March 9, 2026 Board Meeting and State of the Schools

001I don't have a deep enough voice. You've got the teacher voice. Um, good evening. It is March 9th, 2026. Welcome everyone to the regular board meeting of the Oakwood School Board. Um, Miss Sager, can you call? Um, please. >> Miss Dorenzo here. >> Mr. Writer Garcia >> here. >> Mr. Wilson, >> here. Dr. Middleton >> here. Please rise and uh say the pledge of allegiance with me to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Hey, can I get a motion to adopt the minutes of our last meeting? the agenda first. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Um, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So, move second. >> Miss, >> Mr. Wilson, >>

002I. >> Mr. Wright Garcia, >> hi. >> Miss Dorenzo, >> hi. >> Dr. Middleton, >> I Okay. Now, can I get a motion to approve the minutes of our last meeting? >> Second. >> Miss Aubber, >> Mr. Ra Garcia. >> Hi, >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi, >> Mr. Wilson. Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. Hi. And moving on to item two, reports and public comments. >> Yes. I'd like to welcome everybody to the state of the schools. Um I'm going to go ahead and shift over to the podium and continue our our celebration over there. Okay. Good evening. Um, my name is Neil Gupt. I get to serve as the the superintendent for Oakwood schools. This is our third annual state of the schools and uh it just keeps getting better. Uh, it it is not difficult

003for us to to identify areas that we can celebrate across our three vision statements. Um, for me it's my third time doing this, but for Wendy Barhorst, our community relations uh coordinator, it's it's her first time. And the slides that you're going to see, the videos that that are you're going to see, the stories you're going to hear have all been curated and collected by Wendy. And I would be remiss if anybody walked out thinking that I had anything to do with this. I'm just the one who's speaking. And just want to first give a round of applause to Wendy for her hard work. You know, tonight it's more than just a review. It's a chance for us to celebrate the incredible work from our staff, our students, and our community. And a lot of

004them are here in the audience tonight. I'm very excited. Uh there's a special invitation that was given to them and I see a lot of them in the audience that had a lot to do with something we're going to be unveiling tonight. Um you know, it really starts out with um each year uh we try to think about a a new theme uh for the year. And I underestimated uh this theme in particular, the idea about us being allin. And uh when you think about that on on a from a sports metaphor or a sports theme, we think about the the connotation of what's it mean to be allin. when you really think about, you know, just giving your your energy, all you have for um especially a school district, your students every day and

005um how we can be here uh for each other. And this took off. You know, this was interesting. I had students that will stop me in the hallways and go, "Hey, Dr. Gupta, all in. I'm all in." And so somehow this got out and and uh became kind of a mantra in classrooms and on sports uh teams also. Um and really what it does is it gives us a chance to be united with a common purpose. um for us to be able to have conversations about what's it really look like really in every arena, you know, to um to thrive. And so when we think about our our new mission statement that we unveiled last year, together we learn, together we achieve, together we prepare students for tomorrow. Um again it gives us an opportunity

006to think about how can we be where our feet are today and also understanding of how we think about that trajectory of our students from kindergarten prek uh all the way up to grade 12 but then and beyond and and what does that look like? And we know when that happens um it takes a lot of heavy lifting by a lot of different people and uh you're going to get to hear those stories tonight. Well, when we talk about our three vision statements, we have three of them. We talk about how we're elevating highquality learning to challenge and inspire our students. The first one. The second one, it talks about the idea about safe security and welcoming environments where every child belongs. And then third, our effective and transparent operations talks about really how we're

007going to make sure those two things happen well. Uh we got to think about the financial aspect uh to to our schools, our facilities, and our communications and community relations that come along with that. And then finally tonight, after we talk about kind of some stories around those three vision statements, we're going to unveil something that we've been working on um over the course of this uh year to to shape our our schools and our students through something called the portrait of learner. We'll talk a little bit more about that. Um but really about uh I hope you're going to hear out of this out of these stories. It's really about partnerships and this partnerships that we have with our schools um the partnerships that we have amongst each other and um really just becomes

008exciting when we think about that that mantra of being allin. So high quality learning if we talk about that the things I want you to think about is that how do we how do we balance rigorous academics with authentic experiences? I want you to think about that we're we're not just going to be in in in this u arena to to make sure we've got great test takers that we have kids that can you know be really great at bubbling in you know uh paint paper pencil tests. It's important for high academics to take place. At the same time we want to make sure that they have got authentic experiences experiences that are relevant and and make sure that they understand that it's going to shape their their way of thinking and understand where they

009fit in the world around them. And so when we think about these stories, uh we could talk about the numbers. We could talk about the numbers about US News and World Report, how we uh at the junior high and high school continue to rank number one in the Dayton region. Um how we still uh are are able to maintain those high standards uh when people uh are able to move into Dayton and seek that excellence that they're looking for. Uh at the at the state level, there's a state report card with uh up to five stars, and we continue to rank um with a five-star uh rating on that state report card. This one's interesting. Of 105 honors diplomas uh that students received last year at graduation. There are 170 graduates. So that came out

010to more than 60% of our students are not only graduating, but graduating with honors diplomas, which means they're taking rigorous courses that come along with that. that translates to $8.5 million in scholarships. I I I just can can't imagine as a parent for a second knowing that that in investment of of uh the time that the students have with studying, preparing um and making sure that they do uh things that are going to, you know, put promote themselves for that future translates into uh the idea about dollars and and money earned. But understand that it's not just about the numbers. I think it's important that we do look at the numbers and we do, but I think it's also to take a step back and and take a look at some of the stories that

