001Mr. President, I have 5:30. Okay, everybody. I'd like to call the meeting for May 1st to order. Can we have a roll call, please? Miss Landon, here. Mrs. Milad, here. Mrs. Webb, here. Mr. Browning, here. Mr. Steininger, here. Uh, can we stand for the pledge of allegiance? The flag is on the wall. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. I'd like to have a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Please call the role. Call the role. Miss Landon, yes. Mr. Browning, yes. Mrs. Mad, yes. Mrs. Webb, yes. Mr. Steininger, yay. I need a motion to approve the minutes of the Thursday, April 3rd regular meeting and the
002Thursday, April 17th special meeting. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call. Mrs. Webb. Yes. Mrs. Mad. Yes. Miss Landon. Yes. Mr. Browning. Yes. Mr. Steininger. Yay. Uh, next we have the re board reports and good of the order. Jerry, you want to start move down the table that way? Yeah. I'd like to uh congratulate our our eighth grade orchestra. Uh, under the leadership of Amy Whiteill, they went down to the the music in the park competition at Kings Island and they won first place. And so that's huge for them. The the other thing and and we had already acted on it earlier, but the Amy is retiring after this year. So Amy Whiteill, so she's going to be she's going to be missed. There she is. So, right on. Yeah. Perfect timing. Yeah. But
003the uh the final two orchestra concerts that she will be conducting are the 13th the 12th for middle school and the 13th of May for the high school orchestra. So if everybody can make it, we'll give her a great send off as she goes into retirement. So that's it. Thank you. Wendy, you want to go next? Let's move down the team. Fairborn Primary U. They held their culture night um last Thursday evening. and um or actually it was last Tuesday evening I think. Was it Thursday? Thursday. I went to so many events last week I can't keep track. So it was last Thursday. Thank you. Um the the event was amazing. They had some great highlights that feature different cultures, countries with um different foods and music and information about countries around the world. Um
004so we're very grateful for our our families and are thankful for our opportunities they provide for our students to learn and grow. Um, we'd also like to congratulate our Fairborn High School seniors, Jordan Rivers and Jamar Reid. Uh, Jordan will be attending the Rose Hullman Institute of Technology to study biomemed engineering, and Jamar Reed, who will be attending Hanover College to study criminal justice. Both will be playing football as well, and we are very proud and of their hard work and their leadership. Congratulations, [Applause] Katie. All right. Um, so FCS has been celebrating and honoring our military families during April's month of the military child. Each building had special events which highlighted and recognized our military students and families. And I was able to be here for the high school event in which um all
005of the students received a special certificate. Um at the elementary schools they also got goodie bags and dog tags. The and high school students received water bottles. Um, and you can imagine how excited they were at 7 o'clock in the morning to be showing their enthusiasm for being military students. But we were so proud to see all of them come and um, share that moment together. So, we're truly thankful for our military community and the sacrifices they make for our nation. Thank you for sharing your experiences in our school district. Thank you, Stephanie. Would you like to go next? Okay. Um, I want to on to what Katie just said. Uh I also was at Hall of Honor and it was it was very nice. But I want to give a huge huge big shout
006out to the Fairin High School custodial staff who did a tremendous job. There wasn't because I looked there's no little pieces of anything anywhere. It really looked good. Um I've been here in the past where it didn't look so good. So I wanted to make sure to thank them for a great job. Um, also tagging on to what Katie said, um, I attended also two of the, uh, honor our military events, one at primary, uh, and went at the middle school with the water bottles, which was a big hit. They were pretty cool. Um, they were both well done. The school did a great job. Um, the kids were good. The little ones were so sweet. And we had some parents for the little ones. um they just did a great job and it takes
007a lot to make all that happen as you all know and so I wanted to say big thank you to them. [Music] Um I wanted to say also congratulations to our Fairborn Middle School girls softball team. Um they are undefeated and they're a group to keep your eye on there. good talented athletes in that group. So, keep an eye out for them. And finally, yesterday I attended uh at primary a second grade concert and it was amazing. I have to say thank you to Miss Chennowith and Mrs. for their patience, teaching them some great old songs like Tutti Frutti. I mean, it was it was great. Um, the kids were good. It was so happy. The kids were so happy, weren't they? I mean, it it was really, really nice. So, thank you to everybody
008at Primary. Mrs. Burton, where are you? It was great, Mrs. Burton. Thank you. It was [Applause] and that's all I have. I'm done talking. Okay. The uh intermediate like to say the intermediate school uh held an art show and that which featured an art gallery and incredible art was displayed by all. I want to thank Mrs. Gro and Mrs. Baldwin for their continuing that event and I thought it was an amazing group of students that we have. Uh, also congratulations to the eighth grade orchestra who under their leadership of Amy again took first place at the music in the parks competition. That's fantastic. I want to add to that that your students are at the Lions Club, the Lions Club Gayla Sunday night and entertain the audience. It was fantastic. It was really a joy
009to hear them and I thought it helped that whole event go very very smoothly. So, thank you for that. Uh, also I'd like to congratulate our FCS transportation department who under the leaders leadership this weekend uh took first place in our region with the first place to Jordan Parker our transportation supervisor third place to Carla Huffman, a sixth place to Annie Taylor and ninth place to Rodney Mans and this is incredible because we competed with against 75 other drivers from the area and thanks to everyone for that fantastic job and I think it's a display of our skills. commitment and ability to perform for our students. Thank you. Okay, next we have uh district presentations. Oh, forgive me. I got recognition. Okay, recognition visitors. Sorry, moving one fast. Mr. President, uh we have one, two,
