By Noell Wolfgram Evans

Hudson City School District Board of Education

March 10

7 p.m.

In attendance were Hudson City Schools Board of Education members Steve DiMauro, Alisa Wright, Mark Dzurec, Laura Jones and Tom Tobin. Also in attendance were district administration officials Dana Addis, superintendent; Phillip Butto, treasurer; Kelly Kempf, director of pupil services; Angela Terella, assistant superintendent; Lisa Hunt, director of human resources; Jennifer Reece, communications manager; and Meredith Zaffran, director of HCER.

DiMauro, president of the Hudson Board of Education, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Students from Ellsworth Hill Elementary led the nearly-full house in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Following roll call, 10th grader Dennis Kuchen and 12th grader Alex Boselli offered student reports on recent activities involving the student/staff basketball game, backpack buddies program and upcoming blood drive.

Hudson High School Athletic Director Mike Chuppa provided a recap of the winter sports season with a look at each team's record, scholastic accomplishments and awards that were won.

John Rodesh, Hudson High School band director, was joined by 10 percussion students to celebrate the National Association for Music Education month. The band entertained meeting attendees with a rendition of the jazz standard “Afro Blue.”

DiMauro provided an update on a February 28 special meeting of the board. At that time, in an effort to comply with a U.S. Department of Education “Dear Colleague” letter, and the policies of the Trump administration, it was decided to end the district's DEI office. He stated that the board decided to create a position of “engagement and achievement coordinator” to handle the same responsibilities. DiMauro said this was an attempt to meet impending laws and regulations, as well as the needs of students.

During the public comment period, 12 residents spoke. Eleven, including four students, shared their positive experiences with the DEI office and their desire to retain that work for other students.

Butto offered comments on the fiscal state of the district. At the end of February, the district finances were up from the same period last year. Butto also shared that while home values in the area have risen, the tax rates have been adjusted accordingly.

The minutes of the February regular board meeting and special session were approved without comment.

The board approved two resolutions to seek complaints with the county auditor against two commercial real estate sales. The complaint states that the intended sale amounts are below the property values and, in turn, can affect the amounts the district can collect in tax returns. Butto stated that taking these actions will save residents tax dollars.

Butto offered a tax budget for the fiscal years starting July 1, 2025. He clarified that the rates shown indicate voted tax rates, not the actual tax rates that residents are paying.

Addis discussed the recent pancake breakfast where 2,500 pancakes were served in a 4-hour span. He also announced that the high school was selected as one of the first in the nation to have an opportunity to produce the musical “Hadestown.”

Addis told the board he would be submitting revised 2025-2026/2026-2027 school year calendars because of an error. First, they are undergoing a 30-day public review period.

The board recognized the announced retirement of three employees. Select hirings and pay raises were also announced and board approved.

The board approved without comment a travel study trip for the high school’s Kaleidoscope Club.

Wright made a motion to remove the review of AG 5350, the revised suicide intervention process, from the agenda until a conversation over what it would give administrators the options to do could be held.  DiMauro seconded the motion and the full board approved it. Kempf discussed current school suicide awareness policies. Addis shared what school officials and law enforcement could do in situations of self-harm concerns.

PO 1422.01, PO 2271, PO 2340, PO 2430.02, PO 5113, PO 5120, PO 5131, PO 5223, PO 5330, PO 5330.04, PO 5350, PO 5610, PO 5780.01, PO 6151, PO 8142, PO 8452, PO 8500, PO 5136.01R, PO 6460R, PO 4120.08, PO 4121 and PO 8390 were all approved as policy second readings.

A contract to enter into student services with KidsLink School for $41,870 was passed unanimously. 

Under a call for unfinished business, Addis clarified that the position of engagement and achievement coordinator was not an administration role. Jones asked that a list be prepared of current tax abatements and the time until each expires. Zaffran shared that enrollment is open for the Safety Town and new softball clinics.

The meeting adjourned for the board to move into executive session.

The following is an AI generated transcript of the meeting, which we understand will contain errors. Please don't rely on this transcript.

Speaker 1  0:00  
I would like to call the Hudson City School District Board of Education regular meeting to order this evening, March 10, 2025 at seven o'clock pm here at the Gerald M reeds Media Center here at Hudson High School, our meeting is being held in open session according to a high Revised Code 120, 1.22. Our meeting is also available via live stream. And for anyone wishing to view it at a later date, you can go to www Hudson. Dot, K twelve.oh.us. And then click on our District Board of Education. Watch board meetings. Um, at this time, I'd like to ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, which is by a number of our students from elsewhere built we have the pleasure to be joined this evening by Reagan Ben grace and Mallory I pledge allegiance to

Unknown Speaker  1:00  
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

Speaker 2  1:04  
of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation Under God and witnesses liberty and justice for all the I'd like

Speaker 1  1:36  
to extend another thanks to our Ellsworth Hill students for coming here this evening to lead us in the pledge. I also want to say thank you to their parents for sharing their gifts with us this evening, and thanks again for coming next. I would like to ask Mr. Bucha to call

Speaker 3  1:55  
Mr. Tomorrow present, Mr. Dessert, Mrs. Jones

Speaker 4  2:00  
present, Mr. Jovid. Next item, four student representatives. We have any student representatives.

Speaker 5  2:16  
I'm Dennis Gutierrez. I'm in 10th grade, and on March 4 Student Government e board members and advisors attended the hacker Regional student council conference. Other schools in attendance included South Highland Copley and Kent. Topics included leadership, event planning, fundraising, social media and more, and we've already begun discussing ideas we can implement at HHS. We wrapped up winter spirit week on March 7, Seventh by recognizing senior athletes and crowning a winner of the school wide Rock Paper Scissors competition. The annual staff versus student basketball game did not disappoint the separating a 28 to 18 victory over the seniors.

Speaker 6  2:58  
And then, hi everybody. I'm Alex bozelli and I'm a senior in student government, I just kind of want to say our next important event is the winter blood drive, which is technically the spring blood drive. Now it's the winter one again, postponed. There's a snow day that day, so that'll be on Wednesday, March 19. We welcome any parents and community members who would like to donate. So if you'd like to sign up, you can just visit Red Cross blood.org and use the sponsor code, HHS. And then the day of the blood drive, they need to you just need to enter through the main office and sign up for photo ID. And then finally, as a part of our backpack Buddies program, we're preparing Spring Break boxes with meals, snacks and pantry items for about 15 families in our district. So that's all we got. If you guys have any questions,

Unknown Speaker  3:52  
that's all from us.

Unknown Speaker  3:54  
Any questions from members of the board,

Unknown Speaker  3:58  
are you accepting contributions for the Ben tech

Speaker 7  4:00  
ladies? Do? Donations or donations of food or money. I mean, I'm sure we would

Unknown Speaker  4:12  
take that all

Unknown Speaker  4:16  
right. Well, thank you so much. You guys. Take care. You

Speaker 1  4:26  
Up next item, five commendations are winter sports updates with our athletic director, Mr. Mike Tupa. You

Speaker 8  4:51  
machu Athletic Director here at hunts High School. It is really impressive that everyone here heard I was giving a winter sports presentation and decided to pass. In the house to listen. So we even have a little percussion ensemble. I don't know if you guys even perform after each sport like we rehearsed, but I appreciate everybody Ben here just to listen to me tonight and recognize our athletes. I'm also glad our student representatives mentioned the staff versus students basketball game. You guys were a bit generous with your discussion, because it wasn't close staff dominated you. Then spent the majority of the day in the clinic and training, and the kids just went back to class. So pretty good week. Thanks for all that you guys did to make that enjoyable and fun. Like I said, I have the pleasure of serving as the athletic director in high school stand before Board of Education after each season, and just truly taken aback by the accomplishments of our student athletes and so many great things that they continue to achieve. So this winter certainly same as so many in the past, so we'll dive right in. Our boys bowling team was one in 12 and finished 13th in this suburban League. 80% of our boys bowlers earned scholar athlete recognition. Scholar Athlete happens when you earn a 3.5 GPA or above. The boys bowling team had a team GPA of 3.95 so pretty impressive stuff from our boys bowlers. Our girls bowlers finished seven and five overall. They finished fifth in the suburban League. Bowling is a little bit different than our other sports. We have a national American division bowlers bowl all together. So there are 14 schools out of the 16 in the suburban league that had both so fifth place out of 14 schools with a relatively young team and some girls new to bowling. Pretty impressive season for the girls Sydney, August, was a district qualifier, and their team, GPA, was a 3.90 and 100% that's everybody on the roster was a scholar athlete. So really impressive stuff on the lanes and in the classroom, from our bowlers as usual. Cheerleading was undefeated. The ladies, once again, crushed it. Youth camps, clinics, some really great connection to our community, led by coach mole and coach Swaney, so huge. Thank you to them, and special shout out to our girls as they continue to support our teams and to continue to be stewards in our community, not to be out down 3.88 team, GPA, 91% of them were scholar athletes, and you see a pretty common theme amongst those scholar athletes and team GPAs, not just in the winter, but with all of our teams. Our boys hockey team finished 15, four and one. They played in the Greater Cleveland high school hockey league red division, which is probably the best hockey league for public schools in Northeast Ohio. So really competitively. And they had a pretty impressive Season, three, four and one in league play, and were bearing up semi finalists. So congratulations to our boys, 3.67 team, GPA, 71% of our ice hockey athletes were scholar athletes. Our wrestlers were 18 and five overall, the new will meet action. They finished third at ohs, a sectionals, and sent three wrestlers to districts, Caden, havens, Luke durker And Jake Clapper, who finished in sixth place. So once again, another great season for Coach caniglia and his wrestlers. 64% of them were scholar athletes, and in team GPA of 3.681 additional note I do want to mention is in a lot of places, wrestling numbers are tough. Wrestling is not easy. It's hard. Our athletes work really hard. Numbers are dwindling. At a lot of schools, we have over 50 kids wrestling, and a lot of that is in thanks to our coaches leading the way so providing opportunities for all of those kids in all weight classes in a sport that is not easy. So great job by those coaches. Our boys basketball team went seven in 17, one in 13 in suburban league action, and they were district runners up, so played well at the end of the season, 3.85 team, GPA, 79% of them were scholar athletes. Our girls basketball team had one of the best seasons in school history, and I believe the best season since 2003 2004 they went 21 and five. They were 11 and three in suburban league play and earned a share of the suburban league championship. They were district champions. They were regional runners up. Paige McCormick was the suburban league national division Player of the Year. She said a. Single season record for three pointers made with 67 and she set a single game record with three pointers made with seven. And I think she did that twice this season. Coach Lawler was the suburban league coach of the year. He was the Tri County Coaches Association Coach of the Year, and he was the Ohio high school basketball coaches association district three, coach of the year. So pretty monster season for those girls basketball players. Incredibly fun to watch, and quite a ride they took us on. So there is Aaron McCormick, your player of the year, Coach Lawler with some of the seniors, our coach of the year. Additionally, Coach Lawler reached a milestone towards the end of the season, achieving 250 career wins, which speaks his commitment and longevity to the program. So high school athletics nowadays, it's hard to retain coaches. It's even harder to retain really good coaches. So super fortunate, so for everything that Dennis has done in his time leading the explorers, district champions again, and regional runners up. So once again, just a tremendous season for our girls team. And not to be outdone, I'm not good at math, but they have a 4.11 GPA out of a four point scale, so they're really smart too, which might make sense as to why they won so many basketball games. So tremendous season by those girls. Boys swimming and diving with me. Boys, swimmers and divers, come on up you.

