001You're fine. together. Call to order our board meeting. I cannot think I'm projecting, so apologize. Going to call to order our board meeting for Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. This is our regular board meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. Elena, can we get a call to order or a roll call, please? >> Yes. Mr. Mr. Nye >> here. >> Miss Wazooi >> here. >> Mr. Ward >> here. >> Dr. Strickler >> here. >> Dr. Simmons is absent this evening. >> Yes. And I believe our mock trial group is going to lead us in our pledge of allegiance. If you would please. The flag is over here. 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.
002>> Thank you. >> All right, safety briefing. We have exits on both sides of the lower level as well as an exit on my left of the upper level if needed. Can I get a motion to adopt tonight's agenda, please? >> So moved. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Miss Wazooi? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nye? >> Yes. >> Dr. Strickler? >> Yes. I would also make a motion to approve item 3.1, which is the minutes from our special meeting on May 5th. Could I get a second to approve those minutes? >> Second. >> Dr. Strickler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nye? >> Yes. >> Miss Wazooi? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward? >> Yes. >> All right. And our presentation tonight is going to be the Anderson and Turpin
003mock trial team. Sandy Dunston Hoover is going to tell us a little bit about their recent victories. >> Well, hello. Um, so I became very lucky. I was asked to take over as advisor this year. So this was my first year as in mock trial. I didn't really know what I was getting into and then we went to state. So it's been very very exciting. But I really want to acknowledge the people that have put in way more time than I have. And first Kevin Carter. He is one of our legal advisors uh from Cross Brown Todd Gibb Gibbons. And uh he has been doing it for close to 15 years. So he has really put in a lot of time and effort on that. And then um these are some of our students that
004do we have several others but you know with all the schedules at this time of year they cannot be here. But I would like uh Nora Zelan and Grace Rogers they both have some words that they would like to say about their experience. They've both been with trial for a long time and then both were able to compete at state. So I'm gonna turn it over to you guys. Um, our program is technically top eight in the state, which is something that still like has not registered for me. Um, I joined mock trial as a freshman right as the program was starting back up after the virtual years. Most of us were brand new, learning about objections, different types of witnesses, burdens of proof, and hearsay, which I don't think will ever make sense. But
005um over the years, we developed crucial skills like public speaking, thinking on our feet, and reading complex documents. But more than that, I fell in love with the process and strategy of mock trial. Analyzing how best to use a witness, apply case law, and build an argument has been a thrilling challenge every year. This year, our freshman reminded me of the joy of learning of all of the intricacies for the first time because I'll be honest, this case was not my favorite. Um, it pushed our team to our limits as we tried to figure out what evidence we were even arguing to suppress. Um, but one of the best things about mock trial being a team pursued is that we wrestled with what third party doctrine meant together. It was never an individual struggle. At
006nearly every competition, a judge mentioned how our team worked really well together. And those comments are a testament to the supportive environment our adviserss and coaches cultivated. We shared both the challenges and victories and making state was a ation of that hard work. Seeing our new members light up with understanding, come up with a brilliant idea or tackle subbing into multiple different roles because of illnesses or other commitments was inspiring and really kept me going as senioritis slowly crept in. I hope over the next three years my teammates are able to find the same joy in mock trial that I found. Going to state again would be nice, but even better is the thrill of finding something you want to do for the rest of your life. That's what I found in mock trial. I've
007been interested in law since elementary school, but it wasn't until the opportunity to shadow our coaches that I realized working in the legal field is my dream. And that's something I will continue to pursue at Ohio State as a business major on the pre-law track next year. I'm so proud of everything this team accomplished this year and every year prior and I cannot wait to see what this program does next. Wonderful. Thank you. Mock trial is special. When I look back over my four years of high school and even at myself as a person, I always come back to mock trial. When I joined as a freshman, it was completely by chance. I happened to see the table out of the corner of my eye at the club fair and decided it might be interesting,
008so I should give it a go. I figured that I would learn about law and courtroom procedure. And I did. But what I didn't figure was that I would learn an bigger lesson which is that mock trial creates and rewards well-rounded people. See, my first lesson in mock trial had nothing to do with direct examination or objections. It was self- advocacy. When I walked into our first ever meeting, I saw a room full of seniors, none of whom I knew. I had two options. I could turn around or I could choose to put myself into a new environment and stand up for myself. Not as a 14-year-old who had no idea what they were doing, but as a person choosing to push their boundaries. From there, I learned public speaking and I went from someone
009who couldn't even give a presentation in front of a class to delivering opening statements in a courthouse in a matter of months. But even more than that, Mock trial is the place to learn critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, and work ethic. In court, you need to be able to adjust immediately to opposing arguments. To be ready for this, we prep tirelessly, attempting to understand and work through every possible argument in our case. This process can be exhausting and tiring and frustrating, but it is the most powerful tool to teach creative and critical thinking that I have ever experienced. This year, we had a witness who on the first readrough of the case, we figured was useless. Could not think of a single reason why the case writers would have included this person. But with
010time and a couple of scrimmages and another witness that was starting to become a little problematic, we decided to take another look. My co-consel Kendall Bailey and I spent countless nights on the phone until honestly a little bit too late at night, working through every single word in the witness statement. We knew we had gold, but we couldn't quite put our fingers on it. We poured tons of time and energy into this. We even ended up working a little bit on Christmas morning, which our families were probably not the happiest about, I'll admit. But eventually, we came out of it with a witness that was strong enough to prove every single point we needed and complex enough to foil opposing counsel. And I am confident that that witness is one of the big reasons why
011we made it so far at state. Mock trial is special. And as I look toward next year and starting to go to college at Northwestern with experiences that I can't even imagine yet, I am constantly reminded of how thoroughly mock trial has touched every part of my life. And I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the school board and of course to our advisor DH and our coaches for the incredible amounts of work they put in and continuous support. Thank you so much you all. That is very impressive. Top eight instate critical thinking, creativity, public speaking, and a dissuasia senioritis. I feel like we might need to continue to grow the the program. That's amazing. Would you all mind standing up so we can congratulate you and then Yes. Sorry. Now I'm going
012to turn it over to the legal side of the table. >> I just want to say I had the opportunity to watch you compete at the local level and at the regional level. And I was so so proud of how well you represented the district. And sitting in the audience and hearing other people watch one of you cross-examine a witness or be a witness and and uh think about how to answer those questions. The people in the audience would sometimes turn to each other and say, "Whoa." And just as a person on the schoolboard and a parent and a parent and aunt in the school district, I was just bursting with pride with what all of you can do and all of you were demonstrating doing. And I also want to say Kevin, we love
013how much you volunteer your legal skills for the district. Jeff and I just were with Kevin last week at the uh junior high, the middle school. So your your legal generosity seems to know no bounds and we really appreciate that. Um so for the whole the whole team, whether you become lawyers or not, I hope you will consider this um an introduction to the kind of service and the kind of skills that you can do through a career in law. And if there's any way that we can help you with that, please let us know. We are so so happy to have you representing the district. >> I feel like as the other lawyer up here, I should add something to that, but I don't know what I could say that hasn't already been said.
