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Board approves contracts, curriculum adoptions and personnel items including $85,000 STEPS contract and ESE placements
Summary
The Brooklyn City Board of Education approved multiple motions: substitute-services agreement with ESC, student handbooks for 2024–25, Groovy Garfus music therapy contract (UPK-funded), Crossroads Health cessation training, STEPS Educational Group contract ($85,000), ESE student placements with specified per-student costs, curriculum adoptions, facility repairs, personnel hires/resignations, and an MOU with Teamsters Local 436 to recruit bus drivers.
At its regular meeting, the Brooklyn City Board of Education approved a series of motions covering contracts, curriculum, facilities work and personnel actions.
Key approvals included an agreement with the Educational Service Center in Northeast Ohio to provide substitute certified and classified services; the adoption of Brooklyn School and Brooklyn High School student handbooks for 2024–25; and a contract with Groovy Garfus LLC to provide music therapy in preschool classrooms paid from UPK funds. Board members praised the music therapy program’s positive effect on preschoolers.
The board authorized a Crossroads Health agreement to provide vape and drug cessation education and intervention training (paid through district wellness grant funds) and approved an $85,000 contract with STEPS Educational Group for services in 2024–25. The board also approved placements for students into ESE programs under ROC 33 23.08 for 2024–25 with per-student costs specified in the motion (5 students at Hopewell at $58,604 each; 1 student at Phoenix at $72,254; 1 student at Prentice at $91,960).
District curriculum resources for Brooklyn High School math (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, statistics) were adopted after teacher and administrative review. Facilities work approved included a Holland Paving quote not to exceed $2,500 for repairs at the Gold Lot and a contract with Emerald Environmental Services Inc. for detention repairs not to exceed $17,036.05; discussion noted maintenance had not occurred since the new building was built and that setting a maintenance rotation could reduce future costs.
Personnel actions approved included unpaid classified employee leaves, acceptance of a certified staff resignation (Kaylee Martin Katz, effective 05/28/2024), hiring Kayla Evans as a summer cleaner (and later as a full-time cleaner effective 08/14/2024), approval of extended-school-year services for Julia Heria (not to exceed 53 hours at $26.05/hour), supplemental coaching assignments, and the supplemental resignation of Kathleen Mack (head advisor, grades 7–8). The transcript records one abstention on a supplemental coaching vote.
The board also approved an MOU with Teamsters Local 436 to provide incentives to bargaining-unit members who identify and recruit new drivers; the superintendent said the district will advertise openings on social media and that the union was supportive.
All motions were moved, seconded and approved by roll call as recorded in the transcript; detailed individual vote tallies are recorded as "Yes/No/Abstain" in the minutes but are not reconstructed here beyond noting one recorded abstention during supplemental assignments.
