4/16/25 Forest Hills School District School Board Meeting

001April 16th board of education meeting. May I have a roll call, please? Mr. Bell, present. Mrs. Jonas here. Dr. Strickler, present. Mr. Bib here. Dr. Simmons is absent this evening. If all rise for the pledge of [Music] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty, justice for all. Safety briefing real quick. There's an exit here where you came in and then one right here at the bottom of the stairs. You want to get a motion to adopt the agenda? I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda and add two action items this evening. The first is an updated um Forest Hills School District Board of Education resolution in support of the fair school funding plan. And

002the second action item would be to vote on an amended testimony from the Forest Hills School Board to the Senate and other key stakeholders uh based on the recently released House version of the bianual budget. Yes, Mrs. Stonis. Yes. Item three minutes. We have approval of the minutes for the human resources committee held on March 6th. The teaching and learning committee held on March 10th. The policy committee held on March 12th and the finance committee on March 13th. A special meeting that we had on March 17th, another special meeting on March 19th. human resources committee and then a regular meeting on March 19th and another special meeting on March 22nd. So, can I get a motion to approve the items 3.1 through 3.8? Can I ask a quick question? Are we sharing minutes from any

003of these meetings? I'm not sure if that happened previously. If we're just accepting them, that's fine. I know they're online. I just wasn't sure. I'm sorry. I didn't hear your question clearly. Are we sharing publicly the minutes from those meetings? I'm not sure if teaching and learning or HR had been shared previously. Can I ask you a quick question? Or if we are just accepting them at this point, which is fine. Previously, if we're just accepting them, that's fine. Correct. They are on board docs if people would like access to them. But I know sometimes we do do shareouts during the board meeting. So I just wanted clar clarity on how we were proceeding. I mentioned that that wasn't on there. Okay. They said Okay, perfect. Then I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Dr.

004Strickler, yes. Mr. Bell, yes. Mrs. Jonas, yes. Mr. Bib, yes. Item four, uh, since Mr. Stewart is no longer with us, we have a nomination for the election of vice president. Okay. And I'm more than happy to throw my name in the head. If I was vice president and 23, president 25 more than happy to do that. I'm also happy to since I had put myself in the running for nomination at the beginning of this year. So I don't know if we vote one at a time or how that practice works. Do we vote? Just um call the name. I'll call the role and then just say the the name of the person you'd like to vote for. So we have two nominations. Um our nominations closed and I will call roll. Okay. Mrs. Jonas.

005Um myself Dr. Strickler. Wendy Strickler. Mr. Bell. Wendy Strickler. Mr. Bib. There's a sense I don't want to tie. So we'll just do Wendy. Mrs. And then item five, special recognitions. We have a candidate for graduation presented by Mr. Fender from Mr. Thank you guys for having me up here once again for a candidate for early graduation. Um tonight we we are bringing forth Anthony Thcker who um has taken advantage of some of the alternate pathways we have to acrewue credits uh in the district and expedited his acquisition of the graduation requirements and really could have been finished a couple months ago but chose to stick around based on his involvement in our uh teaching professions academy program. Um and at TPA they recently competed at the state tournament. Anthony earned a state championship in

006the Ed Rising moment speech. So certainly worth sticking around for. So I know that's not officially why we're recognizing Anthony, but I thought while I've got a spotlight and a chance to give him a pat on the back, I'm going to do that. Um and so with with no further ado, I recommend that the board approve the granting of a high school diploma to Anthony. [Applause] I will make a motion to approve the granting of a high school diploma to Anthony Theriploma to Anthony. I'll second. Dr. Strickler, yes. Mr. Bell, yes. Mrs. Jonas, yes. Mr. Bib, yes. Congratulations. [Applause] Item 5.2, we have a state swimming champion from Turpin presented by Mr. Helgarden. Yes, Mrs. Jonas, Mr. Bibs. Yes. Hello. And uh thank you very much for having us up here on pitch hitting for

007for the best uh swim coach uh in the state. Renee Contino couldn't be here tonight, so I get to pinch hit for Renee. She's fantastic. But hey, uh Hayden Myers is standing here in front of you and what he did this year was absolutely incredible. Actually, what he did in his whole career. Um but, uh varsity swimmer for us, uh captain this past season, ECC champ, district champ, and then this year he was the division one state champion in the 200 IM and the division one state champion in the 100 back. So, we always hear about Saint X, Saint X, Saint X in uh in swimming and and they've won their fair share of state championships, but in individual events, nobody in Ohio uh could beat Hayden this year. He was the very best. Uh

008he was all Ohio. He's been all-American two years in a row. Uh at the state meet this year, he was recognized as the performer of the meet in all of Ohio. Uh he also was on two of our relays that qualified that both of them finished in the top 10. Is that right? Right around there. Yeah. So, so we had uh four categories finished there. 4.0 GPA, scholarship to the University of Georgia, go Bulldogs. And uh uh just an all-around great kid. I've loved cheering for him and supporting him. Uh he's got a big brother that was really really good for Turpin. And a lot of times when you're the younger sibling coming up, it can be hard to follow the big brother, right? Uh and and this guy came in and and was fantastic.

009So, um he did awesome. So, everyone, please uh let's give Hayden Meyers a round of [Applause] applause. So, everyone, please let's give me a round of applause. I will make a motion to commend Hayden Meyers for his achievement and distinction and a certificate of commendation be presented to him. Absolutely. Second. Dr. Strickler. Yes. Mr. Bell. Yes. Mrs. Jonas. Yes. Mr. Bib. Yes. I will make a motion to commend Hayden for his achievement and distinction and a certificate of commenation presented to absolutely just smile. All right. Item 5.3. Uh we have Mr. Hamilton here presenting uh Sherwood Archers special service events. Go Archers. [Applause] Good evening, Board of Education and all of our guests. Um, thanks for allowing us to come and share some of the positive things that have been going on at Sherwood this

010year. We want to take a few minutes just to share, but I'm not going to talk a lot, so I brought some of my esteemed colleagues up here. uh to share a little about some service that we've been working on over the course of the year. So Karen us good evening board of education and all of our guest. Good evening members of the school board. My name is Karen Mech and I am in sixth grade at Sherwood Elementary School. It's an honor to speak with you tonight about the exciting service projects we've been working on this year. At Sherwood Elementary, we have a special focus this year on serving others and taking your learning beyond the classroom walls. We call this initiative arrows of kindness. Our teachers, principles, and parents have encouraged us to think

011about how we can make a positive difference in our community through service learning activities. Two of our biggest service service projects have been the Raiken Run event and our arrows of kindness family service night. These activities have taught us important lessons about kindness, teamwork, and responsibility while helping us connect with people in our community in meaningful ways. Today, we'd like to share with you how these service learning projects have impacted our school and the community around us. We believe that serving others, we're not just helping our neighbors, we're also becoming better students and citizens. Kindness, teamwork, and responsibility while helping us connect with people in our community. My name is Oliver Maurice and I am in fourth grade. On Saturday, November 9th, our PTO partnered with the Anderson Senior Center to organize the Sherwood Raiken

012Run. Students, families, and school staff all came together to serve seniors and others in our community who needed extra help cleaning fall leaves from our yard their yards. The morning of the event was filled with energy and excitement. All of us who volunteered met at the school and hopped on buses. We rode the bus to a location, quickly ragged and bagged the leaves, then boarded the bus again and went to the next house. It was truly amazing to see everyone working together. We had volunteers as young as three with tiny rakes working alongside students of all ages, parents, and even grandparents. When we all pitched in, we made quite quick work and even and even the biggest yards. Some of the yards had so many leaves, but With our teamwork, we filled dozens of leave

013bags at each house. I felt very good about helping people with their yards. My name is James and I'm in third grade. The people we helped were so grateful. Seeing the smiles on their faces when we finished made all our hard work worthwhile. This service project taught us important lessons about helping others and working as a team. It showed us that even as kids, we can make real differences in our community. The Raiken wasn't just about cleaning yards. It was about connecting with our neighbors and showing them that showed elementary students care. My name is Celeste and I'm in sixth grade. On January 8th, we held the airs of kindness family service event at Sherwood. It was created to bring our school families together for an evening focus on community service. Our student council members

014were in all of the stations throughout the night and they were many parents and staffs volunteered as well. The students served by welcoming all the guests, running an information booth, assisting with the um service activities, and serving food throughout the evening. What made the event so special was that it provided a space for Sherwood families to learn about the many organizations that are positive positively impacting our school and community through a community service expo which was set up in the gym. Representatives from local charities, organizations, and volunteer programs shared information about what they do and how they help others. This gave us a chance to see all the different ways to people can make a difference. My name is Ava and I am in fifth grade. Another important goal of the event was to help

015families discover ways they can get involved outside of school. Some organizations needed volunteers while others needed donations or simply wanted to spread awareness about their cause. Many families signed up that night to help with future projects or events. During the evening, we worked on service projects together. Many families participated in the past the bricks project where we created Lego sets from donated pieces. Students designed their own sets and then we took a picture of their creation and placed it on top of the box. These sets were given to kids in inner city schools and included in power packs for students in our own Forest Hills school district. Our families wrote encouraging notes and packed candy bags that were donated to the IPM. We collected candy donations over several months and then had families put together

016candy bags and write positive notes to place in the bags. It was awesome to see our families taking time to think about others in our community who might need encouragement from our school. My name is Blair Wells and I'm in the fifth grade. The best part was seeing everyone working together. Kids, parents, grandparents, teachers, and community members all focused on helping each other. It showed us that kindness can spread like arrows flying in all directions throughout our community. This event taught us that service doesn't have to be something we only do at school. It can be part of our family life, too. Now, many of us are finding ways to volunteer together as families, carrying forward the spirit of the arrows of kindness night. We're proud that our school encourages us to participate in service

017learning opportunities like this by taking what we learn about kindness and responsibility beyond our classroom walls, becoming better citizens and better neighbors. We are We're proud that Thank you for supporting service learning at Sherwood Elementary and thank you for allowing us to speak about these important initiatives at Sherwood Elementary School. Thank you. All right. How about that? That was good. Nicely done. One thing we do know, and I'll just close it out really quick. Uh we do know that service learning has a great impact on on academic performance and so we love the fact that these kids get a chance to do that. Um it's also a great way to build some of those uh you know creative problem solver skills that we always talk about like a portrait of a learner. This is a

018great way for them to learn how to solve problems in a in a really positive way. Build some pride and responsibility in who we are. Um and it also does take the learning beyond the classroom. So thanks again for giving these kids a chance to to share about some of the work we're doing. Thank you. [Applause] Item 5.4 is volunteer recognition. I'm starting off with Mr. Fender. makes sense if we have everybody come on down now. That's what you have everybody. All right, I think we've got everybody nice and organized over here. So more than happy to to kick off recognizing some outstanding volunteers at all of our all of our schools. We we are so fortunate in this school district to have the support that we have um from our from our volunteers. We

019wouldn't be able to do many of the things that we do without them. And I know at Anderson High School and I'm going to ask Judy Padlet to step a little closer. I know she the last thing she's asked for is a pat on the back. And that's exactly why she deserves to be up here uh receiving this recognition tonight from our volunteers. Beyond being an outstanding mom, she she and raising some great kids. Just great kids. Um she supports all of our students at Anderson High School. When when you're when you're at a contest, she's rooting for everybody. Uh when it's time to to lend a helping hand, Judy's the first hand in the air volunteering to be there. And uh I could name all of the different events that Judy's helped us orchestrate

020and then we'd be here until the wee hours of the morning because she is always at Anderson High School. We probably need to give you a parking spot before you leave. I think might be nice. Uh from dances to after prom to every PTO function to helping out with a athletics, Judy's always there. And and one story that really stands out to me was from homecoming this year. It was our our first time doing it out in the stadium and there was some some anytime you change anything, right, you're like, how's it going to go? What's going to go right? What's going to go wrong? Luckily, it was a fantastic evening where just about everything went right. But the reason it went so well is because we had Judy there organizing all of the masses,

021taking care of the kids, taking care of the volunteers, and I want to say you were the last one to leave. And so that just speaks to her character and why she 100% deserves to be recognized as Anderson High School's volunteer of the year. Thank you. Hello. I am uh very excited that as the uh interpret principal I get to talk about Mana Hail. Um yeah. Um that's my my exact reaction. Um Mana once again Mana's been involved in in multiple um multiple associations, multiple groups, multiple committees. I first uh met her as president of her PTO, very involved in the foundation and so many other things. Every once in a while I get an email or she asked me to put the email out in the uh the parent newsletter and and I usually

022have two reactions. Huh? I didn't even know we did that. And look, Mana runs it. So, uh that's typically how that works. And if I was using words to, uh to describe Mana, u just a very genuine, sincere, uh nice person. However, she also has another gear where she is dedicated. She's passionate. Somebody thought I was going to go another direction there, but that that is not the case with MANA at all. Um, you know, I I've heard this term a lot that, you know, a lot of people will talk about getting things done, but then there's those actual doers, and Mana is 100% a uh a doer. And uh we're going to uh you know, anytime I know I need to get something, we need to get something done, I can go to Mana.

