001Good evening. Everybody got quiet. That was good. So before we had to do anything, uh good evening everyone. Uh I'll call this meeting to order. It's the May 21st, 2025 regular meeting of the Tangi Local School District Board of Education. Uh Mr. Jenkins, can you please call the role? Mr. Lester here. Dr. Dabberco here. Dr. Wallik here. Mr. O'Brien here. Miss Shriber here. All right. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. All right. I don't believe we have any amendments to the agenda. I hearing none. Can I have a motion to approve? So move and a second. Second. Uh any discussion? I hear
002none. Mr. Jenkins, please call the role. Mr. Lester, yes. Dr. Dabberco, yes. Dr. Wallik, yes. Mr. O'Brien, yes. Miss Shriber, yes. All right. Uh we'll move on to the board president's report. I'll keep it brief. We have a lot of guests here that are probably looking for some of our presentations. Uh but uh tomorrow, as some of you may have heard, is our last day of school. Uh which is exciting. Uh made it. It is always uh really a testament to the work of a lot of people to make a school year a success. Uh and we have a lot of those people in the room today. We have so many more across the district. Um you know, obviously students working hard, doing their best. uh but you have all of the teachers and staff
003and administrators and parents and siblings and and everybody that goes into doing it. So we are so thankful for the entang community that steps up to make every school year great. Uh and uh you know it's really uh you know obviously last weekend was graduation and you really get to see that at graduation. Uh, one of the true joys of being a board member is uh, seeing this up close and personal, seeing the smiles on the faces, the secret handshakes that are going on between the graduates and the the counselors or the teachers, the big hugs that come after um, you know, they walk off the stage. Um, it really does bring home just the power of this community. And so I just want to thank everyone here, everyone in the district um, for all
004the work they do to make the school year a success. Uh very very briefly, uh we've talked a lot about the state budget. This continues to be a big area of focus for us. Uh I know Mr. Meyer and Mr. uh Jenkins were down testifying at the the state house the other day. Uh the the budget is now with the Senate. They continue to consider all of these issues. It's now in the Senate Finance Committee where they're, you know, going to have some additional hearings on it. Um, as we have said all along, our focus is on making sure that we are um, you know, really getting property tax relief for our community and the best way to do that is to have increased state funds. Unfortunately, the House budget uh, has a clawback provision
005that would make it very very difficult for us uh, to function effectively uh, given that it removes a lot of the school funding that we currently have. So, we've been advocating against that. We encourage the entire community to really be educated on these issues to to look into it, to understand it, and to speak with their legislator uh their legislators about the importance of all this. So, we'll continue to do that. Please uh keep looking at the web page. It's got a lot of good information. If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Um with that, in terms of uh uh committee meetings, we had the mental health committee meeting uh a week or so ago. It was a week ago. Uh we had uh Mr. Stern uh who is there and was
006talking with uh you know Dr. Barrett about some of the reorganization that's happening there where those groups are going to be a little bit more aligned in terms of the services that they're able to provide and expanding some of the work uh that we're having around the student experience and and in addition the staff experience. It's going from the student well-being department to the well well-being department. Um really focused on everybody in in the community. So that's a positive thing. We had some really good discussion on that. Um, any other committee meetings? I don't think we've had any since the last meeting. Any OSBA updates? Um, nothing major now. Uh, other than the search for uh the new uh CEO is under is about to be underway. So, but no no formal updates at this
007time. Okay, great. All right. Well, with that, we will head into our first presentation. Uh, these are always great. So, I have a very fancy document here that I'm going to read aloud to start off our presentation and then I know some other folks will have a few words that they want to say, but these are uh always so incredibly special for us as board members to be able to recognize people in our community that have given so so much over the years. So, I will read this uh this resolution of commendation for Susan Wilson. Whereas Susan Wilson joined the Oland Tangi local school district in April 2000 as an assistant principal at Wandotr Run Elementary School where she then proudly served as principal from 2002 to 2004. And whereas from 2004 to 2005, Mrs.
008Wilson continued her school leadership journey serving as principal of the legacy Ontia Elementary School. And whereas in 2005 when the position of principal of the newly built Glenn Oak Elementary School became available, the Onangi local school district turned to Susan Wilson for steadfast leadership, confident in her ability to cultivate a school community reflective of the district's mission to facilitate maximum learning for every student. And whereas and again in 2011, the Onangelia local school district called upon Mrs. Wilson to serve as the founding principal of Heritage Elementary School, an all kindergarten only building. Then a year later later seamlessly transitioned to a K5 building where her presence and selfless leadership have impacted the lives of the students, families, and staff who are fortunate enough to step foot in the building on a daily basis. And whereas
009for more than four decades, Mrs. Wilson dedicated countless hours as an educator, school leader, and thought partner, creating the educational foundation for thousands of students and guiding the career paths of colleagues and staff members alike. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Oldenhy local school district board of education and superintendent Todd Ryer thank Mrs. Wilson for her passion and loyalty in her 25-year unwavering commitment to facilitating maximum learning for every student through her servant leadership and wish her well in retirement from the entangi local school district. So a round of applause [Applause] Get a photo [Music] together. Perfect. All right. Ready? There you go. One more. Hold on. Got it. [Applause] Oh, go ahead. Yeah, I just I I I just want to um say a few words. Uh you know, first and foremost, thank
010you for your years of service. Obviously um like the resolution said you have had a tremendous impact on thousands of students, families and obviously many many staff members um over the course of your career in your time with us in Tangi. So I have a few uh prepared statements here as well. So when we uh hire a new principal, we send out a survey to staff and say okay uh what are you looking for in the next principal? Well, you know it came through loud and clear. obviously the impact that uh Miss Wilson has had on Heritage Elementary. Thanks for uh turning that up. So, here's just I just a few comments that we uh um selected from the survey. Susan's leadership has made Heritage such a special place. We are students first with a
011strong focus on what works with kids, building relationships and encouraging staff to take care of their own health, emotional, physical, uh, familial, etc. So, again, just not just uh students, but staff and making sure that our staff shows up present, right? And we're taking care of our staff to do the best job they can to um, educate our students. Another uh comment. Our building is built around a sense of trust and teamwork. Susan leads by example and hires us with confidence and knowing we will get the job done. There is no micromanaging. She truly believes in all of us and lets us do our job which in turn creates an environment where we can flourish and grow all the while feeling supported by our principal. She always has our backs and her door is always