011make those things come to life, those authentic experiences. One of them happened as I was just happen to walk into Harmon Elementary in the fall. Beautiful day. If you could imagine, if you've been to Harmon, uh there's something right kind of uh outside that main entrance called Gretchen's Garden. There are little fences, little cute fences that are around the different plants and flowers because they were protecting uh the this living laboratory of um butterflies that were were were um um is the word hatched? Is it is it I don't know what's the word? What's the word, Sarah? We don't know. Okay. The students would know. I don't. Um what what what drew my attention were these little little fences that were there and students that were running. They were running before school started. They were

012congregating around these little fences and they were starting to point at at the bricks and my eyes are a little bit old these days. It took me a little while to see that they were that there were, you know, um the cocoons that were starting to kind of be placed in the different places um on the plants in the school built um uh outside the school building and some of them like that had felt like it popped o overnight sort of thing and students were just in awe of what was happening right there. I happened to have the opportunity and a chance for one of the butterflies to to be there and that the teacher uh that that was monitoring uh was able to to talk with the students about what does that look like.

013Um somebody from our community that um was also there helping to tag uh these butterflies that then migrate and hopefully somebody down uh wherever those uh um butterflies were going to would be able to find out this one came from Oakwood, Ohio. And you talk about the idea about learning and great learning happens in the classroom. And you talk about those relevant experiences that the students will probably remember forever of things that just happen throughout naturally their lives and even our teachers that help kind of use the outside to be a part of that instruction that uh that happens. I saw the wonder in the student's eyes, the excitement that that came in there, and all of a sudden, I start talking to the uh librarian that said, "Yep, butterflies, books became kind of the

014new the new thing, the hot topic that that uh students wanted to check out more as that went along." Well, we could talk again about uh uh distinctions that we receive. Um and our nation obviously takes a notice. We are doing a lot of work around STEM in this district. It was a a large draw when I was coming to the district that parents had asked me what is going to be our STEM philosophy and what do we are are we going to do to help bolster our our students in the STEM uh pathways and I can tell you that we've partnered with Jason Learning our a group called this the uh STEM champions because you allowed us to uh add supplementals to have a designated person in each building worked together to create an

015uh to submit an audit of where is our current state of STEM in the district. uh and they got feedback on how we can do better in in that area in that in that trajectory that they had kind of described to be high performing and they said that we get an emerging uh STEM credential that we received from Jason Learning. Uh that was two years ago. Last year uh wasn't where sure where things were going. I wanted to submit a district administration leadership uh institute award for the hard work that our team did and we received another national award and uh we were able to get an award of distinction from them as a finalist. Um those are just two examples of the great things that are happening. What I want to do is I

016want to welcome Katie Papa, our gifted intervention specialist at the junior high and high school who's also a STEM champion to share a little bit more about uh the work that's happening with our STEM champions. Katie, come on up. Good evening. My name is Katie Papa. Thanks for having me. Um, so just telling you a little bit more about what we're doing with STEM um, in our district. So, speaking as the GIS at our junior high school, I I know what those experiences look like for us, but have also spoken and worked closely alongside with our elementary uh, STEM champions, too. So, have a couple things to share about that, too. So basically at Oakwood, our vision is to empower every student to be a persistent problem solver and an innovative creator. We're in the

017process of defining STEM to be more than just four subjects, but rather strategies that engage the mind. We believe that STEM belongs in every grade level for every student, not just high school. We know that many future jobs are going to be requiring a STEM focus, but we don't think that those roles require just a traditional university degree. They require a STEM mindset. Whether our students go into the medical field or the trades, we want them to be persistent problem solvers. By practicing these skills at every grade level, we're providing um role models and real world experiences and connections that can keep students motivated during the most critical learning years. So, as a STEM champion, my role is to act as a bridge between our district's vision and the incredible work already happening in the

018classroom. We have partnered with Jason Learning, as Dr. Gupta said and it's supporting us in creating a STEM vision and implementation plan and providing teachers with um access to highquality techdriven content that meets the state standards and um some of our students passions as well. So recently I've been leading some professional development sessions to help colleagues navigate the Jason platform. Um, we find them helpful because they're going to help differentiate instruction for all of our learners, not just gifted, but including gifted, who thrive on depth and complexity. And there's a lot of those tools with Jason. So, it's about taking the heavy lifting off the teachers and providing them with a library of world-class activities so they can focus on what they do best, which is inspiring students. So what's exciting about the JSON platform

019is it's applicable to everything, not just the science lab, but we can use STEM in unexpected places. For example, in algebra, students can work on something called design and amusement park to see linear units in action. Or an ELA teacher can use resources for public speaking and digital animation tools like Wick Editor. At our junior high in high school, we have so many opportunities for students to use strategies that engage the mind through our elective courses. If you walk into an interior design class, you'll see students managing actual clients. They actually ask teachers to be their clients and we give them, you know, specs of our house and um ask them, you know, to design something that we need. And that teaches them that highle project management and communication down the hall in robotics class

020where Mr. Thompson and I teach. Um it's all about uh computational thinking. So students aren't just building robots, but they are programming solutions to real world challenges and learning that the first idea is not always the best one. They're learning how to pivot and refine their work. And finally, at the elementary level, we have been intentional about making STEM accessible. So our team has aligned Jason learning uh activities directly with Bridg's math and witten wisdom programs. And that allows our teachers to seamlessly weave the deep thinking and hands-on problem solving into those core subjects for the younger students who are already studying those things every day. Thank you for taking the time to hear a little bit more about STEM in the in the district. We are lucky to have educators like Katie Papa in