023And uh this is the first time I've really seen her somewhat uncomfortable because similarity probably to every parent. She she she even asked me, "So I don't have to go up there, do I?" No, I'm just randomly going to talk about somebody and they're not going to know who it is. Course you have to come up, ma. So once again, uh an amazing volunteer and pair for us, Mahale. [Applause] Good evening. Um, Nagel is thrilled tonight to recognize our volunteer of the year, Stephanie Brown. Um, Stephanie serves as our PTO president while balancing a full-time job. She was serves as a a role on the local swim club board. She helps with the Forest Hills 5K. And most importantly, a mom to two of our Nagel kids, Emmy and Jack, who I talked to today

024about Stephanie. Um, middle school is not always the easiest place to find and rally parent volunteers because our middle schoolers not like giving warm fuzzies to their parents when they walk into the door. Um, but Stephanie has done a really great job of encouraging our parents to step up and participate and be active. Um, and just let them know that presence still matters at the middle school level for parents. And when I asked Emmy and Jack today to talk to me with their mom and what that means for them, they were so proud of you. They were so cute and they were so proud. Um, they both said that they don't know how she does it and she handles it all so well. She's always sending emails and helping people. Um, and she still manages

025to cook dinner and run them to practice. Um, and then Emmy said, "And it's pretty cool. We get to brag because and say, "Hey, she's our mom." Um, and that is the highest compliment you can get from a middle schooler. So, we are so thankful for everything you do for us and the night community and we appreciate you. and [Applause] she is the highest compliment you can get from a middle schooler. I told Megan she has to stand close to me. So, hi everybody. I'm Heather Holly. I'm the principal at AIR. It is an honor to be here tonight to recognize Megan Wolf as our volunteer of the year. Megan has truly been instrumental in our success during her time as an air parent and a PTO president. Megan is a connector. Um, she will

026find the people, she will do the work, she will find the resources and the systems to be able to get things done. When I asked our staff what they appreciate the most about Megan's support, many, many comments were shared, but I'll just share a few of them tonight. Um, Megan is truly committed and dedicated. She is a community member not just of air but of all Forest Hills schools, hence her shirt and the township that we all love. She makes a positive difference with her ability to lead, support, and move things along for the betterment of our school district. Megan has been a force for positive leadership. Her can do attitude promotes a sense of unity that encourages those around her to be a force of good. The overall theme from our staff was just

027a huge appreciation and thank you for all of your efforts and support over the years. I asked one falcon, Aaron, a fourth grader at who is here tonight, what all this volunteer work meant to him as a son who sees his mom who gets to do so much for our school. And his response was, I just love that my mom gets to help make air a better place for everyone and help and helps raise so much money for our school. He also shared his favorite events at airs such as walkthon and global adventure day. He said it makes him just feel really glad when he gets to see his mom at school. I asked Lucas Megan sixth grader what this means to him and he just casually shared that um you know he casually shared

028that he is used to it now because his mom has been helping it air every year that he has been at school. And he's absolutely right. For a sixth grade boy to share that he still enjoys seeing his mom at school is something to celebrate. Megan's selfless, generous attitude and approach often show up in many ways behind the scenes and without recognition, but the truth is that she needs to be recognized publicly because she does so much for so many. She should be honored for her tireless work in making air a better place for all. It is my pleasure and honor to recognize Megan Wolf as her volunteer of the year award. [Applause] She should be honored for her tireless work making a better place for all. Good evening everyone. My name is Joy O'Brien.

029I am the principal at Maddox Elementary. And tonight I have with me my assistant principal, Chris Barker, to give our volunteer of the year award. Evening everyone. Uh, I appreciate Miss O'Brien giving me the opportunity to to brag on our incredible uh, volunteer of the year, Kelly Warner. U, Kelly is currently serving as our PTO president and has been an active member of the organization for years. And on top of that, obviously being an integral part of our school community. Um, Kelly meets with myself, Joy, and our staff representative monthly to discuss all the school needs and volunteer opportunities. Um it is an endless, tireless, thankless job that we cannot thank her enough for. Um this year, Kelly specifically has been instrumental in the plan to install a brand new sound system um that we

030have raised money through our walk-athon for that we had back in the fall. Um I'm happy to share that that's going to be installed here at the end of April. But I know this was an incredible Yes. Big time. It was an incredibly long and painstaking process um at sitting in meetings with Joy and Kelly trying to figure out exactly how we were going to move forward, getting quotes and meeting with a million different people. And well, yeah, we'll leave it at that. Um I I can't do this without sharing a little bit of information um from Landon and Mason, Kelly's two sons. Landon is a sixth grader at Maddox and Mason is a third grader. Um, both boys are fantastic young men, um, who wanted to make sure that they shared a few things

031about their mother. So, when I sat down with them today and I asked them two very important questions, I said, number one, what is it that you love most about your mom? And number two, what is it you love most about what your mom does for Maddox? Landon, her sixth grader, shared that he loves how much she helps out all the time, every day almost. Like some of our other volunteers, um, Kelly is here a lot at school and so Landon loves does really love seeing you and for a sixth grader that is definitely a lot. Um between setting up for activities, parties, um she's always volunteering and what he said he he loves most about his mother is that she is nice and that she is caring for everyone. Mason Kelly's third grader said

032that he loves that she that she helps set up for the Maddox Carnival his favorite event of the year. He also loves being able to go early and see all the games and prizes beforehand. He loves his mom though because she is nice and because she makes him food. As a growing third grader, that's a big thing. Um, but she is volunteering constantly and cares so much about her school. Um, and that's what he loves about you. So, thank you, Kelly, incredibly much for everything that you do for all of our Maddox Mustangs, not just your two boys, for everything that you do for our staff. And so without further ado, we'd like to present our Maddox volunteer of the award to Kelly [Applause] Ward, not just like the alphabetical order. I'm appreciating the alphabetical

033order you guys have all figured out. Yes. Good evening. Um, I'm Jodie Davidson and I'm the principal at Mercer Elementary School and it is my pleasure to introduce Kim Beard so we can talk about our Mercer volunteer of the year. Kelly, come on over here, my friend. I am going to be completely honest. I forgot my readers in the car, but um, what would we do without Stacy Gillard? honestly because you're, you know, going to be mentioned in this as well. Oh, fantastic. Um, author Elizabeth Andrews said that volunteers don't necessarily have the time, but what they have is the heart. And I do not think, um, any person exemplifies that more than Kelly. Um, this year at Mercer Elementary, we have worked very hard to kind of rebrand and expand our tier one PBIS

034and we came up with a lot of really amazing ideas and we had um a wonderful grant from the Forest Hills Foundation and um put together a phenomenal game room. And once we got all of these amazing things um together, we were like, "Wow, how are we going to execute all of this?" And in comes uh Kelly Ruther. And Kelly and I got to know each other through um meetings um around her son. And her family is just phenomenal. And she immediately stepped in and said, "I'll do whatever." I don't think she understood exactly how much time she was going to spend at Mercer um making that commitment, but she comes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and she mans our game room. um never fails and she also comes to our monthly PBIS tier one

035meetings. She comes um to our PTO meetings in the evening and kind of is that liaison for us and really tries to expand awareness in um our general parent community about the importance of positive behavior um intervention supports. My my favorite thing that we do is we do monthly bingo and popcorn parties. And my favorite Kelly story of all time is our first popcorn party. Um, we did not understand how many kids were going to sign up. We were expecting maybe a hundred. We had over 190 students save up their tickets. And with our PBIS funds, we had bought this little popcorn machine, right? And we're like, "Oh my gosh, we were gonna melt this thing down." Our very first event. And Kelly went around dragging her second grader in tow to all of our

036local movie theaters trying to solicit um leftover popcorn and she scored um and it it was phenomenal. Her dedication is unmatched. Um I am incredibly honored to know her. She is now pinned on my phone um right up there with my kids and my husband. It's quite an amazing thing. So I just want to say thank you um for all that you do for our community and our kids. You've really made an incredible difference at Mercer Elementary and um I hope that you'll stick around for next year. [Applause] for all that you do for our community and our kids. You've really made an incredible difference at Mercer Elementary and um I hope that you'll stick around. All right. Good evening again, board. Uh Miss Davies is Sherwood's volunteer of the year and I think she

037wants to sing a song. Start us off, right? Let's break it up, right? Do something different. She probably would, but I'm not going to make her do that. Uh Kim um has graced Sherwood with two beautiful children. Uh Kinley's now in eighth grade and Olly who's a kindergartener at Sherwood. U just absolutely adore the kids. Um Kim and her family moved uh into the area around 2020. So tough time to move in right during the pandemic. And she hopped right in from the get-go, started organizing drives for mask and was became our Forest Hills Council rep, chaired our back to school bash, was a yearbook chair, just jumped in and did just about everything that you could possibly do. Also over the past three years, uh, Kim has served as the vice president of the

038PTO. She's, uh, chaired our highly successful walk-athon fundraiser, and she's the coordinator of everything else. If you come into Sherwood and there's an event, Kim has been a part of it in some way, and she'd be in the background somewhere, but, uh, she's shared it all. Uh, this year, she also stepped up as our PTO president and was a mastermind behind the arrows of kindness, uh, initiative that we had this year. And these kids would not have been up here without Kim. I mean, that was all her doing. Um, what truly sets Kim apart is not just the impressive list of all the positions that she's held, but her constant presence at and passion for everything Sherwood and all of the humans associated with our community. Uh, one of her colleagues said, "Her excellence in

039leadership while always keeping our kids in school community top of mind is unmatched." Kim was a true servant leader, always willing to do anything to pitch in. From spearheading the major initiatives or PTO fundraiser or stepping up with those small day-to-day things, whether it's copying or sorting or whatever else it might be. Uh she works tirelessly every day to make sure we're the best place it can be. And then one of her other colleagues stated, uh Kim's leadership has been nothing short of transformative, marked by her unique blend of creative vision, kindness, passion, and pragmatic action. She has a rare gift not only for improving the major initiatives that benefit the entire school community and I love this part but also noticing and nurturing the smaller details that often go unseen and that is Kim.

