Coshocton City Schools Special Meeting

Terri presented a summary of the current status of the 2020 grant and opportunities for 2021. Mr. Hunt asked for clarification: Does that mean we cannot get an application together by Sept 30? It was clarified that the work itself has to be completed by September 2020. 

Mr. Todd Johnson then gave a summary of the details discussed in yesterday's walkthrough.

Mr. Tad Johnson added information from historical data that supported needs but also mentioned that chillers would be greater than two-ton.

Dr. Hire asked if they could have the information ready for the August 20th Board meeting or if we should plan on a September presentation.

HVAC and Roofing issues at the HS are the main projects that need to be completed.

Dr. Butcher asked if PlugSmart primarily looked at the HVAC or did they go through the entire building and list as they did a few years ago. Mr. Todd Johnson suggested that their visit was short enough that they most likely did not look at the entire building.  

Dr. Butcher stated that he forwarded emails to each member of the Board. He reached out to the Delaware Indian tribe received one email from a gentleman. 

Mr. Clark wanted to know if there is anyone locally pushing to have this name changed. In fact, he said, they love it the way it is. He didn't know if someone was pushing. Dr. Hire stated there was a lot of media attention due to the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians changing their name. He was getting the typical emails he has gotten in the past from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc. They want to know what we are going to be doing. On August 4th the Board received an email from the National Congress of American Indians. From there we have received a lot of comments and emails - there is no real push, it is just in the news. The issue is to figure out what, if anything, there is to be done.  If we were going to consider getting more input, we would have a public meeting with the community to get more responses.  Mr. Clark felt that helped frame it. He said he has had many people talk to him about it, stating that they do not want to change it because of what the current name means to them. Mr. Tad Johnson feels that we need to put this on the back burner and forget about it. As long as he is on the board he will not vote for it. We grew up learning the history behind all of the heritage of this whole county. Dr. Hire asked - at the risk of upsetting others, we should consider how the Native Americans feel about it. Should we be a little more open-minded about it? 

Mr. Clark mentioned that if the name were to change we will need to consider the cost of rebranding. It is out in the community and it is getting a lot of talks. Dr. Butcher said it is - and he is glad. In his mind we are still in fact-gathering mode, he does not want to have a vote tonight, especially with the school year starting. 

We can consider this another day.

Mrs. Kaitlyn Ashbrook gave an update. She shared that the survey ended on Friday,  89% of students accounted for - making choices for learning options.

40% percent of our children chose to go remote. An important thing to consider is the quality of the platform and what will help continue the student's education. We want to make sure what we are providing for our students an opportunity to learn and explore, take assessments. She and Jason Olinger spent a good deal of time researching options. 

Mr. Clark asked if we would start this right away at the beginning of our school year. 

Mrs. Ashbrook - Yes, delaying the start of school is allowing for learning time for our teachers, and time to get the students enrolled, how they can support the students. 

Apex Learning for remote learning 6-12

Edgenuity remote learning for K-5

Edgenuity Pathblazers for all K-5 students, remote and in school learning.

Apex also has a product that will be used for all 6-12 students both in school and remote to enhance the learning process that the District is providing.

Mr. Hunt asked if we have the ability to pay if school would be closed for the rest of our students to be added on at this price? Dr. Hire spoke about the face to face students having support with remote work but our teachers will continue to work with face to face students. This is the maximum - we could have all of our students still use these programs. If we knew we were going totally remote we would make some changes so our teachers had more interaction with our students.

Dr. Butcher asked about internet access for our kids - 111 families have answered they have internet issues. The district is looking into this to work through opportunities so that these families can be provided with MiFi or wifi devices. We also have installed a hotspot in our ES parking lot - families can park, can download the information they need then go home to work on them. 

Kaitlyn also mentioned that our original price was almost $1K per student per year plus workbook cost.  Jason was able to work with a consortium to obtain a cost of $710 per student that included the workbook cost. CARES Act -ESSER funds will cover this year. Students will be able to address content and Ohio standards they need that all of their on-site classmates will be doing. Students can work at their own pace. Dr. Hire explained that we will have specific teachers that will work with the remote students. We think this is the best for everyone to keep our kids engaged. 

There are grants out there that we are working on to support the technology.

We listened to parents' and teachers' comments on the spring survey and feel we are meeting all of the needs of them. 

Vote included in 9.0

Vote included in 9.0 

Vote included in 9.0.

The Board requests that the agenda should be changed to reflect the standard 6:30 start time for the August 20th meeting.