021our district. Okay. So, um STEM is is obviously an area that uh that we continue to to pursue. Um also the idea about innovation. What does innovation look like? And we know that we can't stay still when it comes to innovation. Sometimes we can go seek it out and sometimes we realize that um it's coming knocking on our door faster than we think and we've got to have a prepared solution for it. And so uh we do have know that artificial intelligence is reshaping the workforce and and then it's part of that mission statement of how we prepare students for tomorrow. Um I was we we're working on uh some focus groups with some students one day and I had a student a high school student ask me um when are the teachers going to

022help teach us about artificial intelligence? And and she was eloquent and passionate and she was spot-on correct about the need that we need to have to help teach our our students about the future with artificial intelligence. After she got done talking for about two or three minutes, um I politely turned to her and said, "Before we can teach it to you, we have to learn it ourselves." And that and you know, I think there was kind of a light bulb moment for her. Uh because there isn't there isn't a a book on how to do this, you know, properly, you know, step by step. Um it's something we're we're um kind of uh pursuing. So, you'll see two faces on the left, Jenna Hill and uh Matt Sprro are co-leading this work uh as district

023administrators uh with uh this AI task force. it was opened up to all staff. Uh they've been attending meetings uh uh that are helping to better understand first of all what is this thing called artificial intelligence and what it's going to turn into eventually will be create the creation of a roadmap that's going to help us to understand you know um how will we how will we uh start to think about professional development with our staff. How can we help use it to leverage making our the lives of our uh teachers and our educators a little bit uh better? And then how do we start to think about what does that look like to teach it to our students responsibly? And I keep using that word responsibly. Um I I I use the the word

024uh there should be tension when it comes to artificial intelligence. I think I use this the word um it should be scary like scary good and also scary like this is something that could be a slippery slope and and be used in a wrong way. Um I'm not running towards artificial intelligence like it's going to be the silver bullet or it's the easiest thing in the world to do. It's just knowing that we've got to manage that friction of something that that is is could be have the potential of being helpful um but also it could be something that really could be disastrous and how do we help do that properly uh with our students with the right context and so don't have an answer for you today on how to do how we're going

025to we're going to go about doing that. Um but we're going to continue to kind of uh pursue that uh as a as a as a staff and uh as that task force that you see right there. Um, also want to just kind of share again, uh, just like Katie, Papa, um, even with the best technology, the heartbeat of our district remains our educators. And so, uh, we we, uh, were able to, I was able to write a blog and and, uh, see, uh, one of our, uh, junior high math teachers, Karen Larbach, receive, uh, the Linda M. Joe Gojack Award from the Ohio Council of Teacher of Mathematics. Uh, uh, they happen to have their their state conference here in Dayton, Ohio. Uh so it was it was neat to be able to go

026travel and see her uh get this award. Um teaching our students uh that uh learning that mistakes are uh opportunities is what she really prides herself on that uh there's a data point to learning that takes place. And uh so what I want you to hear is from the quiet wonder of a butterfly garden to the frontiers of artificial intelligence our purpose is clear. we are helping to create learning experiences for our students that will have um meaningful today and essential for tomorrow. Um and that's just a little bit of couple examples that you'll see on that first vision statement of uh high quality learning. The second vision statement uh looks at safe, secure and welcoming environments. And we talk about the idea about uh this goes um you know uh from kind of a

027Maslo's hierarchy of needs before a student can be actualized in the brain of learning they have to feel safe like they have to know that you know uh I'm not going to get bullied uh that there's going to be no threat that comes to me that I'm going to feel safe to say and speak up for things that I want to speak up about and that I feel like I have a sense of belonging. I have a trusted adult and friends that are beside me that are going to be in this learning thing together. And all of that has to take place in in this vision statement. Um so really to be honest with you when we think about safety we think about creating a culture where every student feels seen, safe, um heard and

028then valued. And uh we talk about the idea about um connections and and emotional uh well-being. We have things like Hope Squad that come into play. Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer support program that that happens at the at the high school level. We have students that are supporting other students with mental health. Uh we've got counselors, we've got mental health specialists, but sometimes students just need peer peer interaction to understand it's okay. And so our students get trained on how to do that. And then we create a safe space and environment for them to be able to interact with each other. Another example is acorns and achievements that happens at Lang. Uh community members share their knowledge and stories um where we understand that belonging means that knowing that your voice matters. Um the third

029one that I want to kind of tout I think which is really neat is uh this kitchen council at Smith. Um where was this when I was in school? Um students become ambassadors. I'll use the phrase ambassadors uh meet with um the food service staff over there and they get to try out uh different different um recipes or or some of the different products and they can rate that. Yes, this is something that should be served uh and added to the menu or let's not go with this one. And um it's just given them a place to feel a part of that school community versus it's some being something that's done unto them. So kind of small but actually has big big dividends and and students feel uh safe and seen through that. When we

030talk about um bonded by excellence, we look at the idea about um finding our place means finding a challenge that you love. And our kids get challenged and they love it. they keep gravitating towards it. Um, I get to see firsthand uh uh through our Oak Junior High School that students get to tackle problems. Imagine this, 50 to 60 junior high kids giving up their lunch uh being with their peers, you know, informally sitting somewhere, but actually going uh into a classroom and they've actually outgrown the classroom and now they're starting to meet in the orchestra room and uh they're taking math tests over the lunch hour, not because they have to, but because they want to. And uh I was a high school math teacher and I got nervous. I mean it was like