Speaker 8  11:45  
So once again, an awesome season for our boys. Suburban League, runners up. They went seven and one in dual meet action. They were also runners up at the suburban league swim tournament. They were O, H, s a, a sectional champions. They were, oh SAA, district champions, and I believe they earned that district title in dramatic fashion, in with a relay swim at the end to take the title. So pretty impressive. Ivan Reaver was a state qualifier in the 500 free and the 200 im Aiden the chibo was a state qualifier the 100 rest and the 200 im the 200 medley relay team qualified for state championships with Jason bueno, Ivan Reaver Sam, Steve nott and Noah Bartlett, our 400 free relay team with Noah Ivan Sam and Aiden also qualified for state championships. And then, thanks to their performances at the state meet, Aiden and Ivan were earned all Ohio honors. We also had a number of athletes earn academic all Ohio recognition thanks to their efforts in the pool and in the classroom. Ben matava, achigo, Jason Thompson, Sam Steven, Noah Bartlett, Luke hansack and Ivan Reaver also earned academic all Ohio recognition, and many of those young men also are in academic all America. I think that's just a fancy way of saying you're really, really smart and really good at swimming. Ben matawa, England, Chivo, Jason Thompson, Sam Steve not Noah Bartlett and Ivan Reaver, so once again, the boys were sectional and district champions. Head to all Ohio selections in Hayden and Island and a team GPA of 3.95 78% of them scholar athletes. Appreciate being here this evening. Incredibly proud, year in and year out of our swim program, the bar is incredibly high. Those guys work their butts off and super thankful for the way that they lead in the classroom and in the pool. So special. Congratulations and thank you to all of our swimmers. You

Speaker 8  14:11  
record of eight oh suburban league champions. OHS a sectional champions. They were district champions. Matt Davis was a suburban league coach of the year. Ava so we was a state qualifier in the 200 free. Sarah Baylor was a state qualifier in the 200 im and the 100 back. Madeline drlshagen, 50 free, state qualifier and the 100 fly. I believe Hudson High School was the only division one school in the state of Ohio that sent three divers to the state championship needs so Coach Miller doing an incredible job with our divers, and many thanks to him, Ella Lonnie, Hailey, Benoit and Lauren Seymour all headed to state championship diving, and then our 204 100 relay teams also punched their team. Into the state meet, Madeline Dolce, Navis, wiki, Nicole Pavlick and Sarah Baylor, four girls on the same two teams, thanks to their performances at state championships, Ella earn all Ohio recognition in diving. And then our 400 free relay team of Madeline Ava Nicole and Sarah were also all Ohio selections. Ava Sawicki, Lauren Seymour grace, Swartz and druber, Sarah Baylor, Hannah Clark and MENA Karis were academic all Ohio selections thanks to their work in the classroom. And then some more, all America academic selections. Ava Sawicki, Lauren Seymour grace, Swartz and Jupiter, Sarah Baylor, Hannah Clark and Mina Karis so girls equally impressive to our boys season and continue to pile up the awards so many thanks for all that our athletes do, our coaches, our families, our swimmers, as our swim program continues To be second to none, once again, a 4.0 GPA, for some girls who work really hard in the pool and even harder in the classroom, 89% of them scholar athletes. So special congratulations to our girls swim and dive team this season. Gymnastics Girls, you're here. Some of us are here. Come on up Mr.

Unknown Speaker  16:30  
Rode, they were supposed to play the theme where we practiced.

Unknown Speaker  16:39  
I don't. I it.

Speaker 8  16:49  
I don't think I'm overstepping if I say maybe one of the greatest gymnastics season in that's nice with history. These girls won seven tournaments. I believe they went to 10 invitationals this season. Seven of them, they won. I think the couple we might not have some other school in our conference on those ones, and we finished second, but we won't mention their names. There were suburban league runners up. Mag still in is our assistant coach, and she was selected as the Assistant Coach of the Year in the Northeast district. Casey Pagani, our head coach was selected as the coaches association and state Coach of the Year in Ohio. So not a bad coach and staff. Girls this season, we were district champions for the first time in school history, we are northeast gymnastics district hosts, because A, we do a really good job, and B, I don't think anyone else is crazy enough to do it, because it's a whole lot of work setting up for gymnastics in our gyms over the weekend. So huge. Thank you to our parents, huge. Thank you to our coaching staff, huge. Thank you to our maintenance staff, huge. Thank you to our girls for everything they did to host another amazing meet. But I think we take on that challenge each year, or in a few of the past years, because it allows our gymnastics team an opportunity to compete in their own gym, in front of their own fans, in front of their own family, which is something that most gymnastics teams don't get to do, and when they kind of turn that into a district title, and at the same time turn in the highest score in school history, 140 6.9 I would say it's all pretty much worth it. So congratulations, ladies, they went on to the state meet to finish in fourth place in the state of Ohio, along with qualifying as a team. Day two at the state championships is individual competition. So Jillian Gayle on floor all around vault and bars. Shea brosi on bars. Isla Junko on vault and floor. Payton Frank and Jenna MC Baylor all around were all individual competitors at the state championship on Sunday after their team competition on Saturday. And then, thanks to their individual performances, Lila Payton, Genevieve, Shay Claire and Jillian were all selected, or all earned all Ohio honors based on their finish. So once again, first district championship for gymnastics in school history and gymnastics shape a little bit different than other sports, a lot of sports, sectionals, districts, regionals, gymnastics. It's all or nothing at districts. So they are competing over a two day span against 64 6866 eight and 66 maybe we'll say 70. That sounds 70 schools from all over. So number one on day two is pretty impressive. Coach still in once again, district coach of the year, Coach Pagani State coach of the year. And there are gymnasts at. Championships once again, Genevieve, Shay, Payton, Jillian, Lila and Claire selected as all Ohio. Once again, 4.03 GPA, incredibly impressive. And 93% scholar athletes. Crazy impressive girls, I think you're in and you're out. Our gymnastics team stands for, symbolizes, represents so much that high school sports should be about, seeing the camaraderie, seeing the individual competition, but also attributing to a team score. See how one another support, and not even just Hudson girls, but supporting other girls from your gym or from the area that you're close with and that you train with and that you work with, so just embodies everything that high school athletics should be allowing tremendous display of sportsmanship. And on top of that, you are all incredibly talented. So special congratulations to our gymnast and thank you so much for all you do.