012open. So again, just creating that culture of trust uh and and of encouragement with her staff, it just goes a long way. It's it's just this is just phenomenal to read. So a few more uh micromanaging does not exist here. Trust and open communication do instead. When teachers say they need something, admin works to make it happen. Uh and again just establishing that trust in in true leadership in in leading your school community. Appreciate that. Um one more and then I just uh have a few more comments. Said by another uh HS teacher, the climate and culture at Heritage are the best I have ever experienced throughout my teaching career. And I firmly believe that the positive environment is largely due to the exemplary leadership of our administrators. Both Susan and Daniel create a culture
013of accountability, trust and professionalism that empowers us as educators. They remain calm and composed during challenging situations which not only reassures the staff but also sets a positive example for our students. So again, these you can see these attributes of leadership coming out uh in these statements. Um so uh Susan embraces humor and joy and focuses on kids and relationships first. So we we did a little digging here, Susan. Uh so humor and joy, right? So to that end, so I understand, right? This is what we hear. Susan is a lover of the band The Drive by Truckers. Scratch off lottery tickets, and a lots of hugs. So let's stay with let's stay with humor here. So, it takes a sense of humor to enjoy birthday fun like how the staff has celebrated her milestone
014birthdays, serenating her with a uh marriarchy uh our mariachi band for her 60th birthday and with uh singing pink flamingo telegram for her 65th birthday. So, thank you for uh being humorous with that. Um Susan is best known for her tagline of it will be fine. This I I I really laughed at this one. This one's good. Doing what's best for kids and uh starting staff meetings with a funny story. So, here is a funny story. So, one notable story was uh being so proud that she got so many great photos of her granddaughter's dance recital only to find out all her pictures were in fact a granddaughter's lookalike. that you [Laughter] really you can't make this. This is great. And also here after retirement, she plans to volunteer and show up at Heritage as
015a school secretary substitute when possible. So we hope so. Um, you know, just again, uh, thank you for your, uh, tireless service to, uh, the students, the staff, and the families, uh, while you're during your time in Tangi. We appreciate it. Um, you know, I I will say this, uh, you know, Susan is extremely intentional. She's a quiet leader. Um, she builds people up, um, and and does a phenomenal job. And, and, you know, we say this all the time. you know, if we we look at somebody that we want to emulate as a principal, I mean, she's for sure at the top of the list. Um, so, uh, thank you again, um, for your service, uh, and and we want to wish you the best in the next chapter, uh, in retirement. And, um,
016I think you want to say a few words. Yes, please. Yeah. [Music] I wrote them down because I knew I wouldn't be able to uh remember everything that I wanted to say. Uh but good evening members of the board of education, colleagues, family, friends, and guests. I'd like to share a few words, and I promise to keep it short as I know how painful lengthy board meetings can be. I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this commendation today. Standing here reflecting on 25 years as an elementary principal, I'm filled with gratitude for the people, the purpose, the countless memories that have defined this journey. I owe a special thank you to then superintendent Bill Rhymer who took a chance on a 40-year-old from Indiana who couldn't even pronounce Tangi correctly. When I first stepped
017into the role of principal, I knew it came with great responsibility. But I also knew it came with even an even greater reward. The opportunity to shape the foundation of children's lives. In elementary school, we don't just teach reading, math, and science. We teach curiosity, purpose, kindness, and resilience. We help children believe in themselves and in their place in the world. Over the years, I've had the privilege of working alongside some of the most dedicated educators and staff anyone could ask for. You have inspired me daily with your commitment, your creativity, and your unwavering belief in what our students can achieve. To my fellow principles, I see you guys back there. Teachers, support staff, and district leaders, Todd, Jeff, Jack, Nancy, Monica, Tron, Michelle, Christa, Vince. Thank you all for your partnership and your trust.
018I wouldn't be where I am today without that. To Terry Kaitton, a special shout out. Thank you for your countless hours of bouncing off ideas, venting, and sharing this passion of building leadership. After opening two buildings, the final leg of my journey was opening Heritage Elementary. I have to say this is my proudest moment in my 25 years. Opening Heritage as an all day, everyday kindergarten building was the beginning of multiple proud moments. Even when you asked a kindergartener which bus they rode and they respond the yellow one. It certainly brought laughter to our purpose. The staff of Heritage, you guys are the best. This truly was a journey of building a place where everyone is heard, respectful relationships are formed, the ability to be able to admit when you're wrong, and moving forward and
019putting students first in every decision. Heritage is a special place and I know that all of this work will continue. To the parents and families in our community, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your children's lives, for walking alongside us as partners, and for always reminding us of why we do what we do. And to the students, past and present, you are the heartbeat of every school day. Your laughter in the hallways, your resilience, your wideeyed wonder. You are the reason I've loved every one of these 25 years. I'd also like to thank my own family whose support has made all this possible. Thank you for understanding the late nights, the early mornings, and the emotional investment that comes with this role. My husband, Scott, who has listened to countless stories,
020both funny and frustrating. My daughter, Sarah, and my son, Lou, who at times I know were frustrated with my work. But I am proud to say they both are graduates of Volunte High School. my grandchildren, Alex, Ruby, Silas, Ada, Kale, and Adley, who are probably looking forward to more time with my mom in her retirement. And finally, to the board of education and superintendent Todd Meyer. Thank you for this res recognition, but more importantly, thank you for supporting our schools and for believing in the transformative power of education. Though much has changed over the years, technology, curriculum, even the world our students are growing up in. What hasn't changed is our shared commitment to giving every child the chance to thrive. I'm proud of what we've done together and I know that this work will
021continue. Thank you. [Applause] On that note, I hate to take the accommodation in. Thank you. Thank you. go with them. Yeah, that's right. That's right. We're We're actually all going to dinner right now. So, yeah. Great. All right. Well, uh just just amazing. And uh we're going to turn now to Jack to talk about uh growth in school. Thanks for doing that for Susan. She is truly a a treasure and I've loved working with her um ever since I've been in Tangi. She's like Todd said, model principal. Um so my purpose here is to discuss our current state of uh enrollment growth and building capacity. As a quick uh summary of where we've been um recently, the community uh was first alerted to our challenges with enrollment growth and uh facility capacity concerns during our