010five people signed up to speak. Reminder, uh comments are limited to five minutes or less. You will be timed. If you get close to the time, I will signal you. And just a reminder, this does go on um YouTube, so everything you say will be there forever. And we will first start off with Mr. Pat McCort. Come up here. The microphone, please address the board. Do not expect an answer from the board. Do not expect a conversation with the board. It's your chance to speak to the board. Thank you and welcome. Uh I wanted to come out tonight for a couple reasons. I'll be giving a u report from the uh Green County Career Center, which I am a board member now representing Fairborn and a lot of good things going out there. But uh
011for the um for the other part of it, I just want to I don't know if any of you the group here has ever gotten out for our postseason basketball tournament that we held here uh a while back and um I think we had 15 games both girls and guys uh and was held in the arena of course. But I wanted to come out tonight just to let you know I I volunteered early on to kind of help out where I could uh working with our athletic director. Uh and we had a lot of things going of course with that many people and that many kids involved. Uh so I got with uh Kevin Alexander and um kind of asked him what he would like for me to do, what I could help doing. So
012he he put me um I I met the teams at the door, met the coaches, had all the kids sign in, and then I was responsible for escorting them to the proper locker room. Now, over in the arena, we got a lot of locker rooms over there, but Kevin had uh signs made up for each school on uh on the walls uh going into their locker room. And uh I'm telling you, it was such a well-run tournament. Uh after I got the teams checked in, I kind of roamed around a little bit and talked to the people from other school districts that were there and uh they just showered us with compliments uh as far as the uh the arena itself. But tonight, I just want to say thank you, Kevin Alexander, for your part
013in that, which was a key part. Kevin, uh, he he doesn't sit still long anyway, regardless of what he's doing. But if you can imagine the amount of teams and the amount of people we had in the arena. Uh I think one game we had a packed house and I've never seen a packed house. Well, I did one. You go way back into the 70s uh at Baker, but uh uh but he was just everywhere. I mean, he was if he wasn't taking money or doing this or talking to people, uh, putting the basketballs out for the girls and the guys, uh, uh, meeting with, um, radio people that were there in the arena, uh, to watch the, uh, watch the postseason tournaments. It was a wellrun operation and uh he uh he had everything
014set up going in and he knew exactly what he had to do and what his volunteers had to do. A lot of volunteers uh it takes to do that and we'll have more of those I'm sure. So Kevin, again, thank you pal. Great [Applause] job. Next up we have Mr. Tom Kersh. Whatever you want. I am going to defer to uh Mr. Mike McDermott and have him go prior to me. Okay. Good evening. Uh my name is Mike McDermit. I'm a graduate of Fairborn City Schools as well as a product of Fairborn City Schools with both my parents being educators within the district. Um uh sorry here, but uh I've kind of been beating a quiet drum, silent drum for a number of years like Mr. Kersh and Gayart. And I've had this idea of
015trying to honor my memory just I'm just asking for something small in his memory. I know as time passes with he originally uh retired in 99 uh a lot of teachers have nearly had a complete cycle of their career with nearly 30 years in since he's had retired. So a lot of people uh you kind of become uh lost forgotten and I'm trying to keep his memory alive. Uh I don't know how many how many of you do know him but uh I kind of have a random list of notes here but um my dad was a graduate of Fairwood City Schools. Uh he graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor science degree uh in 74. He's a postgraduate at Antioch with a master of science degree in administration. Uh his first three years of
016education were taught at Mary Helper Christians here in Fairborn. Um he also taught and coached at Five Points Junior High from 69 to 72. Uh 72 to 82 he was a assistant principal at Five Points Junior High. Um and then from 82 to 99 he was principal at Five Points Elementary which is Ohio's largest elementary the second in the country. Uh so he touched many lives throughout those years. Imagine the amount of students which uh obviously a lot of you know Rosie know you know my dad's longtime secretary amongst many others. Um uh once he retired in 99 he came he was asked to come back by Mr. Bob Carter which sure all of you know. Um uh from 2001 to 2005 he served as the assistant principal at the high school. Um he uh
017he was a man of the of the city, a man of schools for sure. Um Fairone City Schools were the most important thing to him. He uh would do anything for them. Um and I don't want to sell my mom short my mom. So my mom has I believe 38 years in uh everyone's schools as well. Um basically what I've asked for and what I started to mention uh many times with several different people around town just just in conversation was I was trying to get something just dedicated to my dad in his memory just so he's not forgotten. So, I guess the only thing I've asked and I've kind of become greedy with it uh Amy and I had spoken and uh we kind of talked about uh at the entry of the primary
018school which was obviously the grounds of where Fairone or excuse me where Five Points was um which where he spent many years of his life. Remember him saying that looking out from his office originally uh he could look all the way over to Flatter Farms because there was nothing there. There were no houses or anything. So, um, he was there from the beginning. Um, but I, we kind of talked about like naming the street, the drive-thru. We talked about Ron McDerman Way. Um, and now I'm kind of becoming greedy with it. I know Thunderberg is a less traveled road than what uh, Dayton Springs is. So if I can ask this, I'd like to propose that we do f like something like Ron McDermott way entry and then Ron McDermott way exit on the date