040So uh the Sherwood Elementary community is strong is stronger and more connected and more serviceoriented because of Kim Davy's extraordinary contributions. Please join me in recognizing Kim as our volunteer of the year. [Applause] elementary is stronger and more productive and more serviceoriented. Good evening everyone and welcome. Thank you board. I'm Michelle Sulstead the principal at Summit Elementary and it is my great honor to introduce Vicki Adamossky as our PTO volunteer of the year. Vicki has been a PTO volunteer for many years at Summit, mostly volunteering in her children's classrooms. She has also helped as a cafeteria volunteer and this year was the first year for our Summit Squad families across the building. And she helped our counselor pack and prepare all of our Summit Squad materials this year, which was a huge help to our

041counselor and she generally jumps in to help wherever she can. Um, this year a parent chapron had to drop out at the last minute for a field trip and she quickly volunteered to cover it and help out another class. She is truly our behindthe-scenes unsung hero that helps our students and staff every day and every year. Um, Vicki was voted as our volunteer of the year by our entire summit staff, but was nominated by second grade teacher Mrs. Caroline Lions, who moved up from first grade last year. Um, Mrs. Lion shared, "Vicki has volunteered my classroom every week and is always happy to jump in and help with anything that is needed. From reading and playing learning games with kids to making copies and prepping materials, she always has a smile and a can do

042attitude. The children love seeing her and will ask if they can have a turn to work with her each time she visits. I feel so lucky to have not just had her wonderful child, but have her as a part of my classroom community for the past two years. Mrs. Adam Kowski has two children at Summit. Olivia, who is here in fifth grade, and CJ in second grade. When I asked the kids about having mom volunteer at school, CJ said, "She plays math games with some of the students in my class. She really helps other students. I am always happy to see her and I'm really proud that she received this award." Olivia said, "I like it when she comes to school because she actually gets to see what we are doing and experiencing it instead

043of us just telling her about it. I'm so excited that she got this award and I'm glad she's part of our school and gets the full summit be experience. I'm not sure what that is, but that sounds wonderful. Um Vicki, thank you so much for all your time and dedication to our school over the past six years and congratulations on this recognition. It is very welld deserved. [Applause] Sarah was commenting that I should have worn smaller heels so I wasn't so much taller than she is. Um, but we match so that's good, right? Uh, my name is Aaron Storm. I'm the princ Wilson. Um, tonight it is my great honor and privilege to recognize someone who exemplifies dedication, passion, and heart in everything she does. Our volunteer of the year, Sarah McGau. Sarah is the

044kind of person who leads not for the spotlight, but for the impact. As our PTO president, she has poured countless hours into supporting our Wilson Wildcats. and every minute of her time has been driven by one simple belief that our students, staff, and community deserve the very best. She is always the first to ask, "What more can we do?" And she's rarely asking that question for herself. Sarah consistently puts others before herself, working behind the scenes to ensure our school events run smoothly, our families feel connected, and our teachers feel appreciated. Her commitment doesn't stop with tasks or titles. Sarah has a vision for our school community, one rooted in unity, support, and meaningful relationships. She has a special way of bringing people together, strengthening the connections we already have, and building new bridges when

045we need them most. When I asked her son, Luke, who is in fifth grade, what he enjoys about his mom being involved at Wilson, he shared that he likes that he is always the first to be at the carnival. Luke also shared that his mom has a tight schedule but always holds it all together. When I asked Sydney, her daughter, who is in third grade, what she enjoys about her mom being involved at Wilson, Sydney shared that she loves that she gets to help with the carnival and that her mom is super nice to everyone. Sarah is truly a team player in every sense of the word. She listens. She leads with grace. And she shows up time and time again. Not just as a volunteer or a parent, but as someone whose heart is

046fully in it for our kids. And on a personal note, I'm especially grateful to not only work alongside Sarah, but to call her a friend. Her warmth, her wisdom, and her unwavering dedication inspire all of us. And I'm getting emotional. Sarah, thank you for being all in for our school, our families, our staff, and our Wilson Wildcats. We are better because of you. Please join me in congratulating Sarah McGau, our volunteer of the year. Thank you everybody. Yes, that was amazing. Hello. Thanks, Larry. Picture time. All right. Item uh some reports of the board of education item 6.1 the for sales teachers association presented by Mr. Preston. Well, first the Forest Hills Teachers Association welcomes Mr. Mark Bell to the board of education. We look forward to continuing to rely on a strong collaborative relationship

047with the board of education and the administration of the Forest Hills School District. Second, as April unfolds, we recognize the preparedness and focus of our students as they participate in state testing across all nine of our buildings and new path. Their perseverance along with the dedication of our educators and support staff continues to make us all proud. Last, I want to give a special shout out to the students and staff involved in afterchool running clubs as they train for the upcoming Forest Hills 5K. Their energy, discipline, and enthusiasm are inspiring. We are excited to cheer them to the finish line on May 10th at the race, which benefits the Forest Hills Foundation for Education. In closing, we continue to move forward together with the board of education and the Forest Hill School District to design

048and implement the best possible experiences for our students this year. Thank you for your time. Thank you. [Applause] Item 62, the found for Foundation for Education by Miss Gillard. This third grader came up earlier and I was like, I think her microphone was higher than when I'm standing here. Um, good evening. My name is Stacy Gillard, executive director of the Forest Hills Foundation. Um, many of you heard actually throughout the evening as we recognize such incredible parents who give of their time, their talent, and their treasures um, in regards to PBIS and sources of strength. So, I always like to start out by saying it's because of our donors and people that support the foundation that this past year we were able to donate over $32,000 directly impacting all 7,000 plus students across the district

049um in both of those programs. So, again, thank you for everybody that supports the foundation. Um we appreciate all your support. I have a couple other things. Um I was recently talking to a friend whose son is graduating very soon from high school. It's a huge mile milestone. Um one of the things is we first and foremost want to say congratulations to all of our upcoming graduates and also it's an opportunity to honor and lead forward with a legacy gift in their honor um through the foundation. What that means is you can make a $2025 donation in honor of 2025 as well as um parents have the ability to also recognize teachers, coaches, academic departments um because we know it takes a village and we know that so many of those individuals have had a

050very important role in their son or daughter's lives. So, congrats again to the seniors and um more information if you want to take a pick of that QR code. The second thing is shout out to all rising seniors. So, this would be current juniors. One of the things um for the past 16 years in the foundation is through the years there's been a lot of dedication around how are we preparing and supporting our kids once they leave Forest Hills. And one of those areas has been college career preparation. And in the last four, no, seven years, we have supported a college essay workshop. So this would be for all rising Turpin Anderson Turpin and Anderson seniors next year. It's $30. It's going to be on Friday, June 6. So that um is available. Uh it

051will be a more intimate environment. So make sure that if you are interested to get your son or daughter signed up and that will be at Nagel and there's two times this year. There's a session in the morning and a session in the afternoon. So we're proud to work with Abby Wided um who is actually a parent in the district um and she works for Riverbend Solutions and will lead that workshop. And then I couldn't help but notice a couple things. one is all these individuals were getting recognized how um many of them play a very very significant role in the work of the Forest Hills Foundation. Um we are thrilled that the 5K is literally just around the corner. It is the largest fundraiser for the foundation and our goal this year is to

052raise $150,000 that are going to go to support three things because everybody wants to know where's my money going. Number one is we want to continue to support teachers and teacher grants. In the last three years, we have awarded over $330,000 to teachers across the district. We want to continue that effort. The second thing is um studentled grants and the importance of how we listen to many of the students that were here tonight and initiative and projects that they have that we can continue to fund. And the last area is the foundation will continue to work with the district in identifying ways that we can support students at tier 2 and tier three moving forward into next year. So we hope you can join us. It's on Saturday, May 10th. Um I've got a just

053a few more slides. Um we are doing price does increase. So if you're anybody's listening tonight and you haven't signed up, here's a fun little fact real quick. the week leading up to the 5K in the last four years since I've been a part of this, we have over 1500 people sign up the week of. So, if you get it now, if you register now, you get a little discount. So, I'm making a shout out to everybody for that. And then we're also giving specific awards out to this the students that have the highest participation at the schools as well as the staff. Gene Bod's here, Chuck, Mr. Ogden's here. You saw many of the shirts tonight that said one community, one finish line. Um we have over 25 race ambassadors this year. Um and

054so we wanted to highlight a few of them and these are individuals across our community, students, parents, staff, business owners. Um so it's really truly about how we come together as one community and finish at one finish line. We have two parties coming up. One is at 50 West Thursday, April 24th. We'd love to see you out there. We're going to do a fund run at 5:30. And the second one is going to be on Thursday, May 1st, which is going to be a dine to donate. If you haven't been to Wandering Monsters, it's a great place. Um, you can stop t stop by anytime between 5 and 10 p.m. And so those additional funds raised from those evening will go back to support the kids through the Forest Hills Foundation. So we hope to

055see you there. Um, again, what I love to say is it's a great community event. It's about coming together as one community. We hope you cross the finish line with us. So, thank you. Thank you. Item 7.1, superintendent updates. Mr. Hook. Thank you, Mr. Bev. Members of the board, hoping Jessica is still around. She still may have left earlier. There she is. Okay. Um, I just want to make sure that uh we introduce Jessica Arnold. Um, as you're aware, she'll be on our HR report for um, and we're excited to introduce her as my recommendation for the Nagel assistant principal position effective August 1, 2025. She'll be replacing Mr. Mack, who will be transitioning over to the Summit Elementary principal position. But Jess brings a lot of professional experiences, really outstanding at West Claremont Middle

056School where she was the dean of students. She oversaw the MTSS process and served as a 504 case manager. So, Mrs. Brennan and the entire Nagel team, I'm sure, uh, were excited, you know, as she metriculated through that whole process. Um it's quite a challenge and she did really well and so we are excited to have her join our Forest Hills community. So welcome Jessica. [Applause] Um, also really want to announce and I'm thrilled about the outstanding achievements of our students uh who recently competed the University of Cincinnati Regional Science Day. uh their dedication, creativity, hard work have earned them well-deserved recognition and these students have demonstrated exceptional scientific inquiry and innovation representing the excellence of Forest Hill School District. And I want to extend our gratitude to the teachers, mentors, and families who supported

057their journey. The following students are now state qualifiers and that will be um judged virtually later on um this May. But the students from Anderson High School are Sega Patel, Shive Patel and Sir Patel for their project optimizing vertical axis wind turbines for urban settings. You can tell these guys are topnotch. I got nothing on that. I got nothing. Anna Dylvestro and Marian Vashi loadbearing capacity of a Da Vinci bridge was their project. the Turpin students Matteline Shrand and Kylie How for their project titled Clorox Versus Generic Cleaning Products. Entrepreneurs in the making, I think, but I wanted to congratulate them. Um, that's pretty pretty amazing stuff and uh just excited for for them and and in May we'll get some more information out. how you can uh check into that virtual. Okay. And so

058I got to try to see if I can I might have to borrow your readers, too. No, I got them. She left. Um first of all, I just wanted to go over the real fast kind of where we're at. You know, the state bianial budget is not a a moment in time. It's a process that starts, you know, it starts way before January, but in February, uh, we had Mike Dwine's, the governor DWIN's, um, his proposal. Okay. And actually February 3rd, it was released. Um, for us, it would have cost us over $850,000. over the two-year period. Um, and when you start looking at the five-year forecast, as we've mentioned before, up to two 2.8 million, um, there was plenty of parts in it that we were not happy with. I think when 59% of

059the school districts in the state of Ohio um experienced a reduction in funding, there's something flawed with with that. Um we began contacting um our legislators and it's been across the state. it just hasn't just been here. But um so just recently, first part of April, the um House of Representatives, and that's the process. It goes from the governor, gets tagged with a house bill number, they do their thing, and they do uh presented their version of what the bianial budget should be. um it basically totaled about $139,000 of increases over the bienium. Okay, but understand that represents 7/10 of 1% in year one and only 4/10en of 1% in year two, which certainly doesn't touch, you know, the rising costs of inflation that we deal with. Uh we're not ex exempt from that. So

060we have to deal with that. Um they placed the fair school funding plan on hold uh did not implement totally and then they added a another provision which kind of came out of left field. We heard a little bit about it but I don't think there was a lot of anticipation that that would come out. And basically what they did is they put a cap an annual cap of 30% on your uh basically your end of the year balance. Okay. Um as a percentage of of your income. So is 30% good, bad or indifferent? The problem you got is it really flies in the in the face of being a a saver, being able when you pass your levy at the front end. In Ohio, because of 920, we don't House Bill 920, we don't