022March 24 levy campaign. At that time, we proposed three elementary schools, um, one in 25 and one in 28, a middle school in 28, and a high school in 27 to meet the needs of 5,000 students over the coming 10 years. Um, we also followed the levy uh failure with a work session in May of 24, a year ago. Um, where we uh discussed three scenarios um that were not all of the scenarios, but we presented three uh general scenarios that captured significant uh different opt significantly different options for us. uh a three elementary school, one middle school, one high school model um based on a fall 24 um bond issue. Um scenarios based in 25 that would open which is this year now that would open elementary schools in 27 and 28 and one
023in an out year, a middle school in 29 and a high school in 29. And then we looked at options in 2026 and what that could look like with the earliest elementary opening in 28, the high school and middle school in fall of 2030. So this isn't necessarily a new discussion for the board, but just updating us on where we are um with those general um parameters based on the needs that were first identified for that levy campaign. Um right now uh where we're at um we have uh some trailers at Indian Springs Elementary School. We also last summer redistricted students out of Soda Ridge. Um, our facilities committee does annual enrollment projections which they presented to the board in the fall of 2024 and October. Um and as a administrative practice, we begin forecasting
024enrollment projections weekly each January through the summer um to track what our staffing needs are um in each of our schools and to make sure we don't um exceed enrollment capacity um in any of our schools. So where that leaves us today, um we have uh at the elementary level, we have um significant pressure points on the west side, the northwest side specifically. Indian Springs Elementary School is going to add another 900 students is going to be excuse me over 900 students in 2027 28. Liberty Tree will be over uh 900 students the following year is what our current uh enrollment projections show. When we looked at this at our work session is the top row of that chart and where we are today is the bottom row. So one thing that we're seeing is
025that our elementary uh enrollment projections are lagging slightly from where we were uh forecasting them to be a year ago. Um we're still forecasted to be over 100% utilization across our elementary level. Um but uh in the uh right now um we're just at um 99% utilization and that'll reach 100% in 26 27 102 and 2728. And I highlighted 2728 just as to visually demonstrate that's the first year we could open a new school at this point. um if we decided if the community decided to move forward with one. Um so you can see that the elementary enrollment continues to grow and the pressure is there on the northwest side um most not that it's not in other places as well. And Jack, just a quick question with um this the 625 capacity is for
026our average elementary building right with the trailers at Indian Springs. What does that do to capacity? Um, so it's still the trailers still stretch the the overall capacity. However, they create right now at Indian Springs, it's four extra classrooms. When we had them at Cheshire, previously it was six extra classrooms. Um, the capacity is up to 860 of what is actually doable. Um, but that has significant costs embedded in it. So I don't want to say that that's the capacity for normal operating procedures. that's adding an additional, you know, librarian, additional um support in different ways. Um but we've operated our schools with 860. Beyond that, we we truly don't have any infrastructure to manage our through the size of our cafeteria, through the number of elective uh course spaces, um you know, like the
027music room, the art room, things like that. Um, so 860 with six modulars was what we feel is the absolute maximum capacity. Just just a quick quick comment cuz we're talking about the physical structure, correct? And I understand that's what we do a lot. I'm embarrassed to tell you that's the first time I met her tonight. How many administrators do we have in the district? Uh, what it 160. So how is a principal going to know 900 children in his building? So, this is not okay. And and we and it's not I'm not blaming you. I'm not I'm not lecturing, but um and you've talked about a lot. We we've we've got to figure out a way to get these buildings um past our community to understand that nobody wants to send their kid to
028an elementary school where the principal does not know them for the purpose of knowing when they're not okay. So, and I do want to point out that that 860 number is without preschool students in the building. That's when we're able to accomplish that. And um not all of our schools have preschools in them right now. Um but as overall district enrollment grows, we'll have to continue to grow preschool space. And when there is preschool in a building, that would have to be taken into account. But at Cheshire last year at Indian Springs this year, we're able to accommodate the preschool elsewhere. It just it ends up using up every inch of available space. It takes away from you know other support areas where like you gifted or other things can be broken out into an
029impact staff available you know space and those sorts of things. So yes you can have that many students in the building but what is the experience? And to that point at the state of the schools this year we did a a forum where you know we talked about this the community needing to um decide the kind of schools that they want in the future. They've we've done that very clearly in the past and we have to continue to ask the community that question and and all of the forums that we can get feedback from. And I'm not blaming you, Dr. Freddy. I didn't take any blame. I'm not saying you caused this. It's just at some point we need to say that this is not okay and and um it's it's more than just facilities
030and I know I know you get that. Yeah. At the Go ahead. I think it's important just so it's our responsibility to optimize the space we have. Yes, not necessarily maximize, but optimize, right? And so when you optimize, there's some subjectivity to how you think about optimization, right? And to Mr. Jabo's point, you know, we have upwards of 2,000 students in high school in one principle, right? So I think let's not get hung up on 900 kids and one administrator because depending upon the grade and the size of school, a lot of different things you can do to optimize the space and the experience. Let's focus on optimization. Right. At the middle school, uh we've identified 950 as our as our optimal capacity there. Our pressure points are Berlin Middle and Hyatt Middle School. Bless
031you. Um Berlin's going to be upwards of,200 students in 2028 and Hyatts in 2030. Um if the current projections hold. Um but we are and those current projections again these are based on the projections that we had in May of 24 and then May of 25 is just where we are today. We haven't done the uh an update of those projections at this point that'll come this fall but right now um we have based on what we know of who we have here are we're trending higher in middle school and you'll see it also at high school than our current projections. So whereas at elementary school we're lagging a little bit from what we thought we were going to be a year ago where we thought we were going to be today, our high school
032and our middle school are trending higher. We're exceeding our forecasted enrollments at this point at the middle school. looked at and it may not it may be too soon but uh change in building permits, new permits issued and then also um I think it makes sense that elementary run under if new builds start to slow down in turnover because if you get a 3% mortgage, you're not selling our house, right? So your middle school and high school will tend to be higher and longer than when we were having a lot of turnover and people Yeah. What we're seeing right now is new builds are um booming in terms of houses with kids and existing homes have slowed down in terms of houses with kids. I think it has to do with, you know, uh, like