031pin drop quiet. It was nervous. Don't ask me how I did on my math test. I didn't do so well. Not only did the kids beat me, but Mr. Benhop was competing that day also. And he got a perfect score. So I I got to get the nervousness out and and uh I think I'm I'm uh signed up for uh this week for for a rematch. Rematch. >> I'm good. >> All right. He's good. All right. We're going to we're going to go for it. Um, we've got we've got uh parent volunteers that help staff and staff that help uh be in a place uh for students to be able to take the these opportunities that they want to do that. It's growing. We've got students at the elementary level that are starting to participate

032in this and actually are starting to compete at at that at that regional and state level. Um we have students that are part of the quiz bowl. I was actually I I you know I in my third year I learned that we have something called a quiz bowl and um and I how I got alerted alerted to it back in the fall was because one of the headlines in the Oakwood register was that they qualified for nationals and this was in the fall and uh I was just really astounded by that. Met with Mr. Cowan uh the adviser got to see two competitions and our students were amazing at just the the amount of information that they have and can retain more than I ever could. Um, our academic decathlon team has won its 15th

033consecutive regional title. 15. I don't know how many times I can do anything like annually, you know, like do well at it and they did it 15 times in the in the u in a row. Speech and debate. Speech speech and debate just had a great showing last year. Uh, they won for the first time ever uh the uh state championship. And when I wrote this on my notes last week, it uh actually when Wendy wrote the notes, when Wendy wrote the notes last week, uh it was first ever state championship. Well, this is outdated because over the weekend they just achieved their second state championship. So, twice in a row uh is amazing. Absolutely. And uh perfect timing. And I'm glad you applauded because I'm got Linda Lee here who is uh one of

034the co-advisors for speech and debate. Also a junior high math teacher who's I'm going to ask to come up and share a little bit about her work with uh the speech and debate. Come on up, Linda. Hi everyone. Oh, good thing I wore heels today. All right, so my name is Linda Lee. I Oh, I am one of the head coaches for Oakwood High School's speech and debate team alongside Steve Stanley who is a longtime community member and former Oakwood parent. Speech and debate is one of the largest and longest standing academic activities in the nation. But it also helps prepare students for life after high school. Am I staticky? Am >> I step back? >> Step back. Okay. Through this activity, our students are developing critical thinking, research, and communication skills, which will set

035them up for success after leaving Oak City Schools. But ultimately, beyond the skills and the successes, we also take the most pride in the community that our students have built. It's a team culture where students all feel supported, connected, and valued. As a former speech and debate competitor in high school and also at the college level, I cannot vouch for this activity enough. Last year, we made Oakwood school history by earning the title of OSDA state champions, including crowning co-state champions in Lincoln Douglas debate, Tristan Williams and Robert Einhorn. This past weekend, like Dr. Gupta mentioned we defended our title at the OSDA state tournament and Oakwood speech and debate is now backto back state champions with senior Cameron Lindseay earning the title of state champion in Lincoln Douglas debate once again. We are incredibly

036proud of these accomplishments, but we know that a state championship win is only possible because of the hard work that our competitors put in, but also because of the support of our community. Looking ahead, we are using the momentum from our state championship win in two different ways. So, the first way is we're looking towards growing the program and looking towards our future. Two of our captains, Anna Peters and Abby Saxon, have launched our first ever junior high program for students interested in speech and debate and giving them the opportunity to develop these skills at a younger age. These younger competitors represented Oakwood at the OSDA Middle School State Championship this past February, and we are so proud of our first year program at the junior high level. The second way that we're trying to

037build our momentum is by looking towards the future with our success in the postseason. This year, we qualified a record-breaking 37 students to the high school state tournament. and then a select group will also be representing Oakwood at the national tournament in Richmond, Virginia this upcoming June. The success of our team stems directly from the dedication of our students and we look forward to how this program will continue to expand at both the high school and the junior high level. So, as our students find their voices through speech and debate, they are embodying key characteristics of what I see as an Oakwood learner while becoming an impactful member of our school community. We are excited for the growth of our program and to celebrate the continued success of our students. Thank you all so much.

038And I would not expect her to do this, but uh in addition to all the accolades of a state uh championship by the team and the Lincoln Douglas debate, you know, uh champion, we they also have a um uh advisor award or is that what I'd call it? A coach award or an advisor award or something like that, right, Linda? Who won this year? >> It was Linda. Linda received that, too. Nice work. proud of her. So proud of her. That's awesome. Uh so we know that um in in addition to uh the the academic accolades of how students feel like they're they're part of of their school community, we also know that athletics also um plays a key role in it. And so for the first time ever, uh girls cross country re uh

039were state champions. Um and that was a thrilling to to see them on for a victory. Just for you to note, 90 over 90% of our students um are are scholar athletes. So, you know, when you think about the idea about getting up early, going to school, practice, uh then having to come back and do homework and all those kind of things, especially during that season, um that typical season to be able to keep their academics high, um is is is sometimes tough. Over 90% of our students were scholar athletes, um over the previous year. That's that's tremendous. Uh so that's on the social emotional side. When we think about uh safe um secure and welcoming environment, we think about also the physical safety that comes along with it. Um I I use that phrase

040of I'm I'm not sure I can always guarantee student safety. Uh it's just, you know, don't have enough bubble wrap to to bubble wrap our our our students all the time. Um but we talk about the idea about adding layers of protection. And so we I never want to kind of rest on that. We did this and we did this in this 10 years ago. want to make sure that we think about how, you know, we're looking at our our different strategies. One of them is the traffic flow that happens around Herman Elementary now is the same as uh Smith Elementary with no turns during the day and um it's difficult because sometimes we'll get we'll get people will forget that. Uh but we're really just trying to keep people safe. We think we we