014Um, other than I'm so glad you had this wonderful experience. I didn't have mock trial when I was your age, and so I'm a lawyer now, but this would have given me a leg up. Um, and I and I wish I had. So, thank you to everyone who makes it happen, and congratulations. Absolutely. Thank you. >> All right. Um, our next shout out of the evening, uh, Mr. Hook is going to speak to Maddox Elementary that was recognized as the 2026 National Gold Star School. >> Thank you, Mr. Dr. Strickler. Less than two weeks ago, the National Association of Elementary School Principles announced the 2026 recipients of its National Gold Star Schools recognition, which honor elementary and middle schools across the country that demonstrate exemplary leadership, innovation, and commitment to student success. Selected through a
015competitive process, the National Goldar Schools are recognized for their accomplishments based on the National Association of Elementary School Principles framework of the three pillars of principal which are establishing culture, empowering people, and optimizing systems. There were only 57 schools in America and only one from Ohio that were selected this school year. This year, Maddox Elementary was the chosen one. They join an elite group of recognized schools for the highest standards of effective school leadership, academic excellence, and inclusive learning environments. The principles from the TW 57 schools selected will be formally recognized at the National School Leaders Conference and the National Association of Elementary School Principles at Disney's Cornado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida this summer in July. Maddox is led by Principal Joy O'Brien and assistant principal Zack Larson. This is O'Brien. I think you
016as well. >> Thank you, Larry, so much and thank you board for taking a moment of your meeting to to recognize Maddox. Um, this is absolutely a a buildingwide award, um, our staff award and a community award. Um, and I have some amazing Maddox Mustang staff members here this evening. I am going to say their names. Um, I do want to start with Peter Frankus over here doing technology uh for us this evening. He's on staff at Maddox. I have Carolyn Helmer's, Sydney Wills, Nikki Nebering, Rita Dodie, Michelle Dalton, Ashley Boreo, and Tori Castile here also this evening. So, thank you again for this recognition. about hug. >> Yes. >> It's a big table. My arms are little. >> Do you want us out of it? We should get down out of the way. >>
017Are we standing? You will not see me. You may not even see me then. >> Wendy, you could sit or sit. Wendy's on a chair. >> Stand back. >> I got a window. >> He's here. He's here. >> Thank you. >> Hey, was it OSA that we were at together recently? Is that okays? I should know that. Yeah. Okay, cool. >> So, I was recently at uh an all day presentation by OEASA on uh integrated multi-tered systems of support and I showed up for the day in Columbus to find joy there as well. So, uh consumate learner and spending a lot of time thinking about cohesion and coherence for her building and just always re really impressive the continuous learning growth and looking at how to help students thrive at at Maddox. So, congratulations to
018you all. All right, item five is public commentary. I do not believe we have any speakers this evening, so I'm going to skip directions for public comment and move on to superintendent updates. >> Thank you again, >> Mr. Back up. >> Um, fun time of year for sure. Uh, first of all, I'm hoping Mr. Jados didn't get too far away. He's up there. Okay. Um, I really couldn't say anything for a while because I was sworn to secrecy because it was embargoed until just uh actually a little bit ago u earlier this week. In fact, I waited for that because they said they were going to contact him. So when I called him to congratulate him, he said, "What are you talking about?" So I had to kind of tell a little bit what was
019going on. But, uh, I do want to recognize Andy Jados. I'm gonna have him working. There he is. Okay. Um, he is the OASSA, Zone 2 High School Principal of the Year. Um, that's the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators. Okay. Uh, zone zone two is more than just southwest Ohio. Okay. Okay. It includes Hamilton, Claremont, Butler, Warren, which are typically what you think of, but it also includes Clinton, Brown, Highland, and Adams counties. So, what does this mean? It means Andy is now a finalist in the state level process. Later this year, uh, the OSAA board of directors will select the four overall winners from this pool of highly talented zone winners to represent the state of Ohio. And so all the zone winners will be recognized at the fall conference of the OASSA
020in October. So with that, I want to extend this congratulations to Mr. Jados, >> I'm a little short in this picture. >> Larry, I feel that with every board picture. >> Andy, I reached out to you for shout outs. You didn't mention this one on behalf of Turkin. I was focused more on the students at this point. >> Of course you were. Yes. Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. and the parents and the students that we work with every day. I mean it's it's a it's an amazing job. So that's very congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> And I I hope you catch a picture of Mr. Jos. Um and I told him Don't even tell me, but I'm assuming you had a belt restraint so you didn't fall off the, you know, top of the auditorium.