033you said, rates and, um, there's more incentives for buying the, um, the new home, I think. So, and that's where you see Hyatts, Berlin, Liberty Tree, Indian Springs. You know, if you think back to those heat maps we show about our enrollment, that's where that's where the activity is right now in terms of new builds as well. Um, so at the at the middle school, we're we're on our way to uh 108% um utilization in 2030. And then at the high school, our pressure point is Berlin High School. Um 2,300 students in 2028. Um which would be higher than we ever had at our high point at Liberty before we opened Berlin High School. Um 2,700 students in 2030, 3,100 students in 2033. Um, so again, you see the utilization numbers are trending higher than
034we expected a year ago um at Berlin High School. And while I'm not showing the other high schools, the the other high schools are maintaining about 2,2100 students at each of those schools throughout this time period. So not a lot of flexibility to redistrict students away from Berlin and move them into Tangi, Orange or Liberty in that sense. in in years past when my understanding is Liberty got a little bit full. What What was their numbers when it 2200? 2200 at it. At it fullest. Yeah. Yep. So, uh here they all are together. Um and then what I show and just to jump ahead there at that last um column to the right um our our furthest out school by school projection is the 24 or the 203435 school year. So just to show that
035these aren't um blips. This is steady growth at each of these levels. We're on our way up to 121% at elementary school, 122 at middle, and 125 at the at the high schools. sort of to the point that we've had a couple of times is that if we wanted to open a new high school, say that a high school can manage at 100 102 105 or something like that. But if we were to start building one this fall, when would they open? So that's what those highlighted cells are for, those lighter blue. So, uh, if if this fall or, uh, next spring, uh, the community passed a bond issue to build those. If we start our design work now, we can get the, uh, middle school and high schools open in the fall of 2028
036and the elementary open in the fall of 2027. That's that's the earliest possible at this point. And the window for that is um, November or uh, May of 26. So I guess kind of given these trends that we're seeing or anticipating does it re rethink the scenarios that you presented in the beginning because in the beginning scenarios it was elementaryaries first then middle and high school but it feels like the pressure is more high school middle and would you flip that? Uh the pressure is um I would say equally present at each of those levels for different reasons. Um, so I think that there's I would say uh elementary and high school, if you want me to rank them, I would put them at 1A and the middle school at at um you know 1B
037or even number two for that purpose. Um the the challenge besides just utilization that I'm showing here is the solutions that we have without buildings are different solutions or either different solutions than we've utilized before or more prolific ways to utilize the same solutions that we've utilized before which by which I mean um the redistricting gets really complicated and we start to have very um non-traditional Poland and your tra traditional boundary lines with the concentration of you know 1,800 elementary students um in the northwest corner and other westside elementaryaries not able to receive all of those we start to have to push northwest kids to the center of the district center kids to the southeast of the district. Um, when you talk about Berlin High School and that you already have overcrowded high schools, usually
038when we redistrict a high school, we're redistricting into a new build high school or an underutilized high school. We would be taking kids out of a 30,000 student Berlin High School and moving them into a 2,000 student Olan Tangi, 2,000 student Orange, 2,000 student Liberty and making them, you know, themselves 2200 student high schools. Um, so it feel we have to be very conscious of the fact that and our community needs to be conscious of the fact that that'll feel different. You're not being moved into a new school that's opening. You're being moved from an overcrowded school to a less overcrowded school. Well, and I think that exists. Yeah. And I think it's important especially because the last redistric redistricting that we did in the face of the failed levy was smaller, right? It was
03930 kids, something like that 50, right? But for this type of redistric, we'd be talking much larger multiples to make it work, right? 100 kids a year, 200, something like that. It would depend over the length of time that we wanted to implement it. So what I try to show here is in each of the next five years, um, not next year, but starting the year after. Um, we would, so the way this reads is in 20 fall of 2026, we will have to have redistricted the elementary. um we would add uh a four to six classroom trailer at at least one school um to add to what exists at Indian Springs. Then in the fall of 27, we would need to redistrict more elementary students and high school students. Fall of 28, redistricting at
040each level. We would definitely need more trailers at an elementary level again, at a third elementary school at least. 29, a fourth elementary school adding trailers. uh redistricting again. And you know, these are scenarios where um you know, I talked about Liberty Tree and Indian Springs being a pressure point. Part of that pressure is from those new builds that we were talking about. So, as as those students add to the district, we're going to have to redistrict new students who show up out of say I'll use the two principles who are here because I think it's a likely scenario. out of Liberty Tree into Heritage where we put the trailers at Heritage and you get redistricted from Liberty Tree to trailers in Heritage because Liberty Tree can't accommodate more students because they they Liberty Tree
041has the connector with Hyatt Middle School that they currently use as their kind of trailer classrooms or six classrooms there. And then because of that, the Hiatt growth as it's happening, those students are going to have to come out of Hyatt. Some would go to most likely Liberty Middle School, some would go most likely to Shanahan Middle School. And I can't tell you exactly how many kids into which schools because we're not going to make those decisions until the time the year when we're making those decisions based on the actual numbers because at that point we're actually influencing, you know, the lives of those students as well. But that's what it looks like right now. So the utilization numbers on 10. Do they contemplate these actions or not? They do not. Well, they do in
042that their utilization of the entire level. So all elementary schools and all. So yes, they do. So they they this this is what happens. 2829 and 104 for elementary. Yes. That would assume that we put those trailers on. Correct. Okay. because the utilization is all of the elementary students across all of the elementary schools regardless of where they're assigned to. Okay. And and I I think uh going back to Mr. O'Brien's question uh his original question because of the lag now in elementary, it's not that we we don't need the buildings, we're just pushing them out. So that's why I think you have one there in 2728 uh as opposed to um uh two, right? Which again the what we presented to the community in the fall or in the spring of 2024 was we
