions, mainly, it was just language and some of the letters that we have, so I’m working on getting those in now, so we should have that all wrapped up in the next couple of next week or so. I hope in the meantime, we did have the USDA grant down at the high school for the cafeteria Sarah, who works with personic partners, she does our nutritional software, and she’s our partner in writing the grant personic Was she is actually trying to she’s working on nominating us for some awards through the USDA. So that information will be coming to you soon, and one of them does involve the hydroponic grower for the lettuce that Mrs. White bird’s kids are working on for us. So hopefully we will get some recognition for them on that because they’re doing a great job. Financial audit is ongoing. We’re hoping that we’re going to wrap that up soon. I’m down to two or three things that I have to turn in and hoping to get that done by the end of February.
Unknown Speaker 57:52
Always, they just keep COVID
Unknown Speaker 57:55
So but
Speaker 14 57:57
that is all I have for you. Tracy, you looked into honor farms, at the growers how they do their iconic growing theater, their big green house, everything’s under glass. And one, have you taken time to go out that way and check that out?
Speaker 3 58:11
The Great Lakes growers? Yeah, yeah. We actually used to buy from them. Do Okay, yeah. We haven’t in a while, because they stopped delivering. They’ve gone to more of a commercial market, yeah, I even picked up for a while there. I know they have a great, great facility, or
Speaker 5 58:30
whatever that building is, of all the the wood, using,
Speaker 14 58:35
how they resided, all that stuff, yeah, it’s incredible, yeah. But we
Speaker 3 58:39
do, we grow our own, but we’d only have the one grower, so we could only produce so much. Yeah, but we do buy local hydroponic I don’t know if Great Lakes is the one that’s supplying it through Premier, but we used to buy premiere directly.
Unknown Speaker 58:53
They probably do one of the
Speaker 3 58:55
largest Yeah, I see them in the grocery store all the time. Yeah, it’s incredible. Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s amazing facility over there.
Speaker 17 59:14
Oh, they just were on, I saw it on Facebook. They were just on the cover of an issue of produce, produce grower, which must be some produce magazine, but they did it. They were on the cover, and they did a feature on this. What
Unknown Speaker 59:34
was that tissue
Speaker 17 59:37
on Facebook that they were just on that magazine cover of produce growers magazine.
Speaker 13 59:47
If you see it again now that we’re talking about it, okay, yeah, if you go to their page, you
Unknown Speaker 59:52
can find them, but I’ll send it to you. Okay, yes,
Speaker 3 59:54
I know they’ve been working with Serna too Bonners for the beef you. Them.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:01
Oh, okay, because bonkers sells
Speaker 3 1:00:02
well, they’ve been working with cerners. Certain has been getting it from Bonners, trying to make it one of their products that they can push out to their customers for fresh products.
Speaker 2 1:00:17
Okay, so we have some board business and approve a board member attendance at the following events. One was on the 23rd of January for the people, people, Wagner negotiations workshop, Colleen David and myself and the SOS Libby Institute on February 7, David Ben son and the network for publication for public network for public education, 2025 national conference in Columbus, April 5 and sixth, the pepper people Wagner keeps 85 each. The SOS Living Institute, that’s 50 network for public indication. Conference is two point plus hotel Motion moved by Mrs. Care, road second, a double second.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:20
Let me get this straight. All in
Unknown Speaker 1:01:21
favor. Okay,
Speaker 22 1:01:25
stop, all in favor, aye, Okay, the next,
Speaker 2 1:01:30
next, on the hip parade, like to ask that you approve a five year contract as treasurer to Tracy power, effective August. One, 2025
Unknown Speaker 1:01:43
through July, 31. 2030
Unknown Speaker 1:01:46
motion move second,
Unknown Speaker 1:01:49
please. Don’t go, everybody,
Unknown Speaker 1:01:52
please. I can we make it 23 thank you for
Speaker 2 1:02:01
everything you do. Thank you. Thank you for being such an integral part of our school district and just doing just such an outstanding job with what you do as a treasurer, the food services to work with the superintendent school district and also all of your volunteer work
Unknown Speaker 1:02:21
in the community, with the
Unknown Speaker 1:02:25
community, with the food covered,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:26
because I never wanted to get all the letters right,
Speaker 2 1:02:30
just everything you do. We appreciate you so much. And five years is wonderful. We can give you. We appreciate everything. We appreciate your service.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:41
You putting up with us,
Speaker 3 1:02:44
especially girl I was, I was at a meeting last Friday at ESC of Northeast Ohio, and actually met the treasurer from Newton Falls is at my table, and they asked me how long I have been at Garfield. Because, you know, Justin Ben goes from Newton. And I was like, oh, yeah, 20 years. And they were like, as a treasure. They’re like, Huh? You don’t hear that very often nowadays. You
Unknown Speaker 1:03:11
tell them, our board has about a million years of experience.
Speaker 3 1:03:14
Well, I said, I said, I haven’t had a lot of board change either. I said, it’s pretty crazy. Tish, crazy. You have
Unknown Speaker 1:03:24
a driver’s license.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:33
No, yeah, there you go. That’s how you Oh yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:50
There you go. Last year. I’ll
Unknown Speaker 1:03:56
call the roll. Mr. Benson, emphatically.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:00
Mr. White, yes, absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:02
Mrs. Brown, yes.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:06
This is kayar, yes,
Unknown Speaker 1:04:10
yes, yeah.