061get any inflationary growth. We're not a a floor school on the 20 mil floor. So, we get zero inflation. It's the flatline for us. So, we know that. and schools like us have to pass it at one level and account for expenditures that are going to continue to grow where our revenues stay flat and when that crosses were on borrowed time. Okay. So schools like us and the Lovelins and the Masons and the some of the highest performing school districts around have to pass it at one level to push these levies off for five years, six years. In essence, what this does is basically says the amount that you voted to pass, you can't collect, which kind of flies against local control. it kind of flies against, you know, we're pretty transparent when we talk

062about levies, what it's for, and how much it's going to produce. And that's so that we can try to push it as far as we can. Um, you know, it just kind of flies against common knowledge there a little bit. In my opinion, it almost pushes you to try to pass a levy every other year, every third year. That's what it's going to do. you're you're you're in no you're in no position to ever be incentivized to do something long term because they're going to take the money away. You can't. Exactly. Right. And that's kind of the the the the part of it I think that we're trying to make sure our legislators understand. Um so what's the next step? Um earlier today, I sent a a letter to um all the senators on the

063education committee and on the finance committee as well as a few other selected people that I've met over the years up there. Um why the Senate? Because that's where it is now. it's already going. That House version goes to the Senate and right now they're on recess until April 29th, so they get a nice spring break. Um, but then then it kicks up again. And so you'll end up with a Senate version. And I wanted to make sure that and other schools are doing the same thing, making sure they understand what what's the trickle down effect of particular decisions. Once that happens, then it goes to a conference committee because, you know, the Senate and the House won't agree. Exactly. They won't accept it. At least I've never seen it done that way. So, they

064always have to come together. Okay. And then decide what can we live compromise, find it, and then both vote and it goes to the governor. So, we're right in that in the middle of that. And so we won't know the Senate's version until May. I mean, well, probably towards the end of May to be actually right on honest with you. And then then the they have until the 30th of June to get it all completed. So once once they go through those those steps, you're going to um that's where we'll be. So, lot to come and and every time we get another step and we find it, I'll I'll keep you informed of what's what's going. I try to keep you informed weekly because but it's sometimes it's it's a little crazy up in Columbus.

065So, it's I just try to keep you aware of what's happening. Um the lobby, we have been meeting regularly uh with lobbying groups. Next week, I go back up to Columbus uh for the leg with legislative meetings. Um, so it doesn't end and we'll keep pressing until we find out what it is that we get and and then that's what you do. Whatever it is, it is what it is. But I think it's important that they understand and we've added a a point uh there's a new section on the website um that we wanted to get out. Um, and if you go to our website, and I'm not going to click it here because I might lose my whole presentation. So, but if you go to our website, it's right at the front end there.

066Uh, you'll see it flash across. Uh, you're going to see what the process is. You can see the resolutions that have been passed. You can see my letter to the senators. You can uh we put in um emails so that you can if you want to use my letter or use one of the resolutions as kind of a format. There's email contact information for our legislators. This goes just goes through the the whole process. We're about halfway through that. Okay. It's just a brief kind of letting you know what's happening. Okay. Um, again, you'll be able to click and see uh the letters and resolutions and as things move forward, we'll update that and keep you posted if there's anything new and exciting coming out of Columbus. Okay. I think the major priorities in my

067opinion um as it relates to Forest Steel School District is number one and this is in my letter um number one we have to protect the guarantee. The guarantee is a portion in the funding model that keeps school districts like Forest Hill and there's not not all districts are on the guarantee. Okay. [Music] Um, but there are school districts like us that are really the fair school funding model doesn't work completely partially because they don't they didn't put in the updated inputs. They're using 2022 inputs. Well, the cost of doing business in 22 is different than the cost of doing business in 25. So number one is protect the the guarantee. That's important for us. That's a lot of money for us. That keeps us getting at least what we got last last year or

068last bianium. Fully funding the fair school funding model. The reason that's important is it was the first attempt since gosh 20 years ago where there really was a bipartisan effort to try to find a way to determine how much it really costs to educate a child in the state of Ohio. That's the short answer to it. And this was between CUP and Patterson, two legislators. they got together and really did a lot of work on this. Um, and it it made it through both both sides of the of the legislature. Um, so it's been implemented and the hope was to get it fully funded by the end of this bienium. um by doing that with the updated um inputs, you got a more realistic cost of doing business in the state of Ohio as far

069as education is is concerned. We also want to uh increase the state minimum. What came out of the um governor's budget which stayed in was a lot of school districts the minimum amount was at this 10% threshold that the state would would partner with the school. Well, the problem I have with that is the last time I read the constitution in the state of Ohio that it was a state responsibility. number one. And number two, I understand it should be a shared responsibility, but what's happening is the state is doing less and less and less in terms of funding public education. Um, where you light on other issues is one thing, but I don't think and I think one of the greatest things about the state of Ohio and this country is public education. We

070educate our masses, okay? Not just the elite, but our masses. It has to be a shared responsibility. 20% would be an appropriate that would be better than 10%. 10% to me is it's kind of insulting actually. But and finally, I think the other piece um that I mentioned in here and it's in my letter is is this proposed 30% cap. I got nothing for that and I don't understand it yet and I've had I don't have an adequate um rationale yet from any of the legislators. I think it got pushed in at the last me uh minute in the omnibus provision. Um so that's going to be a little bit more of a another piece that I think we got to make sure doesn't stay in this. Um, I don't know if there's a balance

071to that, but at the end of the day, I still believe in local control and I believe that as long as we're honest with our our constituents, you vote on it. If you don't if if it doesn't pass, it doesn't pass and we have to adjust. That's that's how it works in Ohio. So, I just wanted to share with that. And there is, like I said, addresses for our legislators. um you know and so you have a reference of the things that are important for us. So it's important I think right now certainly during the bienium process to let your legislators know and be kind to them. They're normal people you know um if you read my letter I tried to to make sure that they knew that how much I appreciate the work that

072they do. It's not an easy job and um we just but we want to make sure they hear our story. So I just wanted to share that with you and make sure and I shared that letter with you as well. And if I interrupt your myself and Wendy both reached out to Senator Blissy and expressed everything you just said and he supports what our uh our feelings are. So that's good news. He is battling for us. Sure. Um, from a community perspective, because I've spent a lot more time learning from Atlanta and talking about this n these numbers, I just kind of want to put this in perspective when we say the 10% share from the state that is supposed to fund public education. So, when we look historically, and don't quote me on these

073exact numbers, but at this point in the state of Ohio, it costs about $13,000 a year to educate one child. 13,000. Okay. Okay, so that's our starting point. From there, the state said, "Okay, but if we max out classrooms and minimize resources, it really only costs $8,000." Now, being a parent and member of this community, I think most of us would agree would would not find it satisfactory to start with that $8,000 number in mind because that's maximizing class size, minimizing resource, the bare minimum we need. So the state says costs $8,000 a year to educate one child. We are going to pay 10% of that. So Forest Hills gets about $800 per child base cost. That is the starting point at which we have a conversation about state funding. Now of course there are

074complexities and there are nuances to it and there are state grants that come in and otherwise. So we end up through all those at about 2700 a student. But please understand that doesn't come anywhere near meeting 8,000 or the actual 13 to 14,000 that we're looking at to educate children. We don't live in a community that has a large amount of business revenue. And so there is one remaining factor to help make up that difference and that's property tax. So that is a problem in and of itself. But what's happening then on top of that with this 30% cap is essentially the state is saying if you keep too much in reserve to be able to pay for emergencies and let me back up for just a second and say this about as soon as

075I started adultting one of the first things I was told was have three months worth of reserve on hand in case something happens of an emergency. I'm guessing a lot of us have heard that particular advice. Well, three months on hand is that cash reserve that we're talking about. But the state is now saying, well, if you have about that much on hand, it's too much. So, we're going to now pull back out of property tax because you're keeping too much on reserve to be able to pay for the emergencies, the things you need, get a good credit rating, all those other pieces. So, this budget comes at our district from both sides in terms of hurting the potential education we can give to our students. So Larry, I appreciate you taking time to address

076it because I think those numbers are important and I think it's really important for our community to understand that and to start to be part of of advocating and reaching out to our senators. I know several districts around us have have had things on their websites and that was one of my questions tonight was is there a way for us to get information out. So I very much appreciate I assume Josh has been heavily involved in this um as well in Atlanta with the numbers. So thank you for all the work you're doing to make sure we can get good information out there. And that that's it. Brings me to the end. Okay. Item 8.1, procedures for public commentary. The board is committed to conducting its meetings in a productive and efficient manner to asssure

077that the meeting is completed in a reasonable amount of time while also recognizing the importance of adequate opportunity for public input. In order to conduct an orderly and fair representation of expression, the board will provide a period of 30 minutes for public participation per policy PO0169.1 at every regular board meeting. Each speaker will have three minute time limit. If there are more than 10 speakers, there does not appear to be um individual time may be adjusted. We do not allow yielding of time to others. Speakers are asked to speak from the podium and address the board. Speakers are also asked to start state clearly or start excuse me start clearly by stating their name and address. And it looks like we have six speakers. The first one is uh Ken My name is Ken I

078live at 7362 Ruggate Court. The November 2024 5-year forecast included a page labeled financial health indicators. It included the following. A revenue increase of 7.02% is needed to balance the budget in fiscal year 2029 or a $7.5 million reduction in expenses. This is interesting because the district began receiving $ 8.2 2 million per year in additional property tax revenue to cover operating expenses in January 2024. Yet we already have a projected shortfall. This mean the district has either spending commitments of 15.7 million in the next 5 years to create this expense gap or as Larry said revenue shortages. How did this occur? Well, I'm going to say one thing. Salaries are forecasted to increase 19 or 13.2 2 million in that 5year period. Benefits 5.9 million total increase 19.1 million. That's how you get that

079type of gap. But at the same time, enrollment's dropping in in fiscal year 2024. We had 6,483 reported enrollments. It's down 345 in 2029 to 6,138. And in even within the interimm reporting in a three-year period for fiscal year 2026, we went from 6,812 3 years ago, dropping down to 6,414 for physical year 2026. We have a 467 students have dropped off of the forecast. Where are these students going? My challenge to the board is to request the May 2025 5-year forecast include an attrition plan as part of financial health indicator page to internally reduce salary and benefits and close the recently projected expense gap of 7.5 million. With the forecasted declining enrollment, not replacing personnel that retire or resign seems like a common sense approach to the problem. So, I respectfully ask the district

080to look at expense reductions that mirror the decline in enrollment. I will be sending a report with some of this information to everyone on the board so you have some of my facts to back all this up. I think I find it very interesting that every time there's a discussion about this, the first thing is put a property tax levy on, never expense reductions. Thank you very much. Thank you. And next up is Dan Salceto. Hi, my name is Dan Salceto. I live at 5793 Brookstone Drive, Cincinnati. Recently, some queried, "What is Dan's agenda? doubting if it is to promote what is best for Forest Hills. Well, to clear the air, my agenda is to hold this district accountable to Ohio law in Ohio Revised Code 3313.60 60 of what is and what is not

081to be taught, such as content which can harm our children through woke ideology such as CRT and DEI or illegally expose our youth to sexually offensive and obscene material such as comprehensive sexuality education cse. This district's charter and our significant tax dollars expect Forest Hills to quote practice, promote, and permit academic excellence in a safe learning environment where everyone feels valued and respected. End quote. It's your culture blueprint. Otherwise, your culture blueprint is disingenuous. For example, consider the recently announced National Merit finalist and our four Forest Hill students achieving this rarified honor. A huge shout out to those four students. However, four finalists from 500 seniors in Forest Hills pales when compared to four and 150 St. Ursula women, 12 of 300 seniors at St. X, 11 of 100 seniors at Seven Hills, or 16