019spring side because obviously like I said that's a much more traveled road than than Thunderberg is. So uh it's kind of what I'm hoping to propose. Like I said, keep my dad's memory alive. I think he deserves it and I said my mom does too. [Applause] Michael is passing out uh Ron's Hall of Honor uh biography for each board member to view. I will be speaking in support of the family's request. It is my honor as having been asked by the Ron McDermott family to speak in support of Ron and that request. I had known Ron for over 50 plus years prior to his untimely passing in September of 21. Ron, a Fairborn citizen his entire life, a product of our schools, a Fairborn Flyer class of 63 grad, went on to OU and graduated
020in ' 67. His first teaching position back in his hometown, as Mike mentioned, was at Mary Help of Christians. and I was one of his first students. He taught fifth grade and um I'll never forget geography class. My gosh. Uh completion test in fifth grade. No multiple guess completion. You had to know the answer. No no list to look from either. He was awesome. And in fact, um he was my first male teacher. I think uh four out of five prior to that were nuns and then Ron McDermott and that was pretty awesome. Uh it was my privilege to have him as a teacher then. Uh I loved him then and I've loved him every year since. Uh his example inspired my becoming a teacher, a career that I had 42 years in, much short
021than his lifelong commitment that he gave to our community. I am just one example of many thousands who have been recipients of his dedication and commitment to Fairborn youth. After Mary helped, he went on to FCS and the rest is history as told eloquently in his Fairborn City Schools Hall of Honor induction copies here. uh his legacy which is known to many here in attendance and to many of you sitting here on the board are very aware of Ron and know him well. His influence, his reach over the years is beyond our grasp. I believe as there are lives that have been lived and gone on. There are lives presently living that remember and feel and have been impacted by his example. And there are lives yet to come uh into the future long after
022we're gone that will remember I Ron McDermott having been in this community and what his gift was and um I believe that testifies to his influence example and most importantly his love. The man loved me. I can remember uh I was gone out of the community for 12 years. years. I went to Arizona on a vacation and I taught nine years out there and every summer I'd come home, I'd walk two houses down from where my mom and dad lived and I'd sit in the living room with Ron and talk to him for a couple of hours, tell him how my year was and what's been going on and he'd always be so encouraging and supportive. And then I got an opportunity to come back here and then I had an opportunity to be with
023him in the same building uh in the early 2000s when he came to the high school. Ron's testimony is so strong. It's his lifelong commitment career as a gifted educator and a citizen of this town and of our schools. Ron was a guide to his staff, their careers, and their accomplishments for decades. Ron was a shepherd to countless thousands of students who journeyed the hallways of Ohio's largest elementary school. His impact on my life and that of many thousands is a is a feeling of being encouraged and loved and being a part of a great community and a community of schools. He made us who we are today. He made our town better. And not only do we see it in this town yet today, but think about where all these children have gone on
024in their lives, where they live today, literally worldwide. As I conclude, how can one return to gratitude for such service? The request before you tonight is small yet can be an ex an overwhelming response to Ron, his family, and to all who were impacted and touched by his life. and in furtherance. It can be a notice to all who will come that will travel the way seeing an example of the honor we bestowed upon the value we placed on our educators and our children's education which was Ron's first priority. Thank you. [Applause] Teresa, Teresa Gum, Roger, whoever. I've been following people like that all my life. Can I get a break? 35 years ago this summer, um, Ron McDermott hired me to teach for him at Five Points Elementary. It was 1990 and the educational
025world was changing rapidly. The National Teachers Exam was to prove that um, teachers were qualified. American online introduced us to email, eliminating paper memos. The electric typewriter was being replaced with Microsoft Word. The proficiency test was to prove that our students were learning. And the big copers, well, they were being replaced with replacing the blue ditto machines, the ones that left all of our paper smelling so good. Mr. McDermott guided me and the rest of his staff through all of these changes and so much more. He understood the importance of change and set the example for each of us to engage with innovative teaching methods, new technologies, and he supported all of us to think outside the box. All to give Fairborn students the best that we could offer. As we all get a little
026older and we think about the next stages of our lives, it's only human nature to think about what our legacy will be. How will we be remembered? We do this by reme remembering reminiscing about all the ways that we have cheered others on, mentored people through big decisions, and encouraged those around us to embrace all the latest inventions and gadgets that make our lives better. As a friend and a leader, Ron McDermott did exactly this. Mr. McDermott wore several hats, as all true educators do. As a family man, he and his wife raised two successful children. As a teacher, he taught with compassion and understanding. As a principal, he led with integrity and consistency. And as a college adjunct, he prepared teachers for the future and introduced us to the intern program as we know
027it today. As a community member, he helped those that battled the disease of addiction and took part in Fairborn's annual traditions. He was always dependable, available, and a faithful confidant. He always had other people's best interests at heart. as the board and committee members contemplate on how to honor Ron McDermott's life work. By the way, isn't it nice to celebrate and honoring one of our own? I ask that you reflect on these thoughts. Let's bring honor to a man who is a trailblazer for education, to a man who impacted generations of Fairborn citizens, and to honor a man whose legacy generates countless memories of the best of times, the best of who we are, and the best of who we can still be. Mr. McDerman, I know, enjoyed and valued quotes the wisdom of others.