Speaker 4 1:04:19
I don’t know. I don’t know you. Sorry, even on the back of the attendance. Now we’ll go to treasurer’s recommendation.
Speaker 3 1:04:29
So I have the monthly items. So ask that you approve the board, minutes, monthly reports for January. Contract with interstate studio. This is the portrait services for all the buildings. We have donations 450 from the PTO for camp Fitch sponsorship and a donation to elementary principal for the lake Farm Park field trip as an offset and then transfers to close out the section 125. Programs for fiscal year. 23 Be In fiscal year 22nd
Unknown Speaker 1:05:03
any discussion
Unknown Speaker 1:05:05
all in favor.
Speaker 3 1:05:09
Ask that you approve the tax rates that we received from the county auditor’s office effective for the 2526 second.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:19
Any discussion all in favor, aye.
Speaker 3 1:05:28
Superintendent recommendations, yes, the policy, purpose, budget statements for student activities on the addendum, second,
Unknown Speaker 1:05:41
any discussion,
Speaker 16 1:05:43
all in favor. Aye, Item one the addendum, except
Speaker 3 1:05:47
jerseys insurance, crash of class, mini grant for $1,000 this can be for flexible seating, for Heather Groves
Unknown Speaker 1:05:53
moved
Unknown Speaker 1:05:56
second. Any discussion, can we get a card for her and sign it
Unknown Speaker 1:06:05
all in favor Aye
Speaker 2 1:06:07
superintendents, recommendations over on the agenda.
Speaker 4 1:06:12
One second, okay. Item one as you consolidate recommendations A through J
Unknown Speaker 1:06:20
Moved. Second
Unknown Speaker 1:06:23
any discussion.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:26
All in favor. Aye, item
Speaker 4 1:06:29
two is asking you to approve the following resolution. The state of Ohio came out with model policies for procedures for special education, and we will be adopting those policies as a model policy. So the state requires us to adopt them.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:50
Move second, any discussion, all in favor. This is
Speaker 4 1:06:57
an exciting one. Ask you to approve the following students for graduation on May 24 2025 Why did they meet all the local state requirements?
Unknown Speaker 1:07:05
Sorry, Mr.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:08
White Ben, sorry,
Speaker 4 1:07:13
Mr. Ben, seriously. Aye. I on the addendum. Item four, asking consolidate and approve recommendation A through C. Move second, we have a sub bus driver. Good. Any
Unknown Speaker 1:07:36
discussion. All in favor.
Speaker 4 1:07:39
Item five, as did you approve a service agreement with the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio? This is a continuation of our services.
Speaker 14 1:07:46
Moved second, third. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 1:07:54
all in favor, aye.
Speaker 4 1:07:58
Item six, I actually have two resignations on this board meeting, Caroline crow let us know this week, she is the I’m sure, if you remember Caroline, she’s on leave. She had her first daughter, and had to make a decision by March 1 as to whether or not she would be coming back. And she sent us a letter and said that she spoke with her husband and would like to take, take resignation, and she would like to so we wish her the best moved second
Unknown Speaker 1:08:35
any discussion, all in favor.
Speaker 4 1:08:39
And item seven, ask that you approve the resignation of Sean McDowell. He is a sixth grade math teacher effective at the end of the school year. He has just chosen to leave the field of education moves. Doing what? Leaving the field of education on top very I think he’s currently
Unknown Speaker 1:08:56
taken off All in favor, aye.
Speaker 4 1:09:00
And item eight is a first reading. I shared this with the policy review committee today as part of the audit that we received, we have to adopt a policy. We called it a policy on online learning. The policy is actually called school calendar. We had a policy for school calendar, and it was last changed in 2016 after COVID, and they realized what a bottle online learning was. They put some really strict restrictions on this, what COVID You and I were talking about, about makeup days. You can do up to three online makeup days for snow days, but they have to be synchronous. You have to take attendance. Kids would need to be in front of a computer from 740 until for the entire day. We do not have to bandwidth. We learn. Online learning is not good for kids. Is though we will be making up days, but we have to have a policy that says, if you were ever going to do that, this is what requires system. So the first reading for that actually necessary.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:16
Motion to adjourn second. Take some good notes. I did.
Speaker 23 1:10:24
I listened mostly. It’s interesting. So I have a student that graduated a couple years ago, and a student here, and I’ve never we have seven kids. Most are in their 20s. Never attended a school board meeting. So this is just really interesting to see this? No, no, I I’m on the board of zoning appeals at Nelson, so I’m used to the format. It’s just different for a school board, and we’re a little more ornery on the zoning than you guys. Kevin still the fiscal
Unknown Speaker 1:11:01
officer, yeah, that’s good. Yes, Anna May and Mike.
Speaker 23 1:11:08
Why don’t you take these first and go through them? What is this?
Speaker 22 1:11:22
Jack? Around we
Unknown Speaker 1:11:34
met with her,
Speaker 22 1:11:40
please, but not.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