Speaker 8  21:10  
Winter season in review, we had 237 athletes participate. 84% of them were scholar athletes. The average GPA for a winter athlete was 3.90 that's pretty good. We had two suburban league champions, two sectional champions, four district champions, one regional runner up, three state qualifying teams, a player of the year, four coaches of the year, 25 individual state qualifiers. 13 all Ohio athletes, 12, academic all Ohio honorees, and six academic all America honorees, none of that happens. None of that is possible without our athletes, without our families, without our community, without our coaches, without the support from our Board of Education, without the support from our central office, without the support from our admin team, our custodial staff and maintenance crew who work around the clock to get our facilities ready and then clean them up afterwards, our game day staff, which includes our ticket takers, our announcers, our scoreboard operators, our score keepers, our transportation department, getting us to and from events, our concession volunteers, our athletic Booster Club and everything that they do, our coaches, our athletes, Our families, Mr. Fauci, who serves as our site manager, mrs. Murray, our athletic secretary, and then Mr. Ken Clemens and Mr. Dennis Hensley, who spend an incredible amount of time taking some pretty amazing pictures of our athletes and miss very few of our events. So a huge thank you to all of those people, and a huge thank you, as always, to our board of education for their continued support. Obviously incredibly fortunate to provide opportunities for our kiddos to do some amazing things. So thank

Speaker 1  23:02  
you. Thank you, Mr. Chupa, as always, I just want to congratulate our student athletes for what they do on the alley, on the court, or whatever the the venue happens to be, as well as in the pool. Not only are they demonstrate the hard work and persistence, but they also demonstrate how well rounded they are as student athletes as well as many of them do so much within our community and within their own family. So just want to commend all of them, and want to thank our entire administrative team, our entire staff, as well as the families for everything that you do to support our athletics, and how do you enable us to be able to offer all of these opportunities to our students?

Speaker 1  23:58  
Next up, we have our educational focus. And although Mr. Chupa thought that this was part of his update, it is not. This is part of the National Association for Music Education Month. We are honored to be joined by our Hudson high school band director, Mr. John reddish and our students. You thank

Speaker 9  24:24  
you very much. Appreciate you giving us that introduction. My name is John rodish, and I'm so proud to be the new Director of Bands here for Hudson City Schools. First and foremost, thank you for the opportunity to perform tonight in celebration of music in our schools. Month. It's a decades long designation for the month of month of March by the National Association for Music Education and more recently, by proclamation from the Governor, Governor dewine. It's an honor to share these students, passions and skills with you tonight, and we're especially proud to be here representing the nearly 450 students across three different. School buildings who are involved in our Hudson band program. The Hudson band was founded in 1935 and is one of our oldest school organizations. And while the program turns 90 years old this coming fall, we are experiencing a rebirth of sorts in our post pandemic world, thanks to strong support from stakeholders in our community, our Hudson High School Music Association and our district administration, not to mention a co teaching model rooted in best practices and an enthusiasm from our young people that I personally find day to day to be pretty infectious. The Hudson band program is on an upward trajectory with continued growth in both our middle and high school bands next year, the timing of tonight's presentation couldn't be better, because we're also gearing up to participate in the Ohio music education Association's adjudicated event this Friday night at Cuyahoga Falls. Our high school band students, as part of the concert bands will perform selections for feedback and a rating from a panel of state sanctioned judges, and we're happy to say that for the first time in school history, every band student at Hudson High School will participate, whether they're a member of our advanced Wind Ensemble or the supply bands. We've been working very hard to prepare for that event, and we look forward to representing our school district and community with pride. If you're interested in supporting us, this coming Friday, at Iowa Falls, our Symphonic Band, on the direction of John Burrington and Jacob Moore, performs at five o'clock, and our wind ensemble performs at 815 thank you again for your continued support, which helps make all of this possible. It really takes a village to build, sustain and support a healthy band program, and we're very fortunate to have that team effort here for Hudson City Schools and so to commemorate Music In Our Schools month, and thank our Board of Education for your continued advocacy, we have a percussion ensemble performance tonight of a jazz standard called Afro Blue. Here's our Hudson High School percussion On

Speaker 9  30:00  
And if it's all right, before we leave, we'd love to introduce the members of the ensemble. Hi, my name

Unknown Speaker  30:21  
is John Neal and I'm a ninth grader. I'm Jeff Corona I'm a freshman,

Unknown Speaker  30:27  
I'm Ben Stein, I'm a

Speaker 10  30:30  
senior, I'm Marie matoke, I'm a sophomore, Marie slaughter, I'm a senior, I'm Jonathan Seuss I'm a sophomore, I'm Izzy Kuzma, I'm a senior,

Unknown Speaker  30:39  
I'm Luke matoke, I'm also senior. I'm Sam Colling

Unknown Speaker  30:44  
and I'm a junior. I'm Eric Robinson. I'm a

Unknown Speaker  31:00  
junior. Once again, I just want to extend a thanks to

Unknown Speaker  31:05  
our Ben for being

Unknown Speaker  31:06  
here this evening, sharing their

Speaker 1  31:11  
for anyone that wants to use this as an opportunity to excuse themselves, especially some of our students that might have homework and other activities this evening, I will pause the meeting for a minute or so for anyone who is willing to do part of this time, certainly please do so. However, certainly encourage anyone else that wishes to stay for the remainder.

Speaker 1  31:42  
You glad to see that we have a lot of folks interested in sticking around. So next on the agenda is reports and recommendations of the Board of Education. At this time, I'd just like to make a few comments prior to public comments this evening, as many of you know, on Friday, February 28 Board of Education held a special meeting to consider changes to district programs andor staffing in response to the US, Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, dear colleague, letter issued on february 14, 2025 as well as executive orders from our current administration, which aim to eliminate Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiatives within federal agencies and institutions receiving federal support during the meeting, I emphasized several points that I'd like to reiterate. One, our commitment to adhering to our mission to provide an educational program that maximizes the intellectual, physical, social and emotional development of each child in a safe, nurturing and diverse environment, and ensuring that every child is welcome and afforded opportunities to reach their full potential. Two, the risk and concern of losing 1.7 million in federal funding and how this federal funding supports the students we serve, namely, students falling under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and those with IEPs and 504 plans three that our administration has been reviewing and analyzing relevant student programming and positions to ensure that the district was in compliance with all federal and state laws, which is consistent with our long Standing practices. After hearing from our superintendent, Dana Addis, regarding suggested changes to district staffing as it is related, as it related to the letter and executive orders, the Board of Education considered several recommendations, most notable the transition from having a coordinator of dei to a coordinator of engagement and achieve and achievement. This resulted in a number of resolutions. One, approval of the job description for the engagement and achievement coordinator. Two, approval of related personnel actions to change the assignment for an Irene wolferson into this new role. And three, approval of an adjustment to the board's area of responsibilities. Based on this new position, these actions were taken to align to our mission statement, modify the role and its corresponding responsibilities, acknowledge how the role has evolved, to support the needs of our students over the past couple years, and to comply with federal laws and guidance. It was not simply a change in name. In addition, our superintendent explained how the district is sometimes faced with challenges and new laws, or the interpretation of laws, in this case, both at the state and federal level, and how we would continue. In consultation with legal counsel to look at any program and then might favor or disfavor students based on race to ensure compliance with the law and make changes as needed. The Board of Education in our district is aware of the various opinions and perspectives within our community and beyond, including social media posts and dialog circulating on Facebook and X regarding our district, as I stated in the

Speaker 11  35:26  
past, our mission has been and will continue

Speaker 1  35:29  
to be the North Star of this board as we serve the educational needs of nearly 4700 students from pre K through 12th grade each year within the Hudson Community, I believe that we all take pride in our tradition of academic excellence, as well as being among the top rated schools throughout the state of Ohio. I also hope and I pray that everyone remains committed to working tirelessly to ensure that every child, and I mean every child, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, socio economic, socio economic, background or ability, is welcomed and afforded opportunities to reach their full potential and become the best version of themselves.

Unknown Speaker  36:23  
With that, I

Speaker 1  36:25  
would like to move to Item eight, public comments concerning agenda and non agenda items. Is there anyone wishing to comment this evening? Yes. And will you step up to Mike? Please state your name, city of residence, and Mr. Bucha, who is seated to my right and your left, will be our timekeeper. My

Speaker 11  36:48  
name is Matthew McGowan. I live in COVID Falls, but I am a teacher at Hudson, and have been here for 22 years. And grew up here. I grew up here. I was bullied in these schools, but I was given hope by my teachers, who listened to me and helped me. Because of that hope, I spoke at the school board meeting for the first time when I was 16 years old, in this very library as I left Hudson and went to college, we saw the horror of Columbine in 911 I never forget the lessons I learned here. Those two events showed what happens when people are isolated. In one case, it was tragedy perpetrated by children who felt alienated on other children. The other tragedy was built on isolation and hateful ideology. These events are history. We can learn from them, just as we have learned that slavery is wrong all people should be able to vote, and disagreements are part of a functioning democracy. None of these were controversial statements when I was a child. Poor decisions are made by those who are isolated and disconnected, those who do not feel included, do not have a reason to participate, to be heard, to have hope. Education is hope, hope that the next generation can live in a better world. Hope that we will love our children enough that they will care for what is left to them. The professionals that you employ should be telling our students that they belong, that they matter, that they all deserve a place in society. This should not be controversial, no matter what it is called, anyone who says otherwise is not thinking of the well being of our students. I urge the board to continue to support us as we work to create an environment where students know that they belong, that they matter, they are our hope for the future, and they are not alone. I Anyone