028So allow me to share and close with the words of Helen Keller that I find to be fitting and appropriate for this time. Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere, and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost. Mr. McDermott looked towards the future for our success. He developed a joy in overcoming many personal and professional obstacles. And he demonstrated the value of perseverance. Let our something beautiful be to honor his name. Naming a local drive or a roadway would be most fitting and an everlasting reminder of Rob McDermott and his legacy. As current and future students
029begin to set their future goals and set their GPS, may they be reminded of those who have paved their way. Thank you so much for this time and your consideration. [Applause] state state your name at the beginning. Yes. Jared Smith uh speaking on behalf of the McDermott family and Ron McDermott. Uh didn't really write anything. I just want to give a um a testament of who he was as a person. Um over the years I've gotten to know Mike a little bit. I just want to give like a minute of how I feel and um why I think he should definitely have something named after him. Uh Mike used to always joke with me like, "Hey, just a dumpster named after him and we're cool with that." Um but Mike, it's a little bit it's
030uh too small for your your father. Um when I think of people that are truly of service of other people, Ron Mcder is the first thing that that comes to mind to me personally. Um when I was making a segue and making a career change from my previous career into the realm of education, uh first person that put that thought into my mind was Ron McDermott. Uh Ron McDermott uh was very open to me coming to his own personal home and teach and tell me, hey, this is kind of the things that you guys that you got to do to be a teacher. And as I'm up there listening to other people, I'm thinking, um how many people has McD Mcder uh left in his legacy and uh how many people have other than myself
031has he helped achieve that u goal of becoming a teacher, an educator, administrator down the road. Um and I think a true uh public servant is that of Aon McDerman. Even though our kids in our school don't know it, his his the branches of his impact on people have also affected the kids that are getting ready to graduate here in a couple months. And that's that I think should be a testimony of why we should at least name something after him over at the primary. Um, a lot of my colleagues interacted with him influenced by his teaching skills in the classroom, become a teacher of their own, kind of modeling probably what they learned from Ron McGin as an administrator. His care um for others is something that needs to be recognized and almost immortalized,
032if not immortalized. Uh, I know that There are plenty of assistant principles that we have had couple uh definitely principles that we've had in the past. Ron sticks out not just because of the time that he had as a education 40 42 years. That's a 42 years. Is that what I something like that? That's a long time. Yeah, that does deserve recognition. But if you look at all the people that he impacted, including our students who who had teachers that were impacted by him, you can see how far the branch of his legacy is. So just something to as you guys are making decisions um for this brilliant, brilliant human being that was Ron Mcder. Thank you for your time. And finally, we have Teresa Gum. Hi, Teresa Haddock. Um I have a couple of
033responses from several teachers that asked me to read to them or read them today. Ron McDermott was the living breathing definition of a mentor. He held us all to a higher standard as a teacher and professional. He demanded our best in the way we taught, interacted with our colleagues, and developed positive, supportive relationships with students families. Ron was an exceptional educator. He believed that everyone had a good soul. Even if you had to really have to work at it to find that, he knew it was there. A walkway would be a wonderful way to honor his legacy because he always got a person's attention as he strolled the halls at Five Points. You could hear those feet as he walked and you could see this huge figure of who he was and who he stood
034for as he walked down the hallways. I personally have known Ron since the early 70s as my junior high principal uh assistant principal. He was my principal when I taught at Five Points and my mentor when I became a principal in Fairborn and then a valued peer and friend as I completed my administrative career. Ron was a building principal that set a clear vision for school and encouraged innovation in teaching and in learning. He prioritized student emotional and social needs on the same scale as their academic performance. He worked tirelessly with Wright State and other businesses and universities to bring volunteers and extra resources into a building when we really needed extra attention and extra supplies and different things into the building. He gave so much of himself to Fairborn over the years. This would
035be a nice small token of appreciation for his sacrifices over the years. And to conclude, in Ron language, I'd like to say, "See me." RLM uh was a note that he always put in teachers mailboxes. And hopefully everyone will get to see when they do present this walkway that we will just have words there that just say those little RLMs, um, see me. Thank you. [Applause] That concludes the uh public comments. Mr. President, I just want to make a comment. Uh you know, a lot of you know I had the pleasure of knowing Ron and uh just wanted to say that everything that was said tonight was very well said and absolutely true. So, thank you for taking the time to come tonight. Thank you, Jerry. All right, it's time for our school district presentations.