082and 400 seniors at Walnut Hills. on a proportional basis. Forest Hill should then be delivering over 20 finalists a year because past CRT and re and present woke noise of DEI or CSSE is infiltrating this district. There has been way too much emphasis on dividing rather than uniting this diverse student community with damaging labeling and indoctrination contrary to your own culture blueprint. This district from this distracts from the district's real focus of education, academics. The safe learning environment our children deserve is safety from bullying, racially induced tension, and contentious woke ideology. Previous attempts by this board to introduce sexual education for either students or for parents is first contrary to OC 3313.6011. second dilutes the focus on academic excellence and third is not the job of teachers or their proxies to teach. Forest Hill should

083teach academics with excellence and let parents parent on privately held topics such as religion and sexual education. We respect that parents have different morals, beliefs, faiths to guide what they think is appropriate rather than allow a public school to indoctrinate with potentially leivious and age inappropriate contact content. I'm eager to see this board's leadership in supporting this outlined agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Roy Hall. Hello, my name is Dr. Roy Hall. I live at 2884 Lango Road. I'm speaking out because I believe our schools are on a troubling path with diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI doesn't bring us together, it drives us apart. Doesn't educate, it pushes an agenda. I've seen it in your classrooms, the posters, the lessons, the subtle drip of woke ideology that's oozed onto our children. Forest Hill

084should be a place of learning math, science, and history, not where they're taught to see themselves as victims or oppressors based on race or genders. DI isn't fairness. It's discrimination masses progress. It's not inclusion. It excludes those who think differently. It's not diversity. It's a monoculture that silences free speech. In the last year, students have reached out for help. Frustrated, stuck in DEI courses, punished for their beliefs, told their values don't fit. Is this is what is this what we want in our schools? Schools where kids fear speaking their minds. Parents that are worried about their children being fed guilt instead of knowledge. This isn't what education should be. Forest Hills can do better. We don't need DEI's divisive lens. We need merit where hard work matters. We need truth where facts, not feelings, lead.

085We need liberty where kids can question and grow without penalty. Teach them how to think, not what to think. Our schools should lift students up with real life skills, not weigh them down with ideology. This isn't just policy. It's about our kids' futures. If we let DEI take root, we risk turning Forest Hills into another place where independent thought dies and conformity rules. Parents and students deserve more. They deserve schools that prepare them for the world, not preach how they should feel about it. Please act now. Reject DEI. Focus on education, not indoctrination. Make Forest Hills a beacon of learning. Again, as to my history, I come from a family, PhD, educator, mother, PhD, educator, father, PhD, sister. I myself held two associate uh professor positions. So, I'm a little aware of what teaching is

086like. And having not been born in Turpin Hills and the area, have being an outside observer, I view the ROI that I'm getting on my real estate tax dollars as very poor. I deal with the kids every day at the gym, and I am not impressed. They can't tell me what a prime number is. Half of them don't know what the three branches of the government are. They can't tell me about anything about the Civil War. The other day I'm talking about Raml the Desert Fox. They have no idea what I'm talking about. These kids were spending tons of money and we're not educating them properly on the basics. We're allowing all these other issues to take hold. And I'll tell you what, to the parents in this that are left in this audience, I'm

087done. Thank you. Up next is Kevin Mishack. That was a loud sigh. Kevin, it's a disappointing district. Kevin Mishack, 8433 Holiday Hills Drive. Thanks to Josh, I spent the last few days reviewing the last 10 years. The five-year forecast enrollment. Over the last 10 years, we've lost 800 students, 11% of our student population, enough students to fill one elementary school. For forecast calls for us to lose another 400 over the next five years. In the meantime, we now have a hundred million budget. We spend $84 million a year in personnel costs because our costs are heavily personnel. Those costs will continue to increase because of course we just signed a brand new three-year contract that we are locked into. We just passed the largest property tax increase in the history 55 year history of this

088district. a 20% increase in taxes. We all saw that. That was just the last year or two. Now, suddenly you're worried about losing funding from the state. That should not come as a surprise. The state of Ohio is required to educate all students, not just public students, homeschool students, private students, parochial students. All students are required an education in our state from our funding, not just ours in public schools. But what do you provide parents choices? What what choices do you have? you you you literally screw up the $13 million remodeling project 10 years ago. We then spend the next 8 10 years with schools that leak until we pass another permanent levy increase and those roofs won't even be done until this summer. 10 years fixing the schools and we had to pay more

089money. But hey, you guys are all getting raises. You guys are volunteers. Thank you very much. I I appreciate all the volunteers that help all you out. But it's coming due. The last levy, the one that we all paid a lot for, 14,000 people voted. It passed by 800 votes. Anybody doubt that 400 people might change their mind? How many people think parents whose children don't go here don't vote for it? How many senior citizens? How many senior citizens, empty nesters, they're going to vote for another increase? You just gave them a great big [Music] [Applause] one. Up next is Jeff Nye. Uh, thanks Jeff Nye 1000 Evers Soul. Um, I don't usually like to use this time to respond to other speakers, but I feel compelled to in this case. Uh, section 3, article

0906 of the Ohio Constitution says that provision shall be made by law for the organization, administration, and control of the public school system of the state supported by public funds, not the private school system, not the religious school system. Um what I actually want to say though is that it's great to see um the students, the volunteers, the student volunteers recognized here today. Um it's it makes these meetings a lot more fun especially in this kind of busy time of uh you know uh EOCC's and uh what is it uh ST OSTs and APS and you know all these things. Um, so thanks to all of them. You know, I saw a lot of uh people I knew and and faces I recognize even when I don't know the name. So, thanks to all of

091them uh for everything. It's a reminder that, you know, strong schools make strong communities, but strong communities are needed to make strong schools. So, thanks to all of them. Uh, second, Mark, welcome to the board. Um, you know, thanks for your willingness to serve. Thanks. I think, you know, I hope at some point in the near future, you know, not today necessarily, but I hope at some point you share with us, you know, what you hope the board can accomplish, you know, between now and the end of the year, uh, what you what your vision for the board is. Um, and then third, you know, since you're here, um, obviously not long before you joined, the board made a pretty major strategic decision, uh, without regarding the non-renewal of the treasurer. Um, and I think

092it'd be one thing if that either were made with a significant board majority or is the result of a rigorous decision-making and evaluative process, you know, but it wasn't. And between that and, you know, the decision having been made with, uh, one member's foot kind of half out the door and, uh, the fact that the district has not yet, as far as I can tell, incurred any significant reliance costs on that. I hope that at the next meeting when you have the full board here again, you'll consider renewing that contract through the next fiscal year and importantly instituting that uh goal setting and evaluation so you can know what we're getting from the treasurer because whether it's this treasur and and she may not want to come back. I wouldn't blame her if she didn't,

093but whether it's her or anyone else, the district needs a treasurer. you need to know what you're getting from the treasurer and uh you know it's otherwise as my kids would say you're just kind of running on vibes and that's not a responsible way to operate a school district. Thank you. Up next, Michael Kenotton. Michael, I like how we have a right and a left. We do. I know it's weird. I missed his last name. Hi, my name is Michael Canotton and I live at 5705 Sovereign Drive. Uh, I sent all three of my daughters through Forest Hill Schools. The last one graduated from Turpin in 2017 and I even coached basketball over at Turpin. It was a great experience. Um, at your March 19th meeting, a light was shown though on your culture blueprint.

094It says, "The culture is built not on what you proclaim, but by what you practice, promote, and permit." Let that sink in a moment because last month, two examples of culture infractions were shared which Forest Hill School District practiced and permitted. Both were shocking and completely inappropriate as each example involve content which are sexually explicit, obscene, sexually objectify women and have no place in what Forest Hills aspires as a safe learning environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and safe. Mr. Bell, I've got a packet for you after this. It is critical that you are made aware of the legal issue caused by such Forest Hills permitted practices as set forth in Ohio Revised Code [Music] OC2907.01, which sets a legal standard for sex offenses and obscinity. It clearly defines as harmful to juveniles any material

095which describes or represents nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement intended to appeal to the purant interest of juveniles in sex and or lack serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value. OC2907.01 further defines material as obscene when the dominant appeal is to purant interest and to or arouse lust by depicting sexual activity, masturbation, sexual excitement or nudity in a way that tends to represent human beings as mere objects of sexual appetite. The book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower that was permitted to be read aloud in a Forest Hills classroom and cause students to feel unsafe, disrespected, and offended is a direct example of what OC 2907.01 is depicting as illegal for exposure to minors. Credit Superintendent Hook as he immediately removed the nine highlighted books. We seek to verify through Mr. hook that any material

096as defined in OC 2907.01 will be restricted from use with defined repercussions if used. This board must resolve for all the strict adherence to the immediate removal and zero tolerance. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] Come on. Let's Let's behave like adults and set an example for our children. Let's not argue back and forth. It It's not going to solve anything. Everybody You should put a stop to that kind of stuff. Our kids are here. Not your kid. They're gone. So, let's go to do this. Next person opens their mouth, you can leave. That is It's that simple. I don't care who you are. I don't care what party you are. I don't care. This is a public meeting for us to conduct business. Not for you to argue with each other. Not for you to argue

097with us. Thank you. It's on the other side. Items 9.1, Mr. Fellow's human resources report. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh thank you very much, Mr. Bib. And um good evening to the board. Uh this evening's HR report. I've got um a number of items just to um kind of go through. First of which are retirements. Um we have uh a number of administrative certified and classified retirements. All of the administrative retirements are not unfamiliar at this point. They are retires. So they are not going um away for very long. Um and those were um completed in accordance with Ohio revised codes process for uh reemployment of retirees. The certified individuals, there are three there comprising 80 years between them of service to the school district. And we wish Janet Baker, Jen Miller,

098and Jeremy Barner all of the best in their uh future endeavors and their uh departure from this school year uh school district after so long uh service. Um, on the classified side, we have a paraprofessional and a couple bus drivers. Um, we wish Cindy Boosezie, Gail Houndshell, and Deborah Hyima all the best in their future um, endeavors after a combined 57 years of um, dedication to the school district. Um, we have a number of resignations for approval this evening. Several of which, four to be specific, are folks that were out on leave of absence recently. And um so it it they had made a decision not to return following that leave and um we wish them the best as well as those who are moving to other states uh husbands uh spouses taking job opportunities

099and those kinds of things. Um and um we're we're grateful for their their tenure with us and wish them all the best um in their future. and a couple um classified employees as well um moving on from the school district as well as a few uh listed supplemental positions. Item C, we've got uh one leave of absence uh for next school year and an intent to return thereafter. Item D, I've indicated in a couple board reports just uh our enrollment with our Latin program and some reductions that are necessary in in that area. Um and so uh great people and we wish them the best um and are kind of working alongside to try to help them find a a position somewhere and um yeah in their in their future we are reducing from 1.5

100down to 0.5 um so a full FTE reduction in world language. Item E is appointments and this is the time of year where it gets a little bit gangly on the HR report because we have a few folks that are coming in for this year. So you'll see 2425 appointments. You'll also see 2526 appointments that comprises the bulk of the appointments uh for this evening's recommendation. Um and a number of incredible folks coming into the organization. We're really excited and I want to give huge kudos to our um our principles, their interview teams for the hard work, hours upon hours of uh combing through, you know, hundreds of of candidate applications, doing the screening interviews, bringing them in for building rounds, and then the final rounds and and a number of those are are appearing

101on this uh this month's HR report. So, some great folks coming in next year, some of whom are with us this year. They were on a higher resign like I mentioned earlier in the leave. They're not coming back. So, it worked out and we're excited to keep them um in in our midst for for the um the coming school year. And on down, we've got a few subs just in these last final weeks and some personnel changes as well um in uh section five of of item uh E there. And then finally, the uh volunteers. We've got still some school left and some events, you know, between camp kerna and everything else uh that we are wrapping up this school year. Um there I would also I I jumped ahead of myself, but this does

102begin the consent agenda for this evening's agenda. Any questions? Is Miss Baker the longest tenure teacher at Anderson? I was wondering. Um at Anderson High School certified staff. Um trying to think if anybody's been there longer than she has. currently at Anderson. I'd have to check. Um on the certified side, she might be. Yeah. Well, so she taught when I was there. Did she really? Any other questions? Yeah, that was a that was a tough one. I I I'll get back to you on it. Thank you very much. Yeah, she has. Yeah, all three of those names have been there a long time. My daughter's had her. She had her. Yeah. Wow. Um business operations 10.1. uh resolution to authorize and solicit bids for the football locker room at Turpin. Mr. Eert. Yes. Yes. Thank

103you, Mr. Bib. Yes. I just have two quick items on the agenda today. Uh the first one is 10.1 is a resolution authorized to solicit for bids for Turpin locker room project. Just as a note, this is actually a joint venture. We're going to be partnering with the uh boosters and spending some district funds and some booster funds to update the locker room that is in sore need of an upgrade. Was in sore need five years ago. I heard that a lot from two other guys that were in there, too. So, but yeah, so we're we're going to work with that. So, that's the resolution for request to bid. And then item 10.2, 2. Again, we have an update to the uh declaring uh transportation impractical for students with an updated list and as appropriate.

