001And can I get a motion to approve the minutes, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Saber? Mr. Randy Mershon? >> Aye. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Ms. Di Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Ms. Kwalid? >> Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. And that brings us to item number two, reports and public comments, and I'll turn it over to Dr. Gibboney. >> I'm going to head to the podium. All right, good evening, members of the board and the Oakwood community. Uh my first want to share a milestone update regarding our district operations. So, since our temporary location from 20 Rubicon Road 7 months ago, so since September uh this past year, our team has been focused on finding a long-term solution that balances fiscal responsibility with the safety and accessibility our community deserves. Today,
002I'm officially announcing that on April 22nd, the Open Schools District Office will move to a new permanent location at 400 Sugar Camp Circle, Suite 200. So, again, April 22nd. Um, this decision was not made lightly. For many years, the historic house at 20 Rubicon Road served us well, but it eventually became an unsuitable work environment. Uh, to be transparent with our community about the conditions we currently have a floor jack in the basement to support a sagging first floor. Um, with assessments recommending two more to address significant dips in our meeting spaces. The house wasn't made for 15 people to be having a conference with laptops and computers and things, uh, when that house was built that long ago. Uh, the building has suffered, uh, from basement flooding, persistent HVAC issues, and worsening roof. We
003continue to address those issues when they occur, but we're seeing more and more problems due to the aging infrastructure. And most importantly, the building is not ADA compliant. As a public institution, I believe it is an unacceptable that we are operating in a space that create creates barriers for members of our community, staff, and visitors with mobility needs. Uh, so we can consulted with an architect to evaluate a full renovation of the Rubicon property. However, it became clear that the cost to simply fix the structural issues would be a poor investment. Even after significant spending, we would still be left with an aging facility that doesn't meet the modern functional needs of a school district. So, by securing a 7-year lease at Sugar Camp, we are achieving three things: immediate ADA compliance by providing a
004space that's fully accessible to all members of the community. Second is an operational efficiency. Um, for the last few few months, seven of them, uh, our small district personnel have been working out of two classrooms at Smith Elementary. And while we're grateful for for temporary home, separating our team and utilizing various school meetings uh, across the district has hindered our efficiency. The layout of the Sugar Creek space allows us to be actually more efficient with space than even where we were at the Rubicon house. And then the finally the third one is future flexibility. This 7-year lease is going to allow us to to plan more effectively of what we want to do with a long-term assessment um master facilities assessment. So, as we're taking a look across the district on what we want to
005do with all of our facilities, we'll be able to wrap that in and make more of a deliberate move of what may be best long-term. I want to be very direct. There is an educational cost associated with this move. However, I believe that it's a critical expenditure. The district office is not just office space. It is where we process background checks for volunteers, manage employment, host professional learning, and facilitate district finances. Providing a safe, professional, and efficient hub enables our leadership staff to better focus on what matters most, supporting our students, teachers, and community. So, we're really excited for this future and new chapter at Sugar Creek on April 22nd. Until then, our staff remains available at Smith Elementary School to assist you, and we look forward to welcoming our community to our new space
006when we open. Uh so, that's that's an update I wanted to share with all of you, especially with having such a large crowd to make it public. Um at at this time, I'd like to in invite you'll hear your name for National Merit We I don't know if you got some National Merit students that are in the hallway, but I'll be talking and bragging on them a little bit. But, Oakwood High School, we've got obviously a significant number of of students that we want to recognize, and we'll start with National Merit finalists. Um Oakwood High School is thrilled to announce that all nine of our National Merit Semi-finalists um have advanced to finalist status in the prestigious 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. I talked to superintendents across the state and across the nation and the
007phrase I use is we punch above our weight. Having nine finalists in a 2000 student district is a pretty large feat. So after earning semifinalist recognition in the fall of 2025, these remarkable students have demonstrated unwavering dedication and academic excellence to join the nation's top 1% of high achieving scholars. Your accomplishments reflect open high school's commitment to cultivating talent and preparing students for limitless opportunities on the national stage. As finalists, they're now eligible to compete for approximately 6,870 along with them. Uh Sorry. Approximately 6,870 scholarships that are worth $26 million they're able to compete for. The participation in the National Merit Scholarship Program begins last year or begins for the 11th grade year across the United States when they took the PSAT NMSQT. For the pool of entrants, less than 1% achieve finalist status. To