036Amy, I'll let you start off and lead we have tonight. Thank you. Good evening. We've got a full slate of presentations tonight. So, first we would like to invite Evelyn Brightenball if she would come down front. Evelyn is a student at Fairborn Intermediate School and we wanted to recognize her this evening because in January, I'm just gonna talk really loud. In January, she a fundraiser for her in honor of her birthday and asked people to donate items that would create a birthday cake that she donated to the Fairorn Fish Pantry. And so it had all the items that they would need to bake a full cake. They even thought through eggs or oil, what could be substituted to still be able to make the cake and including sprinkles to go on the cake. And when
037she was all done with the fundraiser, she was able to put together 110 kids. Her goal was 100. So, she knocked that out of the park and she made she made that donation this past spring. She this is the second time that she has run this um project. The first time was last year when she was um in the Ohio Cinderella scholarship pageant as an ambassador and at that time she had the goal of putting together or collecting items for 31 kids and she actually was able to She says she is going to continue to do this because it brings her a lot of joy and we thought that it was pretty fabulous of others in this way. And so tonight, Evelyn, we have a certificate of recognition for you. Thank you for your good.
038[Applause] I had Evelyn's mother as a student, I believe, in both middle school and high school, and I'm not surprised that Evelyn's doing the good things that she's doing. So, good job, Jasmine. [Applause] At this time, we will recognize um or we will ask the senior class officers to come forward to give us a recap on the senior trip to New York City. Thank you for having us here tonight. We're here again representing the class of 2025. My name is Emma Miller and I am the class president. With me tonight are class officers, Secretary Jamie Burroughs, Treasurer Jawan Dit, and Assistant Treasurer Mac Albbright. We have come tonight to thank you for allowing us to take our senior trip to New York City and to give you an idea of what we experienced. We started
039the school year with our annual chocolate sale. The fundraiser is set up so that individuals offset the cost of their own trip by selling candy. In the end, we sold over $60,000 in chocolate. After a 4 a.m. breakfast, we started our NYC adventure with a fairy ride to the Statue of Liberty. From there, we broke up into our smaller groups we called families. Each family designed their own travel plan to visit sites of interest to each member, visiting the World Trade Center Memorial, Time Square, and adventuring through Little Italy and Chinatown were some of the destinations. Families reunited at Planet Hollywood for dinner. And then we visited the Summit One Vanderbilt Observatory and were able to look over the whole city of New York. Friday morning saw us up at 700 a.m. for breakfast and
040then heading to Bethesda Fountain in Central Park for the traditional NYC trip photo. Families then set off on their own for another day of exploring the Big Apple. We saw unforgettable sites like the Bull on Wall Street, Trinity Church, and the Oculus. We experienced riding the subway, walking through Central Park, and shopping at Rockefeller Plaza. One family explored the Empire State Building. My family visited the Museum of Modern Art and saw Vincent Van Go's The Starry Night along with other breathtaking works of art. One of the best parts of our trip was getting to see a Broadway show. This year, we saw Death Becomes Her, and it was amazing. The costumes and sets were incredible. What made it even better was that we got to see the original perform, including Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child.
041They were so talented, you could tell they were having a lot of fun on stage, which made it even more fun to watch. The show had a little bit of everything. Comedy, drama, and even some crazy surprises, so there was something for everyone to enjoy. Our class loved it, and it's a night I'll never forget. Saturday was another day of amazing weather. After the entire group visited the Met, each family set out to see as much as New York as we could on our last day. Some haggled for bargain in Chinatown. Others visited Soho and No Time Square. A visit to Grand Central Terminal, lunch in Little Italy, and shopping in the Nintendo, Eminem, and Lego stores were other popular stops. We had outstanding chaperone who made sure this trip was special for all of
042us. Our class had a great time in New York City and learned a lot. This trip has given us the opportunity to travel to an expansive and diverse city to see what other cultures are like. The annual senior class trip gives many students who would not have had the chance to travel the opportunity to do so. We want to thank you all again for allowing us to continue the high school tradition of taking a senior trip. The memories made by the class of class of 2025 are ones we will never forget. Now, please enjoy a brief presentation of our trip. [Music] D. [Music] down. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Data [Music] down. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Yay. [Music] Yep. [Music] [Applause] Before they get out of here, I want to add that
043they are joined tonight by the senior class adviser, Rebecca Zinc. And none of this would be possible without her guidance and leadership. And I can assure you that these senior class officers when they graduate from Fairborn High School will go into the world and be great leaders because she trains them to do so. So, thank you, Mrs. [Applause] Zinc. Okay, moving on. Um, at this time, I would like to make a special presentation. I had the honor of attending the Southwest Ohio Athletic Directors Association meeting last week with Kevin Alexander where he was recognized as a 2025 Southwest Ohio District Athletic Director of the Year. So, I want to present this award to Kevin tonight on behalf of the um board or give him congratulations on behalf of the board and just add that um
044Mr. McCort has already pointed out what an incredible job that Mr. Alexander has done this year managing these new facilities and all of the requests for tournaments that come in. Um I think everyone in the state of Ohio has wanted to come and play at Fairborn High School. At least it seems like it. Um it might not yet be done. There might be some more this spring, but he's done an excellent job of showcasing our facilities and also acting in a proactive way as we have had lots of growing pains coming into this um facility which is incredibly awesome. but also totally new and foreign to us and presented a whole new set of challenges that we couldn't even have the forethought to try and um get in front of in some cases. So, Mr.