Unknown Speaker  38:55  
wishing to comment, yes, ever

Unknown Speaker  38:59  
raise their hand in the middle of the crowd? Do

Unknown Speaker  39:02  
you need to get right, we need to

Speaker 12  39:15  
get home. Hello. I'm Megan Higgins. My daughter Isabella. Is a student here in second grade at Ellsworth, and I wanted to come tonight not to complain, but to thank all of you and everyone back here as well. For all of you don't hurt to support our children. I know the past two months have been really difficult and challenging, and I have full faith in all of you and all of our teachers and staff that they will support our children. I do. I fully believe in all of you and that you'll create an environment where every child will feel confident and included. GE. I have been under intense early and with all of these negative parts and on social media with the comments our most vulnerable, vulnerable population is at risk of losing programs and the support they so desperately need our disability students, and I know this firsthand because my daughter have a disability, and we have relied so heavily on Hudson School District for so many different various reasons. March is Disability Awareness Month, and so many of us in Hudson are thankful for all the services that you provide and provide for our family and so many other families, the just from our own personal standpoint, from the integrated preschool program, the 504 IEPs celebrating a national disability book week, getting it down when my daughter was in kindergarten, having answering our never ending Questions and emails, as I'm sure some of the teachers here know, and principals starting new programs in sports, which I really appreciate with the power sports. It was the first time we've ever had an accessible sports program here for basketball, and we're going to have football and softball, having Piper's key libraries in all of our elementary schools, where students can celebrate a Disability Awareness Week and learn about disabilities. This week alone, Ellsworth is having adaptive sports Ohio in and teaching all the students how to play wheelchair basketball, and it's been so incredibly fun. And just from a even more personal standpoint, the stories that people don't get to hear is the connections that we make. I'm personal friends with every teacher, and I was in a senior car accident with the developer a couple years ago in kindergarten, and it was a few days after school started and she fractured her spine. I had a traumatic brain injury. I couldn't take care of myself. My husband had to take care of both of us, and she wanted to go back to school. She was back. It happened on a Saturday. She went back to school on Tuesday because she wanted to be with her teacher. She wanted to be with her friends and the school. Ben over backwards to take care of her

Unknown Speaker  42:20  
faith and that my time up. Sorry. All right, I'll let Isabella talk, but I just want to say thank you so much to

Speaker 2  42:42  
everybody. You never

Speaker 13  42:47  
find Owen, and he can only see like blobs of colors, so it's hard for him to like, actually, Like, see things and wheelchairs, like and sleep. Wrote

Speaker 2  43:22  
this is

Speaker 14  43:41  
Isabel, today I'm going to speak, but I but I'm very nervous. I hope it feels okay. I will tell you my speech here, right? I do not want Hudson schools to change. I love my school district. If it changes, it will not request I hope

Unknown Speaker  44:01  
it will be the same, and this would mean the world to me. My friend COVID, he can only see colors if they're our schools. If our schools change, my friend will have to do homeschool. So please leave our school district. You

Unknown Speaker  44:20  
anyone else

Speaker 4  44:29  
wishing to comment? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  44:42  
Mr. Claude, I

Speaker 15  45:15  
Alright. Bill clausman Hudson, Ohio, at the last board meeting, we heard a third grade teacher who testified to the efficacy of the Hudson Pei proactive circles program as the May at the May 10, 2021, board meeting, I asked why proactive circles required a student to answer any personal questions this student was asked. I asked the board where questions may be asked but never received a response. First, let me state that I've taught at an HBCU and has substitute teach for the last three years at Clinton Woodbridge and revere schools. Teaching is a very challenging and rewarding career. It is far more taxing and stressful today than teaching at the college level, or when I attended Barbara schools in the 40s and 50s, my statements are not meant today to disparage the third grade teacher in any manner, but to point out that teachers need only rely on graduates. Need not only rely on proactive circles to prepare their classroom for a learning experience or to vote student inclusivity to fill the board and administration's emphasis on students feeling included, teachers accomplish the same results by just doing what teachers do so well. Otherwise, the educational excellent Hudson is known for would not occur. Teachers maintain control of their classroom by forcing behavioral standards, standards that teach the student to sit quietly, listen one of those when other students or the teacher are speaking and to participate in class by responding to the education material a teacher presents or a student response to. Therefore, the teachers control the classroom as a derivative result of causing student classroom behavior that permits education to occur. I want I wonder if the emphasis on the need for teachers to be overly involved in helping children feel included is a necessary concern. Students should be left to interact on their own initiative or one another. Experience tells me students are social beings and come very quickly to know each other's personality and character. They also make judgment as to why who they may be friends and interact with and who they will not. That is a perfectly natural consequence of the school experience, and very much recognizes part of the maturation process, students make friends with fellow students based on their own values, which I believe were taught in part to them by their parents, children who learned to love going to school by what that school has to offer them. There's no doubt that Hudson School District has that in abundance. And I don't mean by saying this that teachers don't necessarily have kids when there's a really severe problem. I just think children, it's a difficult process. Ben, Ben, adolescent,

Unknown Speaker  48:16  
and

Unknown Speaker  48:18  
what I've learned,

Speaker 2  48:22  
thank you for your Ben. To comment

Unknown Speaker  48:27  
this evening?

Unknown Speaker  48:29  
Yes, the person's

Unknown Speaker  48:41  
back. Thank

Speaker 16  48:49  
my name is Sharon Ivers. I am a fifth grader at Eastwood intermediate for the past 11 years, and before that, I taught and went out for 15 years in my 26 years of teaching within this district, this is the first time I felt compelled to speak publicly at a board meeting. I hope that alone conveys the importance of this matter for all students in Hudson City School District, just hearing Isabel and her mom speak alone will serve me up here. I had words prepared, but didn't know if I was going to be speaking or not. Under the DEI framework, our coordinator had worked tirelessly for inclusion of all students the lessons that were developed for both staff and students have been some of the most influential, authentic and impactful practices that I have incorporated into my daily teaching as I've reflected on what to share tonight, these examples have come easily. To mind because they've become seamlessly woven into the fabrics of my classroom, I've been able to create an environment where every child now feels that they matter, they belong, and that they are home this fall, for example, a wonderful lesson called words matter was conducted in collaboration with our fifth grade counselor students created a poster filled with just kind and uplifting notes, so simple, right? And it hangs in our classroom today. This poster has needed to be refilled countless times as students now can take encouraging notes when they need them. I can also recall a particular meaningful professional development for teachers in our PLC that was entitled a sense of belonging. And it began by ensuring that we as educators felt a sense of belonging within our professional team and our building, and then it expanded to how we might foster that same feeling within our classrooms and our student teams. Now these are just examples off the top of my head, but they resent they represent at the heart of what this work accomplishes as we transition to this new position that I hear you tonight saying that you are backing 100% and I so heartily appreciate under the umbrella of engagement and achievement, I see the limitless possibilities for our staff and students. I've come to view dei as a position of one who supports the interpersonal competency coach, beautifully balancing the literacy coaching that Rebecca rice provides under curriculum while previously focusing on building relationships and maybe making connections between students and staff now we can holistically include achievement as well. Hudson board, I urge you to remain steadfast leaders during this time of uncertainty and transition, our students need you leadership now more than Ever. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Speaker 17  52:22  
Hello, I'm Kai O'Connell, a senior here at Hudson. I, like many other seniors, have had an associate studies class in my schedule all four years. I use history, Mr. Brink world history and history gal here. AP government with Miss palmie and now. AP Psychology with Mr. Carmichael. These classes have not only shaped me as a student I am today, but have taught me the mistakes we as Americans have made throughout our history. What this policy does not understand is how important it is to learn about these mistakes as a not only set Society of regard to organization, but also lessen that history repeats itself and learning about hard topics from lessons repetition, it is terrifying seeing a wall like this for interpretation, but it will not only be taking away Key learning points from students in almost every interval studies class here at Hudson, but also limiting teachers ability to allow typical topics to be approached in the classroom setting. An Associate Professor of Education at USC said dei is a part of this puzzle which makes students feel connected and safe in their schools. And I think the majority of high school is not only events they put across America, but if you're that student,

Unknown Speaker  53:39  
anyone else wishing to comment this evening?

Unknown Speaker  53:47  
Mr. Field James, okay.

Speaker 18  54:02  
You uh, James field Hudson, anyway, as always, our students are the most eloquent speakers whoever comes to these meetings. So thanks to those who spoke. I literally just want to, I mean, there's lots I can talk to, but I just want to talk to one thing, which I've seen having been on the board when the DEI diversity equity inclusion efforts first started, I've seen a lot of references to dei hires or how people are opposed to advancing those who are less qualified over those who are more qualified. I can stay Canada. I can't speak for any other district. I can't speak for any other organization. I can speak for the district. Having been on board, it has never been about advancing someone less qualified over. When they were qualified. It's literally the opposite. It's about making sure that minority students, or those in any way thought to be different or not part of the majority, got the who were highly qualified got that opportunity to advance to their full potential, not be held back by their foreign minority staff. So, so literally anyone we see, you know, when I see that someone must have been a dei hire, it's really astounding, because, starting with our but had been director of di I quite remember the title, but just really highly qualified individuals, and so I just want to disabuse anyone of the thought that we have people who were students, or anyone involved in The district who is less qualified, who's been advanced because of some sort of minority status. Rather, this has allowed them to advance to their full potential. And I got one minute, so I'll just finish with this. Dei stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. And the other astounding thing to me is that there are people who are, if you're anti dei basically, you are anti diversity, you are anti equity, and you are anti inclusion. And so hopefully nobody puts in, sits up and proclaims that they're against those things, because to be against diversity and inclusion and equity is not the type of person you should want to be. So that's that's all.