008advance, students must submit a detailed application showcasing their academic performance, leadership skills, school and community involvement, employment experience, and awards. We couldn't be more proud of our students. So at this time I'm going to I'm going to do this. You're going to come up this direction. I'm going to hand you an award. Our board members are going to stand at this point and you're probably going to stay standing because I'm going to keep bringing up more groups. So you might as well come up and and stand. You'll you'll be able to shake each of their hands and then I want you to go down and just stand as a group at the end where the lockers are and we'll get a group picture of you at that point. Okay? That sound okay? You're going to
009kind of make a train this direction. All right. And I apologize if I mispronounced names. It's not my intent. I love the kids deeply and then always pains me if I if I get a name wrong. Um, so the first National Merit is Han Zheng. Some of our students I know have been out cuz they're uh in spring sports and things. So, they may not be able to hear either. Matthew Drummond. Same thing. Ha. Ethan Ha. All right, I'm going to change rules cuz that might actually be better if they're coming that direction. We'll let you come this direction, shake hands, and then come on this side to get your award, and that'll be more efficient. Neil Heckman. Cameron Lindsey. Riley Rob. Benjamin Sayer. Anna Weaver. >> And then finally Emmanuel Manny Williams. Thanks. One
010more round of applause and we'll get a picture of them. All right, next is winter sports. Okay, this winter season has been a continuation of our high success in Oakwood athletics. Every team represented Oakwood well and finished in the top half of the league standings. Our student athletes have achieved all of this success while also maintaining a high standard in the classroom. We have 57 scholar athletes this winter, which is approximately 85% of all of our winter varsity athletes. Many of our boys and girls swim and dive team members were present this evening, and both teams won Swivel champions. Give them a round of APPLAUSE FOR THAT. UH TWO OF OUR STUDENTS, AUDREY HABRILLA AND Elliot Simon, were named Swivel swimmers of the year. And Sam Keys was named Swivel wrestler of the year. The
011following made the podium at the state swimming. Matilda Chrysler finished third in the 500 free, and then uh Matilda, Sarah um Isinger, Audrey Habrilla, and Kelly Hayes finished seventh in the 200 free and seventh in the 400 free. Round of applause for that. Okay, at this time I'm going to go ahead and call them up. Um Sam Keys for wrestling. Let's see them there. Yeah. Nela Gelbort in diving. Audrey Habrilla for swimming. Uh Kelly Hayes, swimming. Sarah Isinger Isinger uh for uh swimming. Uh Kate Audrey for swimming. Abby Thompson for swimming. Matilda Preisler, swimming. Elliot Simon, swimming. Liam Burden, swimming. Grant Zell, swimming. Henry James, swimming. Azahan Kim, swimming. And then Ben Sullivan, swimming. Perfect. Uh we'll go with academic decathlon next. >> As the students begin to enter, I'm going to introduce Lori Morris
012to come to the podium. >> Hi, I'm Lori Morris, coach for the Academic Decathlon team. The Academic Decathlon team has had another successful year this year. We just won our 16th consecutive state championship to represent Ohio at the national competition this year. So At the state competition, Ty Fischer Ty won a waiver at the regional Ty and Daniel Wong both received the Golden Eagle Awards for the top overall individual scores in their GPA divisions. Um yeah, they At the state competition, Ethan Ha performed his prepared speech in the speech showcase as one of the top scoring speeches in the state, which Ty Fischer actually had that the regional competition the top scoring um his speech in the in the state. So congratulations to both of you. We are getting ready to head to California for
013the national competition where we're competing against 71 teams. And if the math doesn't seem right that the state championships is because there are some states where they invited the runner-up team due to high scores to attend as well. So there are 71 teams at the national competition. Just in perspective, last year we were seventh overall of 71. So hopefully we're a good performance again this year back in Division 1 with our scores uh being so high as they have been. Another exciting part in with the national competition this year is that Gavin Clark, if you Gavin, if you want to raise your hand, had received some great recognition. You might have seen on social media. He entered and won the logo contest for the national competition. So, Gavin designed the logo that will be used
014in all of the media and on the merchandise and then all of the award ceremonies and everything. It's been already out on social media. So, that's really a great accomplishment. Gavin is the official logo designer for the United States Academic Decathlon National Competition. We want to thank everyone in the community who so graciously donates to help us as we fundraise to go to the national competition. We were out and about this past weekend and then coming again this weekend again. So, thank you again. Thank you to Dr. Gupta and the board for recognizing the students. I want to thank my assistant coaches who cannot be here tonight, Marie Jurgens and Jeff Bloomer. So, a big round of applause to everybody who parents who come in do everything to help get this team where we need