104Do I have any questions on either of these? Do so we've been seeing that impracticable in I'm sorry not able to transport I mean is there a cut off date for that? I mean we see it almost every month. It it's if a new student enrolls or then that becomes a new a new one we have to toss on there. Okay. Okay. You know, if the enrollment stays solid from September on, you'll only see it one time a year. But as you know, yeah, we're seeing it a lot now. It's almost like every other month this one's on. Yes. More kids are transferring and stuff like that. But that's I agree with you. It is seems a little heavier this year than in past years, but that's where it falls at this point. Okay. Thank

105you, John. No problem. Any any other questions? At this time, I respectfully request that you uh consider 10.1 and 10.2 as part of the consent agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Item teaching and learning item 11.1, the international travel handbook by Mr. Ogden. All right. Good evening everybody. Um hope everybody has had a good week. Um I'm putting forward recommending to the board the approval of international travel handbook um coming to the district this year. This is uh one of my charges and the biggest thing I wanted to do is just add a little bit more systems and procedures around um the procedures for that. We currently have uh board adopted forms and things of that nature, but working with uh some some trips that we historically do and then just giving um potential trip sponsors

106the ability to go somewhere and have specific guidelines which we have in our port policies and our AGS, but it really serves as a one-stop shop um and just align everything for everybody um for the district, for the administrators, for our staff who are trip sponsors. um any questions in regards to putting this together? So, I will let you know that he did research a number of districts and putting this together and we do have a a coordinator, Miss Donna Lavver, who worked with her in regards to this, other people that have gone on trips and things of that nature. So, I'm up here presenting it, but it really was a team effort to put this together and to vet it. And this is some this I I kind of look at this as a

107starting point. Honestly, it's a really good place, but this is something that we will also look at every year as as we go through another uh year of trips and and learn from it. And we have we have wonderful things that we do, but uh just want to put this before you and recommend it for approval. Outstanding. Is the is she coordinating with EF tours? Are we using EF tours to do these trips still? She she Yes. Um, but she she is I mean she is uh taking it's a supplement for us. So what she does is she works with our it's she's kind of a go-to if if teacher Chuck Ogden wants to go on as a former social studies teacher if I want to do a trip to say let's say Great Britain

108or or maybe Normandy or or something like this. She would really help me set it up and vet it. Um, we do use EF tours, but the biggest thing is like there has to be educational value. It has to be connected to standards. It's it's not a vacation on the school, right? And she really helps. If Chuck Ogden were to go there as a let's say again a social studies teacher and I want to run this, she's really going to she's going to push back on me too and say, you know, you said you want to take 50 kids. This is your first trip. Maybe we should make that smaller and maybe 12 days isn't the best. things like that and then obviously at a point I get involved from from a district and administrative

109position. Okay. Will like the annual DC trip for Nagel will they have to fill out that form? So this is not international that's domestic. Now the the form that we use for overnight trips which is 2340F they do still fill out that form. So take what what we do with domestic trips and let's multiply it times 20 and let's follow really funnel it into a succinct procedure so that everybody's good. Perfect. Thank you Chuck. Absolutely. Thank you so much everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Item 12 uh technology Mr. Steve me so quiet the fan turned off. It's not that cold anymore. It was really cold. Good evening everyone. Tonight there is one item for technology. It's item 12.1. Tonight we're requesting permission to purchase equipment and services through the federal eate program as presented in

110the agenda. There are any questions? Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for lot of switches. It is quiet. I'm not used to it being this quiet with I know if the fan turned on might actually be able to take off my winter coat. Yeah, that's weird looking. Yeah. All right. Uh item 131, treasures report. Miss Cropper. Okay. The first item as always on the treasures report are donations. So if you look at the first two slides, you will re you will see that we received over 22,000 in donations over the past month, which brings our total donations yearto date to just over 471,000. The next slide, item B, gives you a snapshot of our current five-year forecast, which was passed in November of 2024, and we will update this slide as soon as

111we update our forecast coming up in May. Item C presents the general fund, our five-year forecast revenues by comparing our estimate on the forecast to year-to-ate actuals. During the month of March, we continued to receive advances against our spring real estate collections. We received a million in real estate advances in March, which brings our total spring collection of advances to 30.5 million. Actually, um just this past Monday, we did receive the final settlement of property taxes. So, we'll be bringing that next month. Um the other major revenue received during the month of March was of course our state aid which is approximately 1.6 million per month. Item C presents the general fund, our five-year forecast. Um sorry, I just uh went back to the revenues. I mean item D presents the general fund, our five-year

112forecast expenditures by comparing our estimate on the forecast to our year-to-ate actual expenditures. You hear me say this every month, expenditures in the general fund are very stable throughout the year. And with 75% of our fiscal year complete at the end of March, we have spent 72% of our appropriations. So tracking right where we would expect to be at this point. Item E presents the activity of the general fund. Um it cash balance, the cash balance at the beginning of the year. uh July 1st, 2024 was 23.3 million. After adding the revenues received and expenditures deducted year-to date, our cash balance stands at million. The end of March is typically a higher point in our cash flow and we will spend this cash balance down by June as expenditures will exceed revenue in the next

113couple months. At March 31st, our unreserved balance stands at 35.2. two. Or to put the balances another way, um we have enough cash to operate the district for 145 days and enough of unreserved cash to operate the district for 127 days. Item F pre the first slide of item F presents the um detailed activity in our main permanent improvement special cost center for our uh permanent improvement projects. This item also tracks the financial activity of our summer projects. So as we move to the second slide, you can see the activity year to date of our uh 2024 summer projects. And as you know, the projects are pretty much complete. We're just waiting on a sign off of few things. We only have um 18,000 left in outstanding encumbrances, but of course, we won't pay that

114until um we receive a sign off that the project's complete and everything is as expected. Moving on to the third slide of item F, you will see a description of our upcoming 2025 summer projects as well as the estimated budgets and expenditures as we begin to prepare for this upcoming summer. As you can see, we have already encumbered just under 3.4 million of the 4.9 million estimated 2025 projects. Uh, summer's been here soon and John and Larry Corley and the team continues to get the contracts incumbrances and incumbrances in place for the busy summer coming up. Moving on to item G. Um, this item presents the year-todate fiscal 25 investment earnings and the prior three years of history. During the month of March, the district received 166,000 to bring our total investment earnings to 1.9

115million for our 2025 fiscal year. Um, just as a reminder, you know that board policy requires that all interest that is not required by federal required by state, federal, or local regulations to be placed elsewhere to be placed in our PI fund. And that's different from a lot of school districts. A lot of school districts put all the interest in the general fund, but um the board decided maybe over a decade ago, well before my time, that this would be a good way to save for projects. Moving on to item H. Um this presents our March 31st bank reconciliation and investments agenda items I and J detail adjustments to appropriation. Um the adjustments we have listed here uh in fund O3, our permanent improvement fund needs to be increased to cover the cost of the

116transportation routing equipment. district-wide emergency radio system and of course the uh turpent chiller project fund 451 data communication allocations are usually estimated by the state at the beginning of the year and when we get the final allocation it came in higher than the state estimated at the beginning of the year and good news in fund 499 which is used for miscellaneous state grants we have been awarded the attorney general safety grant. So, we need to cover our appropriations uh to take care of that grant. It'll be used mainly for uh security hardware on doors uh things like that. That uh concludes the reports, but just as a reminder, the cash position report detailing all funds activity is also presented in board docs. Are there any questions concerning the uh treasur reports? So Elena, just to

117clarify the five-year forecast, and I know we have said this, but the issue with five years out being able to predict that we will be getting close to deficit spending where we will again need to go back to the community to ask for a levy is because when a levy is passed, we cannot from that moment forward acquire more money from property taxes. So we are in a situation where the state is looking at reducing what we get, the property taxes are level and costs are increasing. And at some point, no matter how well we manage money, there's going to be a crossing of those lines at which we have to revisit how to increase our revenue to match expenditures. The only way that wouldn't happen is zero inflation, zero salary increases, absolutely no change,

118okay, and any sort of inflation. So, you're right, that's exactly how it happens. You need to ask for a levy and I think Larry explained it well earlier. You ask for a levy and in the beginning of the le levy you have uh buildup of cash reserves but then that growth in levies levels out and m is uh flat. The growth in revenue is flat. expenditures have a slope that goes upward with inflation and there becomes an intersection when expenditures begin to overtake revenues and that is when um it's recommended that school districts start talking about a levy and of course cash balance and how much cash balance you need to have on hand is part of that conversation and I think one of the things that as Larry said before we're very concerned about

119the 30% um cash balance balance as a percentage of expenditures for that year. Um, we don't normally get quite that high. I know you've heard me talk about my concern of cash balances um before. Only 83 school districts out of 69 school districts in the state of Ohio were actually below that first cap of 25% and we were one of them. So, we do live on a slim margin here. And one of the um benchmarks that I tout is the cash balance report that you can access on the state's website where you can pull down all the school districts in the state. You can see what percentage cash balance they have um as opposed to their expenditures and you can see where you stand against the rest of the state. And Forest Hills has been

120pretty lean on terms of our cash balance. As a matter of fact, I know Wendy, you and I were discussing Forest Hills bond rating is just a double A instead of a triple A. And that has been from what we hear from the underwriters, that's be been because in comparison to our peer group, um our cash balance has been a little bit lower. So, we don't have those reserves on hand. Now, don't get me wrong, a triple a double A rating is an excellent rating. Um, but I think that that's one of the things that we have out there and our cash balance has always been uh a little light compared to some of the others. Um so and I think that uh in talks with fellow treasurers and people at the state what I'm

121heard is that the legislators there was some misunderstanding between conversations between the school people saying that 30% was a stable a good place to be not a ceiling and I think there was some misunderstanding there so hopefully that'll get corrected. Okay. And then two more follow-up questions. 80 about 84% of our budget goes towards staff. And there's a question about staff cost, but when we look at our data, we have highly educated teachers who stay in their positions here, who want to stay within their positions. So they are highly experienced and highly educated and that is going to cost more than a firstear teacher straight out of their bachelors. So in terms of looking at the reason that our staff expenses are higher is that a fair assessment of Yes. I think when you look

122on the cup report es especially when you see average teacher salaries the way that's calculated is they take the total you pay uh teachers and they divide it by the number of teachers you have. They don't take into effect into account that every uh school district has a salary index. And if you've got more teachers in the higher levels, of course, you're going to have that higher average salary. So, I think a more uh a more appropriate benchmark to look at is really how your index and how your salary schedule compares to others rather than average teacher salaries. Okay. And this may or may not be a question for you or or someone else, but the conversation we keep having about the the reduction in students in Forest Hills, we have absolutely had a reduction