Unknown Speaker  56:56  
Yes, i

Speaker 19  57:02  
Hi. Mary markson, I just want to commend you on Larry Wilkerson, I have interacted with her since my first career, and she was a gifted coordinator, and she is such a resource and asset. She is so professional, very inclusive, very even tempered, just a asset that would be a shame to lose. And the reason I decided to say this is I have a relative that works for the US patents department, and I have a friend who works for NASA, and both of them without framing emails about wanting to be informed if dei people change their titles, and if you know of someone who changed their title and you didn't tell us when we find out and you'll be fired. So all of a sudden, people that held dei jobs that they got because of how professional, how intelligent they were, are being made out to be a bad guy, and that's very sad to me. One of my favorite places, the sale and Winch Museum, and I've never forgotten, on the wall of that museum, there is a formula. It's an incident plus fear equals escape them. And then they have a variety of things that took place in history, the Holocaust, McCarthy era, where everybody was being accused of being communist, and when we obliterated a country because we didn't believe them that didn't have any nuclear weapons, just to find out that they really didn't. And you know, it makes me wonder, this is an unprecedented time. At some point in the future, is there going to be on that list in 2025 here led to diversity, equity and inclusion, people being State Building, transgender, different, you know, groups of people. And I don't think that because someone held a job in diversity, equity, inclusion, and that we are, we always based on federal mandate to eliminate that, that they should be eliminated at all. So, you know, good job. I Josie Lee. I'm

Speaker 20  59:35  
also a senior. I just kind of put these notes together, so I hope they make sense, but the previous speaker commended Mrs. Wilkerson, and I would like to do the same. She was my teacher in seventh grade. I believe that was the last year that she was teaching at middle school. And I do not remember much about seventh grade. It was COVID. I ended up having to go online, but I do remember that Mrs. Wilkerson taught me a lot about being a big. Person. I learned how to cope, I learned how to include others, and I learned how to just be, I think, a generally and genuinely kind person, overall and even throughout my growth, not only physically, but mentally. And throughout school, she has actually stayed relevant to me. Last year I ended up having some really nice conversations with her for a school project. But she has never forgotten about me. She's always been there for me, even though, you know I don't see her often, but I know I have a place in her office, so even in this time, that is just so difficult for her, this difficult for all of us, I think that she is the community strong. And I would like to also say that there's other programs at Hudson high school that I participate in that I think are extremely important to our community and hopefully will not be affected, including service learning, which is program which hopefully most of you know about, where we go out into our community and other communities to help others. I am at a food pantry right now, but I've worked with children at schools in Akron, and I really hope that this program doesn't go under fire for trying to be inclusive. And again, I'm going to use the word time for others. I'm also part of explore buddies, where I go to kindergarten and work with one student. So just I would like to say that these programs have been very special to me. I think that they've built me and kind of shaped me into the person who I am today, which is hopefully a good one. So yeah, I would hope that these programs do not go under too much fire and can remain as they are. Thank you. Anyone else

Unknown Speaker  1:01:52  
wishing to comment probably like in the eighth row? Yes. So

Speaker 21  1:02:07  
hi. My name is Sherry Loeffler here in Hudson. I'm a mom of three, a second grader, a rising kindergartner and a three month old. I've never been to a board meeting, and I didn't prepare any comments, but I just wanted to say it is of the utmost importance to me and my husband that our kids are raised to understand the value and the benefits and the joy of diversity, equity and inclusion, and while I understand the need now to adapt the program and the role to protect our important funding, I have to say I was bolstered when we decided to raise our kids here by the presence of a dei program. And I hope that I take comfort in your words that we will continue to support all students and up those values. So thank

Unknown Speaker  1:03:18  
you. Next is the person in the back row, still interested? Yes.

Speaker 22  1:03:29  
Jeff Carter, I'm a junior Garrett Hudson, and first I want to specifically touch on the topic of inclusion. Growing up in elementary school, I will be the first to admit I was a bit of an odd child, but in a lot of ways, that led to me being left out of activities. Kids would tell other kids I was weird, and sometimes when it was up to other students, I would not necessarily get included. But because of the inclusion programs we had here at the elementary schools, a lot of the times, kids were forced to include me, and that led me to making some legitimate friends and teaching me how to really interact better with other students, and without that being mandatory, without the school like mandating inclusion in classes and making sure no one was left out, I likely would not have some of the friends I have today, and I likely would have been far more socially behind than I was. Now, I would also like to say I'm a current AP gov student, and my AP gov teacher is amazing teachers. I consider myself a government buff for the class, but I have learned far more than I thought I put in it, and recently, there have been students openingly criticizing this teacher wondering if he's qualified, saying he's indoctrinating students simply because he teaches the truth, teaches the thoughts of the country, and if indoctrination means teaching the truth and teaching the true history of this country, I hope we continue his dei policy. I. Cloud board for supporting them.

Speaker 23  1:05:11  
Anyone else wishing to comment this evening? Person back near the guest? Yes, hi,

Unknown Speaker  1:05:32  
community here at Spring

Speaker 24  1:05:35  
birds, participated or attended school board meeting, but I thought it was important to do so my family, extended family, is very diverse. I grew up in Korea, which is a very diverse community, and it is really important that my kids are raised in a school system that supports those values of diversity, equity and inclusion. It is a fundamental of importance that we create an environment where students regard the ability, have the ability to feel respected and supported, and are able to reach their full potential, which dei ensures that every student, regardless of their race, gender, ability, are made to feel valuable and seen. It gives them the access to the same opportunities and gives them the accommodations and support that they can thrive alongside all of their peers. We need this to ensure that no one is marginalized or excluded and they're given the tools that they need to succeed. It's really important for them, and I'm trying to teach my sons this, the have the empathy and to understand that through this, they can work together and learn from each other and develop and become more open minded. And instilling this helps break down the stigmas that they're seeing around them in building mutual respect and kindness that they will carry through them in their lives and into their work and into our communities. And in the end, this will help our society and it's critical to foster the inclusivity, inclusivity and prepare the students for the diverse world that they're going to see once they leave Hudson. And so if we don't do our job here in the schools, once they get out into college, into the workforce, they're not going to be prepared for all of the different people they meet in all of the different situations that they encounter, so we need these programs to help them be ready for Everything that they're going to see and experience. Thank

Speaker 23  1:08:22  
you. Anyone else wishing to comment this evening? Yes,

Speaker 25  1:08:40  
good morning. Woman Hudson, when someone has misled you with half truths and propaganda, what's the likelihood that on the next big issue, that same person will tell you the truth. When lobbying for the last Levy, the district falsely implied enrollment hadn't declined. The truth is, enrollment declined over 1000 students since its peak. Declined over 500 students prior to the last Levy, and lost over 100 kids last year alone. A year ago, we were misled again when superintendent Addis allowed an 18 year old alleged rapist of a nine year old boy to attend both class and sports, but that notifies students, parents or staff, this was done while falsely implying the decision to allow him on campus wasn't Mr. Abbas's. It was his choice, and board approved at the last meeting, I played a recording of a mom describing how benevolent racism, racism practice with good intent, undermined her self esteem additional and is undermining his self esteem today Via dei and social emotional learning, this board administration denies cracks in benevolent racism, but in previously recorded meetings, you stated race would be used as a criteria to hire the district's dei website now pulled, made it clear dei was in curriculum and teachers approach. To children, the recent US Department of Education's Dear Colleague letter states, at its core, the test is simple. If an educational institution treats a person of one race separately than it treats a person of another race because of that person's race, educational institution violates the law. The deadline passed for schools to renew all racism or lose federal funds has passed. Hudson has 1.7 million on the line. In response, this board eliminated the DEI coordinator position, created a new $105,000 administrator position, and gave that job to the DEI coordinator with no other candidates interviewed when asked on the DEI coordinators, title change and elimination of dei will impact teachers and students in classrooms. Mr. Adam said he's talking with teachers. No specifics were given. He stated the district will continue to meet the needs of all students. Yet today, 10% one in 10, Hudson elementary kids, are not proficient in math, and 13% are not proficient in reading. When these four test results were published, we were only told Hudson's a five star district, we're not told how many kids are struggling for, how much families rely on outside academic tutors, for how much is spent on non academic programs. You're over budget again in two years, despite declining enrollment and raising the average homeowners tax $1,000 over 9000 annually, with less than 600 of those taxes going to the city and the majority to this board, a board bragging about five stars when more than one in 10 elementary kids can't read or do math. A Hudson mom who taught in multiple districts and has a child with ADHD posted to round table about how our panorama survey hurts kids self esteem, saying she pulled our kids from our schools. Her post was removed, most likely by a school employee who's also a round table admin, she was censored. Mr. Addison, Panorama surveys will continue without dei questions. Why wasn't this dei Support Program eliminated as a cost savings? Hudson doesn't need another expensive administrator. We need a trustworthy, transparent, fiscally responsible board focused on academic excellence. Thank

Unknown Speaker  1:11:58  
you for your comment.