015to be at the national competition and we couldn't do it without all of you. I ask that the team who come forward to get recognized. So, first we have Ty Fisher. Ian Han. Evan Simpson. Gavin Clark. Ethan Hunt Kate Zalewski Max Kirsch Daniel Wang and Brady Mannix. Thank you all very much. >> We're going to get a picture. >> Yeah. >> We should get in these. Yes. >> There we go. >> Before we move on from here, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate Mrs. Morris. Uh this is actually her last year of Academic Decathlon. She has grown this program >> How many state championships? >> 16 state championships. Uh she will be truly missed. She has invested so much in the lives of these kids. And so, if you could join me in
016giving her a round of applause. >> All right, last but not least, uh like we could say on deck or you know, now that uh we're going to have uh the uh speech and debate. >> Garage, keep it in the lane. >> I'm looking for the code advisor. >> They're coming. They're back here. >> They're in the back. I'm making sure they can bring everybody in. If I can have Linda Lee and Steve Stanley come up to the podium. I want to thank them for them for their leadership and hard work as they make their way to the podium. Lots and lots to celebrate for them. I'm older than Linda, so I'll start. Um, thank you for all being here. We really appreciate the school board's recognition of these wonderful young people here. Um, you
017may remember from last year that in a surprise, we won here from Oakwood for the first time in this long and storied history of speech and debate in in this school district. We won the state championship and we were the crowned state tournament winners. Uh, we won that by a point and three quarters over one of our arch rivals, the private school from Cleveland. This year, they changed the scoring formula so that it would be more difficult for us to score the points and win. Um, and those schools in Cleveland actually wanted to make sure that we didn't bring it the tournament uh, championship back here to Southwestern Ohio. And uh, so they changed the formula making it more difficult for us to do that. We won by 45 points this year. And give credit
018where credit is due to this wonderful woman, Linda Lee, who is THE COACH. >> WOO! >> HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES, ALI ROSS, WHO IS OUR Lincoln Douglas coach, uh and Gabby Vish, who is our Congress coach. And they can't be with us tonight, uh but they're equally uh to blame or to accept the credit for uh these outstanding results that these great young people have achieved. And now I'm going to turn it over to Linda, who's going to actually tell you who made up And I'll hand it to >> All right. So, please join me in congratulating the following competitors from Oakwood speech and debate representing the team at the state tournament. First, we have Cameron Lindsey, who is the state champion in Lincoln Douglas debate. Next, is senior Macy Cadera, who earned third place and
019is a finalist in United States extemporaneous speaking. Our next state finalist is Ava Crawford, who earned place in declamation. Our next state finalist is Bahar Nafisaie, who earned sixth PLACE IN DECLAMATION. NEXT, WE HAVE OUR semifinalists at the state tournament. And first, we have Edie Davis in program oral interpretation. We have Chloe in humorous interpretation. We have Amelia Butler in Lincoln Douglas debate. We have Luke Ross in congressional debate. Caleb Walton Congressional Debate. And Abby Drummey in Congressional Debate. Next, we have quarterfinalists. First, we have in Duo Interpretation, Lizzie Stack and Charlotte Schnell. Next, in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Kate Handler. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Reese Stubington. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate and earning the award for top speaker, NEIL HECKMAN. IN LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE, ABBY ZACKSON. NEXT, let's honor our octafinalists. First, we have in Public Forum Debate, Cara
020Lindsey. In Public Forum Debate, Anna Peters. IN PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE, BEN SAYER. In Public Forum Debate, Natalie Guerra. Also advancing to elimination rounds are double octafinalists in Public Forum Debate, Ava Flansburg. And Austin We have additional competitors who also represented at the state tournament. So, uh first, we have in Public Forum Debate, Eva Meehan and Oliver Roder. In Congressional Debate, Charlotte Spalding, Grandma Haskar, and Grace Corbin. In Policy Debate, Roxana Paslaru, Merrill Whitmer, Lucy Orcello, and AD Castle. In United Oh, in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Ali Delong. In Duo Interpretation, Willow Zellipour and Riley Bourne. In Humorous Interpretation, Jack Morrissey. In Original Oratory, Madeleine Bisch and Violet Meehan. Please give these students a warm welcome and congratulations for their success at the state tournament. >> It's good. There's picture. >> Not even a >> You guys
021want to take one for >> There were three of us there. >> Yeah, they're not >> Oh, so close. So close. >> Oh, sorry, guys. >> All right. I'm good. >> That's all right. I'm good. >> Yeah, I'm good. >> I've got one final person in my superintendent updates is to ask Martha Martha to come to the podium for a second. As she's making her way up here, later in the agenda, we will be I'll be making a recommendation to employ her as a library media liaison at Scandia elementary school. And she received her master's degree from Washington State University and a master's degree from the College of Wooster. Had a lovely conversation with her through the interview process and has a heart for kids. Really cares about the joy of learning and it really