041see ebikes uh kind of escalating. It's starting to get warm back outside. The number of ebikes that are out there, they go really fast and it is really scary on these tight streets. And uh so we continue to try to teach our students about safety and remind students about safety and crossing streets and looking up and uh about ebike safety and and that sort of thing. Um but it it is something that we've got to we've got to take seriously. The other one is um cyber security. Uh Matt Sprro actually just shared some cyber cyber security updates at our board work session just previous to this meeting and just talking the idea about about what does that look like for us to think about um you know people that want to possibly hack into our

042systems and uh you know uh do terrible things when it comes to maybe either student information or ransomware. Um but what what can we take a look at? We do have something a studentled group called the cyber patriots believe it or not that are actually working on the idea about safety when it comes to that. And so even at that young age, uh, that they're using the computers to help think about how they can help, uh, keep things safe in that respect. So, building connections also looks, um, at at something that we believe is very, very important here at Oakwood Schools. Uh, we call it the three Rs. Uh, you'll see posters at all of our our schools that help remind our students and our staff and our community about respect, responsibility, and relationships. And

043so we think about that when we think about things like uh different groups that we have, our little buddies club, timber and rocks ruling our experiences that help build connections across grade levels. And in this district, we want uh be a place where every student is safe to learn, that they are able to grow, and they just simply be themselves. Uh sometimes you just want them to feel like they can be in their own skin. So that ends our our third vision statement. Our third vision statement is uh about effective and transparent operations and we really want to be committed to being good um ethical financial stewards of the resources that are provided to us. I really uh think of of stewardship and being a servant to the community when it comes to that and

044we think about effective and transparent operations. We realize that those are the backbones of a successful school district. Um if I talk about a little bit about the uh um phase 2 master facility plan update, we we talk about the idea about um how the master facility plan um is about the integrity of of preserving our uh iconic buildings. Uh address the critical infrastructures needs that we have now in phase two with Smith and Harmon and then all the necessary upgrades that need to happen across our district. Last fall, we we received good news. Uh that the scope of what we we thought was possible actually has changed for the better. Uh that we thought that uh we'd be able to do some targeted renovation work. And because of the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, um

045uh we were able to access state dollars five to maybe 10 years earlier than expected in today's dollars so we could do complete renovations at Smith and Harmon. So, the state will co be able to co-und 29% of our OFCC eligible renovation costs uh because we we were able to uh enter into this partnership and uh not only do the things that we had promised the community based on the last bond uh last May, but also be able to uh tackle things like windows, flooring, and furniture and be able to give a space that our students will be able to excel in. Um and so we're thinking about a better product for the same taxpayer investment. I'd like to inter introduce our business manager, Frank Eaton, who was going to share some more uh of

046uh this how this unexpected news will impact us. Frank, >> good evening. Excuse me. Good evening, everyone. Uh let me start off by apologizing. My allergies have really kicked in probably about two hours ago, so might get a little bit of sniffles. It's not getting emotional. Um but so the the there there are two maybe three huge changes based on uh the the news that we got last year with uh the switch from uh what we called ELP to CFAP which is a a full renovation project. Uh one of those is our timeline changed. Uh so initially we were looking at potentially starting the project uh this coming summer uh completing the project at the end of next summer uh with a full renovation uh with waiting a little bit for some of the approvals

047from the state. that timeline changed a little bit. Um it changed quite a bit but because of the scope. Um so where we are at right now we are actually in the procurement process of our um AE which is architect engineer our design team uh and construction managers. Uh so we have what's called RFQS out for that which is kind of the bidding process. Uh those close on Wednesday of this week um at noon and so we will start to select who our architect is, who our construction manager is. Um and at that point design once we we've got to go through that process, it takes probably about a month, month and a half to fully work through that process. Uh and then design really begins immediately. And what design includes is uh exactly the

048work that is going to happen. U it's the phasing plan of of how we are going to do that. We don't know. I've had a lot of people ask me that or you know the picture before showed you know Smith and Harmon. The work of this project is at Smith and Harmon. Um we've had people ask like are we attacking both buildings at the same time? Are we going to do one then the other? We honestly don't know those things yet because that is all part of that design process. Um and then a procurement of all of the contractors. So that is part of that too. Uh so we don't know who's going to be doing the electric work right now, who's going to be doing the abatement work. uh that is all part of

049that design process and has a very formal piece to that. Um and then what work we're going to be doing is a as Dr. Gupta said is a full renovation of Harmon and Smith. So initially it was going to be targeted what we call MEP mechanical electrical and plumbing. Uh so the HVAC it's really the work that we did here at this building back in 2020. um the HVAC, an electrical upgrade, a bunch of plumbing work, the inside the walls stuff that that you don't really see. Obviously, this room is very different. This was an addition after that, right? This is kind of that fully renovated uh kind of room and and and how it would operate, though. Um and so other pieces that includes it really focuses on health and comfort. Um there'll be

050a significant amount of hazardous uh materials abatement as part of that project. uh when you switch to CFAP uh it it with uh OFCC sorry it's a lot of letters but alphabet soup but when you switch that you have to do what they consider a full renovation so they do not consider a building to be fully renovated unless it is free of hazardous material so initially our our previous plan was to attack very targetedly um and where we were going to have to put a hole in a wall uh if there was you know asbestous in that wall then we would target at that at that area. With this, we have to be proactive and remove all of the asbestous um and all of the other hazardous materials, which is really exciting to me cuz