021So, I assumed that he had it on, right? Don't tell me any different. But anyway, u he's done a fantastic job at Turpin High School. We really appreciate him. Uh, the other one I wanted to mention, uh, some of you may know, but it just happened. So, uh, Leslie Harbach is a fifth grade, uh, ELA and math teacher at Summit, and she was recognized as Forest Hill School District Celebrate Excellence Honore with the Hamilton County ESC, uh, which included a nice banquet in recognition. Uh the MC was Anthony Munoz uh who always does a fantastic job and so very excited. Mrs. Harbach uh is a passionate teacher and I did, you know, I had a chance to go watch her in action. Uh she had me doing exercises. I made the mistake of going in
022on wellness Wednesday, so um had to recover afterwards. But it's just it's just neat to see somebody so passionate and the kids respond so much. Uh Leslie is a true uh superstar in our district. And so I just think it's important that we uh congratulate her. Uh she's truly inspiring and we wish her many many more years. Forest Hills, >> absolutely. Can we give her a round of applause as well? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Also, again, this is another uh big one. Uh we were uh the NAM Foundation. Uh of course, if you don't know what that is, that's the National Association of Music Merchants. Uh we're again recognized as a school district and community that celebrates its music, whether it's band, whether it's chorus, uh orchestra. It's just uh an amazing um situation where
023the overall approach to music education, instructional time, participation rates, facilities, community support, funding, all of that is part and parcel what they consider uh for a district to be given this prestigious award. And so I just really want to congratulate the entire Forest Hills music department um K through 12. It just you know they they put they plant the seeds uh at an early age and kids perform fantastic and you've seen you know opportunities. Your kids probably have even participated in some of them. But, uh, I think about the Christmas program and and seeing the orchestra come in and playing and I'm just going, how do they do that? That's just amazing to me. So, congratulations uh to the district again uh, for being mentioned, getting that national recognition. >> Absolutely. Round of applause for
024our music. Um the next thing I just real quickly wanted to mention to you is uh we have just sent out our family engagement survey. Uh very important for us to hear back. This went out to all of our parents. Um we need your insight and feedback as it relates to your academics and educational experience. uh you know it's really about fostering that commitment between home and school. Um we're going to ask about safety c you know school culture and climate just a variety of things. Uh it was shared with parents via email. It'll we'll still be accepting responses through May 27th. Uh earlier this week we had up to 451 responses so far. I haven't checked in the last day or so, so I think it's still growing. But anybody that you happen to
025see, make sure they do it. You can fill it out once for your entire family or if you have three kids in three different buildings, you can fill it out three times so that we have information on each each environment because high school is different than middle school and it's different than elementary. So that's that's all information that we want to take in and synthesize. It's part of communications. It's part of how we address moving forward next fall. Uh we look we look at it very much. So we'll we'll have the raw data um in June. So you'll be able to start seeing that and uh our administrators will start the process of diving into it. So again, encourage anybody that you see if uh they haven't filled it out, please do so. We do
026value their their input. Um just a quick update on uh Celebrating America 250th. Um the elementary uh all the schools uh entered into the postcard art contest um which is I wanted to make mention of Morgan who is the champ >> and you can see her artwork down there in the corner uh or in the bottom with America. She won the poster uh contest uh celebrating America's 250th birthday. Uh, also want to mention other things that are going on. Fourth grade history passes. Um, these are being offered to everybody in Ohio that's in fourth grade. Um, basically the kids get the kids get to go in free. Parent has to pay. The kid gets to go in free. But, uh, like there are three places in, uh, Cincinnati that are honoring this. That's the Cincinnati
027Museum Center, the Harriet Beecher Stow House, uh the National Underground uh Railroad Freedom Center, and if you go if you Google it, this is the easiest way to just Google a uh fourth grade history pass and you hit the state one, it'll show you all the different um places throughout Ohio. So, if you happen to be up in Columbus or somewhere, you know, hey, let's go do this. Um, Nagel is currently on their Washington DC field trip, which is it's a wow. It's always a wower though. It's always pretty cool, >> but it's really cool this time because they are aware of it being 250th as well. So, there's some really some special stuff going on there. Um, that's why I think Mr. Fellows is is still missing. So, uh, I hope he's okay, but
028he should be >> not missing. He's missing he's missing here but yeah not missing in actions but uh we're excited for him. So uh that's going on. Uh the big one coming up is the Fourth of July parade. Uh so I know that our band is a integral part of that. And I want to also say it's our dance team. Is there a dance team that's in there? cheer team cheer. Uh our cheerleaders will be in big numbers there helping to celebrate. Um and so again to the community, Fourth of July parade fun on a normal Fourth of July, this is going to be pretty wild. I think it it's worth uh finding some time and getting there and getting your spot somewhere along Beachmont. So we're excited for that. Um, secondaries of course has
029been doing announcements. They've been having um um classes, particular classes, if you're in history classes about 250th. It will continue into next year though. We're going to we're going to make it last. You know, it's it's 250. Not very many people get 250. So, uh, you know, we're going to be obviously recognizing and and spending more time on Patriots Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, uh, October Patriotic Songs Month, spirit days, and there's some other classroom lessons. So, um, at the secondary, it's a lot more with that individualized class, but every kid's got to take history along the way. So, that's we get that in there. So, uh, pretty excited about that. I love the poster. That's awesome. >> That's awesome. >> Um, any questions on anything so far? Because I'm This kind of bleeds right
030into 7.1, my next thing. So, >> this is great. Thank you. >> Well, let's move into 7.1. You can see and I'll just use my next slide. Um, >> I might get a little >> the fun stuff. This is the great stuff really. Uh this is truly an exciting time of the year for our seniors that will be graduating like really soon. Um this is a culmination of 13 years of formal education which is yeah do the math. It's nearly three4s of their life in formal education. Okay. Uh they're about to launch into their future whether it's college, whether it's the military or directly into the world of work. Both our high schools will be using the tourist center at Northern Kentucky University for their ceremonies this Saturday, May 23rd. Uh Anderson High School students
031will graduate at 10 a.m. and Turpin High School students will graduate at 300 p.m. So 10 and three. And with that said, it is my honor to recommend that the board of education of the Forest Hill School District approve the granting of diplomas to the 602 candidates listed on the attachments from Anderson High School and Turpin High School. and any student who enrolls in Turpin or Anderson after this date subject to satisfactory completion of all state and local requirements as noted for graduation. I'm seeking your approval for that. >> Well, on behalf of my son and all the other kids on the list, I will make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Dr. Strickler? >> Yes. >> Miss Wooki? >> Yes. >> Mr. NY? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward? >> Yes. You've made 602
032kids very very happy >> and congratulations to them. We're looking forward to Saturday. >> Item eight is reports to the board for a teachers association. Mr. Preston This is all hard to follow all of these celebrations, but I'll I'll >> Do you want a round of applause? >> Yeah. Yeah. Sure. >> It's been a good year, Chris. >> Thank you, President. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. Um well, good good evening to um members of the board minus Dr. Simmons tonight. Uh first, as we approach the close of another school year, we want to recognize the hard work of our students, our educators, and our families. The end of the year brings important milestones, celebrations, and reflection on growth. We are proud of the learning and achievements of our students, and we thank our teachers
033and many others for their dedication throughout the year. It does take a village. Second, the Forest Hills Teachers Association recognizes and thanks Larry Hook for his years of service as superintendent. We appreciate the partnership we have had with Superintendent Hook and the support he has shown for the work of our educators. A strong relationship between the district and the association is built on mutual trust, respect, and shared interests. We are grateful for the opportunities we've had to work together and serve the Forest Hills community. As he prepares for the next chapter, we wish him the very best and thank him for his dedication and service to Forest Hills. Last, we wish all of our students, families, and staff a safe, restful, and welldeserved summer break. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Item nine is
034board spotlights. Who would like to kick us off? >> All right. >> Okay. I've got three um real quick. Uh Anderson Guys and Dolls was phenomenal. Graduation coming up next week. to all the students and uh Mercer later said America 250 they're celebrating this Friday I saw they got a little celebration with the kids popsicles and things like that um looks very fun so I'm excited for them with that and then with the uh congrats to for winning first place the advanced desktop publishing at the EPA national leadership conference which is a national title so congrats to her And lastly, the teachers and staff and administrators. Um, thank you and good luck the next week and a half. >> Good thinking. >> Jeff share. >> Uh, sure. Um, I've got Nagel and Maddox. I occurs
035to me now that um should have followed up knowing Jason wasn't going to be here to cover him and I didn't. So, >> sorry to what Wilson and I think. Sorry. Um but uh Maddox obviously gold star um school recognition. What a wonderful honor for um the staff and parents and administrators and students to make that happen. Just great work everyone. Um the maybe in January or February we heard about some of the literacy projects that Maddox was doing. They're writing kindness letters to each other. It was very cute. They gave us little kindness clips. Um, at the end of the year here, they're doing another writing activity designed to highlight their growth as writers over the course of the year. They're doing is they're pairing up kids with kids in the grade level below
036them. Uh, and they're writing and then reading to other students um about what next year students should be excited about coming into the current grade and and what they should do when things get hard. So, that's just another great example. Not only teaches good writing skills, but helps establish that community and connection between kids and each other. So, that's really cool. Um and then over to Nagel um high school musical was staged last week. It was excellent. Um three people I believe um placed in the state track meet. Uh Corbin Gunter took seventh in the 107 meter hurdles 110 meter hurdles. Uh Reese Pranker third in the mile and Owen Wall seventh in the pole vault. Um two more things. Uh couple last week or the week before Aaron and I along with Kevin Carter
037went to the seventh grade ELA classes who are staging a mocka trial of Johnny Cade from the outsiders. We talked about what makes a good witness and what makes a good prosecution attorney and defense attorney and try to help them get ready for that. They were very excited about that really neat project. >> They had tough questions. >> Tough questions. Great questions. Really insightful questions. Um and then connections week is coming up next week for the eighth graders. Uh Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday be talking uh and meeting with people about career, college, and community with that goal of helping foster that culture of hope, belonging, and connection to each other, to their community, uh to their futures. So, it takes a lot of people to make that happen. So, thanks to everyone um who makes
038it happen. And finally, of course, the eighth graders are in Washington right now. I can tell you that at this very moment, uh my daughter's on the south side of the Tidal Basin near the Eleanor Roosevelt statue. So, hopefully not getting any trouble there. Uh seems like they're having fun. >> We did run into each other at the pre-dawn drop off for the eighth graders and it all seems to run so smoothly. I just can't imagine how many logistics go into making that trip happen. I have just two, both for Summit. Summit came in first place this week in the sixth grade Olympics, and it's been quite a few years since Summit took that honor home. So, the bees are buzzing. They're very excited about that. >> There was a small recount today, and Wilson
039may have come in first as a >> what? Sorry, it's in our email. >> Quick shout out to Wilson. They may have come in first in the sixth grade Olympics. There was a quick retail in our inbox with that information. So, how about we shout out Summit Annne Wilson as >> both contributors amazing athletic ability. >> Recount that was on my list. I apologize. >> Well, this is breaking breaking news. Well, everyone, >> but it truly is great. So when you and I saw each other there at the sixth grade Olympics, both as volunteers, and just seeing the different ways that the district has to recognize student opportunity and to say that all the kids got an opportunity to try some of the stations or to make their best attempt at some of the stations
040and then other kids really have gifts in some of these different events and are able to uh bring home individual awards and school awards as well. Um, my second one is for uh the summit ELLO teacher Beth Francis who was recognized as a 2026 educator of the year for greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky by Design Lab. So, just a really u a great honor and a wonderful referendum on the the extended learning opportunities that our district has for young budding architects and design uh designers from third through sixth grade. >> Absolutely. So we'll add Beth to the list tonight along with Leslie and Joy and Andy in terms of recognition in our district and all the amazing things that are happening. So >> yeah, it's great to have our educators and our students putting Forest
041Hills on the map in very positive ways. >> Yeah, absolutely. So um and then just to hit upon the sixth grade Olympics, this was actually my first opportunity to participate as a volunteer and I just want to thank our PE teachers for all of the work that clearly goes into putting that together as well as all of the volunteers. It was another very well-run event with approximately 700 sixth graders together at Anderson High School and it was smooth and controlled and fun and you know controlled chaos and just a a really good time and I was super impressed with all of the kids and their willingness to try the different activities and um just celebrate each other. I was I was running the pull-up station or helping around the pull-up station and my favorite part
042was that a couple of kids said, "I can't do a pull-up." And we said, "Pull as hard as you can." And then some of them could and it was like a moment for that. >> That was my expert coaching. Pull as hard as you can. >> Yes. And I still couldn't do a pull-up, but that's fine. So, um, as well with regard to Sherwood, um, last night Sherwood celebrated the art show. So, I'd like to give a shout shout out to Miss Smith. She takes the students arts projects that they've been working on all year and really cultivated um their art skills along the way and does a a showcase in which parents and families um are invited out to the school to see what the students have created and it is a wealth of
043everything from Egyptian pyramids to castles to um logo logoraphic kind of design to everything in between. So that was a really neat opportunity to see last night. And then at Turpin 1979, excuse me, 179 seniors were recognized at Turpin Senior Awards and Local Scholarship Night. Uh 14 seniors were honored on Monday at the athletic signing and four students have broken the ECC record for 4x400 relay by six seconds, which having watched track meet, six seconds is huge. Um, and they are Parker Jones, Becket Blazer, Carson Hughes, and Chase Spencer. So, kudos to you guys for your fast running. That is amazing. So, I think those are my shout outs. >> Great. All right. And now we are going to begin the consent agenda. So, we're going to start with human resources. And Chuck Ogden, I
044believe you are stepping into your HR shoes again. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Strickler. As you mentioned, this does start the consent agenda. Um, before I really get into it, uh, we have two new assistant principal hires here in the audience, which I would like to introduce so that they can go home and hang out with their families. So, we're very lucky. Um, sometimes you uh, strike gold in your own backyard. So, I want to start with Nick Paveley. He is going to be the new assistant principal at Nagel Middle School. He also lives in the community and has kids at Maddox, if I'm correct, right? We were lucky enough to acquire him from New Richmond schools. He has a wealth of uh teaching knowledge, administrative knowledge. So, we're just very happy to have him
045here. So, welcome, Nick. >> Welcome. >> And then the next person is a third generation Forest Hills person and I believe Paige's grandfather helped build Titus. >> Correct. She will be um filling our vacancy at Anderson High School as an assistant principal and has been a phenomenal teacher for us um throughout the course of her career. So, we are very excited not only to welcome her her fever and her passion, but her instructional skills as well as she steps into the assistant principal role. So, welcome both of them. Mr. Ogden, not that I don't trust the the administrators and all of their decision-m around our hires, but when you have students and prior students show up in the audience excited about our new hire at Anderson High School, I think that speaks volumes to a
046decision. So, Kyle, Mia, shout out to you guys for hanging in this long in the board meeting. >> Awesome. Thank you for that. Now feel free to leave and don't so you don't get wet when you leave. All right. Thank you so much. Um as I run into the uh Rena HR again um are there any questions in regards to the HR report that Mr. Fellows has shared >> or a lot going on. >> There is a lot going on. May is uh one of those months. As you see contract renewals are up as well as a couple of job descriptions. Any questions in regards to the reports, contracts, and/or job descriptions? >> Outstanding. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Teaching and learning. >> Sorry, business operations. I checked you off too soon.
047I got overzealous. Business operations. Mr. Eert. Apologies. >> I was busy looking at all the HR doc. >> Start leaving. I won't get a complex. >> Don't take it personally. >> Okay. >> No, thank you this evening. I don't have any actionable items on the agenda, but I was asked to update the board on the pool, the Anderson pool and aquatics facility. So, um, first I'd be remiss if I said if I did not mention u Josh Bazison helped me tremendously with this with his historical archiving of records and everything like that. So this was a big help. So this was a team effort for sure. Okay. Basically, I'd like to start back in 2018. Don't forget to with this what the pro in 2018. I'm going to run through this timeline pretty quick for
048you just so you can get some highlights. In 2018, there was a noticeable significant loss of water in the pool at Anderson. Um and then also turning to construction, there were reports that there were pools of water outside when they were doing construction that water would come up. Very questionable. So that obviously we need to start a preliminary investigation to start digging into that. Uh and at this time just so the board understands I really wasn't in operations. I dabbled in it but uh so uh these are all through various documents but then By 2019, we were requested by our insurance company to shut down and drain the pool because we were nervous. We did not know what was going on with at that time and something theoretically catastrophic could have been underneath. So at
049that time we started a very comprehensive study of the pool the whole center and that was a team of MSA architects water technologies uh their engineering and aquatic planning. Moes engineering handled all mechanical electrical and plumbing. Kleining jurers handled this civil engineering and Terracon did all the geotechnical work on this survey and it created a large um process for us. Then this was obviously taking time to do all that work. in 2020. On March 11th, a communication was set out because prior to the report being totally complete, it was evident that there was going to be some significant work that had to be done on the pool before it could be opened. So, a communication was sent out uh to the Anderson family saying that, you know, there is going to be some uh large
050expense with this and so we need to plan forward. The next day the world shut down. Uh we closed everything for CO. Then as we go into 2021 uh we uh presented a comprehensive study. Okay. The comprehensive study was presented to the board at a meeting. Mike Broadwater did a large presentation on it and there is also a very significant manual of data presented to the board at that time and that gave list of options of how to move forward possible ways to move forward and at the same time the aquatics uh citizen advisory group was put together and I am going to say this I don't believe that was an official board um committee But it did involve many people and they did meet a handful of times. Okay. Then through 22 and 24
051it was exploring alternative funding because some of the numbers that we got were rather large and so the funding streams were analyzed. Okay. And then at that time uh I believe Mr. started sharing some possible standalone estimates. If we build a standalone auditorium, th this is what that would cause. Okay. So then in 2025 recently, this past year, we wanted to get some updated pricing and make sure our pricing was set forth for and that team consisted of MSA who led the initial study, SHP, another architectural firm that has a great deal of experience in building pools in schools, and HGC at the construction companies that have built some pools in the area in schools also. So, and they did site visits through that time and they referenced obviously all the data from the 21
052study. And at that time then we got some rough numbers and I presented those numbers to the facilities committee this past fall and and then later this year earlier this year in 26 we actually did a tour of the pool with Mrick Dr. Strickler and Dr. Simmons and a variety of community members that came along too. So that's the history. That's how we got to where we are. What I'd like to do is do a quick review of what I presented in the fall facilities and technology meeting and it basically came up with these sets. slide up here. It gave us four things to walk look at. Renovate a pool, replace a pool, remove the pool, and demo bleachers. In other words, fill in the pool. And then a standalone facility. You really can't tell
053it on the slide. The standalone facility on my thing is really grayed out because that's not a conversation for tonight. Okay, just the three options. So, renovated pool and replace a pool. Just let me give you an analogy what the renovated pool means. Think of having a house, an old house that you purchase that's run down. You renovate that house to live in it. When you start those renovations, you believe you know everything that's wrong with it. Okay? Until you get into, I'm seeing smiles, so maybe some people have lived through that process also personally. So, you really don't know what you got until you get in it. And so there's a range of renovation costs and it's never new. Parts of it are but there's always something else that the challenge. So then that
054is where the renovation is. The replace the pool is you bought the plot of land that that house is on and you demolished it totally and you build a brand new house. And this would be inside the exact same footprint that the pool currently is. So it'd be under the gym under 60 year old walls and footers. And so there's a lot of work that would be involved with that to make any renovate or a new pool inside Anderson's gym underneath Anderson's gym in the current pool area. That's why you see uh almost double the amount of money renovate to that to new. And then the other option we asked to is if what would happen could we turn this into I always call an empty box. In other words, fill in the pool, have
055a concrete slab, either remove the bleacher structure or leave it and then have it that. And then that's a start of what else that area could be. Those were the three options we asked them for. And these are the dollar figures that were comfortable with that they are. And again, what it's up on the slide, I know you guys, but just to point out for anyone listening at home or anything, these are ROM numbers, rough order of magnitude numbers. to get any more specific numbers. That then is a great deal of cost to the district to get everything very specific. But both all three organizations, MSA, SHP, and HGC believe these are, you know, strong numbers that we could work from. >> Two questions real quick, John. So, the renovate numbers, I'm having old house
056flashbacks, um, and the number of layers we found in the bathroom when we took down a wall. So, these could be off depending on what's found. They could be low depending on what's found as we get into renovation. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that piece that this is best case scenario. And then, am I hearing you correctly? Then if we were to move forward with one of these next steps, there would be additional costs. I would assume then if these are just rough orders to actually bring in architects and contractors to figure out >> none of this cost takes in the the design fees, the architectural studies, anything like that. This is pretty much the materials and what they believe time would be involved. >> Okay. Thank you. >> The construction.
057I just have one clarification question and I know we'll be studying this a lot more over the next month but the difference between renovate and replace my understanding is that one of the problems is that it is not deep enough to dive and not wide enough to >> correct. Thank you. I didn't didn't have that on my own. Yes. Right now if we would renovate it >> it would not be diving purposes because we were grandfathered to the diving depth. >> Okay. >> So we would still have to d the pool deck to lay in a new pool. That would be a challenge. Okay, any other questions on this part? >> So, if we were placed, would that include diving or would that >> replacement would go do the full set? We would have go
058deep enough because basically have to dig deeper. We the pool well would be deeper and longer the slope up >> and we can stay in the same footprint and go long at whatever the either I thought it was wider than supposed to meet. To get the depth, you have the slot of the pool. You know, here's the deep end in that slot. >> We have to go down and the slot has to get away from the diving board, too. >> So, it's the same length of lane. It's just there's more deep. >> Got it. >> More deep. >> If we're hosting a swimming on the swim side, not the dive side, can could we do the new regulations within the existing footprint? >> Yes. And swimming would be fine. Just be a standard sixlane pool.
059>> Okay. to get to a competition level pool. That's a whole another thing. We'd be moving walls out of the thing. So, yeah, those dollar figures would go up. >> Is that I'm just kidding. >> Thank you, John. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, good with that. >> Okay, and then that's where we are physically in with construction stuff, but we wanted to also uh give you some information on, you know, the aquatics program as a whole. currently in ECC, there are only three other uh schools that have pools in the in the league. So, and then also if you look at a state level, this is not an all-incclusive list. What we truthfully did is I took the list uh Mike Broadwater put in his 21 presentation and then I talked to all these
060schools and confirmed they were in the same scenarios. So, these are current numbers also. And as you can see of high of districts that have multiple high schools, there are only two districts that even have pools. And Parma is the only one that actually has a pool per building. So pools are a little tough. And then there's always the question of where where's swimming going? What's participation level? So what we did, we got with the athletic directors, we pulled uh all the old rosters, got their information from Tony and Chris and Terrell, combination of uh final forms and I think and got their participation numbers throughout the years. So you can see any trends or process when you dig through that also. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And then we get all that put in
061place. The last slide la or last two slides will deal with some of the cost of operating a pool. What does it do to have a pool? So, what we've done is we've taken tarpent our existing pool and uh Doug Baker our heck was very helpful in this gathering all this information. I can share the the extreme details of how we came to these numbers, but the labor annually that means his time andor another person's time is roughly five grand a year. The pool pump motor, we actually figured the electricity bill work with our electric consultant to figure out how much that costs to run. And then pool chemicals, those are hard cost. We can't control those. >> This other list of costs we really can't control either, but we, you know, budget for is