022and just I think it's going to help be a person that not just is great in in the library set you know library room but also bring the other classrooms and teachers and and be a connection and I asked her to come to the podium. This isn't a surprise for her to just share a few words with all of with all of you. >> Hi, I'm Martha Dowell. I'm so excited to be here. My family and I moved here about two years ago. I have a third grader and a fifth grader. I have been subbing in the district just at Smith and Lang for the past like twoish years. Before that I worked with teachers and students all over the country and um here at Oakwood I know that I have really big shoes to
023fill in the library um but I love to read, I love to share stories, to learn, and play with kids. Um so I'm so excited to begin my adventure at Smith and to join the team at Oakwood. So, thank you for having me. I hope you vote. >> All right. Well, thanks for coming. We appreciate it. Um at this time I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the curriculum showcase. I'm going to ask Jenna Hill to to go to the podium to introduce um our our topic for tonight. >> Thank you. I am very excited to welcome Mrs. Brower from Smith. She is here tonight to tell you about her awesome math competition club called Oakwood Number Jacks and she has a few students here with her to help tell you a
024little bit more about it as well. Come on. I will have to say the nerves got a little better though with >> The real >> So, I have to say that this Smith this dream of this competition team was not just mine. I've been thinking about it. I had a parent approach me um last year and so we got started. But, if you want to go ahead to the next thing. Okay. I didn't before it updated. We have about 25 students that come every Wednesday morning at 7:30. Um and they work from 7:30 until 8:20. They work on a variety of things. We'll do practice competition problems. We play games. We do some instruction with strategies and content to help them solve these problems. They are unlike problems you typically see in your math class.
025So, they are definitely different. At times, they're working together. At times, they're working and practicing on their own. This couldn't be done without the parents that come in every morning alongside these kids and help. Um we have five adults plus myself that are there every Wednesday morning. And we use the Mathematical Olympiads for elementary and middle schools. So, it is a five-question test uh about every month or month and a half throughout the year. They take five of them. And they can get a score of zero through five. And I have never gotten a five. So, um they are tough questions. And they work really hard. I think have made the kids that went last year and this year have made a lot of growth in their problem-solving skills. So, I have three gentlemen here
026that are going to tell you a little bit about what they've done, what they like, what they don't like. Their experience. Go ahead. This is Sophia. >> Hello. Um I got to learn many things in math club like divisibility rules for numbers one through 12. I like math club cuz it dives deeper into certain concepts than regular math class would. And the quizzes were fun, but they're also pretty challenging. >> Um I am Luther Hallett. I would also like to point out that I designed the logo at the beginning. And we at Structured Minds came up with the name. So, uh but I just really like math club because it has a lot teach you a lot of effective strategies for math problems that are like like I like to say it goes beyond the
027math book. It's more than the things that you would learn in math class, and it's really interesting to know more complicated stuff like that. >> I'm Jacob Gentry, and one thing I really like about math club is how we have really engaging teachers and parents that come in to help us, and we learn a ton of things that you wouldn't learn in the normal math classroom that have helped me not only in math club, but also outside of it in math class and other places as well. >> So, this is an example of one problem. There's usually a cryptarithm on every competition. Um Does one of you want to explain a little bit about? >> So, um basically, so each um letter can be a number, and it like can't be zero, and each different
028letter is a different number. You have to like add them up so they like make sense with like the regrouping and all that other stuff, and sometimes they'll ask you for like the biggest sum possible, and sometimes like the smallest one, and you have to figure it out. >> It's really a tradition to have one on each test. It seems like there's always one there. >> They've actually had mornings where that's the only thing we worked on, or strategies to solve those types of problems. So. Any questions? >> Can you say how many students you have in all? >> I think we started out the year with 30, and then we regularly see between 20 and 25 every Wednesday morning. What we can fit in the classroom. But, I don't want to turn anyone away
029that wants to do math for fun, so. >> So, I'm going to say I'm impressed with the math, but also the um ability to speak in front of all of us, and um your vocabularies are impressive. >> Thanks, Jen. >> So, all three of you year, right? >> Yeah. >> These are sixth graders, so they will be moving on to potentially the junior high math. >> Yeah. >> That means we get to work with coach Ben. >> Coach Ben. >> Thank you. >> That's a great logo. >> Thank you so much. >> Um okay, so We have no public comments tonight, so we're just going to move on So, you know, if there are no board reports, we'll go to item four, budget and finance. >> Good evening. Thank you. Um no action items Item