Unknown Speaker  1:12:02  
You else wishing

Unknown Speaker  1:12:04  
to comment this evening,

Speaker 1  1:12:10  
seeing no further comments, we're going to move forward with the next item on our agenda, Item nine reports and recommendations of our treasurer to approve Mr. Phillip Bucha I,

Speaker 26  1:12:43  
thank you, Mr. Morrow. Just a few comments this morning, this

Unknown Speaker  1:12:50  
evening, I want to focus

Speaker 26  1:12:53  
the majority of my time this evening on the resolution regarding the

Unknown Speaker  1:13:00  
district's tax rates on the agenda.

Speaker 26  1:13:06  
But before that, I want to just briefly comment on the on the district budget. District budget handed the second

Speaker 26  1:13:24  
the month of February were 32.09 5 million in our cash balance. This is up from last year, point of point 2.7 million. We had some significant monies last year that we're delayed in collections. So that's part of the reason for that additional those additional dollars. I will say that we're getting to the point in the year where the budget, certain budget realities are setting in. And so I'm examining some of those realities, certain things that we know are on target, some some that aren't on target, but it provides a lot of insight as we get we work to construct the budget for next year, and so I'm excited so to speak about that budget process for next year as we're Engaging in it, in a new or, I would say, robust process, and some of these new insights that I'm learning at the present time are going to feed into that process. That's all I will say about the budget. So spend the majority of my time talking about tax rates. So every year, we're required to pass a resolution approving the amounts and rates as certified by the county auditor. This is a routine part of the budget budget process that comes out of the where we pass the tax budget in January, the rates are once the tax budget is passed and values are determined. Been certified by the State Department of Taxation. The rates are set by the Department of Taxation. So as the board will see in front of them, I have the summary of the rates. I also prepared an analysis of the rates and how they've moved over time. And as you can see, rates have gone down. The effective rate for class one residential millage has gone down from 39.86 mills to 39.79 Mills totally expected what we would expect to see if you look at our debt service fund millage, it went from 2.95 Mills, 2.83 mills. So, but if you look a couple years before that, it was all the way up to almost four mills. So, why is that? Why is our bond retirement? Millage reduced from four mills to 2.3 mills. Well, the reason for that is the formula is working as exactly as it should. Values as values go up, rates need to come down to equalize taxes so that taxpayers aren't paying additional taxes. How possible? 920, there's certain exceptions to that, but this is a perfect example of showing how far that can change, so that 2.83 Mills is still collecting what is needed for the payment of our debt service, which is really important. So it's perfect example of House Bill 920 and that prevents us from collecting additional taxes for increases in values. So just wanted to point that out again, there are exceptions to that.

Speaker 1  1:16:53  
So Philip simply put, if our community approves two cents on the dollar as an example, it will always remain at two cents on the dollar. It will never go up to three cents on the dollar. It will never collect more, should not than what was approved by the voters.

Speaker 26  1:17:09  
And you know what's important to that is there is legislation out there right now, bills that are actively being proposed by legislators. I bring this up because these bills are in knee jerk reaction to the exponential increase in in values that happened a couple years ago. We know that that was a surprise, necessarily a surprise, but it was something that was an anomaly. People's home values went up significantly, and as a result, these rates have come down as they should, as they should have. But there are, there is legislation out there to take pieces and parts of the of the property tax formula and change them from to provide some kind of tax relief without totally doing all the homework and adjusting the formula as it should. The problem with these, some of these without getting going into the details, some of this legislation will ultimately result in additional taxes for residential taxpayers. So we're trying to advocate for the system remain the same. It's worked for four years, and we've been in Hudson, fortunate enough to

Unknown Speaker  1:18:33  
to work work well with that formula.

Speaker 26  1:18:36  
The other thing I want to point out before we turn to the second page. Here is a comparison of our tax rates with our 15 comparable districts. As you can see, we are definitely not the highest district on this list. There are districts such as Rocky River Aurora, solid Bay Village, that have taxes, tax effective tax rates that are higher than ours, some significantly higher than ours. So these are districts that compared to us, both academically and financially. So that is handy to see that. The other thing I wanted to mention was, as we move forward, these districts are all in their own fluctuation and in their own levy cycles. So where they rank, this ranking is ultimately going to change. Are there any questions,

Unknown Speaker  1:19:40  
what's the red designation for those other districts?

Speaker 26  1:19:42  
Or what is that? Those are emergency levels, so we don't have any threat emergency the really small tan part of the bar graph, those are pi levies. Most districts have pi levels. Expert, yes,

Speaker 1  1:20:15  
no further questions. I'll proceed on to Item 9b be resolved. Hudson City School District Board of Education approve the February 2025 financial report. Next item C, approval of the January 24 2025 regular meeting and the February 28 2025 special meeting minutes for both of those meetings. Do I have a second? Second, any comments or questions? I make sure the

Unknown Speaker  1:20:50  
the job description of the coordinator of engagement and achievement that that is linked in those special

Unknown Speaker  1:21:09  
meeting minutes.

Unknown Speaker  1:21:12  
Well, thanks for the confirmation. Any other questions?

Unknown Speaker  1:21:17  
Vaccine, not Mr. Pluto, Mr. Tomorrow,

Speaker 3  1:21:19  
yes. Mr. District, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. COVID, yes.

Speaker 1  1:21:26  
Next item, D, this is original complaint against the evaluation of a property. This is a resolution authorizing the filing of an original complaint against the valuation of a real property. Let me just explain this real briefly when there's an actual sale. And in this case, this property was sold, according to the Summit County records, for one approximately 1.2 million on january 20, 2023 however, the valuation is for 481,000 and for that reason, as Board of Education, we believe that people should pay their fair share. And given that there is a sale on record, we are contesting that. Accordingly. We also have item D, which is the same a resolution authorizing the filing of an original complaint against the valuation of real property. In this particular case, property in question is on record for being sold for $3.3 million on February 17, 2023 with a valuation of only 1.3 million, roughly currently, again, for that reason, we're contesting this commercial property as we believe it's appropriate for people to pay their fair share. With that said, Do I have a motion second? Any further comments or questions

Unknown Speaker  1:22:51  
from our you summed it up pretty

Speaker 26  1:22:53  
well. I want to say that this process and in challenging these these will challenging the challenges to commercial property complaints. This is saving our residents, our residents tax, tax dollars we do appear before these hearings, and we are essentially defending the values that are that are driven by fair market values, and the district has saved some significant, significant dollars in doing this, which ultimately ensures that commercial properties are taxed fairly and prevents unnecessary increases to residential taxes As a result.

Unknown Speaker  1:23:41  
With that. Mr. Bucha, Mr.

Speaker 3  1:23:42  
Desiree, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. Chosen Yes. Mrs. Wright, Mr. Demar, yes. Next

Speaker 1  1:23:50  
item, F, amounts and rates. This is a resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county fiscal officer, and as denoted within the middle of page five, we have a total real and public utility value of 1.6 Roughly 1.6 billion, with a total exempt valuation of $190,534,090 and with this change, it changes the the rates for general fund to a total millage of 92.43 debt service fund to 2.83 and a permanent Improvement Fund stays at 1.5 for a total of 96.76 and then the appropriate, or the corresponding amounts collected for the general fund at $65,336,037 that service fund equates to 4,000,621

Unknown Speaker  1:25:00  
Dollars, $281

Unknown Speaker  1:25:02  
and the permanent Improvement Fund is $1,000,592 632 for a total of 71,597,500 or 950 that's a mouthful with that. Do I have a motion second? Any comments or questions.

Speaker 26  1:25:22  
One comment, I just want to clear, clarify that the rates that are actually approved in this resolution, this is how we have to approve them. These are voted rates. These aren't the effective rates that I read to you earlier. So this isn't what people are actually

Speaker 1  1:25:41  
paying for. Clarify that, because you may create some confusion

Speaker 26  1:25:44  
so effective rates are rates that are have moved over time. So I mentioned our debt service rate originally that rates could have been five Mills, but as values go up, that rate needs to come down to equalize taxes, so additional taxes are aren't collected. So 92 would be the full rate tax rate, but the actual effective tax rate that residents are actually paying is 39 notes, and that's because values over time have gone up and the rate needed to come down to equalize taxes,

Speaker 1  1:26:30  
people are paying the actual amount that they approved and no more. Thank you. We already had a motion and a second correct any further comments or questions?

Unknown Speaker  1:26:46  
Seeing none. Mr. Bucha,

Unknown Speaker  1:26:47  
Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. COVID, yes. This is right. Mr. Tomorrow, yes. Mr. Dessert, yes.