043would need three elementaryaries over 10 years. And the numbers still justify that, right? It's just we just we it's pushed out a little bit. I I do want to be very clear about this because I've gotten a number of questions from people in the community. Well, when are you building the next high school? That's got to be started building now, right? And no, right? We can't build that because the voters did not approve that. So, when we say this is without new construction, that means we are unable to do construction unless the voters pass something. So, it's just important to know that, you know, that that happens. The other thing is when we're talking about adding these trailers, uh, free trailers, are we getting those, you know, from someone free? like we have to pay
044a lot of money for those, right? Yeah. Um I Mr. Jenkins, I'm gonna pick on you here, but in the forecast, not to spoil your presentation later, but um we do account for some trailer cost. Can you talk about what that is? Roughly the initial cost um for a four to six unit is going to be about a half a million dollars because you have to bring them in, set them up, put the skirting, run utilities. Then in subsequent years, the continuing lease is all that you have. But if we have to add unit after unit uh over time, I want to say we had a fiveyear cumulative cost, I'll uh email everyone, let you know. I don't have the number off the top of my head, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of
0451.8 8 $ 1.9 million over a 5-year period of time to phase in I want to say I know that's not on this model here but we modeled phasing in between 16 and 20 classrooms and and when you're when we're looking at district finances what what document would show where that comes from the five-year forecast. So, if we built a building, so in the 5-year forecast, we include things like teachers and stuff that kids need to learn. If we were building a building, where would that be shown? Building a building, as far as for the um construction costs of that would be paid for uh out of our debt service fund is we repaid the debt for the uh securities that we sell to get the proceeds to build the building. So it's not the
046general fund. Is it an overstep to say that those trailers are then competing for more teachers and because the bond is kind of accounted for not differently? Is that a good way to say that? It's a perfect way to say it. If we have to uh put operational costs like leases for uh trailers and other classroom space that isn't permanent, it's going to come out of the general fund which absolutely competes with other operational needs. Have they put a contingency in the clawback to account for the fact that we're going to be building oodles of we're going to be renting oodles of trailers? Did they figure that into it? There's nothing in the clawback itself. Um they have recognized in the clawback that schools can take part of what would otherwise be clawed back and
047dedicate it for specific purposes. We do that already in the general fund with how we plan and what we look for. Um, but certainly if we were forced to account for it in slightly different ways, that's what we would do, too. Have we run a lease versus buy scenario on the modulars? Can you even buy them? Would they sell them to us, Jeff? I mean, I know someone could. Um, we can buy them. The setup costs don't change, but we can buy them versus lease if they're for a long period of time. Okay. [Music] We have the ones at Oasis, for example. Yeah. Yeah. And whether uh trailers or new construction, you know, the the cost inside the classroom um is the same. Just you have to keep that in mind. You still have to
048pay for the the staff, the square footage to clean, the curricular materials. So whether it's a trailer outside existing elementary school or a new elementary school, um there are a lot of costs associated there as well that are going to happen one way or the other. And we just talked about trailers for elementary school level. Is that right? Um these are all implying elementary trailers. Yeah. The nature of the secondary schedule um allows us a little more flexibility in that with with the redistricting of the numbers we're seeing right now. But I will put a caveat that um we still have a lot of work to do to figure out how to get 3,000 students working in a high school if that's a model we want to choose or even really 2400 students working in
049a high school because uh we just haven't been there before. Um so there could be a there could be a solution down the road where we say, "Okay, we're going to have to put some in." I found the document um high school. If we had planned for up to 22 classrooms, which if you divide that by four or five is basically going to give you um that we would have four to five modular type units. For example, the one in Indian Springs right now is a two classroom. Four. Four. It's a four four classroom. So if you did that, the cumulative cost in a 5-year period of time is about $1.8 million. So my memory was was good. Now that's assuming 22 classrooms. We we may not hit 22 classrooms again. So when we looked
050at the utilization numbers, when we added a new elementary, did we assume that the modulars went away and we're adding net capacity, not gross capacity? Yes. Okay. Although if we build I mean as you mentioned there there are needs for additional elementary schools down the line. If we were to build a new elementary would the idea be that we get rid of all existing trailers. Will we still have to maintain some? Um if we build an elementary I guess that would in part depend on what the outlook looks looks like. um if there's another elementary a couple years out and we know where it's going to be when we redistrict, we redistrict the committee. I've been on the committee long enough to know that they'll keep that in mind um with the growing enrollment. If
051there's no solution there, um they would approach it differently. So, I would say that new construction is a safe way to avoid trailers, but uh in a growing district, trailers are always going to be something we'll have to um be considering. I mean, we we're just projecting growth for so long that this is going to be a continuing conversation for a while. Yeah. I mean, to that point, you know, we just opened Peach Blow and we have trailers. So, right. Is it is it safe? Is it fair to say that trailers have a good function for temporary fluctuations in enrollment while a permanent building is better for permanent growth that is not looking like it's going to go down for a few centuries? I think that's a decision that we have to make. I think
052that there are probably I know that there are districts that operate permanently with trailers and it's a decision that we have to make as a school board, as a community collectively. As a parent, I like I would, you know, prefer my kids to be in a school without trailers. Um I know that our teachers would prefer to teach inside the school than in a trailer. We we've heard that loud and clear. Have any parents come to you and say, "I know we're adding trailers. Is it possible to sign up my child for the schools with the trailers?" Is is there a demand for that? I haven't had that one. No, I think that's likely to not happen, too. I mean, there's no running like they don't have bathrooms in them. You have to if there
053are school safety issues. I mean, they're outside the building. So, there are some real challenges with those. Yep. Can I ask one more question about the high school utilization? I know that they're very high numbers looking even at 28 29 assuming we could build one. um that's the soonest we can build one. Does that also take into account um the fact that students might have things like early release um late start CCP like other things that take them off campus. This number does not necessarily account for that. Um but um those things help to alleviate at the beginning and the end of the school day like a a late start, a late arrival or early release. Um but those students end up in the building in the middle of the day. This is what we