051then as we go in the future, as we have other things or you know, if we have an issue, if you know, knock on wood, that's not wood. But if there's a roof leak or things like that, right now the first thing we have to do is look at, okay, is there asbestous, is there this, is there that, that won't be a concern going forward once this project is done, which is really exciting. Um it includes that full HVAC up upgrade um to have modern heating and air conditioning throughout the buildings. Uh both of those buildings have very limited air conditioning right now um and and very outdated heating as we at at the uh as the board office is in the basement of Smith. We're learning firsthand. Uh it's about probably anywhere from 10

052to 20° difference between the basement and the second floor. Um, and but it's the old radiant heat that that uh some of you may still have in your homes. Um, it's plumbing, it's flooring, um, and improving those. It's windows, which is really important when we talk about the building envelope and, uh, and being energy efficient and keeping that, uh, that conditioned air in. Um, and then it's furniture and and making the furniture modern um, and and upgrading all of that. Uh, there are laundry list of other things, but it really is a full upgrade of the entire building. All in all, that is a $57.5 million project. Um, as you remember, if you remember, the bond that we went for was $40 million project. So, this is a lot more work. That did include some

053uh some other things. There's some work to Matt Humman, baseball, softball, a little bit of work here at the high school, junior high. Um, was in that $40 million as well. We are still uh working to do those things and and the timeline of those have changed a little bit as well. But with this project, we are now looking at what I call hammer swinging and actual work happening starting summer of 27, so next summer with the expectation of substantial completion, which is really when uh when we take over the buildings and it's just punch list kind of items at the end of the summer of 29. So it will take just over two years. So three summers, two school years uh and then we should have those fully updated uh buildings. And then a

054couple advantages of partnering with OFCC. um it's a state government or it's a it's a state institution. There are some things that uh that's a little more challenging because we have to uh navigate and for example the the online system for procurement. Um Dr. Gupt and I are still waiting on our login for that and and so hopefully we get them by Wednesday when we're supposed to have those. Um and there's things like that. However, the biggest advantage is the dollars. They're bringing $18.3 million to the table that we don't have to ask residents for at all. Some of that is credit that we earned in 2020. Um, and then the rest of that is just their their 29% portion of the current work. But that $18.3 million as Dr. Gupta said, we're accessing right

055now. We didn't expect to be able to access that till 2030 2031 at the earliest. Um, so being able to access that money, that money would not have grown. It still would have been 18.3 million. 18.3 million right now pays for a lot more than I guess it will in another 5 to 7 years. Um we also get some additional project management. They provide that at no cost um and uh additional quality control. They've been through a lot of projects. A lot of those things obviously this is newer to us. So there just some advantages that we have from partnering with OFCC. Thank you. I hope in those three minutes you've come to realize what I did as far as like Frank Eaten is my lifeline. like just his uh just immense knowledge of things

056is able to to you know I think about spinning plates and how you have to spin a thousand plates at once. He does that and does a great job of just trying to keep manage all the different things that are happen across a district and he does it does a great job doing that. So thank you. So, in addition to uh um the facility, great news. Um we also are strengthening our financial position. Um through the hard work of our finance office, uh Laura Connor's here and Laura Sabber, uh we uh were able to uh get a new credit rating with Moody's. Uh we were upgraded from a double A2 to a double A1 credit rating. Um if that means anything to you, uh that that is great news to finance people. What that means

057to me uh is uh the the next piece of information I asked was well how many districts in the state of Ohio have this double A1 credit rating? 31. There about 660 districts in the state of Ohio. Only 31 of them have a double A1 rating. It it is a big deal. Uh we were cited large in part because our exceptional local community support um as the major reason for this upgrade. So thanks to our community for that. What that me meant is that when it came t time to uh sell the bonds, it meant that we were going to get more money uh on the dollar for it. And that means that we can get more money directly into the classrooms rather than into those investment payments that that took place. Uh when we

058talk about communication last year, um we we did an overhaul of our district website. I I don't know if you've been to the district website in a while. I still get random um uh emails or other district uh leaders from other other school districts will come up to me and say, "We have modeled our website off of yours. You have one of the best websites in the state um if not nation. Seriously, we've got one of the best." And um it it really has uh some great information. You're able to access it and and the trick is is not just that you can access like you can it's there, but that you can actually find it and and uh uh there's been some great work around that. But similarly to the website um on the

059athletics end the athletic website this year got a major makeover due to the hard work of our athletic director Tyler Rous and now it is phenomenal. You can still go to our district website and one of the main buttons is the athletics and if you click on that you're going to get schedules, you're going to get recent news updates um and you're going to get just to know things that are happening uh on that front and it just again is another piece and a way for us to communicate with our families. So sec from securing state funding to achieving top tier ratings, we're working every day to manage uh your investment with integrity. So I think the reason many of them are here in our audience is because um uh one of the major uh

060pieces that we have uh for tonight is to talk about the incredible learning environment and supportive environments that we have uh that helps to facilitate and serve our students is um really making our mission statement come to life. And so there's something out there called a portrait of a graduate. Uh that is what does a community want in uh its graduate when it comes time uh for them to think about uh them leaving the the doors. And I'll be honest with you um and so this is a national um you know um initiative I would say that that that occurs. I don't like the idea of a portrait of a graduate. It has a connotation of just high school. And so we we talked about the phrase of a developing a portrait of a learner.

061And so what does that look like for a student even while they're at school? I I I I I don't like it when we sometimes talk about when you graduate and you go to the real world because students are solving some really complex things and doing phenomenal work uh even even at at uh as as they're still students. But what the question comes down to is in the city of Oakwood in our Oakwood community um how do we want to define what a successful student looks like? What are those dispositions and mindsets that we want our students to possess and have? um and what are the hopes and dreams that come along with that? We talk about a porch of a learner being almost like a north star that we want uh students to aspire

062to. It's not something about just advanced students can only get there, but it's something that with training and coaching and support uh from from staff, our community, and their peers. It's something that all students could aspire uh to have. And so I'm really proud to share with you uh our portrait uh that's going to come tonight. Uh Mr. Benhop's going to have some handouts and then we got a video uh that you're able to see. I don't if you want to click it. >> At Oakwood Schools, we know that to prepare our students for tomorrow, we have to define what matters today. That is why we embarked on a journey to create our portrait of a learner. This vision is built on the answers to three important questions. What are our hopes and dreams for

063our young people? What skills and mindsets will they need for success in an everchanging world? And how should these priorities shape what happens in our classrooms and school community? To bring this vision to life, we are looking for more than just a list of traits. The portrait of learner will be our compass for how we design lessons, support students, and measure success. While academic excellence will always be essential, today's graduates also need to think critically, solve complex problems, communicate effectively, work well with others, and adapt to change. >> I think it's essential for the school to teach these competencies because these are um skills that you can take into any career. So there's not they're not specifically focused towards if you're going to be a chemist or something like that, but anything you do in

064your life, you can take these skills with you. When you think about the whole student, uh, grades, test scores, they're kind of a snapshot in time. Uh, but the portrait of a learner kind of on the other side is what we want the whole student to be from kindergarten all the way to their senior year. >> We knew a portrait is only as strong as the voices that shape it. So, we didn't just create this in a bubble. We sought the support of representatives from all corners of the district. a dedicated core team made up of students, staff, parents, and community members who played a very big part in this process. They worked alongside us to synthesize feedback from focus groups, surveys, and work sessions to ensure that this vision reflects the authentic hopes and

065dreams of Oakwood. I think involving the whole community is important because we get a lot of diverse perspectives. Um you students, teachers, parents, community members that have different life experiences and different backgrounds and they can um bring all of that to the table and you know it gives a much more robust um portrait of a learner. um when we consider all these different uh perspectives, >> I believe that it's important to um give back to the community in which you belong. Um so I think it was I was grateful to be a part of this and and give back and kind of help shape the future of Oakwood students. >> I think it felt very empowering knowing that adults wanted to hear my voice. >> Thank you for helping us to create this map. This

066is the standard we strive for. This is the future we are building. This is the Oakwood City Schools portrait of a learner. So, we have uh people that are in the audience that were part of our core team. I'm going to ask them to stand up so you can be recognized and we're going to give you a round of applause. Stand up if you were on the core team. So um this is just the beginning. This is the unveil night. Um this is not something that can be you know implemented in a day or a week or something like that. This is going to take us a little bit of time. Uh so I'm going to ask for permission uh that this becomes our initiative for the next 3 to 5 years. It's going to

067take that long because we really want to make sure we're moving away from compliance to commitment and we want students to to feel like they own this and we want our staff to feel like that they own this and our community has uh deep conversations. I use the phrase, I want students to roll their eyes when they go, oh my gosh, I hear this at home and I hear this at school and my teacher last year talked about this and my my current teacher talks about this and I see it everywhere. That's what we really want to do is we want to saturate it. But with that said, I also realize we're in the month of March. We're heading into spring break and our goal is also to complete the school year out. So, it

068may feel a little bit that we're going to kind of go into hibernation. Uh we're going to do a little bit of early talking with our staff possibly uh this spring about it and then uh let the summer happen and then pick this back up and and become our major initiative in the fall. And so asking for that permission, that runway to be able to do that. Um it really wouldn't happen without without educators and staff members um community members and parents. Uh we had students on on this um uh probably one of the most fun uh initiatives that I've got to work on because it was so collaborative and really kind of I guess um epitomizes I think the work that we do here in the community. Um so with that um uh I

069want to go ahead and uh close out this year's um state of the schools to thank our board of education. Thank you formally uh for allowing us the opportunity uh to dream, the opportunity for us to build uh new initiatives that help meet the needs of our our students. Uh we know that we have our uh PTOs, the Oakwood Schools Foundation, volunteers that just go above and beyond every day uh for for our our students, and I I'm just truly thankful. Uh so, thank you for everything. And another round of applause for um our presenters tonight. And if you give me a couple moments, I'll I'll go back to my seat and we'll pick up the rest of this meeting. Okay, thank you so much Dr. Gupta for the state of the schools. It's always

070so exciting to hear all the amazing things that are being done across our district. So >> um okay, so moving on. Um are there any board reports? >> Okay. Um and item four, budget and finance. >> Thank you. Good evening. Hard to follow up the state of the schools, but I will do my best here. Uh so for your consideration tonight, um item 4 A on the agenda is just yourformational monthly financial report from February. Um item B is a resolution to approve Omni and TSA Group as um for compliance services as our thirdparty administrator. This will be for our uh 403b and 457 annuity services. We're making a change in the the third party administrator. >> Great. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve item 4B, please? >> So move. >> Any