Unknown Speaker  1:26:53  
Next item,

Speaker 1  1:26:54  
10 reports and recommendations of our superintendent. Mr. Dana hat,

Speaker 27  1:26:58  
thank you. Mr. Tomorrow, just some quick bullets on March 1, PDL held its 68th annual pancake breakfast. It is their story to tell in terms of the success of that day, but I do know we served over 2500 pancakes in four hours. Angela and I were proud to serve seconds that day. We did keep a list of people who came more than three times. We will reveal that if needed, right? Angela, yeah, we have a high school music spring musical coming up in April. We're so proud that our students are performing Hadestown. They're one of the first high schools in the entire country to be performing this it was under lock and key, double secret until it revealed. And actually the actor, Patrick page is the one who revealed it to our students. He sent a YouTube video and said, Hudson High School. So when we talk about the opportunities that our students have in our school district, this is a small little one that makes our kids feel really good about where they are in our in our fine arts program, and over the past weekend, our middle school musical performed. I saw Courtney here earlier. I believe she's not here now, but I'm gonna ask Angela, just to recap that for a minute. Thank you for

Speaker 28  1:28:25  
sure. Thank you so much. I was fortunate enough to attend Friday opening night, and I'm continually enamored by our students and the talent we have here in this district. It was a beautiful addition of Little Mermaid, the set, the costumes, the voices, the acting, the performance, the collaboration among the students was bar none. I was absolutely thrilled. They received a standing ovation when I went Friday night. I want to call out Mrs. Budzek and Mr. Kiowski, who really dedicated a ton of time and energy into this performance, and really inspired our students to perform at the level that they did. So thank you so much for that they they definitely dedicated a lot of time and energy, and it showed so I was very lucky to go. Thank you. Just

Speaker 27  1:29:18  
a reminder, everyone's least favorite week of the year, spring break is coming up the 24th through the 28th big reminder from one of our huge supporting organizations, which is Hudson Community First, they do so much for our kids, and they are Bringing back Lisa de Moore, April 3, Lisa presented here. A couple of years ago, we had some staff members who felt the best opening day speaker in school history. I hope no one in the audience was on that list of opening day speakers, but she was fantastic. And also there. Is a draft correction for the 2526 2627 school year calendars. I'll be brief. The February calendar day has always traditionally been a pre K through eight conference day. And on the 2526 2627 it was recommended to the board that that be pre K through five, and that was really a process error. We've been working with Kim in middle school, and we are asking the Board to allow that to remain pre K through eight. It always has been. So next year will just be a continuation of what it has been. It's not a real change. It made it through a lot of different processes and sets of eyes, but we've just recently had some conversations with Kim. So I do believe that is going back out for review to our community for 30 days to take a look at it. But that's the recommendation, and that's all I have. Thank you.

Speaker 1  1:31:01  
And as far as the calendar goes, I looked at it other than that change if we start mid August and we wrap up right about the end of May with the same holiday breaks, so there's not a significant change from the past two or three years. So it should be pretty familiar. As far as timing is for most of our families and others within the community. All right, next, as I've done the past, I'm going to read item 10, be in its entirety to acknowledge our retirees. Be it resolved that, upon the recommendation of the Hudson City School District Superintendent, the following personnel action be approved. Whereas these individuals will retire after many years of dedicated service to the Hudson City School District, and whereas these individuals have successfully contributed to the education of hundreds of students during these many years, be it therefore resolved that the Hudson Board of Education commend these individuals for an outstanding commitment to the pursuit of excellence in the Hudson schools, and be it further resolved that said Board of Education extends to these individuals its best wishes for an abundance of happiness and continued success as they enter this new phase of their life in witness, whereof we members of the Hudson Board of Education, on the 10th day of March, 2025 accept the letters of retirement, approve the retirements of and pass this resolution, and then this evening, we have three individuals that, thankfully are going to be with us through the summer and the late or early September, but will be retiring. So it's gene Graham, who's been a psychologist within the district for 24 years.

Unknown Speaker  1:32:44  
Kathy and

Speaker 1  1:32:46  
Lisa, I might need your help on the last name hoopsec, Pepsi, it's close, who's been a custodian with us for 25 years. And then Sheila Pressler, who's been a teacher within the district for 33 years. So just want to again, extend a big thank you for these individuals. Next we have certified personnel that, upon the recommendation of Hudson City School District Superintendent, the following personnel actions be approved, contingent on all certification licensor requirements being met, as you'll see, or on the top of page seven, we have two items under certified personnel. Then we have item D, we have 400 individuals under support personnel. And then we have item E, beginning on the middle to the bottom part of page seven, extracurricular, supplemental personnel. And we have a few people through the bottom of the page. And we do have two volunteers that I want to point out and extend a thank you to. We have Ben Jim and Greg, who's assisting with baseball coach, the boys assistant baseball coach. And we also have Stephanie Watson, who's assisting with girls lacrosse with that. Do I have a motion second, any comments or questions?

Speaker 29  1:34:13  
Just also, you know, I like to publicly recognize our future retirees. I always say to Kelly, we've been around a long time, because these names have also been around a long time, and lots of big shoes to fill coming up. And we'll have a few more retirees coming for future agendas as well, so we'll recognize them tonight, and then we have our district retirement celebration coming up in May. So big shoes to fill, and lot of emotional conversations with these staff members, who have been here a long time, and it's always bittersweet, and they're excited for the next chapter of their lives, but always hate to go, which I think is a good sign in a special district we certainly have here. So I. Congratulations in advance to them, but some of them have several months to go, and they're going to give it their all for these next several months. So and also, as we always do, Steve, like to recognize our volunteers who are giving their their time and effort for no pay. So we're thankful for them as well. So that's all I have. But if you have other questions on any of the other agenda items, please let me know. Thank

Unknown Speaker  1:35:21  
you. Any questions?

Unknown Speaker  1:35:24  
Seeing none. Mr. Bucha may call the vote. Mr.

Speaker 3  1:35:26  
Tobik, yes. This is right. Yes. Mr. Tomorrow, yes. Mr. Dessert, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Next

Speaker 1  1:35:34  
item, F, extracurricular travel. This is a resolution on the Board of Education approve the following extracurricular travel program. It's for the Hudson High School on Kaleidoscope club, a trip to camp I know it down in Green, Ohio from April 5 to the sixth, 2025 and then the support material was all provided. Do I have a motion second?

Unknown Speaker  1:35:57  
Any comments or questions?

Unknown Speaker  1:36:02  
Seeing? None. Mr. Bucha,

Speaker 3  1:36:03  
this is right, yes. Mr. Tomorrow, yes. Mr. Desuri, yes. This is Jones, yes. Mr. Tough, yes.

Speaker 1  1:36:11  
Next item G, this is a policy first reading for an administrative guideline which only requires a first reading for suicide intervention process which was revised, the corresponding material was attached. We also have item h, which is a policy second reading. This was presented at our last board of education regular meeting, and as is, part of our process, was reviewed with members of the Board of Education who serve in that area, as well as afterwards, having the opportunity for the full board, as well as member members of our community to weigh in. Do I have a motion? I actually

Speaker 4  1:37:00  
have a question about this. Can we move in second? Well,

Speaker 30  1:37:04  
I was gonna, based on discussion of the first policy, okay, that for the, AG, the administrative guideline, I think that there. I mean, I, I would recommend that be taken off. So that's why I was just gonna stop. Okay, okay, I just want to say that, and I raised this to Kelly and Dana before the meeting, but this particular policy, or I'm sorry, it's an administrative guideline, it seems to provide for a conversation with a suicidal student as to possession or access of dangerous instrumentalities, and to me, suggests that we would rely on the student response as to whether or not they have access and if the administrative guidelines does not seem to provide for any kind of search or backpacks or lockers or vehicles as we would proceed forward. So I just want to raise that because I am concerned about that

Unknown Speaker  1:38:02  
Kelly, please respond. I was just

Speaker 31  1:38:04  
going to share when if a student would have suicidal ideation, or share that they might be considering suicide. They it's the way the policy or the administrative guideline reads that they might have something on them at that time which, and I'm not saying that could happen, but in general, if we get if we hear that from a student, or if we get a Safe Schools home line or anything, the first thing that we're doing is not taking the students word for it, as much as we're making sure. So, for example, to get a Safe Schools helpline, and someone has posted or said something, and, you know, someone reports that the police are involved, and the administration would be calling the student's family and sharing that and saying, you know, are there weapons in the home, or do they have access to something, whatever they it's so individualized what a student might say. Now, if we thought there was something that was on their person at school in any way, just like with other threats, administrators are able to search their locker or their backpack. You know, that's like the reasonable suspicion again, if it's if there's a suspicion of harm, but I'm not sure if you were, if that answers the question, or if there's more to that. I'm

Speaker 30  1:39:35  
just concerned that to the extent that we can do more than simply rely on a student or like, if there is no safe help, like, if no one else is aware of a Dangerous Instrumentality, and yet someone is presenting as suicidal. I guess I'm asking. Is that reason to search a backpack, a locker, a vehicle? If. Going to put that student back into the general population? And if so, I mean, if that's what we can do to be the most safe, should that find its way into the administrative guideline?

Speaker 31  1:40:13  
Might be able to reference the actual policy. There is policy that allows us to, you know, search and procedure policy. I've had a building administration on that past, but

Speaker 27  1:40:24  
I think if the board wants to pull the administrative guideline to make sure the guideline allows us to do that, then I would recommend that, but I will share with the board the school district and legal authorities have the have the right to book bags and cars and lockers when it applies to student safety and the health and wealth, health and welfare of our students. So I don't know if the I don't believe the policy would keep us from searching a book bag, but I think probably it's best for us to pull it and

Speaker 30  1:40:57  
take a look at it. I guess. My guess is you can and my concern is the administrative guideline is establishing the process by which our administrators will walk through this scenario. And so what is, what is the most that we want our administrators to do? And that's my voice as one of five board members. So yeah,

Speaker 27  1:41:17  
I would, I would recommend that we pull it and gain some clarity and provide that to the board.