123in the number of students uh seats in seats in Forest Hills. However, we are simultaneously having an increase in students with special needs and many with more significant special needs um preschool all the way through 12th grade and continuing on. And so when we look at that differential too, again, that's not an applesto apples comparison because when you have students who require more staff to be successful and supported, we can't just automatically say a reduction in 100 students should mean a reduction in a teacher. Is that a fair assessment? That's a fair assessment. Also, when you look at enrollment, it gets a little tricky because the state has changed the way they count students over the past couple decades and especially when you look at the enrollment numbers on the five-year forecast. several years back

124um when the state implemented the fair school funding model. Prior to that, we got the money for um non-public students, it looked we had to um uh recorded as revenue and then it was recorded as an expenditure. So memo um we didn't really get the money but then those students were included in our enrollment counts. So, if you look back over 10 years ago and you're looking at the enrollment on the five-year forecast, that's something you have to take into account. So, but yeah, you're and you're totally right. The increase in mandates. And I do think that cost per pupil, if we look back at the cup reports 10 years ago, you're going to see that our cost per pupil was lower than state average then and is lower than state average now. And that

125does take into account um yes there has been decreasing enrollment but there's also been increasing mandates and there um have been differences in uh what we need to do for students. So it it just kind of you have to take all those factors into account. It's not as simple as looking enrollment was this 20 years ago and it's this. So why has it gone up so much? There's inflation, mandates, other things that you have to take into account. It's just not a one one issue answer. Okay. Thank you. I don't know if that made any sense. Did. Yes. Thank you. Can I ask a question, Elena? Uhhuh. Sure. Just to make sure being new here, I just want to make sure I understand. So, when you do the five-year forecast on the salary side and

126the expenditure side, obviously you're including in there the next two or three years increases are in accordance with the contract. Beyond that, I assume you're doing some sort of inflationary projection based upon current economic conditions and forecasted conditions. Is there anything that you do in there or is this outside the scope of the five-year review where you look at a decrease that is projected enrollment and consider possibly right sizing the FTE side of the teachers or do you keep that teacher level fairly flat and just you know if we had 114 teachers I know it's not the right number if we had 114 teachers do you assume that kind of base number and then just grow that one so it's not in your purview necessarily to rightsize the teacher face given the enrollment projections. Um,

127how that would happen is I would speak with the rest of the administrative team because it would be changing it in the five-year forecast is more like the tail tail wagging the dog. You know, I worked with the administrative team and said, "What is the need for staffing?" And talk with Rob a lot to say, um, are you planning on any reductions? What um increases are you planning on? We talk about especially turnover in teachers, you know, they're going out at a high step or turnover in administrators as well. What salary are you looking at bringing them in on? Um, we also look at the number of people uh that we have retiring. Um, so we take into account that turnover. So that's more how salaries and benefits are forecasted. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Any

128more questions on the financials? Hearing none, I respectfully request that you approve the treasures uh item 13 1 through 13.1J as part of the consent agenda that began with 9.1 through 13.1J. Is it there's a 13.2 on here, right? Uh there is a 13.2, too, but it'sformational item and I'll go over that um after we vote on the action items. There's no vote on yet. It's just a question I've been getting. So, I was Okay. Yeah. Just want to make sure we weren't skip. Can I get a motion to approve 9.1 through 13.1J? I'll make a motion to approve action items 9.1 through 13.1J as presented. I'll second. Dr. Strickler? Yes. Mr. Bell? Yes. Mrs. Jonas. Yes. Mr. Bib. Yes. Item 13.2. Miss Craropper. Now, we've talked about state funding. Now, we're going to talk

129about federal funding. Great. So, we've been getting a lot of questions in federal funding. We get a little bit over four million all funds wide. So, um I decided that um it would be best to uh present a little data on what we spend those funds on since we've been getting a lot of questions. So, as far as the federal funds receipts, we discussed those during our last finance committee on March 13th, and those documents are in board docs for your viewing pleasure or if you need help falling asleep, however you want to look at it. There's a lot of data there, but I would like to recap a couple of important things about special revenue grants in terms of revenue and grant awards. The first is that most federal grants and in particular our

130fund numbers 516 through 590 have a lifespan of 27 months. So funds can be spent extending from July 1 of the fiscal year for which the funds were awarded through September 30 of the second succeeding fiscal year. So, the lifespan includes a 15-month period of initial spending plus a 12-month period that is available for carryover. So, one grant award can be spent in pieces over three fiscal years. The second point I'd like to recap, and you guys have seen this in when I bring appropriations, a lot of times the state reallocates the funds midway. So we can see small additions or addition or deductions to federal grants as the spending period goes along. So tonight I'm going to take just a few minutes um to go over what a typical year of grant expenditures would

131fund by looking at a complete year. So by looking at 2024. So to begin with we start with um actually we have eight slides for eight federal grants and I'll try to move through them pretty quickly. The first slide that you will see in 2024 which you um which is going away is fund 507. Uh 507 was part of the funds awarded doing due to the COVID pandemic. During 24 we still had $21,75 to spend. The dollars in uh this grant were restricted to be used to support the needs of homeless children and youth. As you can see on this slide, um, a portion went to, uh, personnel benefits. Uh, we paid for the portion of a pair of professional with that. We, uh, purchased staff professional development and also supplies. We used um supply

132money to purchase transportation, gas cards, food, and school supplies for our homeless um section. Moving on to the next fund. This is one of our larger federal grant funds, funds 516. And these funds are to be spent to ensure students with disabilities ages 3 through 21 have access to a free and appropriate public education. So during fiscal year 24, we spent approximately 1.6 million out of this grant. The vast majority of it went to salaries and benefits. So almost 85% went to uh salaries and benefits. Uh for that we paid for 36 paraprofessionals throughout the district. And um throughout the district in 2024 there were 83 paraprofessionals. So 43% of all paraprofessionals in the district were paid for by fund 516. In addition uh in addition to the parapros, the district funded a parent resource

133coordinator and a district-wide scholarship coordinator out of this fund. Purchase services um amount uh amounted to 14.8% 8% of this grant. And with that, that money was spent on a contracted behavioral specialist, an instructional aid at New Path because all of these federal grants have a non-public portion to it that we must administer and contracted speech, language, and occupational therapies at IHM. A small amount of this grant was spent on instructional and curricular resources. Moving on to the next uh fund, fund 551. This was a small one. We spent $10,594 out of this funds. And these funds are restricted to be used to help English learners achieve proficiency in English and provide support to immigrant students. 23% of the 10,000 was spent as item stipens to our multi- language teachers for extra support for their

134families. 65% of this amount was spent on professional development for our staff in multilanguage areas and for the we spent 12% of the grant on supplies. So that was spent mainly in trans translation access materials and um supplies that assisted students in in developing their English speakaking skills. The next slide, fund 572. We spent $514746 out of this fund in fiscal year 24. And these funds are to be used to provide support to foster equitable access to highquality education for all children, particularly those from underserved and disadvantaged backgrounds. and also to improve educational outcomes for students in delinquent or at risk situations. In this grant, 88% of the half million was spent on five reading mediation specialists. Um those reading specialists support kids particularly in the third grade reading guarantee purchase services accounts for 10%

135and a lot of that was um spent on umus with um other school districts who uh served our students, our residents that were attending um school districts outside us the resident district. Elena, is this what we would know generally as title one funds or is that different? I mean, I know it's fund 572, but just when when we talk about getting federal title, federal title one. Okay, that's fine. I just was trying to make that connection. That does. And you know, um Josh and I have been working on a one-page thing and we did use those names on the onepage thing. So, we'll have a one-page thing with all these amounts on the website within the next day or two. Yeah. As a treasurer, I I use Yeah, I probably need to get out of

136that. Yeah. Um so their small amount uh was spent on supplies in uh this fund and of 572 and it was spent this is the fund excuse me that funds our parent literacy night um and also uh parent academy nights and also uh the supply amounts um also fund some supplies for new path. Uh fund 584 when you see that on the uh financial statements. Um in fiscal year 2024, we spent $11623 um out of this fund. And the restrictions of this fund says that we will provide students with a well-rounded education, ensure a safe and supportive environment, and help to develop social emotional skills. So in this particular one, an equal amount of 48% went to purchase services and capital outlay. um in purchase services that was used to pay for professional uh development

137uh geared towards our staff being able to provide a well-rounded education and also effective use of technology and also purchase services. This paid for mental and emotional um therapy. So our child focused therapists were paid out of this fund. Supplies made up just 4% and again just instructional and curricular resources in this fund. Is that 584? Yes. Isn't that the drug-free school grant? That is an old name. Is it? Yeah, that's an old name. We haven't gotten money for drug-free for a long time. Um you'll be pleased to know when I was up at OSBO um last week, we found out the state auditor is working on revising that manual and updating all the descriptions. So, we'll be having some new prescriptions, uh, new, um, descriptions, not subscriptions, descriptions, drug free. Okay. But, yeah, it

138hasn't, yeah, it hasn't been the drug-free grant for a long time, but it is still listed in the USS manual as drug-free. Um, that would have been nice to know that. Yeah. not not in the uh financial reports or in the financial statements but yeah old terms in the uh USS manual which will be updated. The USS manual has not had a full update since 2013 and federal grants have changed quite a bit since that time. So um moving on to uh uh fund 587. This is typically what we call the preschool grant. It uh funds uh salaries and benefits. Uh at 63% we received 35,942. Um it has one speech um pathologist just partly funded by this grant. And um the other thing consultation and professional development for preschool teachers funded out of this

139grant. And then against the supplies, instructional and curricular resources for uh the little kids for the preschoolers. Fund 590, its spending is focused on improving teacher quality, school leadership, and educator effectiveness. During fiscal year uh 24, we spent 131,156 out of this. And of course, this is all spent on professional development for improving teacher quality, school leadership, and educational effectiveness. In our school district, some of that PD was u uh centered around the cultural blueprint, AP training, ed elements, letters training, and a math coach for Nagel. Um the last uh fund on here is 599 and that technically is a miscellaneous uh federal grant. This particular So you're going to have grants in it for different reasons. During fiscal year 24, what was in that grant was the school safety grant program. So, um, of

140course, some of the things we spent were some of the things that we bought out of that grant were, of course, cameras, uh, video surveillance. Um, I'm not going to say much more about that because we did purchase some things that's integral to our safety and security that, as you know, is allowed to be kept confidential. So, we don't want to let too much of that, talk too much about that. Looking at the last slide um in here, in addition to uh the special revenue funds and the grants that you will see in there, the district does get some other funds. The general fund, the only federal revenue it receives and the only amounts you will see on the five-year forecast are Medicaid reimbursements. And during fiscal year 24, we got a little over half

141a million in um Medicaid reimbursements. So that is the only federal fund that's included within the general fund. Um and also we do get um money uh for our food service funds. Food service funds and the Medicaid uh reimbursements are the only two that are not reimbursement type grants. So, that's just money that's been awarded to us and the money is is uh sent and um it it just goes into the fund and it's not really targeted. It just goes into the fund's general population so to speak and it's doesn't really have to be restricted to a certain type of expenditure. So, um, for the school lunch program, we got a little over 1.1 million last year. And the breakfast program, um, last year we only got around, uh, 29,000. That was a significant, uh,

142decrease over prior years. We just didn't have a lot of participation. And the prior years were um, CO, we were coming out of COVID and that's um, we got a lot of money for the program then. So, that was kind of a really quick run through. I knew it had been a long night. We can talk more about grants if you want. Quick question on that. W with the current administration and obviously the the intent to try to shrink the Department of Education from a federal standpoint. Do we have any concept of potential future impacts in federal granting or is this one of those ones and I'm not making fun of the administration and I'm not advocating for it. I'm just saying or is this kind of like the tariffs where you're up one day

143you're down the next day and you really can't pinpoint where we are right now given how early we are in the process. And you know last week I'm glad you asked that. Last week I was up at the treasures conference in Columbus and that's the this is a question on everyone's mind because no one knows no one knows we we could get them all next year. We could get some of them cut. um the guy at the Department of Education do now um who is most knowledgeable in these things um said that they really have no official word from the department of education. So So I appreciate I think you said only one of those currently sits in the general fund and the other one sits or sit in other funds meaning that really not

144much of that revenue sits in the five-year forecast. Correct. If is it correct that if the Department of Education does in fact restrict or curtail federal funding then and we're going to have to re we're going to still certainly employ those people that we need to be employed to ensure a successful school district. I'm assuming at that point our general fund would show an increase in expenditures on salaries to the extent that it's no longer funded from a restricted grant and it's now sitting in the general fund. Is that accurate? that would be accurate if we continue to perform all the services and that's going to be a hard decision for the administration for the board. I just want to make sure I just want to make everybody's everybody's clear on what's going on to

145the extent they cut and it's not sitting on our general fund and we need those people or we deem we need those people that will impact our five-year forecast from expenditure standpoint. Exactly. In a negative way where we're not we're not going to reduce people because we have less funding. Yeah. And so, but you know, I'm glad you brought that up, too, because when you look at trends in the five-year forecast, it's really important to look at the assumptions because just a three, four short years ago, we had just the opposite effect. We had expenditures in salaries and benefits remaining flat while we were keeping the same people, employing the same people, giving them raises because we were getting CO funds that we could use out of 507 and 510 um to pay those people.