054saw back at Liberty High School when they were that large that you know first and second period were much more manageable than uh fifth and sixth period for example um lunch. Mhm. So and you know this is um it's a all of those factors play together, right? Because another thing is you know we don't know what continued interest in CCP is going to be. uh what funding for CCP is going to be. Um you know, are we assuming students are still interested in the same programs that that we have right now? Are there going to be new programs that show up that that our community is going to want to add? Um all of this goes into making those decisions in terms of what kind of flexibility does the school offer uh is possible within
055the school environment. Well, I'll say I mean just from a higher education perspective, the state is really pushing toward getting people into the workforce sooner. There's a press for three-year degrees. They're requiring every university to develop at least one um or at least that's coming up through through some of those budget talks. There's a lot of talk about ways to expand CCP and some of those things. So that that remains a very real discussion. Um I think the the thing to keep in mind though is that you know our schools play a big role in workforce development too and that becomes a lot more challenging if you can't have students you know that are able to access some of that stuff freely. So it it becomes an issue not just of what we as a
056school district want to do but also what we as a state want to do and some of those tradeoffs, right? And you know um even when at the high school level with all of those options that allow students to maybe be at the high school not throughout the entirety of their day. You still have an 800 student auditorium to have a class meeting in. You still have five starting positions on the basketball team. Um all of these are things, one lead in the play. All of that has to be, you know, something that we consider as we're deciding um how big we want to run the schools. Um and I'll go back to the um optimal utilization numbers that I shared. Like at the elementary level, that's 200 students. Our optimal utilization is already 200
057students higher than the average elementary school in the state with the same level of same number of grade levels. Um and that's a consistent um feature of our middle schools and high schools as well. We run we run large efficient schools um as is. And to your point with workforce development too though if if we are trying to prepare our students with some of this stuff they need specialized space for some of these programs um special types of computers, you know, that sort of thing. Um different spaces that we need to be able to accommodate our students if we want them to be able to have those certifications and things like that upon graduation. Right. That's right. So, two two questions and Mr. Gordon might know this and he um does school facilities when we're
058looking at how we're going to finance these trailers or pay pay for them. Um does Ohio school facilities folks do they have a program to pay for those or what what are they paying for? They do not have a program. So, they don't do trailers. They do not. Okay. They don't do funding for any for anything. Are you waving your second question for now? Okay, let the record reflect. He's reserving time. That's right. Yeah. So, that's the extent of the presentation. Again, the intent was just to show you where we're at with our utilization, our enrollment growth. We're still growing. Um, we still have questions about how to fit all the kids into our schools. So, um, enjoy that challenge. Board of Education. Thank you. Love a good challenge. All right, Mr. Meyer. All right.
059Thank you, Dr. Fetty. Um, of course, growth remains one of our uh biggest challenges and we're for sure excited to continue that discussion to see how we can best accommodate um the growth. So with that, uh few recognitions. Um one I the first one I wanted to highlight uh seniors were invited back to their elementary schools for a final clap out and celebration. So this is catching on and becoming a tradition across our elementary school. So you can see the number of students. Uh so currently that we know of 13 elementary schools welcomed back seniors. So these are students who went through and walked through the halls of these elementary schools. Um, so you can see some pictures. So, um, and I know that we're sharing these on social media as well, but, uh, just
060again, great for our seniors to go back, uh, to the elementary schools and a lot of many of them started their journeys here, um, uh, in Tangi. But, you know, I just want to emphasize because, uh, Mr. Lester mentioned graduation um that we had just this past uh Sunday, but um you know when we talk to students, students really uh are grateful for the impact of many staff members throughout their journey in Tangi and and speak highly of a lot of our elementary uh staff members too. So, it's great that um that we do this and uh they're able to go back and you know many of their teachers are still there who get to see them uh before graduation. So, there of course uh again Mr. Lester mentioned but there are some pictures uh
061just a great day, great celebration. So, um, uh, this past Sunday, 1,787 seniors actually walked across the, uh, stage, uh, on Sunday. Um, so I know Mr. O'Brien, your fourth graduate, uh, Sunday. Fourth and final. Fourth and final. Fourth and final. Never say never. Well, this someone this has some news for me. Fourth and final. we have more that's going to come out. Yeah. So, congratulations uh and and to the rest of our board members. You you have this to look forward to and again like I said at graduation, you know, really enjoy the time that you have and enjoy every minute of it because it does go fast. Um I will say I've had a number of parents come up to me and talk about what a welloiled machine the graduations are. Yep. Right.
062The shot does a great job. Kristen, her team does a great job. get them in, get them out. you know, everybody's happy, well, um, it's like planning four weddings on the same day. And and absolutely and I was going to say congratulations to our communications team because it they do a phenomenal uh job um organizing and executing um because it's not easy uh with that many people involved in a day and also expand outside the uh um commun the communications department with some of our other staff members who are there all day and really help and enjoy it too because again uh families are extremely happy and proud of the accomplishments and it's a big big day um for us in Tangi. So um we're 2025 is it's in the books and we're looking forward
063to 2026 uh moving forward. Um so before uh that was graduation, but we still have one day of school left with students. So uh this week of course um all of our schools across the district are celebrating the school year and doing many many activities. So you can see some pictures um there from uh first grade camp skater activities uh across the district. Uh tomorrow actually I'm going to hopefully spend most of my day in the buildings um uh with some act end of the year activities. So um I'm praying for no rain tomorrow. So we'll see. Well, Shanahan moved their activities indoors for eighth grade graduation. So I'll save you a seat if you want to come join me. I'll see I'll see if that's I'll see if that's on my schedule if I
064can get over there. But um but yeah, looking forward to that. And again, it's just a a great way to kind of wind down the school year and celebrate all of the wonderful things that have happened over the course of this school year. Uh do want to just highlight this because we started this I think about five five or six years ago. So the transportation registration is open. So, in order for us to prepare for the 2526 school year, we're asking families to opt in or out of transportation uh by June 19th. And this really helps uh give the transportation department a lot of data when they're building their routes for next year. So, it allows us to, like it says up there, to optimize our re resources to be as efficient as uh possible.
065You know, currently, I know uh Lauri, you're here, but uh we're transporting well over 11,000 students, correct? On a daily basis. And you know, it's just a very uh complex operation. And and again, um for the most part, we deliver deliver a great service to and from school and transportation. Uh department does a great job throughout the year. um not without challenges but um we we uh they have a great mindset um of listening to feedback and we can always get better and um for sure we want to do that in that department where we can. Uh superintendent action items. Um we have administrative employment. Uh two recommendations. Uh Julia Barnhouse. Uh she's currently assistant principal at Orange Middle School. Um so getting promoted to assistant director of transportation. So she is getting she is
066excited to get into the transportation world. Um so we're excited for her to join the transportation uh team. And then AnnAise Krauss who is currently a fourth grade teacher at uh Glenn Oak Elementary. um is being recommended as the new assistant principal at uh Heritage Elementary. Um that's to take the place of Mr. Short who was promoted to uh principal. There he is. He's still here. Good. Um so not I mean sort of big shoes to fill, right? You're ready, right? Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we talked about uh Mr. for short, but the staff's excited that he's going to take over as principal uh and continue on excellent traditions there at Heritage. Uh we have a few uh retirements up there. Administrative, you can see the administrative retirements. Uh Miss Baker's retiring from uh Bergkshire
067Middle School. Dan Ramy as a maintenance supervisor, Diana McKenna, and Dana Yokum. So Diana at Walnut Creek, Dana is currently a guidance counselor at uh Berlin High School. and then uh classified um retirements as well. Laura, Shelley, Judy, and Sally. Um so, as always, want to thank them for their years of service u to Tangi uh students and families. So, eight retirements, 150 years of service uh from the eight individuals there. So again, um we we talk about it all the time, but we have great people in the organization who show up to work every day to care for our students and uh want to wish them the best uh in their retirement. Would we anticipate kind of more retirements in the next couple years because of the stirs change from 35 to 32 years?
068Yes. So that's what we're seeing. Uh and they dropped it again this this year. So we are see like this is the most that I can remember. Um so that's a trend that's this year and we think it will be a train or trend over the next uh couple of years. Yes. Um also uh tonight um we have a couple discussion items. So Dr. Blackley and Mr. Smith will discuss uh changes in the student handbook. So we're going to ask the board to approve those for the 2526 school year. Um we do have uh I believe one or two juniors for early graduation uh to be um recommended for tonight. Recommend approval of a student club which is a HOSA um at Orange High School and then business management facility items. Uh Mr. Gordon will
069also discuss um our facility rental pricing and uh extension of uh recommend approval of a one-year contract with OAA. So those will be discussion items. And then things to come uh last day of school, Thursday, May 22nd. Uh and again a reminder, 2hour early release for the elementary schools. Um so kids will be home, elementary students will be home uh early tomorrow. Um teacher work day, Friday, May 23rd. Think tank. Uh we're excited. Uh again, I think I don't know if this might be our what year is this for think tank? 10. Year 10. Year 10 for think tank. So again, it's an opportunity obviously school's over, but um for uh teachers to sign up for professional development right after school gets out. Uh the curriculum department always does a wonderful job with that. And
070then fourth quarter grades available Friday, May 30th. And then we'll be right back here Thursday, June 12th at 6:30. Great. Any questions? All right. Good. Thank you, Mr. Meyer. Mr. Jenkins. Uh good evening board members. U pretty straightforward agenda items for me this evening. Uh these will be as per usual. Uh I'll ask that um they be approved as one single consent calendar. Uh the items that will be on will be the second reading and final adoption of the 5-year forecast, the uh May 8th board meeting minutes, uh the noted donations. Again, we're always uh very fortuitous as a district that we have such supportive uh booster clubs, uh the April 2025 uh monthly financial report, and then the fiscal year 2025 updated appropriations. That is all that I have unless there are detailed questions
071that you have for me. Your best report so far this year. And I do not have anyone, excuse me, who submitted anything for public participation. All right. Thank you, Mr. D. All right. We will then move into uh our first discussion item uh Dr. Blackley and Mr. Smith uh to talk about the student handbooks. Good evening board members. Um today uh Tron and I are going to share some of the proposed handbooks um the updates and some rationale for those and ask for your approval on those. Um first we have some technical changes. Um, you know, Don Gelner actually was was was her idea and it made a lot of sense in the we had in the past had an elementary, a middle, a high and a preschool handbook. Um, and I think after this
072year of all of the changes we need to make due to legislation um, and making sure that our handbooks at each level remained um, compliant. We have decided to combine all of our handbooks into one entangi student handbook and um there are there's addendums on the handbook for specific levels. Um the preschool handbook remains separate and then we also did make some improvements to enhance um accessibility for individuals with impairments. Um additionally we did some procedural changes um in attendance. We added that we will include email um to notify parents. We're also including the county school attendance officer in intervention planning. Um we removed the out of school suspension as a consequence for students with excessive unexcused absences um who finally attend school, right? It feels a little contradictory. We get them there um and
073we suspend them out. So we remove we removed that. Um and we also did do the addition of a requirement of good academic standing for approval of alternate learning experience experiences or student vacation days. And then lastly um Dr. Sander, as she was leading our course guide planning um and revisions, we realized when we were cross referencing there were some things that were in our handbooks that didn't align to that course guide. So, we went through and and made those alignments. Um, of course, I have two slides of legislated updates and recommendations as so many things have been happening. Um, of course, our first one is House Bill 214 in excused absences. So, the highlighted in blue words are actually the um sections of the handbook. So, in excused absences, we added up to three
074religious expression days. uh in the coding code of conduct, House Bill 206 um indicated that we needed to put in there up to 180 days of um for um I'm sorry, a possible duration of expulsion of up to 180 days for actions that pose imminent and severe endangerment to health and safety. We also under um legal guidance um we use the tinkered standard was used to replace distracts with disrupts in the following statement regarding dress code. So no article of clothing shall be worn that substantially disrupts for the educational process. Um, and lastly, shoulder straps as a requirement in dress code was removed because it can legally be considered a female only rule because boys don't typically wear shirts with shoulder straps. And then the last bit of legislative updates um in our hazing, harassment,
075intimidation, bullying and sexual harass harassment section, we were streamlined it to make sure that we included all types of harassment. Uh, additionally, in Senate Bill 104, um, we needed to make sure that in our college credit plus section that we had application deadlines that align to that Senate bill. Also, in technology use, um, Senate Bill 29, um, information indicated that we needed to include notification of general monitoring. So, that was added. Additionally, House Bill 8 um talks about um parents needing to be notified of health services and given an option to withhold consent. So, that was added to the health services section. And finally, we changed some terminology in health regulations. Um House Bill 70 has um directed us to change um authorized drugs to prescription and over-the-counter drugs. [Music] There you go, Mr. Smith.