Speaker 23  1:41:25  
So with that, Mrs. Ray, why don't we

Speaker 1  1:41:29  
make it? Yeah, move to amend the agenda by removing item G as currently invested. I move that. I will second. Mr. Bucha, you call the vote regarding the amendment to the agenda, which removes item G, policy first reading for administrative guideline, 5350,

Speaker 3  1:41:56  
Mrs. Wright, yes. Mr. Tomorrow, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes, Mr. Tobin, yes, Mr. Dessert, yes.

Speaker 1  1:42:06  
That'll be revisited with initially members of our policy representatives, and then if you can just send a follow up to the broader board afterwards for a pre read that would be much appreciated. Sounds great, all right, but with that, that's been removed. So this resolution again, is for item H, only the policy second reading for everything listed on the bottom of page eight, and those items on the bottom are on the top of page nine. Do I have a motion for that second?

Unknown Speaker  1:42:48  
You can? You can give that to either mark or Tom Thomas,

Speaker 1  1:42:52  
okay, all right, any further or any comments or questions before we call the vote, seeing none. Mr. Guttman,

Speaker 3  1:43:06  
Sue tomorrow, yes. Mr. Dessert, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. COVID, yes, right, yes.

Speaker 1  1:43:13  
Next item, 11 reports and recommendations of our director of services, Mrs. Kelly Kemp, this is item a contractual services with kids link school. Be it resolved that the Hudson Board of Education enter into an agreement with kids link school to provide educational and related service, services for one student during the 2024 2025 school year in an amount not to exceed $41,870 do I have a motion? So moved second? Any comments or questions? Seeing none. Mr. Bucha, we call the vote.

Speaker 3  1:43:51  
Mr. Deser, yes. Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. COVID, yes. Mrs. Gray, yes. Mr. Tomorrow,

Unknown Speaker  1:43:57  
yes.

Speaker 1  1:43:58  
Next item 12, honey and unfinished business regarding items discussed as part of our board of education topics this evening, I

Speaker 27  1:44:11  
just have a couple of quick items that I didn't feel long Superintendents report. The engagement and achievement coordinator is not an administrative position. This is a coordinator position. So I wanted to make sure our community was aware of that, and I appreciate Phil's report on the finances and the amount of money that comes to the school district. We talk openly, and if we do not say thank you enough for the support. Then we will continue to say thank you. I just want everyone to know that in the state of Ohio, the average amount of taxpayers contributions to a school district go between 60 and 70% and we are on the higher end of that. In Hudson, I'm at six. 63% where I live, so 63% of my taxes go to the school district. When you're in a district like Hudson, and you know you're at the higher end that comes with high expectations, and we welcome that this district has been immensely successful for decades. I look at this as we're very accepting and welcoming of this. We want to do well for our kids and our families, and I would say right now, we're at one of our best points ever. Academically in our school district, our students and staff achieved the highest performance index score in school history on the last state of Ohio report card. And another financial component of the state report card that I was really happy with, and Philip made me think about it, is they have a spending and performance category on the state report card which talks about how much a district contributes to classroom spending. And that comparison for us is over 100 schools. I believe it might be 111 but we're ranked 11th. So the money that we are receiving that we're so thankful for, we are using it on classroom spending, and that's the state of Ohio report card source. So I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that. Thank you, and if

Unknown Speaker  1:46:19  
I can just add to one comment,

Speaker 1  1:46:22  
we're on the state minimum guarantee. So compared to other districts, we actually receive less from the state of Ohio toward the education of our students. So other districts might, in fact, receive a lot more than what we would from a proportional perspective in terms of what goes to the state of Ohio within your taxes, we're very fortunate to have a community like we have that believes and supports an education and right, wrong or indifferent, our legislatures put more of a burden on us as local taxpayers. As a result,

Unknown Speaker  1:47:00  
Mrs. Turlock, if not,

Speaker 28  1:47:03  
it's not about that. Is that okay? It's something different. Oh, yeah, I accidentally forgot two staff members that contributed to our middle school performance, Tina Kugel and Jen play tech. Tina is our assistant director, and Jen is our core choreographer, so I wanted to shout them out, and I'm sorry I didn't say it when I would say thank

Speaker 32  1:47:28  
you, I'll feel bad if I don't say Mrs. Jones. And I also went to see the little mermaid Junior on Saturday night, and we thought it was was a wonderful experience, and really showcased our kids, our new middle school, our new middle school, our middle school. For so many people, I met somebody today who's not Ben, who's not visited our middle school before, and of course, it's just an amazing facility, and Dr cockley and the team there are just doing a wonderful job. So it was a great experience. Yeah,

Speaker 33  1:48:01  
I was there Friday night. It was, it was a great show, and very interactive. And there was some stage presence, for sure. You know those students Ben the stage here at the high school a few years ago, that, for a fact, there

Unknown Speaker  1:48:11  
were tears too. Did you have tears on Friday night?

Unknown Speaker  1:48:15  
I didn't mean to yourself.

Speaker 34  1:48:20  
Eighth graders and the director were in tears for their last show. You can tell they really bonded. Great.

Unknown Speaker  1:48:30  
Any other comments as part of untouched business? I

Speaker 33  1:48:32  
just wanted to follow up. Kelly, you shared some information suicide prevention process, and just one thing I want to clarify. You shared something I think it might be helpful for other people. Other people that there's not just training with, you know, middle school and high school staff that goes to elementary because there was a need

Speaker 31  1:48:53  
in that area. Yes, so House Bill 123 requires that districts have threat assessment training for grades six through 12, but we provide that training to all to those that same core group of administrators, counselors, sites, Clinical Counselors that group, and we provide it for the elementaries as well. And we have several elementary age students that we need to complete suicide assessment screenings on as well as at the middle school and high school level. So we don't want to just assume that it might

Unknown Speaker  1:49:30  
be six to 12 graders.

Speaker 31  1:49:34  
Obviously, even one of those would be too many. So we're grateful that we are able to get everybody trained, and we've, you know, committed from

Unknown Speaker  1:49:42  
F LED. It

Speaker 31  1:49:45  
gets hurt.

Speaker 1  1:49:52  
Seeing no further comments, I move forward with item 13, new business. I'll start just by i. Announcing our next two meetings the Board of Education, regular meetings that will occur on April 14 as well as April 28 at 7pm both dates here at the Gerald Henry's Media Center at the Hudson High School, and any other new business or members of the board or administration,

Speaker 34  1:50:20  
I do have something Mr. Deser and I had a board of coffee this week, and one of the questions which I passed on to Mr. Bucha was about potential tax abatement, and he was going to look into it and respond to the questioner, but I was wondering if we could get a list of the tax abatements We currently have, and they're usually for a time limit, where we stand on how much time is left on them. And also, if I know we had some agreements, like with Boston heights, etc, where we still get funding, even though there was a tax payment. So just not a huge rush, but just to understand it, because we weren't super clear on where we sit on those happy Ben,

Unknown Speaker  1:50:57  
I have a spreadsheet.

Speaker 1  1:51:02  
There's actually the city of Hudson has been a pretty good partner in that we really haven't had to approve any additional abatements for a number of years. Most of what they've done has all been within Ohio statute in terms of what they can approve without Board of Education approval. So that's kudos to members of the Hudson economic development team and others who have been able to attract different businesses in and then many of the ones that Mr. Bucha will provide a readout for probably predate, I would say, 2017 2018 so most of those occurred, you know, over the like, prior to

Speaker 34  1:51:46  
10 years ago. The specific question was that it looks like there could be potentially a development going in off of old eight, which would be out of the city of Hudson, but potentially in the school district of

Speaker 1  1:51:58  
Hudson. Yeah, when, when those occur? Anything outside of Ohio statute. So in that particular case, the city of Cuyahoga Falls has within their discretion to offer an abatement within the guidelines, according to Ohio Revised Code. However, anything that extends their authority, that requires them to come for Board of Education approval needs to come before us. We're not aware of anything. However, it doesn't mean that that particular municipality hasn't approved something within their guidelines, or perhaps could be considering something, but we as a Board of Education have not approved anything for like I said, over 510, years,

Unknown Speaker  1:52:49  
any other new business,

Speaker 35  1:52:50  
I have a few things, if you don't mind. First, I wanted to remind everyone that state of town registration opens on Friday at 10am and along that, with the Summer Program Guide, being at home to get a lot of questions about volunteer timelines, so the volunteer form for our students at high school and middle school will be out right after spring break. And the last thing I wanted to add is we are excited to add a softball camp this summer, so we'll have some marketing going out online, Facebook and emails. So if anyone has any questions, they should just let me know, and we'll share those details. Alright, thank you.

Unknown Speaker  1:53:26  
Any other new business

Speaker 1  1:53:29  
Seeing none? I'll move. I would like to move for item 14. I'll make a motion that the Hudson City School District Board of Education adjourned to executive session pursuant to Ohio Revised codes section 120, 122, g4 to prepare for negotiations or bargaining sessions with employees concerning compensation and other terms and conditions of employment. Do I have a second? Mr. Bucha, will you call the

Speaker 3  1:53:57  
vote? Mrs. Jones, yes. Mr. Tobin, yes. This is right, yes. Mr. Navarro, yes. Mr. Deser, yes.

Speaker 1  1:54:06  
At this time, the Board of Education will be going into executive session on one we do conclude executive session, we will be adjourning, but no further board action will be taken at that time other than adjourning the meeting. Thanks for everyone for joining us this evening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai