001Mr. Bell. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jonas. >> Yes. >> Dr. Simmons. >> Yes. >> Dr. Strickler. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bib. >> Yes. >> Item three, the minutes. I get 3.1, approval of the minutes of the special meeting on September 16th, 2025. and 32 approval of the minutes of the regular meeting September 17th, 2025. >> I'll make a motion to approve items 3.1 and 3.2 as presented. >> Second. >> Dr. Strickler. >> Yes. >> Dr. Simmons. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bell. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jonas. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bib. >> Yes. >> Item. Can >> I ask before we do the recognition if the audience is able to hear us because I know there are people here who want to hear the awards. >> Is it not really? >> This seems to be the
002only speaker. Like Jody says, you always got to make sure you're talking straight into it, but it doesn't sound like >> Hello. >> Bob, you want to sing for us while we're waiting? >> Yeah, that'd be great. >> Mark, you got a Halloween themed option. Something from The Incredibles. I I mean a song to a better Hello. >> Is that better? All right. >> All right. Thank you. Thanks, Jody. >> Thank you, Jody. Uh, special recognitions item 4.1, the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program Semi Finalist, presented by Mr. Fender and Mr. Javis. >> Good evening everybody. If it's okay, we'd like to recognize commended and semi- finalist at once for the sake of time. That works. Thank you guys very much. Uh we're here. This is one of the the best things that that Mr.
003Jados and I get to do and that's recognize outstanding students for for really really special accomplishments and the National Merit Competition is one of the tiptop accomplishments any kid can earn during high school. Each year in the fall semester, both Anderson and Turpin High School administer the PSAT to all sophomores as well as a select group of high achieving juniors. Approximately one and a half million students across the nation take the PSAT each year in top scoring individ individuals move forward in the national merit scholarship program as achieving either commended semi- finalist or finalist status. We are extremely proud of the students who will stand before you this evening of their hard work, their determination, academic excellence. We are so thankful for their parents and many of of the schools in the in the district
004that helped contribute to their success and along with all of those in the community that have helped them get to this point this evening. So parents, teachers, everybody that played a role in this, thank you for all that you've done over the years to guide, instruct, and teach and affirm with these students the importance of hard work in the classroom. We're about to recognize some truly incredible students. Only 50,000 students qualify as committed status, representing the top 3% of all students nationwide who took the exam. They are the they are leaders in the classroom and are highly involved in other activities throughout the building. The following students have achieved this status. I will call your name. will come up in a fashionable way. I had to make a larger sheet so I could read everybody.
005All right. And I know we have about I think about half of us here. I think maybe a little more. Uh Phoebe Bonosari Carter. [Applause] That was snazzy. Uh, just don't hurt yourself. Uh, Bodie Hail, [Applause] Max Ice, [Applause] Allison Martin, [Applause] Audi Nyak, [Applause] Sam Nearling, [Applause] Ashton Rubric and Nora Nora Zelen. [Applause] All right. Thank you. We'll have some goodies for you here in a second when we go back and take our picture. Okay. Thank you. I think if I jumped like Alec did, I wouldn't get back up. I want to recognize the commended students from Anderson High School. Now, please come up and stand to be recognized. First, Kendall Bailey, [Applause] Shiloh Frell, [Applause] Samuel Lapthor, [Applause] Seth Mizukawa, Adrianne Potter, [Applause] and John Sins. [Applause] These are your commended students from
006Anderson High School. You guys want to join our turpin counterparts over there? We will now recognize the students who have earned semi-finalist status at both high schools. The top 16,000 students who take this test qualify as semi-finalist status. This represents the top 1% of all students nationwide who took this exam. And out of this group, there's a process that the individuals must in order to be considered for finalist status. So fingers crossed we'll be back in a few months to celebrate these students for finalist status. The following students have achieved semi-finalist status. First from Anderson High School, Charlie Cox, [Applause] Hiffsa Fatima, [Applause] and Luke Patterson. [Applause] And now the semi- finalist from Turpin High School, Matias Makoso Buo. And wait a minute, I have some additional information. Oh, this can't Can this be right?
007your score. How many did you miss? 10, 20. How many? Perfect score. How about that? >> Hi, Mr. Jos. So, my records are murky. You can't find him anymore, but I think we tied. All right. Once again, congratulations, and we'll take everybody out that way. >> Congratulations all. Thank you. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. [Applause] >> Hey, real quick. This takes a village. Can we have the parents and anybody else in the family for these folks tonight stand up as well and applaud them because I think they deserve just much recogn It's more people running for the board. >> That's it. >> All right. Item 5.1, reports to the board of education. Hills teachers association, Mr. Preston, since you just sat down. I'm a middle school teacher. I'm used to up and down and everywhere sideways sometimes.
008Well, good evening to the board, each of you. First, as we move through October into the end of the first quarter this Friday, yes, it's this Friday, our schools are filled with energy and engagement. Teachers across the district have been reflecting on student progress and have recently welcomed parents into our buildings for parent teacher conferences. These meetings are the cornerstone or are a a cornerstone of the strong partnerships that support student success. Conversations provide valuable opportunities to celebrate growth, set goals, and streng strengthen the homeschool connection that helps define Forest Hills. Second, classrooms are also enjoying the season through fall activities, which bring joy and community spirit to our buildings. From theme lessons and creative projects to classroom celebrations, these moments remind us of the importance of balance, combining acade academic excellence with the fun
009and connection that helps students love coming to school. Last, looking ahead, staff will begin preparing for November's traditions of reflection and gratitude, including Veterans Day programs and ongoing work to begin the second quarter with energy and purpose. Teachers also remain focused on success for all students through consistent communication, meaningful instruction, and collaboration across grade levels and departments. Forest Hills teachers association continues to appreciate the support and partnership of the board and the district as we work together to make Forest Hills a great place to learn and to teach. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. Thank you. Item 5.2, Forest Hills Foundation for Education. Miss Hail. >> Good evening. My name is Mana Hail. I am the communications director for the Forest Hills Foundation. Stacy Gillard is celebrating her 20th anniversary this evening, so she
010could not be with us. Um, we will begin by talking about teacher grants. Because of our very successful fundraising efforts last year, the foundation was able to award $140,000 in teacher grants this year. This is the largest amount we have ever given to teachers and staff in one year. And we thank our donors for their support to make this happen. The foundation will be awarding 39 teacher grants impacting all schools across the district and all Forest Hill students. Our prize patrol started this week where we surprised teachers and staff in their rooms with their awarded grant. We appreciate the donors and the foundation board members who have been able to join us in sharing this exciting news. As Stacy always says, it takes hard work to raise money, but giving to teachers who directly impact
011students on a daily basis is the rewarding part. Follow us on social media as we continue awarding teacher grants through next week and congratulate the teachers and staff who received grants and continue to support our kids at the highest level. Moving on to our fall campaign rooted in hope and strength. Nagel's afterchool clubs are more than just activities. They're where friendships form, talents emerge, and passions come alive. Whether a student is building robots, performing on stage, creating art, or discovering new interests, these clubs give students a space to explore who they are and who they want to become. But keeping these opportunities available for our students takes resources, and that's where we need your help. We have raised $12,000 of our goal of $20,000. And for every gift donated, you will double your impact. So,
012for example, $50 becomes a hundred, $300 becomes $600. This is thanks to the JP Hayden and Lois Hayden Family Foundation. They have provided this matching gift. And finally, what you've been waiting for, our fall party of the season, denim and diamonds. Yes, we are bringing back denim and diamonds for the second year. We invite all parents, community members, Forest Hill staff, and individuals who believe in supporting public education and our kids to this amazing party. It will be on Saturday, November 15th at Belterara Park, same place as last year. Entertainment will be provided by the same entertaining group. I'll just give their initials, NKG. >> It was a ton of fun last year and space is limited. Uh last year we did sell out. We are in the early bird space of our sales right
013now. That session will end on November 1st. So get your tickets today. All funds raised will directly support Forest Hill students. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> 6.1 Superintendent Updates. Mr. H. >> Thank you, Mr. Bab, and the rest of my board here. Uh just wanted to last last time we talked about going over the enrollment projections. I do want everybody to know those the actual detailed uh copy is in the on the website. So um we had one little piece corrected so it's all fine now up and up and running good. So, uh, if you haven't seen it and you really need something to go to sleep with, that might be one of the things you might want to read. Um, so, but it's really a critical piece for us. And I'm
014going to kind of do a 10,000 foot view of it. And, uh, so why we do it is just is pretty simple. We need to know what our trends are, what's happening. Um certainly they look at the country as a whole, what's happening with um with the uh enrollments and population trends, state trends at about 7% um increasing over the next 10 years or decreasing over the next 10 years. um we're decreasing less than that about 4.7 to 4.9% somewhere in that range. Also want to talk just a little bit about the methodology that was used uh in this think report u or future think that's the name of the company u overview of some of the of the main district projections including some of the school specific pieces that I think are pretty important
015um key takeaways and what's next so future think is a company. It used to be called the Youngs. Um, and they started out, actually the new owner was the one that did all of it for the Youngs back in the day. So, she's been doing this a long time. Um, this firm is out of Columbus. They're the ones that the Ohio School Facilities Commission uses. every school that takes advantage of that funding through the state has to have this done. And so they're pretty good at it. So this has been going on since 2006. Uh we went over it and actually had uh Tracy on Zoom for the special board meeting just to be able to look at it, talk about it, see where, you know, answer questions, that kind of thing. Um I think
016what's important to understand is it's just not one thing. It's it's all of these pieces that they put together, the historical enrollments over the last 10 years which we provide them uh which is in our EMIS numbers and enrollment trends from the state county and our specific area. They look at that as well. uh live birth rates and that's really used heavily for projecting kindergarten enrollment because there's no core co cohort that's metriculated through yet. So they go back five years, see what the birth rates were and they have a calculation to project uh population estimates again uh based on state, county, area, zip codes as well as economic trends and what what's going on currently uh in ter in terms of population and growth. um housing information is more specific to the county and
017then to our area based on the zip codes and based on some of our actually where our our um elementary buildings are. it goes that down. It kind of goes down into that uh particular area. And that's again it's all in the the online version. So you can see that they look at building permits etc. You know how many are actually going up, apartments, estimates of how many kids are impacted by a single family dwelling versus a what area versus an apartment etc. survival ratios. Again, I already mentioned that's kind of the metriculation. Once you get into the school, then they start tracking that group of students all the way through 12th. And how many kids are going from second grade to third grade, you know, if they're if we lose 10 kids and we
018gain 10 kids, it's flatlined. So, they just don't use that. So, it's a formula that they use. That's a little bit of a copyright thing. they don't tell me exactly how they're doing that. Um, so but that's kind of the the piece to it. And like I said, if you like data, this is fun to look at. So, I mean, it really is. Um, this is the thing that I I pulled this out so that you didn't we didn't have to go through each building. Just tried to put it. It's all in there building by building. Okay. I put the ones in green, those are the buildings that are going up. Preschool by itself, it's going up to a net change of 25 over the next 10 years where air, you can see the number
019from last spring, 10 years forward, using the methodology losing 56 kids. And you can see it right down the row. Obviously, Sherwood and Summit are growing. The Sherwood number, if you add the Sherwood 12 to the 25 because our preschool is entirely in in Sherwood at this point in time. Okay. And you can see Wilson atgative3 kids. Now, obviously the one sticks out. You go, "Oh, look at air. My goodness." Well, this is over 10 years, right? >> So, it's 5.6 students we're losing. We have how many grades? Kindergarten through six. Seven grades. It's less than a kid per grade. So, is it enough to absorb in the data world? That's not so significant. You can say, "Okay, let's combine Maddox and Air." And I didn't say we're doing that, so don't take that away
020from that. I'm just saying our buildings, you know, can house about 600 kids. Well, look what you're talking about. Unless you're building some new building somewhere and have property, I don't know where, you're not putting six another 500 kids in any one building over into it. So you can kind of start looking and you start seeing some some pieces here. Um obviously you as you go down you can see where those are. Uh Nagel is still a large building. It's only two grades but you know it's still pretty high number. In 10 years you lose 65 kids total. Um Anderson interpreter going down as well. Um, again, you're gonna there is an uptick over the last few years in private schools. And the other one that's big is homeschool, >> right? >> Homeschooling is >>
021is hitting people. Part of that is all you got to do is say, "I'm homeschooling." I can't approve it or deny it. I just have to say, "Yep, we got your stuff." And then if the kid comes back into the school system, we have to figure out what you don't have. It used to be you had to ask for approval from the superintendent. You'd look at the curriculum that you were going to, you know, share with your child and there was some kind of checks and balances at the end of the year. How did you do? Did you are you progressing? Okay, they've taken those off. So, >> how do you figure out if if somebody's homeschooled and they come back in, how do you figure out what grade they're supposed to be in? >>
022Is it is that the is that the big >> Oh, yeah. That's the million-dollar question. Depends on how long they've been out. >> Correct. Now, we can test. Is it like a standard entrance exam >> or if they have a portfolio? Depends on how robust their homeschooling was. Okay. Sometimes they'll have portfolios. They'll have >> writing samples, etc. >> Okay. um just depends on what grade they're going into. You know, we have some ability to do some basic I Ready scoring, okay, and try to get a handle on where they're at. Um, one thing I'm so proud of our staff is regardless of when you enter into this district, we're going to take you to another level. We just do. We got great teachers. We got great administrators and support staff um that really challenge
023our kids. And you saw it up here. Some of this that's some really rarified air. You know, those kids are in. And I don't know how you do a perfect one. My goodness. That's that's >> Larry. In answer to that, don't homeschool students also have to take the Ohio state tests in Ohio? Am I wrong about that? I was thinking they were required to take our standardized testing which would if they were grades three plus provide some knowledge of >> standards based alignment. >> They can come in and take it. They can come in and take it with us. >> Okay. >> We have to provide it if they want to too. So >> Okay. I was thinking that was mandatory because that would >> if they're homeschooled. Do they not have to take a
024state test? >> No. I thought they do they >> they don't they don't used to. >> Okay. Like I said, >> they just relaxed all those rules for whatever. >> I'm not going down there. >> And I don't know if that's good, bad, or indifferent. Time will tell. >> Time will tell. Um, but that's kind of what we're what we all been dealt, you know, good, bad, or indifferent. Uh, the reason I just wanted you to see that because it's it's it's kind of unique. It's just makes you think a little bit and you look at what it is at each grade level. Um the key takeaways I think here are pretty important. Um I think the demographic studies are are important and even though this is a 10-year one as I mentioned before I
025think you need to do it again in five years. every five years. That's pretty standard for at least when I talk to people in the field. Um because so much can change just economics just everything there's so many things that can impact it. So I would encourage the district to redo another one in 2030 because this was done in summer of 20 2025. So again are is trends staying right accurate you'll see that init initially but if it's adjusted and move you'll get to see that as well um obviously the highest increase was in preschool um as well as Sher itself summit also had a a nice gain if you look back Summit was at 15 additional students over the next 10 years. So why is that? I think it's important and just remember that
026because I think that's going to be some of the things that we have in front of us uh when we start looking at facilities what what does the future hold? because you know right now Sherwood has added that another unit to that preschool and so they've taken half of their media center so they're out of space and so now you're looking at growth now that doesn't mean we have to do something today tomorrow what we need to do is really start digging in is and then what are our what are our options I'll talk about that in a minute too special education considerations this is going to have a direct staffing impact act. Uh why? Well, if you look at where the highest growth is, and I'm going to have Rob talk more about that
027in specifics when you see u special ed because he's talking about staffing. We meet staffing I don't know how many times a year. Way too way too many. But we do we keep looking at where are our numbers. What does it look like for next year? What does it uh how's that impact us? We have a range for primary schools, for intermediate, for secondary, and those are different based on research of what's what's the when we're in the sweet spot with all of those. We're not light and not heavy. Okay? So, and I'll let Rob do more of that, but just so you know, you're talking about a 61 to 77% increase in rise ESC and and our uh other health impaired students. These are some of our most challenging kids. And so the number
028of kids that you can have in that classroom is limited. And that drives staffing where we've absorbed several G uh general ed populations due to demands. We've reallocated to special needs. you know, we've added five uh extended service classrooms, ESC's in the last two years. Mainly moveins mainly. Okay. The extended services um ESC is um probably tracks right along with the rise of in autism. A lot of it has to do with but they're behavioral in nature. um rise um again behavior children and and just they need other supports. Sometimes they're not out in the other classes, some are. It just depends of the individual. So, I'll let Rob go into that a little more with when he gets up here. Um the vast majority of our students, as I me mentioned, once we get
029them, they stay really We're really at a steady trickle down that matches our decrease in population. Now, does that mean it's going to stay that way forever? Well, if you know the exact answer to that, I want you to buy my next lottery ticket because I don't know. It could, it might not. Depends on the economy. It depends on people that age out of buildings and who do they sell to. There's a lot lot with it. We have a a very just a destination wonderful district that people in the area and around know about. Um >> can I make a comment though on that survival ratio? Just a point that I found interesting was they were able to tell birth rate to kindergarten >> though we have students in the in the district only 50%
030of those choose Forest Hills. And then and then once they're in Forest Hills, they seem to stay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And what happens too is again they use a lot of the start tracking five years before >> and they start following it year after year >> to see how many roll in and then what does that do as it metriculates through. So it's it's a combination of all those pieces. So it's a deep dive. you know, this is not something that it took several months, you know, to get this information. So, >> but what you're projecting really is the gen ed pop is going down slightly, but then special needs behavioral, they're going up. >> Regular population is going down like this, nice, slow, steady. Special ed's going like this. It's it's rising
031quickly. Well, that's the that's the curse and the blessing of being a destination district, especially from a special ed standpoint. People know how good of a job we do in special ed. >> I mean, and I'm not bashing. I don't want to name any other school district around, but you're like, where would you rather be here or somewhere else or go to Forest Hills where you know >> they know exactly what's going on. So, it's it's a blessing that we're a destination, but it's from a >> monetary as well as staffing standpoint. It I don't curse is not the right word here. Even though we're in the Halloween season, >> it creates challenges. It it it creates more of a challenge than you would be if just five quote unquote regular education kids came in
032versus five >> special needs kids come in. Like it's a totally different scenario. >> Different. Much different. And we're we're restricted. Obviously, there's a state standard for the number of special ed kids in a classroom versus um the number of typicals. And then the second layer that you don't know so much, some of you do obviously, but um it really depends on the individual kid. >> Yeah. >> You know, depends on the need factor and how many kids can actually be in a single classroom. And those all need a a certified teacher. They all need a couple of paras. So, you know, that's really been where our staffing has gone up. Uh so just it's interesting. It's stuff that I think that's as you look through it maybe a different set of eyes you see
033those things and it >> you know >> um >> I want to add something too real quick. Um, we talked about this at the Future Think meeting. Um, and I know it got brought up last month as well, but you know, there is this, you know, as we continue to battle for funds and we have levies and whatnot, there's a constant narrative that, oh, population at Forest Hills is declining. Why do we need to continue to to support financially? Well, we've listened to levy presentations. We understand the the state laws and related to collecting property taxes and operating expenses continuing to increase, but we directly asked if there was any evidence to suggest that students were leaving Forest Hills in large numbers for private schools. And the answer was definitively no. That the reason for
034the decline, there's a lot of factors, but birth counts and birth rates across the state and in our district was primarily attributed to it. They had in our district in 2009 966 new births and in 2023 there were 774 new births. So that's going to eventually impact the number of kids that are coming to our school. We saw in the data that Larry provided in the projections over a 10-year period going to the 34 35 year were expected to decline in student enrollment by 334 students which over 10 years and nine schools is 3.7 students per school per year. And there's how many classrooms in a school? >> Right? >> 40, right? So we're talking about like a fraction of a student per classroom. That's not over over a 10-year period. We're not losing students.
035Um, as Larry mentioned, as students are, you know, as the the v the number of people collecting vouchers are increasing, it's not our students from Forest Hills going to get those vouchers. It's parents that were already in those programs uh or in in the private schools using those vouchers. And our survival rates remain high. >> Meaning when students start at Forest Hills, they're they're staying at Forest Hills. Um there's other factors, economic conditions, uh high interest rates on houses that prevent older families from downsizing and moving out. Uh we have limited opportunities for new builds in in Forest Hills. Um so it's not like we can have a huge influx of of families moving in at a given time. So there's lots of factors at play here, but we're not hemorrhaging students to the point
036where we're like, "Oh, we don't need to support the district financially." uh there is not evidence to suggest that uh uh families are leaving in in large quantities to go to private schools. Um so this is this is very useful data and I know that this report in its entirety was posted on the district's website on October 2nd. So I definitely encourage everybody who's interested in this stuff to go check it out if you want to get down in the nitty-gritty uh details in it. But I appreciate you coming back to this, Larry, and giving us >> I think it's it's pretty important and >> you know, we've been talking about this >> at central office for quite some time as as a cabinet level and we just, you know, it's important that we continue
037to to move this needle, at least try to prepare and understand the data as much as possible. We've developed a preschool task force. part of their responsibility is to um look at every building, every space, try to determine what where do we go if we did, what would it look like? Um obviously the preschool is in my opinion the the one that we got to look at quickly. Do I think we have to do something by next year? Oh my god, if we don't No. But we've already taken half of the media center. >> So what what does that look like and what are the ramifications of that? Because that's going to impact developing staffing levels. you still have the same number of kids, you know, but and and I understand why the district went
038to a district spot one place, but if it's growing at the rate that they say in a couple years, we may have no choice but to break it. I mean, there there are other options. Some are some are some I don't know about that one. You know, the simplest one is is there another building that can split the district maybe in half. It still be half the district here, half the district there, or in thirds. It's a possibility, but that's part of what we have to uncover and look um some of the other pieces with that. I don't think we need another administrator with that. They just go back and and forth. Um, but we just have that's something we have to consider because if if Sherwood does continue to grow in its general population,
039too, we need some space. >> Y, >> so there's that's the one I want to wrestle with a little bit. Uh, and there are other things that we got to look at. I know uh Wendy will be on that. Sarah was um we're going to have another meeting on the beach acres piece with the collaborative. Um they've of course surveyed the city and our township and got some information they want to share that with us. I believe it's they're trying to figure it out sometime in November I think. Right now I've submitted my doodle dates and so we'll see when that is. Um, but you know, there's some pieces there that will impact could impact us potentially. Uh, for those of us that were at in the was the fall went to Delh High Township
040and saw their their uh build, it was a collaboration as well. Um, of course they had, you know, apartments and they had other pieces that were revenue generating. Um they had pools, they had but they also had preschool. Oak Hills preschool is all there. Um obviously we have to staff it, but it was done through tiff monies. Is that an option? I don't know that yet, but it's certainly something to explore if it's better on taxpayers. Um >> gave both of us pause. Yeah, I I kind of went and I actually went back over to the superintendent who I know and uh how'd that work? How'd that work for you? And what's you know, what were your pitfalls? What would you have done different? You know, but anyway, those are pieces. All of this is
041information I think uh we have to look at um and go from there. U drafting the facilities option for cons consideration is part of what this does. We'll also be looking at other pieces. I think we have our um tech and facilities meeting coming up. Remember, John, what about that? Coming up here in a week or so, >> November 6th. Um just so that we see what's on the what we have going on. And and like I said, one of the good things uh about passing the um levy with the PI component to it is we've been able to really do some amazing work on these buildings. Um our goal is to extend the life of these for as long as as possible and um we're getting those envelopes cleaned up, you know, and that's
042important, you know. And I app and I think some of our staff appreciates that it's not raining on the inside as much. So, >> can I just make a comment real quick? Sure. I appreciate you bringing up the stuff about the levy um with the enrollment numbers, but I think a lot of it was just um people asking what the actual enrollment was historically. And historically there has been a decrease of 595 students over the last 10 years. That's 8%. >> And um I mean because I had shared I think an EMIS report graph maybe in the beginning of 23 and I got a lot of push back from everybody saying that the information wasn't correct because the levy committee and people were saying that it was stable enrollment. So, I just appreciate being able
043to have this because people are just asking, you know, dependent on the the factors. People just want to know the data. And I think that might have been a lot of the miscommunication. People just wanted the data, >> right? And we talked about having this now as a >> it wasn't like that then >> a standardized, you know, because we talked about there's some enrollment data that >> uh we need to report for the treasur and then we have this enrollment data. So now we have a standardized enrollment numbers that everybody can look at so we're all talking about the same numbers is is important >> and that's all part of the whole >> goal of having that sheet up there on the front which I apologize I'm delinquent on that. I had the flu
044for about 10 days. It will be back. I will make a presentation in November for like and it's going to include that's actually why I asked uh Rob and the gang to put that special ed report together because I want to I want it's important to show the numbers >> as far as revenues expenses it's equally important to show staffing as well as FTES or not FT students but in addition to just showing students we have to show the impact of the special ed because when you just show the students slightly declining at 1% per year it doesn't give you anybody the full picture of what's actually happening and why even if you have a decrease of 1% you actually may see a staff an increase >> because of that need to have a teacher
045for every five students rather than in a regular classroom a teacher for every 21 students. >> So if you have a 21 person increase suddenly you have four extra FTEEs versus what you would normally have for regular students. So it's stuff like that that is all part of hopefully what we show get to show on that front page. So again everybody's got the same data so we're all fighting the same fight. >> Yeah. Exactly. And Sarah, I appreciate your point about the the 50% from birth to to kindergarten. That left me with a question. Is that a typical ratio or is that an area we should be looking at? Is that because half the parents in our district have already decided that they have a private school plan or is that >> I think a
046lot of that's I think people actually it's you got to remember at that age I don't know everything. I remember I asked one one question at that age between zero to five you have a lot more transient families, >> right? >> Because people are just starting their careers. So you have a lot more folks leaving the district during those first five years. So I think that >> I don't want to say the 50% is not the right number because I'm sure they've done the math, but I think you have a lot more folks leaving the district, not just choosing >> private. So I mean we can certainly ask that question as a followup, >> but it's b it's based on you look at the um what is it called the census data for the different
047ages and then you can tell based on the enrollment number. That's how you're able to tell that >> you are. But I'm just saying like there's there's there's a lot underlying that number that I don't know that we necessarily know the answers to. So maybe one of those >> that's my point. If we wanted to dig deeper somewhere and if there was an area to look because again once students are here they stay for the most part then is a matter of getting >> what does that 53% or what's that number really mean? >> Where are we going to put all those extra students? >> Uh >> Larry was one to combine Maddox and he said >> I did hear him go on record but >> one high school. So >> Larry, what else you
048consolidating? >> We Well, that's that's that's part of the puzzle and it just takes time and we've got to look at all these different components, you know, and make those decisions and then start engaging our community. What What is it we see? And um so we're on the front edge of some of this. Um we'll obviously be discussing staffing levels. Rob's be talking a little bit about that. Um general financial, you know, and operational discussions. Again, we we usually start those in our committee and then bring them to the full board. Um, like I said, long-term planning is, okay, then based off of what we know, what's the best move forward once we have as much information as we can and that could be in academic programs, things can change. Um, you know, uh, athletics,
049special ed, what is it we have to do and what's on the horizon? So, a lot of stuff going on. There's going to be a busy spring. So, um with that, I'll be quiet. All right. Uh 7.1 Procedures for public commentary. We have one speaker. Uh the board is committed to conducting its meetings in a productive and an efficient manner to asssure that the meeting is complete completed in a reasonable amount of time while also recognizing the importance of fair and adequate opportunity for public input. In order to conduct an orderly and fair representation of expression, the board will provide a period of for public participation per policy PO0169.1 at every regular board meeting. Public participation will be a total of 30 minutes. Each speaker will have a threeminut time limit. Uh if there's more
050than 10 speakers, an individual time will be adjusted down to fit within the 30 minutes. The board does not discriminate based on individual content of the speech or viewpoint of the speaker. If se several people wish to speak on the same topic, the time limit may be adjusted at the president's discretion. Speaker should be prepared to respond to questions from the board members seeking to clarify the issue. One speaker, Mr. Jeff Nye. >> Thanks, Bob. Jeff Nye 1000 ever soul. Um, first great to see the students here being recognized uh as National Merit uh commended scholars and semi-finalists. I think it is just a tremendous achievement. A lot of familiar faces. Um, and I know they've all left at this point, but I think we have one proud father left, I think, and and one
051proud aunt. So, I you know, I commend all of the students and parents and so on. Uh, just wonderful. Um, what I wanted to say today was um There's recent news of significant layoffs the Department of Education, in particular the office that's in charge of um enforcing and administering the Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act. And um I I guess I hoped we would have heard in the superintendent court something about what that might mean for the district. I think don't think anyone really has a great sense yet of what that does mean, but um you know, it's it's happened. It's not a prospect at this point. It has happened. And so what is the plan to make sure that that doesn't interrupt the supports and the services we're getting for our students and families?
052That's all. >> 8.1 human resources. Mr. Fellows. Good evening. Um, Mr. Bell, I can tell you this is the extent of my dress up today and it is courtesy of Dr. Charles Ogden. >> It has been documented in my serious injury journal. >> Understood. Understood. Um, there are two items under HR this evening. The first is the um FD update uh and the second is the uh standard monthly report. I'll start with the first um preview on the second is that'll be an action item before we get to the consent agenda. Um so as uh Mr. Hook alluded to earlier, um I'm going to dive in just a little bit and give uh um a truncated version of what Sarah and Wendy had the pleasure of uh listening to last week. seems like maybe longer
053than that, but um but it was just last week um roll rolling through our FTE reconciliation um here as we kind of close in on the first quarter um and staffing implications and some some of the uh similar um comments that that we've we've heard thus far this evening. Um first and foremost, I just wanted to kind of do a bit of a hiring recap. Um, and uh, and thinking back as early as kind of the February, March time frame, we kind of gear up our staffing conversations. We get our high school course requests in. It's a little bit different at the elementary level because if you're in the third grade, you're probably going to be in that fourth grade. And we know generally speaking what those uh, sections and class sizes and average uh,
054um, student teacher ratios are going to be. Um, but as far back as March, uh, February, March, we started gearing up for this school year. Uh, since that time, we've hired 34 new certified employees. Uh, six new administrative employees and 34 new classified employees. Um, now I'm saying new, that's not new FTEES across the board, of course. Uh, they're new individuals within the organization. um just felt like it would be maybe helpful for the board to see, you know, the breakdown on uh just classification within those um uh groups. On the certified side, 29 teachers, 10 of whom are intervention specialists. Uh one behavior specialist, the board will recall, we brought um Kaylee Royster inhouse. Uh we'd been contracting full-time with her through the Cincinnati Center for Autism. um we have the opportunity and are
055uh certainly enjoying that right now. I know Kaylee has really gotten into the fabric of the organization and we get to um you know um rub elbows with her a little bit more and exercise a little bit more control than we do when we uh contract out. And so that has been significant. and I know she's working very closely with Ali and his uh his team um as we talk about uh increasing trends in certain behaviors and and some needs within special education as well. SLP um coming in school psych uh school counselor and a student support advocate. Um that position is designed to work with some of our most at risk students at the secondary level. And um this is a a a position and an individual who worked previously for the organization um
056for two years under the ESSER funded position um prior and he's been out and he's back this year at Anderson helping in in some some very tangible and solid ways. On the administrative side, a couple coordinators, APS and an AD over at Nagel um whom you've all have have met. on the classified side, 23 para profofessionals. Um obviously the overwhelming uh majority of our of our folks on the classified side um were our paras and you I I wanted to call out the historical just so that you can kind of understand it's not just an isolation as we look at you know um 29 teachers 10 of whom are IS's and 23 paras but if we go back not so far into the past we can see you know uh real significant trends in upticks
057in in uh in the on the paraprofessional side and the intervention specialist side as well. And I I want to emphasize number one um you know we we work through these adjustments in our staffing model to the greatest extent we possibly can. Um, I want to give a huge shout out uh to our our special education and our teaching and learning department because um, you know, when we think about that volume of intervention specialists in Paris coming in, um, it's it's a significant shift in terms of the, you know, the um, the makeup of our staffing model. Um, you'll see in a bit I'll I'll kind of share the FTE count. And on the certified side, there hasn't been significant fluctuations in our FTE count. On the certified side, what we've been working through over
058the last several years, really since kind of the uh time period, has been um taking that uh that fine-tune approach with respect to resignations, retirements, and really leaning in on um whether we have the opportunity to shift or reallocate FTEES in other areas of support. Um and we have by and large been able to do that. Although I I don't want to miss the the impact that you know 45 new intervention specialists in four years um has on an organization and uh similar kind of volume on the parasite significant it and it's not gone without um efforts at professional development and partnerships with local universities on the parasite um and some intense training um and uh more training and more training um from our special education team. Rob, is that are we losing? Is it
059burnout? Are they like is it just that hard of a job? Are they finding better jobs somewhere else? >> Great question. And it actually speaks it's like you saw the slide before I got there. But the retention data, I thought it would might be helpful for you all to just kind of have an overview um of where we are just in in over the last year coming into this school year with six new administrators. Um it's an 88% retention. Okay. Um on the certified side, 93% retention there and you can see the breakdown. Uh 20 of whom were resignations and or um retirements and then 15 resignations. Now four not returning after a leave of absence, a handful of folks moving out of out of state and you know we'll have the occasional that might
060move to another location, but by and large that is not what our exit survey results uh tell us. Um the sky is not falling in that sense. 93 to 95% by all metrics is like industry standard in terms of a retention rate. >> Is that pretty consistent over the last four or five years? >> I'd have to go back and and before I could comment on that, but I I would imagine uh we've been fairly consistent across the board here. Similarly, you know, on the classified side with an 88% retention rate, you know, significant chunk of of the transition is in new personnel is on the PAR side. Um, so and again, a little bit of a flip-flop on, you know, people resigning more out of the classified side as opposed to finishing out their
061career and retiring and that being the the largest um transition trends in special ed. Um, I'm not going to go into every line here, but I did call out a handful and this this is information that I know the board has seen. Um, so I don't want to spend too much time, but in terms of the general increases that we're experiencing in in some key areas, um, on the emotional disturbance side, uh, since 2016, a 77% increase, autism, 61% increase, um, and OI 64% increase overall in terms of students with disabilities based on our EMIS uh, and uh, and total child count uh, 25% increase uh, in special ed services. That does not count obviously the RTI model and the MTSS model of really trying to intervene with some strong robust um datadriven uh research-based
062uh intervention models. Um, so there's there's um, you know, it's only a part of the the puzzle, but it is noteworthy and it's definitely something that um, a I would be willing to bet though I wouldn't want to necessarily say with full confidence, but I don't think this is incredibly unique. Um, I think that there are a lot of districts that are similarly situated that are experiencing similar upticks in certain areas and causing a shift within the staffing model that that we've had uh, over the years. Rob, can you go back to that one for a quick sec? >> I I think this speaks to something that uh Mark was saying earlier that I mean we can see in the last five years there's more than 100 student increase in these uh special need categories.
063And um students that fall into these categories typically require more resources, higher student teacher ratio, more expensive to to educate um provide the care that they need. So when we think about okay maybe enrollment might be declining by x amount over a certain year but these students are increasing we can see the evidence of that there the cost per student to to meet those needs is greater is that >> accurate >> absolutely yeah >> yeah so 100 175 student increase you did that to a general population it's like a four five 600 student increase y just from >> the requirements on the FTE side to support that >> yep good question um on the ESC specifically um 32% increase in student enrollment in the past five years just within our ESC classrooms. Um Mr. Hooks
064spoke to that a little bit ago. Um but you know there's the there's the actual uh you know numerical impact of that and that it's a lot to just kind of think about in the last five years. Um but we are uh not a you know uh nimble organization. You know it takes some time uh development efforts. We work you know strategic plans and we've got initiatives that we have ongoing. Um, you know, it's tough to turn on a dime, but we are certainly responding to some of these upticks, uh, with some of the increased level obviously the reallocated staffing that I've mentioned and also the professional development um, that's accompanied with that. And that's across all categories that that really speaks to the need for some very targeted tier one also um, intervention and
065training uh, for our gened teachers as well. Um because by and large the majority of our special education students are not in isolated situations. They're not in specialized classrooms although that seems to you know form the the largest chunk of our conversation this evening from the staffing standpoint um >> related to this and Mr. Nye had brought that up but and obviously it's it's fresh. We don't know the long-term impacts, but with the reshuffleling and and elimination of the uh special education staff at the federal level, obviously like that group ensures that districts and states are following laws and regulations, but also are responsible for distributing funding for special education to the states for distribution. So when we the the the money we take in from our levies from our property taxes and then we
066we said there's a percentage there and then we get a percentage of money from the state. Does that percentage of the money that we get from the state does that include the money that uh we need to meet the needs of these special education students or is that a different pot? >> That the percentage that I show that comes from the state that includes the special ed money as well. >> Okay. So when we think about, you know, things we have to keep an eye on long term, >> yes, >> the distributions of of funds coming from the state potentially is something we just need to be aware of >> um >> as a potential impact >> and depending on their on how they're categorized that they add a weight >> to the funding mechanism.
067Y >> does it cover it all? Oh, no. Right. And so we use that a combination of that and and federal funds. >> Yeah. >> Can we see Atlanta? Can we actually see >> how much we actually get from the federal government as far as this goes? Can you actually see that specific line item? >> Um from the state. >> Yeah. >> Well, what we have is we have Don't forget that we're on the guarantee, right? So when you go through the formula, we're only like six million is all we would get from the state. So, we're on the guarantee to a pretty large amount. But yes, you can actually see if I can pull up on the formula and see how much is allocated because of the certain types of special ed kids. >>
068But with the guarantee and that'll be placed at least, excuse me, for the next two years. Um, we won't be impacted over the next two years because of the guarantee. >> Correct. >> Okay. It >> So, it's it's one of those we have to keep an eye on starting in like 27 28, not right now. So we do have time to plan for if something was actually going to impact it because right now it can't. >> As far as the state money, yeah, right now they've said the formula is going to be. >> So we have the >> the floor the the bottom line. Okay. >> The federal money that we're getting so far that of course is in other funds. Um there's a little bit up and down, but it's not materially different than
069what we've gotten in the past. A lot of what I've read that's being cut at the federal government aren't grants that we receive anyway. So when you look at some of our grants, there's one that's maybe down 20,000, but it's not materially different for us. And I think it's just because we're not in the programs that we don't get a lot of money from the programs that are being cut. >> So part B is pulled out in different fund numbers, right? because you can look at the different fund numbers on the report and see idea part B funds pulled out. >> Yeah. And when I look at that, our initial allocation last year was 1.607 million. This year it's 1.592. So a difference of 16,000 on the initial application >> on around, you know, 1.6
070million. >> But I think in response to your question, it's not going to be an issue for this year because the funds have been allocated. The issue is if they have decimated the office of special education programs which is responsible for ensuring that these funds are allocated appropriately and enforces that these funds land where they need to. long term, the question is who's in charge of that >> protection, which is the reason was put in place 50 years ago because it wasn't >> happening by people's good nature. >> If those funds aren't coming to the state, from the federal government, >> right? >> Do we no longer get those funds from the state >> two, three years from now, >> right? Yeah. >> It's going to be a question and it's a real concern. >>
071Oh, yeah. Absolutely it is. >> But we do have a little bit of time. Um, moving on just in terms of the adjustments, I thought just the last couple years it might be a practical exercise to just give you an idea of how some of these positions have come on the books um whether new or reallocated. So in 2425 we did increase six uh six new IS's, one early childhood, three mild to moderate and two moderate to intense for our new ESC classrooms. Those were truly ads to the organization. Um, two years ago, we reallocated four positions from elementary gen ed and from high school gened in order to not further increase on the FTE side. Similarly into this year, you know, um we brought a the the new FTE on the certified side was
072our behavior specialist, which is a bit of a wash from a financial standpoint, but it does hit our books from a FTE. Then the reallocated same similarly, you know, looking into our high school gened classes um and making making sure that we're being uh you know, as as judicious as possible in terms of our our staffing outlay and and what our model is. Um, all that to say, um, from an FTE overview standpoint, um, you know, it is a bit misleading because on the whole it's down. um it's not where we want to be because the largest chunk of uh you know those decreases are in the areas that are uh you know we've lamented for a while but on the transportation side and I did go back just um in gearing up for this
073just out of curiosity to think about you know where transportation departments kind of ends in June in terms of its projected FTE count and number of drivers you know positions filled and anything and it's almost like spoton almost every year. You know, our transportation department, Richard's feeling really good kind of going into the year and then stuff happens over the summer and it's it's wild that it does that, but um you know, it is it is what it is and we're we're doing the best we can right now. Um the uh the PAR increase obviously is uh you know, the the largest of the of the classifications. Um and that's really a function of just trying to stick to what we are um uh committed to with some of our specialized classrooms and you know
074trying to keep those ratios manageable. Um uh and then you know this is just a a a glimpse as of last month with updated enrollment figures um in terms of our elementary model and our uh class size targets um at least on the gened side. um certainly not the full the full uh scope of things. Um I would point out that um and I think Mr. Hook mentioned this, but with respect to that demographic study, I did um run the projections through this model um you know and kind of scoped it out over 10 years and on the gened side it it is it is of no material impact uh in terms of the projected student enrollment. >> Questions? this chart showing that the average sixth grade class size at Summit is 29.3. >> 29.3,
075>> but at these other schools it's I mean that's that's a massive difference. >> Um >> when you dig in you find trying to reallocate one section or add there then all of the sudden when you got six >> buildings and you've got you know numerous sections it doesn't shake out. Historically, has that been a trend at Summit with the sixth grade? >> That bops around honestly. Last year, two years ago, it was Sherwood sixth grade air. Last year, third, the whole thing. You have one red. I'm like, I I get your point, Jason. >> It's not high enough that it warrants another teacher. >> One throughout all the elementary schools, I think, speaks to to your guys ability to maintain that correct allocation per classroom >> because it's only three classes of the sixth
076grade, four, >> right? You end up with 18 per 18 per class, right? >> And at a sixth grade level, 18. I mean, if it's primary, that's a different ballgame. We would want to see it down at 18. So >> can't justify