071discussion? Okay. Miss Aubber. >> Mr. Wilson. Hi, >> Mr. Ready Garcia. >> Hi, >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> I >> uh item 4 C is an annual uh resolution that we bring to you to approve the amounts and rates for tax year 2026 uh for collection in 2027. This is a county auditor um compliance uh piece that I bring to you every year in March. >> Can I get a motion to approve item 4 C, please? >> Miss Aubber, >> Miss Dorenzo, >> Mr. Mr. Ryder Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Wilson. Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> Hi. >> Uh, and then finally, uh, is a then and now certification, um, for a purchase order, um, uh, for services for our, um, some of our software, uh, that that just happened a

072little out of order in terms of the invoice came before the purchase order was in place. So, this is just that compliance piece that we need from you. >> Can I get a motion to approve item 4 D, please? >> Second, >> Miss Mr. Mr. Rder Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Wilson. >> Hi, >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> I >> And moving on, um, is there any unfinished business by the board? >> Any new business by the board? >> Item seven, administrative reports and superintendent recommendations. >> Yes, thank you. Uh, number seven, letter A, is justformational. um presenting to you for review the 2026 2027 elementary, the junior high, high school, and the athletic student handbooks. Uh tonight, it's it's just for you to take a look at. It's posted on

073our website uh in the board board docs, and then um I'll be coming back on April 6th uh for a formal recommendation for approval. Letter B is a field trip. It's alsoformational. I looked over all the information for our fifth grade students at Harmon to go to Camp Joy. All the paperwork is in order and I'm excited for them to have the best couple days of their life in fifth grade. U weather is going to be amazing. I I I went ahead and took care of it. You you'll be fine. Uh letter C uh is an action item. It's a resolution uh with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission uh to enter into a resolution to accept uh the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission Classroom Facilities Assistance Program segment one. >> Can I get a motion to

074approve item C? Please >> move. >> Second. >> Miss Aubber, >> Mr. Wilson. >> I >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ren Garcia. >> Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> I >> Letter D is uh the policy uh that we had for fall volume 44, number one, November 1st. Uh I brought them to you last month uh for review and tonight coming uh for a formal um approval. Can I get a motion to approve item 7D, please? >> Second. >> Miss, Mr. Wright, Garcia. >> Hi, >> Mr. Wilson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Lorenzo. >> Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> Hi. >> Number seven, letter E. Is the motion to approve a resolution to create criteria for the Barrett Kemp scholarship? >> Can I get a motion to approve item 7E, please? >> So moved. >>

075Second, >> Miss Aubber. >> Miss Dorenzo. >> I, >> Mr. Wilson. Hi, >> Mr. Ryder Garcia. >> Hi, >> Dr. Middleton. >> I >> And finally, number uh letter F in number seven is a contract recommendation uh to approve uh the contract with Miller Diversified Construction to provide owners representation for the Oakwood uh City School CFAP project. >> Can I get a motion to approve item 7F? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Miss Alber. >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ra Garcia. >> Hi. >> Mr. Wilson. >> Hi. >> Dr. Middleton. I. And moving on to item eight, personnel items, resignations, and non-renewals. >> Yes, we'll go ahead and take number uh letters A through B under one motion. I'll go ahead and read them. Letter uh A is the recommendation um uh to

076for the resignation uh of Tiffany Fitch and um for her position as an educational aid at Smith Elementary. Uh, letter B is a resignation for Chelsea Broxma for her position as an administrative assistant to to me the superintendent effective March 20th. >> Great. Thanks. Um, can I get a motion to approve item A item 8 A and B, please? >> So move. >> Second. >> Miss. >> Mr. Wilson. >> I miss Lorenzo. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ryder Garcia. >> Hi. >> Dr. >> I. And moving on to number nine. Personnel items recommendations. >> Yeah, we'll go ahead and take number nine, letter A through H under one motion. I'll go ahead and read them. Letter A is the uh supplemental contracts and volunteers 202526. Uh there are two positions. Letter B is amending the supplementals

077uh 25 uh for uh uh our volunteer wrestling coach. Letter C are supplemental contracts and volunteers for the 202627 school year. Letter D is additional um hours uh to pay part-time OT's and Klein Karen Stevens at their hourly rate for up to an additional 20 hours effective January 1st, 2026 for the completion of evaluations. Letter E is regarding overnight duties for Washington DC. Um, it's made to pay following staff members for overnight duties at Washington DC at the established substitute teacher uh pay rate. Tom Roush and Jessica Walther. Letter F is the recommendation to pay Debbie Drake $700 for services performed as an accompanist for the high school choir during the first semester of the 202526 school year be paid from the vocal music student activities account. Letter E is a recommendation to employ Chelsea

078Broxma for up to five hours per week to assist with the superintendent's office uh per attached hourly rate from March 30th, 2026 to April 30th, 2026. Letter H is a recommendation to approve the list of substitutes for the 2526 school year compending pending completion of required documents. Can I get a motion to approve item nine, letters A through H, please? >> So move. >> Second. >> Miss Saver. >> Mr. Wilson. >> Hi. >> Mr. Rder Garcia. >> Hi. >> Miss Dorenzo. >> Hi. >> Dr. Middleton. >> I. >> And moving on to item 10, executive session. We're actually skipping this because we went into executive session and exited prior to this meeting. So, moving on. Um, I need a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move. >> Second. Miss Aubber, >> Miss D. Lorenzo, >> hi

079>> Mr. Raider Garcia, >> hi >> Mr. Wilson, hi >> Dr. Middleton. >> Hi. >> That's it. Thanks all. Thanks all. Have a good evening. I can do mine.