062all the replacement stuff. Eventually stuff breaks in a pool and audi auditorium center >> is a very very harsh environment. >> Yeah, >> because of all the chlorine. That's why we're replacing the air handling unit at Turpin this summer. And it's a very special unit that has to have stainless steel impellers and stuff like that. So the it doesn't dissolve like it would if a traditional unit would be in there. So there are some significant cost with that. Um, and then what really matters to me the most is how could we try to make them feel more comfortable because there's always, you know, schools going, you know, buildings going to other buildings. So, what we did is uh we reid the entire nudatorum, repainted the whole place, rebranded it. All three schools have branding in
063there. We even have alternate uh flag markers and everything trying to make it more hospitable for them and I believe that has happened. I mean, >> you know, so that that's where we are today. I mean, do you have any specific questions that you can think of? And I'm sure you will after you digest this and stuff. >> Um, and if that happens, please reach out to me. I can I'll be more than glad to answer any questions that come along. Okay, thank you. This was very helpful. It gives us the information to look at. I know I'm interested in going back and re-watching the 2021 presentation as well. And you know, this has come back on the radar. And I think as a board, we would like to have some time to digest all
064this and then look at making a decision about what needs to happen next. >> So, any other questions? >> Thank you for putting together all of these materials. >> No problem. Appreciate Appreciate the opportunity. >> Thank you. All right. Now, teaching and learning. Miss Derba, >> I'm going to temporarily step away. >> Okay. >> Alena, could you record that? I'm temporarily stepping away and I'll be back. >> Thank you. We'll see you shortly. >> Good evening, board. Uh, tonight, teaching and learning is bringing the school fees for 2627 school year. Uh, two different documents, K through 8, and then the high school. very minimal changes um from this current year into next year. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Right, Mr. Ross. >> All right. Good evening, board members. >> Good evening. I have um
065five items to talk through with you tonight. Um and excuse me, my notes are a little out of order here. So um item 12.2 is an annual contract for specialized IEP placement at Cincinnati Center for Autism. Uh this is an annual renewal, so it's the same as last year. Cost went up a little bit and the cost is listed there for you. I'll um pause each if you have any questions. Okay. Uh 12.3 is uh an annual contract with Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Institute that provides uh occupational therapy services to the district and IEP teams at 1.6 FTEES. And the location's actually wrong in your agenda. It's actually for Anderson and Mercer and the cost is also there for you. >> And I assume 1.6 FTEES is meeting our students needs the current >> for well
066we actually have eight FTEEs total for OT's. >> Oh, it's just who's contracted through >> cooti is 1.6 of that eight. >> Thank you. That makes sense. >> The um 6.4 will come next month most likely. >> Got it. Um, let's see. 12.4 is so this contract represents our summer evaluation work uh in our preschool at Sherwood. So, it's um it's it's an annual contract that we do every summer. This summer, it's up to 16 required evaluations. It includes a psychologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, physical therapists, and aiology. This contract is just for June. There'll actually be another one for July because of the fiscal year changeover. That cost is there for you as well. 12.5 is very similar to 12.2. It's an annual contract for specialized IP placement at applied behavioral services is also
067a renewal. That cost is listed there for you. And last but not least for May, um this is actually a triannual contract with healthcare processing consulting. So HPC is our school's Medicaid service vendor. Uh our psychologists and related service providers uh log certain services they deliver to our kids and HPC helps us receive Medicaid reimbursement for some of those eligible services. Any questions on all that? >> Makes sense. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item 13, technology. Mr. Reese. Good evening, board. Tonight, there is one item for technology item 13.1. technology department is asking for authorization to purchase the equipment and services as listed through the federal program. Are there any questions? >> So the first one looked like equipment and the second one are these are forward edge techs who are on >> those
068are services that they provide um networking services that they provide on the back end to support the network infrastructure. >> Got it. Okay. Yeah, makes sense. >> Anything else? >> I think we're good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item 14, treasurer update. Mrs. Crawford. >> All right. Uh, the first item on the treasur's agenda tonight is a resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the county budget commission and authorizing the county auditor to collect the necessary levies on our behalf and certifying that those levies are indeed necessary to operate the district. This resolution is required by the Ohio Revised Code to uh return to the county. Moving on to 14.2 treasures report. This month we're reporting on the time period uh for the month and the fiscal year to date
069ended um April 30th, 2026. Uh things are proceeding as projected during this year. Um to date during the month of April, we collected over 16,000 in donations, bringing our donations um total year to date to 284,000. So again, we have some very generous donors that we are very thankful for in our community. Um general fund revenues with 85% Uh I'm sorry was 83% of the year completed. We have collected 85% of our revenue. So moving right along primary revenues um receded during the month of April include the final settlement from the county auditor for the spring tax statement. We also received the once a year PDM revenue uh settlement from the state in 134,000. Moving on to expenditures. Um to date we've spent 81% again with 83% of our year completed. Uh what we uh
070one of the things one of our larger expenditures during the month of April. Uh you see there on the executive summary is 771,000 to the county auditor. The county auditor charges us 1 and a4% to collect the and distribute the taxes to us. So that is the amount they charge to uh collect and distribute the spring settlement to us. Moving on through there, you can see your permanent improvement activity. You know, Mr. Reese just brought the uh 240,000 contract to you that's listed on the permanent improvement uh projects for summer. this coming summer. I do want to mention that it is new rate and we'll be getting 40% of that back. So 240 spent 96,000 back and that'll come in sometime during October through December. We'll deposit that back in permanent improvement when we get
071there. Moving on, you see your uh usual reports that we have there. every month. Uh permanent appropriations were increased just a bit to cover the projects as um they were um mainly to uh cover the uh meagel field. It ended up being a little bit more than we had originally anticipated. So we did increase appropriations to cover that. In addition to the uh more detailed reports that you have on the treasures report, you also have the cash position report contained within um four docks. There any questions on the treasures report? Hearing none, I respectfully request that you approve the treasures items as part of the consent agenda which began with item 10.1 and concluded with 14.2. All right. Can I get a motion to approve action items 10.1 through 14.2 as presented? >> So moved.