0304A is the normal monthly financial report that you see for March 2026. >> Okay, thank you so much. Item five, um any unfinished business by the board? Any new business by the board? Okay. Um item seven, administrative reports and superintendent recommendations. >> Yes, number seven, letter A is the junior high and high school proposed school fees. Uh this is just informational for you to review this month, and I'll be bringing it back uh requesting your recommendation for approval at our May 11th board meeting. Letter B is a field trip. Uh you just heard about that. Our academic decathlon team will be traveling uh to Garden Grove, California, um at the end of this month, from May 22nd to 27th, uh to compete at the nationals. Uh all paperwork as an order for that. Letter C
031is informational. It is a set of policy updates that we have a new batch of them. And in last month you had just approved some and and we're looking actually I feel like in in a flow with it. So it's a chance for you to to review them this month and then next month I'll be bringing it to formal recommendation for approval. Letter D is action item. It is our 2026-27 handbooks. I brought this last month as informational. It is our elementary, our junior high and high school, and our athletic handbooks for the 2026-27 school year. >> Can I get a motion to approve item 7D, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Ms. Harper? Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Mr. Ryder Garcia? >> Aye. >> Ms. Di Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Ms. Kawai? >>
032Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. >> Letter E under number seven is a career technical education compact. We are partners with Centreville and Kettering schools with our career technical education. We go through five-year compact with them in agreement and set to expire. And so we're just renewing our compact from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2031. >> Great. Can I get a motion to approve item 7E, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Ms. Harper? Ms. Kawai? >> Aye. >> Ms. Di Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Mr. Ryder Garcia? >> Aye. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. >> And moving on to item eight, personnel items, resignations, and non-renewals. >> Yes, number eight we'll take letters A through C under one motion. Letter A is the resignation of Christie Baker. Letter B
033is the resignation of Britney Juhasz. And letter C is the resignation of Christine Spencer. >> Can I get a motion to approve items A through eight A through C, >> Second. >> Mr. Albert? Mr. Ryder Garcia? >> Aye. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Ms. Di Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Ms. Colwell? >> Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. >> And then moving on to item nine, personnel items recommendations. >> Yes, I'll go ahead and take number nine, letters A through E under one motion. Letter A is the employment of Martha Dowell. Uh letter B is the hiring of summer enrichment program employees that we have listed. Letter C is uh for Elizabeth Baker to receive a continuing contract for the 2026-2027 uh starting with uh 2026-2027 school year. Um she is a social studies teacher
034at Oakwood High School and has been with Oakwood schools since 2019. Uh Elizabeth has a ASC and a BA in history and adolescence young adult history from the University of Dayton. Letter D is the continuing continuing contract for Erica Jurgens. Um she is a French teacher at Oakwood High School and has been with Oakwood schools since 2020. Uh she has a BA BA in French and an MEd in multi-age French education from Wright State University. And letter E is a recommendation uh to approve a list of substitutes for the 2025-2026 school year pending completion of required documents. >> Uh I think that's correct, Dr. Garcia. >> That's letter F. >> Letter E. Did I >> You guys missed Mrs. Baker. >> E is substitutes. >> E is uh >> E >> No, that's >> Uh
035>> I'm sorry. Can you hear me through the microphone? Can you just hand me your laptop? >> Oh, no. Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. Sorry. Sorry about that. Uh I'm very sorry. You missed one. Okay. Okay. So, we did Martha Dowell and Erica Jurgens. Let Let me just go and do a repeat real quick. 9 A through F. A is the employment of Martha Dow. Letter B is the hiring of summer enrichment program employees. Letter C is supplemental contracts and volunteers for the 25-26 school year. Letter D is the continuing contract for Elizabeth Baker. Letter E is the continuing contract for Erica Jurgens and let letter F are list of substitutes. >> Okay. >> Perfect. >> Okay. >> Perfect. >> I printed out in the online whatever.
036Okay. Anyway, so can I give them a notch? Can I get a motion to approve items 9 A through F? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Ms. Albert? Mr. Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Ms. Wyatt? >> Aye. >> Mr. Ryder Garcia? >> Aye. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. >> And then moving on to item 10 executive session. We actually did that for the regular meeting, so we'll skip that. Um and so that brings us to number 11. Item 11, um which is adjournment. So can I get a motion to adjourn this meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Ms. Albert? Mr. Wilson? >> Aye. >> Mr. Ryder Garcia? >> Aye. >> Ms. Lorenzo? >> Aye. >> Ms. Wyatt? >> Aye. >> Dr. Middleton? >> Aye. >> All right. Everyone, good night.