045Alexander, thank you for the commitment to not only our athletic program, but to our students and our community. Thank you. [Applause] Continuing on, we would also like to make a special presentation tonight. Back in March, Wright State held its annual learn local conference. It's a yearly conference that they have held for many many years now, probably well over a decade. And this year they recognized our district leadership team under the direction of Dr. Sue Brackenhof and Melissa Williams for the work that they have done um over the past school year to improve our chronic absenteeism rate across a district across the district. This was very focused, intentional work led by Dr. Brackenhof with our district leadership team, which then trickles down to our building leadership teams and our solution teams within the buildings. And we
046saw a huge improvement on our report card as this is an item that is reported um by the state, but also we know that it is to the good of students because we can best serve students when they're actually at school. So, Dr. Brackenhof, if you would come up. [Applause] And then I'm going to hand it over at this point to our treasurer, Mr. Pho, who has got some information about finances. I was insulted twice tonight. Mr. Browning just said he didn't want his picture taken with me. And I asked the fine people that were sitting over here if they wanted to stay for the finances or they had the opportunity to leave and they chose to leave. So I will offer the same opportunity to people in the front row. If you'd like to
047stay for 15 minutes worth of school finance, you are welcome to. It gives me pleasure to to talk to the board tonight. um first about the uh five-year forecast and then about the uh proposed state budget as it came out of the house. Um first in terms of the five-year forecast um each of the board members have it in front of them um the state law uh mandates that we present a five-year forecast in November and then significant updates in May. Usually it does not change much from November to May, but this one has. Um, in the past, it's sort of my best guess with a little bit of a worst case scenario, but with pending legislation on the state budget, I purposely tried to make this sort of a worst case scenario. Um, I've
048put in some other placeholders in there that normally would not be in there. Um, in terms of overall at the top, we're still showing a proposed uh four mill levy, a new one in November 2027. We've been talking about that for a couple years now. Um, in terms of and it would have been in November 2027, it will have been 20 years since we passed the new operating levy. So, 20 years without an increase in property taxes for operations is exceptional. I show the state budget in there in terms of a small increase for next year with a freeze the year after and then 3% as placeholders. Um the real estate taxes have come in very well in terms of the increases because we're at the 20 mil floor and also the income taxes stabilized
049as well showing small increases. So those show in there as well. So in terms of the revenue we're pretty stable. Um, just as a reminder, we're half locally funded, half state of Ohio. In terms of the salaries and wages, you'll still see the same placeholders in there. We're trending a little bit upwards in terms of our salaries and benefits because we've had to hire a few more people with kids moving in and special needs kids. So, those show only as placeholders after their current contract agreement expires with our associations. And then one major change in there is we'd had this closing the gap plan, the success plan, and we had built it in first in COVID. Um it was a very aggressive plan um to one to spend some federal money, but two to also
050improve what our instruction was for our students led by Dr. Brackenhof. We put that into place four years ago, Sue, five years ago. And we had talked about that we would only continue it for a couple years and then we would slowly decrease it and finally eliminate it because it is a very costly and labor intensive uh program. Um with this what we've shown is um the decision was made to continue it for next year. um it'll be slightly smaller through attrition in terms of the administration has decided that teachers retire or whatever we will shorten up the program through attrition but we don't have an immediate cut off date for it and so I've shown that out there for roughly the next six years as a placeholder only okay because part of this is
051we'll get into it with state budget is we can get penalized if we have large balances of cash or what they consider large I consider their normal operating cash. So, so in terms of if that happens, we'll probably look to to continue that program on and they'll continue to assess and monitor that program to show um its worthiness. You'll see an additional line on there for insuranceances. That is if we're seeing double digit increases each year for the next five years. is sort of a worst case scenario that if we saw 15% increases in health insurance for our employees, then that additional money is in there and then I sort of take it off at the end just in case. Um, you'll see a new line in there, new middle school, that orange line, $2.5
052million in each of two years for a total of five million. That is, I think, our maximum exposure that we might need for the new middle school. Um we're hopeful that we won't have to use any general fund money, but we probably will use some. Um but we're committed to building the building that we want. And also in terms of if we're going to be penalized for having cash balances above what the state says, I'd rather us build something and use it for fair. So we have that in there as a placeholder. You will also see under number 17 for this year, you'll see a placeholder of 750,000. We usually allocate $250,000 transfer each year to our per improvement fund. Um that is used for roofs and boilers. Um this year is we will talk
053about it later in work session. Um but the Park Hills building, our current uh middle school building is in need of new boilers among other things. I won't have Mr. Rodney go into details, but we're looking at an additional $500,000 probably to spend before June 30th to do a purchase order on new boilers for that. We'll talk about that in work session. Um part of that is spend it now and get our cash down a little bit. So, um the cash balances still look um healthy. Uh it still puts us in a strong stable uh financial position. Um, even if the levy didn't pass, we've still we're still on that roller coaster in terms of but we're we're down with cash balances decreasing. But I've sat stood here for seven years and I've shown you
054that same thing. It's my worst case scenario. I'm sort of your early warning tsunami system that I want to show you when we need it that we never go through what happened here in the past. So, any questions from the board? More money for the middle school. This is what we've talked about before. So, the middle school size has been there are some variables in terms of alternates and in terms of some parking lots and playing fields. So, correct. Now for the next part, Mr. Burr. Where's the music? It's coming. What's been proposed by the state of Ohio House of Representatives and passed by them changes school funding in Ohio as we know it in terms of takes away a lot of our current things that we've always assumed for 40 years. And it's very
055very scary in terms of I've been doing this for almost 40 years. This is one of the most I don't know devastating things that's been proposed as it is right now. It will not affect Fairborn schools. What their state of Ohio is proposing is that if you have cash balances above a certain percentage of your operating funds is they will then decrease your property taxes the next year the appropriate amount to put you in compliance. They'll take that money away from the schools. they'll not collect it from the voters and basically could wipe out 1020 million dollars just like that. It puts people's taxes on roller coasters. It puts our funding on roller coasters. We've tried to be great stewards of the public's money and we're accountable for every single penny of it. But yet
056this would penalize those districts that have tried to be financially stable and could devastate. Right now as written it exempts districts on the 20 mil floor. Fairborn schools is at the 20 mil floor. That's a property tax measure. Says you have to have a minimum of 20 mills. Included in that is not emergency levies, is not bond issues, is not permanent improvement levies, is not school district income taxes. So, as it stands right now, this would not affect us. There has also been bills introduced that the school district income tax, which we have, would count towards the 20 mil floor, thus making this applicable to us. There's also introduced legislation that emergency levies would count towards the 20 mil floor. If that would pass, this is applicable to us. So, I wanted I ran some
057numbers. No, not the roller coaster again. We're Now we get the really scary part. So in terms of the blue line up here shows our balance before and as you've seen in our five-year forecast, you know, we're roughly at the top of the top of the old roller coaster in the $30 million range. Um, and slowly going down our property taxes. We collect $21.5 million in property taxes each year. But since they're saying is our balance would be above what it should be, we should deduct $14.4 million from taxes collected next year. Okay? So, our cash would immediately go down. Property tax owners in Fairborn would see a 67% decrease in their taxes would go from,400 to $462. We would lose roughly 14.4 4 million and only collects 7.1 million instead of 21.5. Okay. Our
058balance then goes from 32 million down to 17.6. But then since we're below the threshold, property taxes should go up. We should collect back to this 21.5 million. And therefore you'd see a 303% increase. Don't touch the board. We then the taxpayers would see their property taxes increase by 303%. They would triple. Now don't get me started on what happens if you sell the house and the proration the taxes and the tax year and the calendar year and all that. But in terms of we get calls enough if your taxes go up a little bit, but if you moved in here or you didn't know it and your taxes tripled. Oh, and by the way, that's also probably when we need a new levy because they've already taken away 14.4 million. And now we're asking
059people to increase their taxes on top of a 300% increase in taxes. It immediately takes us, if applicable, from nice, steady, stable, everything that we know, we know where the hills are, we know where the valleys are to roughly decrease us down and put us in jeopardy. And this could affect roughly 600 districts across the state of Ohio. Questions from the board of education. What are the chances of this actually going through? It has passed the Ohio House of Representatives. It has passed as part of the state budget. Okay. It next goes to the state senate for their rendition and then after the state senate first was the governor which had nothing in here about this. Ohio house did this. Okay. Part of it is to lower balances of school districts and to give a
060property tax relief. They don't go hand in hand in my book. It then goes to the Senate and I know Mrs. Gayart has some conversations with our state senator. Maybe she can fill us in on terms of what they said. So the um the House passed it at a or or what went through the House was at a 30% reduction. Um we met with Kyle Kaylor, I believe is how you say his last name, how you pronounce his last name, and he seemed to think that it might bumped up to 50% but that there was still going to be some sort of required reduction in there. They don't know. I mean there there's no crystal ball to be for sure how it's going to end up but he felt pretty confident that that that reduction
061was going to stay in there that it was was going to be present in some way, shape, form or fashion in some amount. He just wasn't sure what the amount was. They realized that 30% was pretty unrealistic and was going to be detrimental, but that they felt like it was going to have to stay in there and they were going to have to work to find a percentage that people could. So, so then so the Senate will then come up with the what they believe and then the House and the Senate will have to confer. They'll have to bargain and come up with what they want and then they'll send it to the governor and the governor can lie it veto stuff as well. And it's supposed to be done by June 30th. And I
062told you guys before, it's always got to be done by June 30th, except two years ago, it was done on July 4th. Okay? I don't know what cash balance, if they're talking about a cash balance as of June 30, 2025. If this passes in June 2025, you're going to see some creativity and some transfers come across your desk here at the June board meeting because we will then we can put money in different things. We can put five years worth of money into permanent improvement so we don't have to decrease our cash. We can be creative accountants which I do not like to do. But in terms of I just wanted to to give you guys a heads up on what it was. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Pho. I'm surprised you did not