072>> Second. >> Mr. Nye. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward. >> Yes. >> Dr. Strickler. >> Yes. >> Item 15.1 is the policy committee report. Jeff Nye is going to share out our large number of policies to start review. >> Um yeah, we are publishing for review uh about 20 policies. They're all available on board docs. Um it is our policy to publish them twice. Um so we're not voting on them today, but we'll vote on them next month. Um just generally speaking, there's about eight that relate to transportation, procurement, and a few other things. Uh five relating to processing, financial transactions, and budgeting and like credit card points and that kind of fun stuff. Uh there's six that relate to academics including enrollment entrance requirements and how old you are for kindergarten and that kind
073of thing. Uh student records um how you qualify for scholarships and that kind of thing. Uh and one AI policy which updates our existing AI policy so we're compliant with the state's new requirement that has to be in by July 1st. Um clarify some definitions and so on. Um so we can talk about these more at the next meeting. I guess the only other thing I'll say for anyone who's listening who's familiar with this process is uh you know guess probably three four weeks ago a big group of people from every department got together and um with our Neola rep who produces these recommended policies we went through kind of line by line with all their suggested changes and and options say well we think this is right for us and here's why and and
074and you know not this one yes to this one no to that one and so on. It's a big collaborative process with kind of people weighing in from all angles on this. So, um, again, we'll be voting on it next month. So, if anyone has any questions, please bring them to us and, you know, review them and talk about them more at that point. >> All right, sounds perfect. All right, item 16.1. Well, 16 is board discussion. 16.1 is appointment of board representative for 2026. So, the Hamilton County Tax Incentive Review Council, also known as Turk requires that we have a board member liaison to um be connected with the Hamilton County Tax Review. Um I have spoken or I guess emailed with Jason since he is out of the country. Uh he was the
075appointee last year as chair of finance and is willing to do that again. >> I was gonna say that sounds like a job for Jason >> also because he's not here to agree or disagree. Um, but yes, I would make a motion to approve Jason Simmons as the board of education appointment for the 2026 year as presented. >> Second. >> Dr. Strickler. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nye. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward. >> Yes. >> All right. I really did reach out to him. We didn't just assign him an unknown order. >> Sure. Sure. >> Um, item 16.2, board discussion. Anything for the group, gentlemen? >> Uh, I only have just one thing. Um I guess it was two weeks ago. Today um was the last forest tells council meeting of the year which I attended
076and chatted with a little bit and this is something that we'll talk more about I think in future meetings and work sessions and so on. But just sort of two things that came up in that meeting that um I'll throw there to think about just so we're all in the loop. Um one is there a lot of questions about the property tax initiative that's going around. I don't I don't know what the latest is on that. I think we heard roughly a month ago that they're still collecting signatures. Didn't expect to hit their target, may or may not hit enough to get on the ballot and so they may or may not submit. But there's a lot of concern in the room about what that would mean for the schools. And so one of the
077things I've said is well in our treasures report you know how much cash we have to operate this for if no more comes in we can keep the doors open for 120 days or something. >> And that is you know not exactly what would happen if uh the property tax faucet were turned off. pretty close. So, um something to people keep an eye on. It's something people are concerned about. So, um have it on your radar and we'll talk more about it and see what happens with that in the I think the deadline is early July if I remember correctly. See if it's going to be on the ballot in November, maybe early August. I'm not quite sure. The other thing uh that came up is that there is a sense among the Forest Hills
078Council that some of the requests they get to fund certain things are things they don't feel should necessarily be within their purview. um they're fine to run events and I don't want to misstate it, but you know, they talked about things like, you know, wanting to be able to focus on events and maybe doing some things, but um they're being asked sometimes to fund maintenance costs for playgrounds and things like that, which doesn't seem like it's really within their um their scope or whether it is or not, you know, is I guess the real point was um there isn't a lot of clarity about what should be the district's responsibility and what the council will handle and what the foundation does and this kind of thing. So something to put on a radar as something
079to establish some you know policies and norms and and plans about in the future. >> Okay. Thank you Mr. Ward. >> Just congrats to all the graduates in front of you. what you want to do. Again, thanks to all the staff and getting us across the line. So, that's >> I have a less exciting one to follow up with first. Um, but I want to just make the board aware and I will have more details on this in two weeks to share. But, um, just as a reminder, I guess four to six weeks ago, we had a great collaborative meeting for the first time with the trustees and the parks. Um, the presentation on the beach acres of property and it moving forward. And when we left, um the sense in the room was the
080park was taking the lead on a feasibility study. Um Larry and I did have a follow-up meeting afterwards with a a smaller group just to follow up and at that time learned that they were looking at also including it to increase an inventory um to include an inventory of recreational amenities uh across Anderson Township as well. Um and they have decided to work with Brandstead or Carol for that project. So, it's a little bit more than a feasibility study at this point. It also includes recreational amenities. Um, just yesterday, I believe Mr. Hook got an email, could have been two days ago, uh, that he then passed on to me, the park board, um, when they met this week, is now putting forth a request to the school district and trustees about whether we might
081be interested in splitting the cost for that feasibility study. Um, which if memory serves was about $88,000. So that is not a a small undertaking. So I'm going to gather more information on exactly what would be included uh so that in two weeks we could have a further conversation about what that would look like. >> Would that be our share or is that the total cost? >> That's the total >> total. So um I feel like I just need a little bit more information about what that would include and how it would involve the school district. 85,000. So look tiny bit better. Um uh about how that would involve the school district and what that would look like to help benefit us moving forward. So, um, stay tuned, but I just kind of wanted to
082put it on the radar. So, and last but not least, we would like to take a minute to thank Mr. Hook for his four years in our district, for the work you have done to help us continue to thrive as a district and to keep the forest strong. Um, we have a little something for you as a thank you. It's a big something. >> Wow. we would like to share before we wrap up tonight. >> And once you open it, you'll probably know who the brainchild behind it was. >> Okay, >> I'll wait and share. >> Wow. >> Thank you. Uh it's it's been an honor. I I've truly enjoyed it. We have some great people here. I more than anything else, I've uh always tried to focus on the people that really make the
083magic happen and uh that's our administration and our teachers and our staff and they're they're topnotch and appreciated. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> All right, our next meeting is scheduled for June 2nd. Is that correct? It is. Oh my gosh. June at central office uh at 4:30. Can I get a motion to adjourn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Nye. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ward. >> Yes. >> Dr. Strickler. >> Yes. >> Thank you all. >> Yes. >> I was thinking the same thing. I'm watching myself.