076You're up next. Thank you, Dr. Blackley. Uh, members of the board, good evening. I I just want to start by saying what an honor it is to work with Susan Wilson. Uh, she is she's an incredible educator and an even better human being. So, that was a really nice way to start this evening. And I know uh Mr. Short, they are they are in very capable hands with uh with Mr. Short moving forward. But that was that was a great start to tonight. So, uh I have just a few changes to submit to you from the athletic handbook. First, uh the technical change one technical change we have the individual coaches rule section was changed to reflect that those rules shall be provided to players, parents, and athletic directors rather than should be provided. We
077have uh three uh changes or recommendations on advice of counsel. Uh Dr. Blackley just also referenced the hazing, harassment, intimidation. Uh we have similar language in the athletic handbook. So uh we just took those changes that were made in the student handbook and made sure that the language in the athletic handbook also aligned with what we have in there. Uh the right to appeal suspension sections been changed to communication regarding suspension. Uh and that allows us to align with board policies 2431 and 5610.05. Both of those policies state that participation in sports is a privilege, not a right. Uh and that students may be prohibited from participation without further notice hearing andor appeal rights. So we wanted to make sure and align language with policy. And then finally, uh, a sense was added in the
078concussions section to reflect that regardless of any written medical clearance, uh, the district reserves the right to deny the athletes return to play when in their discretion, it is in the best interest of the student athlete. Those are the changes that we have. Any questions? Any questions? make sense. I I will just say I think that the um the dress code changes are overdue. I I'm I'm glad that we're making them. Um this is actually something that I know when we moved into the district. Um I was a little confused by originally and my daughter was actually on like a principal advisory and made that her whole like thing to the principal that was a little concerned about that. So I'm glad that we looked at that. I'm glad that we're doing that and we're
079we're using more appropriate language. I think that the way it was phrased before is a little problematic. So, okay, that's Thank you. Uh, okay. Mr. Gordon, uh, facility use fees. Yes. Uh, we have on the agenda tonight to approve an update to the, uh, facility use fee schedule, uh, as well as the OA contract. Uh, the facility use costs. We've increased those. um I presented a couple months ago on utility cost increases we're expecting there as well as other costs for things like uh paper products and restrooms and and other costs we have in the district. Um then the facility or I'm sorry the OIA contract is on while we have contracts for all other facility users. The OIA covers the breadth of the district from gyms to uh baseball softball fields, practice fields, they're
080just the bigger users of the facilities and that's why we bring this contract to the board. Uh this is a one-year contract for OA and the biggest change you'll see in there is instead of um mirroring the rates mirroring the uh facility use fee or if mirroring that in the contract, we've pointed the contract back to facility use schedule. So that even if we um bring this back next year and go to a multi-year contract, we still would have the ability to raise the facility use fees in the middle of the contract. So it just points back to facility use fee schedule. So, we raise the fee schedule, then all renters um including OIA, their prices would go up as the schedule goes up. So, it gives us more flexibility as we continue to see
081costs increase and big jumps yeartoear um on utilities. We can go back to a longer contract without locking ourselves into something that uh would be priced out of pretty quickly. So, any questions? Questions? All right. Thank Gordon. Thank you. All right. So we will now move into uh our board consent action items. Uh we have uh four items here uh that uh something we get into every year as we looked at uh you know the um the uh salary increases for our various administrative staff. So we have four items here. uh recommend approval of a salary increase for the treasurer employed under a contract uh with the board of education uh pursuant to revised code 331322 for a two 2.5% increase for the 2526 school year. The second item uh recommend approval of a salary
082increase for district administrators who are employed under a contract at the board under 331902 uh also for the 25 26 school year also at 2.5%. Third, approval of a salary increase for non-unit classified employees who are employed under a contract with the board pursuant to 3319.081 for 2526 again also 2.5% and recommend approval of a salary increase for those classified food service workers who are employed by the board under 3319.081 again for 2526 at 2.5%. These are being presented as a single slate of board consent action items unless anyone would like to pull uh one of those out separately. Uh would anyone like to pull any out separately? All right. Hearing none, can I have a motion to approve these as a single slate of consent action items? So move. A second. Second. Any discussion?
083Right. Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. Dr. Dabberco. Dr. Wallak. Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes, Miss Shriber. Yes, Mr. Lester. Yes. All right, Mr. Jenkins, please uh present the treasurer consent action items. Uh board members, as noted in my presentation, uh all of tonight's action items will be presented uh to be adopted with one single motion and vote. Uh but those items in order are item A, reading, uh second reading and approval of the 5-year forecast. Item B, uh, approval of the minutes from May 8th. Item C, approval of the noted donations. Item D, U, acceptance of the monthly financials for the month of April. And then item E, uh, the updated appropriations for fiscal year 2025. Again, as noted, I am presenting these and asking you to adopt them as one single motion, an action item, unless
084a particular item needs to be pulled out, discussed, and voted upon separately. Would anyone like to discuss any of these separately? All right. Hearing none, uh, can I have a motion to approve them as a single slate of consent action items? So moved. A second. Second. Any discussion? Right. Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. Dr. Wallak. Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes, Miss Shriber. Yes, Mr. Lester. Yes, Dr. Dabbero. Yes. All right, Mr. Meyer. The superintendent consent action items. Uh, thank you, Mr. Lester. Board members, I recommend approval of the following superintendent consent action items A through I. And then specifically, I want to mention A, B, and D. Uh, you'll see contract renewals in for administrator, certified, and classified staff. So this is the board meeting time of year where we do do uh contract um recommendations and
085renewals in those classifications. So with that said, uh A specific human resource items administrative, B specific human resource items certified staff. C specific human resource item supplementals. D specific human resource items classified. E specific human resource items classified substitutes. F approval of the 2526 student handbooks. G approve students for early graduation. Uh H approve a student club and again that's uh HOSA which is a health organization or health student club at uh Orange High School. And then the business management and facility items again which reflect the facility use uh rental use costs and OA OAA contract and um and practical transportation. I'm asking you to approve these items by one single action and vote unless you'd like to discuss any of these items separately. All right. Would anyone like to discuss any of these separately?
086All right. Hearing none. I have a motion to approve them as a single slate of consent action items. So moved. A second. Second. Any discussion? Right. Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. Mr. O'Brien. Yes. M. Shriber. Yes. Mr. Lester. Yes. Dr. Dabberco. Yes. Dr. Wallik. Yes. All right. I will now entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? All right. Mr. Jenkins too fast. The crowd's growing restless. Mr. Shriber, yes. Lester, yes. Dr. Dabberco, yes. Wallik, yes. Mr. O'Brien, yes. All right, President.