063play Crazy Train for your music on the second roller coaster. Our final presentation tonight is going to um be by Pat McCor who will be updating us on the Green County Career Center. Oh, good evening and thank you again for having me in. Uh, greetings from the Green County Career Center and, uh, all of our students, staff, and administrators over there. A couple things. Uh, today was a signing day at the career center. Uh, this is where the kids come in. Uh, they've they've already been in a couple times, but come in and take a look at the curriculum and what they want to do at the career center. Uh so we had signing day today and as I have u uh about 80 kids and about 20 of our students were there slated to
064participate in signing day. Um a couple facts 113 we have from from the Fairborn district we have 113 juniors compared to 57 last year. Now, we knew this was going to happen because of the new building. People want to come in and see the new building maybe for a year or two or three before maybe going back to the career center. And this is what happened. Last year was 57 kids because they wanted to see the new high school. We thought that um the jump to 113 was was pretty good. We currently have uh 57 juniors and 85 seniors at the career center. And um so uh we look at a couple things. First of all, what um what our kids are interested in and then uh how many kids we can get in the
065career center. Currently we have been for the past two years at a capacity rate. No more room in the end. And what we have done and the uh board uh a couple months ago uh have purchased uh I believe it was 13 acres close by uh the career center and we will be closing on that soon and then we we will be building a new building to add to what we have. If you've not been out to the career center, it's a huge building. As a matter of fact, from one end to the other, it's three football fields. So, it's a long big building. So, um we also have a opportunity to pick up some more acreage and purchase more acreage to get us maybe up to around 21 22 acres total. And again, if
066we get that, we're going to be building more more buildings. uh so we can get more labs in those buildings. Uh we have we have had 284 students taking our Fairborn City School classes in Fairborn uh this school year. Now keep in mind and and I know our treasurer will let you know anytime kids go out to the career center district loses a little money. So obviously we don't want a bunch of them out there, but still the opportunity is there for kids and I think a great opportunity for kids uh to come out to the career center because I really do feel that we're losing part of the kids that are out there. We we we have kids that are doing very well in school. Others have are not doing very well. And there's
067that middle bunch that is going to say, well, I want to stay in Fairborn in the high school or I want to go out to the career center. So, and this is this is happening in all of our districts. We have seven districts uh at the career center. Uh, I wanted to let you know as well, uh, our superintendent, Dave Dkins, uh, is kind of taking a role back, stepping back a little bit, uh, keeping his title, but stepping back and, um, trying to get more involved in the fundraising for the career center. And our one-time principal here at the uh, at the high school, Brian Mcnite, will take on now the running of the career center on a day-to-day basis. So, a lot of things going on now at the career center. We'd like
068to uh invite you all out anytime you can make it. Uh come out and have lunch with us. The culinary group uh have lunch I think twice a week. Uh and it's open to the public and we can most certainly get you uh in the career center and and uh see what's going on. Amy, I think uh this Monday you were out at the career center. Was that your first time? No, I' I've been out there. You've been out there? Okay. Uh but uh yeah, she she came out and um uh took another tour of the uh career center and uh just you just wouldn't believe what goes on out there. And uh so we'll have uh more to report to you probably next month. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much for your uh
069briefing. I'd like to look at the budget and finance the next item on the agenda and make the treasur recommendations. He has three recommendations here. Uh do we have a motion to approve these three recommendations? So move's been approved and seconded. Do we have any discussion? You just heard the presentations. Okay, that please call the RO. Mr. Browning, yes. Miss Landon, yes. Mrs. Mad, yes. Mrs. Web, yes. Mr. Steininger, yay. Next, we have the administrative reports. And before we talk about them, can we have a motion and a second to approve those up through item number 2829 30? Oh, forgive me. 36 36. Yep. Yep. 36. Okay. And one of these is uh a rec a recommendation for a recognize uh Lisa McCarthy uh the Cook manager for FPS for her 29 years of service
070Fairborn City Schools. And we need to make sure we get that resolution tribute. Second been moved and seconded. Call please. Mrs. Mad. Yes. Mr. Browning. Yes. Miss Landon. Yes. Mrs. Web. Yes. Mr. Steininger. Yay. Uh, next we have the uh come back agenda here. Forgive me. Yeah. Pre gift donations. There's a Yeah, public preview of the curriculum that says that we need to move and second. Yeah, correct me. Thank you. Thought there was one more section that was part of Oh, that was part of that vote. That would encompass it. All right. Well, great. Good. Then we'll go to gifts and donations. Wendy, thank you. Uh the Fairborn City Schools Board of Education would like to briefly acknowledge the following gifts and donations. Mel and Joan St. $50 for the Hall of Honor white donor.
071The BFW post 6861 bookshelves for the board of education yearbook storage for the Auckerman relays. Mitch and Julie Carol $50. Jane Clipton $50. Jack and Judy Gayart $100. Kurt and Amy Gayart $50. Jamie's Tires and Service, $200. Steve and Pat Winter, $200. Town and Country Animal Clinic, $100. John Barner, $200. And Dr. Jason White, $3,500. We thank you for your grateful gifts and donations. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you everybody donating. We have work session. Yep. That concludes our regular meeting. We'll now go into a work session followed by an executive session. No further action items is expected tonight except