146So, they kind of went away from the general fund and then they come back in. So, it's it's always important to look at the assumptions and read what's in those numbers. Good question. Good question. And like I said, um Josh and I are working on the actually we have the one page done. I think we want to spend a little bit more time reviewing it, but we'll have that on the the website and we will actually use the the title name instead of the fun name. Thank you so much for your attention. Thank you. Uh, next up is the committee report 14.1, policy committee, Miss Jo. So, the policy committee met on March the 12th to discuss the Neola volume 43 um special updates. The last board meeting was the first reading of policies. This

147will be the second reading um to approve. Um, the only question I had was that 5120. Can can we pull that out or you can? Okay. Now, what I will say is that that policy coincides with with what the Ohio Department of Education workforce language is. I don't think there's a percentage on it. You can keep the old language if you prefer, but you're not um exonerated from following the recommendations of do or Ohio revised code or like I think probably some of this has to do also with maybe Brown versus the Board of Education, which is kind of a staple uh Supreme Court ruling on separate but equal um educational facilities. It was out of Topeka and it's still a standard in education today. Um I think it's just designed um my opinion um

148and I've talked with um a representative from Neiola. I think that part of that has is probably more so when it comes to when you have multiple schools, same grades, um that you're not focusing and p pushing all students of one ethnicity or one race or into one building. They just wanted you to be aware of that. They don't give us a percentage. They do see a percentage because they pull it out in the cup report. You see it, you know. So, we report ethnicity and um and those things to the state. So my guess and I don't know anybody and I've been doing it a while uh that have been pulled in on this or questioned by OD or or do I think it's a thing that if they saw some inequities going on

149uh within a district performance of a particular building and why and and the makeup of that building uh they might reach out and ask and talk to us. But as far as okay, you go here because you know for whatever reason that's that's not what that means. So Larry, are we able to just take out E? I mean, I understand the accountability from do in terms of this piece, but to have a bullet that says that potentially district assignments will be based on maintenance of racial balance amongst the district schools reeks of discrimination. when at the bottom it specifically says we shall not discriminate against students on the basis of race. If you're making that decision on the basis of race, which is how bullet E reads, then then that's contrary to the whole premise

150of what what you're standing on. So I just I would feel more comfortable with you without bullet E at all just to keep a wholesome just leave it because the old language was wholesome and educationally sound balance student populations, whatever that means. I mean that's ambiguous language. I'm not 100% you know. I emailed Mark last night. I asked him and we can do that. Mark is his answer was revisions to the policy update language to coincide with current Ohio Department of Education and workforce provisions. Revisions of this policy should be adopted to maintain accurate policies consistent with department guidance which is makes you ask more questions. I know that's I'm just I'm not comfortable with that verbiage. I it completely makes sense to me that we'd be making decisions on transportation, convenience of schools, efficiency,

151and instruction. Um, and actually, I would hope that those four alone would cover making sure all of our students are getting equal, fair educations. So, either leaving it as it was or just removing it all together would be my preferences. And just leave it as what? As it was to to leave the marked out line instead. Leave the pink version. Just leave the old version. Okay. That's fine. Just do we have to bring it to the next meeting then? No. No. It's already in there. Okay. It's already active. So, you just don't do it. You just don't update it. I think that was the only question that I really had. I mean, on 6144, you had just talked about um the interest earnings going to O3. I mean, would it benefit us at all to

152move it to general to change that policy or not at this point until the um until the legislature kind of decides what they're doing with the the cash balance cap. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We're a little in limbo right at the moment. Just every two years. And that 8452 the aed equipment. Do we already have that for every single building now or do we do? Okay. Yes. And we're obviously required to pay for that. There is no grant or any kind of funding for them. We have to have them. Okay. We have received some donations of AEDs, but regardless of whether we get them or not, um, we have to have them. Okay. Yes. Okay. So, some of them have been donated, some of them are we pay for. Okay. Um, any questions on any? Yeah,

153I I'm not I don't know if this is really a question as much as a a statement. Um, just a as an observation as a district as we think about how we move forward looking at the the parents bill of rights, which is PO 5780.01. um and and as well the um restroom, locker room, shower rooms, and changing rooms, PO74 uh21, and an acknowledgement that we have to stay within required state legislation in terms of the the policy we put in place and certainly in no way questioning that parents are the stewards of their children and should know what's happening in in our educational systems. I very very much believe that. But I do think as a district it's important that we recognize that that these are both nuanced um in terms of of what

154they are asking of us as a district. And I want to make sure that when we think about the administrative guidelines for these that we're providing very careful direction to um our teachers and to our staff in terms of how we're protecting students and taking care of of all of our students. And you know, when I look at the the parent bill of rights and that any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex, absolutely parents should be aware, but that's a very nebulous statement. And when I think about adolescence and kids playing with nicknames and playing with pronouns and you know whatever it might be as they try to figure out their own identity and self and friends and who they're going to be

155in the world. I just think we need to be very clear and concrete with teachers about when when is it a nickname and when is it a a an expectation to act in terms of reaching out to to parents in the classroom. Um and similarly with the the restrooms and locker rooms, shower rooms, changing rooms. Um you know this this implication that they will only be used by those who have uh of a certain biological sex which is male or female based on sex chromosome, naturally occurring hormones, gonads, non-ambiguous genitalia, all of these different pieces. My struggle with this for us is just an acknowledgment that human beings are complex and development even in uterero is complex and we acknowledge that there can be differences in lung functioning and heart functioning and eyes sight and

156vision and all these other areas and why we would not then expect that there could also be gender variations that would arise out of the complex human development. which I'm I'm a little unclear on. Um, and when we look for data on this, I looked to the United Nations Human Rights Office source, about 1% 1.7% of humans have variations in sexual development. And that's not psychology, that's basic biological development. And so when we think about that in the context of our schools and those 35 or so students, when we think about girls who maybe just happen to have more masculine features or boys who maybe have more feminine features, I want to make sure when we think about the concrete implications of this that we are never putting any of our students in a situation

157where they would be subjected to interrogation over their use of correct facilities because that would be that would traumatizing and that would cause the kind of psychological damage we're trying to prevent as we foster an environment in which all of our kids can learn and thrive. Um, so I just want to make sure as we think about these administrative guidelines that we're ensuring we have facilities available for all of our students, that we have protections available for all of our students so that nobody in our school system, and I mean nobody is left feeling disenfranchised or unseen or uncared for. Um, and earlier it was mentioned that part of this blueprint is everyone feels valued and respected. So just keeping at the forefront of this and not because it's easy because it's not in some

158of these nuances, but we are here for all kids and our guidelines need to reflect how we're putting all of those pieces in place to make sure this reflects what all kids need. You want a response? It's up to you. I just wanted to make sure I you know we can follow up on that. I just I just want to make sure that we're clear that it's easy to put in policy. The AGs are are more how we implement. But let me make sure and and I want you to rest assured our principles, our counselors are deeply connected with our kids. Yes. Um and we we support our children um appropriately. We pull parents in any kind of scenario or situation that you can think of. We try to really work with the parents and

159and the families. It's really not something we go out on the street and yell and tell anybody because it's it's nobody else's business. Exactly. So, I I'm very confident um and we've had that discussion with my principles, with our counselors, um our support staff, so they're very aware. Um but yes, I I I understand. And because I do believe we've been doing that, the policy feels almost unnecessary. I understand we have to have it, but when we've already been providing individualized supports to meet kids needs. Exactly. Thank you for hearing me out. Any other? So, basically, we can move forward with this and we will not approve 5120 at this time. That means the old one stays in in effect. Do we need to say anything specific when we voted? We just the 5120 remains

160unchanged when we're reading it or Yeah, just say just me make it in your motion. Make a motion to approve um all presented policies except for PO PO policy number 5120 anybody have any questions on anything? All right. I'm going to make a motion to approve the uh the policy update uh and leave policy 5120 unchanged. I'll second. Mr. Bib, yes. Mrs. Jonas, yes. Mr. Bell, yes. Dr. Strickler, yes. We have item 14.2, resolution to adopt a special to stop adopt special education policies and procedures presented by Miss Ryan. I believe it's Dr. Ryan at this time. Sorry. Newly minted. Nice. Congratulations. Thank you. All right. Last one. Um uh this evening uh we have um a resolution for you to adopt the model policies and procedures. I provided a little bit of information to

161you. Um but back in December, the DU um released updated special education model policies and procedures. These were last revised in in 2014. Uh they are referred to as the operating standards for children with disabilities. um educational agencies now are well they have been required to provide written assurances that um we adopt these policies and procedures and we are required to adopt these by May 30th of 2025. This is an extension from March um because of the four redactions that I'll I'll talk about in a minute. Um, so we are required to follow federal and state laws pertaining to children with disabilities and then beginning in the 2526 school year, this is a little bit different. Um, we must adopt them annually every year by November 30th. Um, so these new policies and procedures are

162have been included in the first and second readings as you know under policy 2460 is updated. Um I have um attached in the um agenda kind of a condensed I it's it's a nice version of the model uh model policies and procedures. There are different versions has the cover um and inside that cover is the resolution um which obviously includes uh that um information on the asurances um and uh the four areas that we um must adopt or we I'm recommending we adopt um because they conflict with the federal federal and state guidelines. Um so for example um the first follows um the destruction of educational records. Um we follow our our procedures for destroying public records, independent educational evaluations, extended schoolyear services and services um that uh talk about providing during short-term removals for

163a for a discipline event. Um again, these were recommended to be removed because they do conflict with state and federal guidelines. Um and so that specific language it's been recommended that we remove. Um the uh changes are fairly insignificant in terms of there's a great deal of definition, clarification of language. Um for example, instead of a um instead of the public school agency, we're referred to as the educational agency. So various kinds of um redacted language or changes to that um changes in titles or um eligibility categories for students with disabilities. Those c some categories have changed. They've added developmental disability as a specific category. Um they've changed some of the um um uh IEP information in terms of making sure that agencies report out on transition activities. This is also inclusive of educational service

164centers and other a educational agencies that do support and serve students with disabilities. So there are many layers to this. A lot of um um um areas under IDEIDA and the operating standards. Um I'd be happy to sit down with anyone to talk through any questions that you may have in terms of how we adhere to those policies. Um but um again this is more for assuring that we're going to follow them and continue to follow them and um they must be submitted by May uh 30th. Any questions? I can't imagine what the questions you know I've got a question. So uh just to clarify removing the the four sentences that doesn't put us out of compliance. I does not. Okay. And I understand why we would suggesting that we don't have we can't provide

165any kind of condition or timeline for an independent evaluation would mean someone could run off to the Bahamas for their independent evaluation. That's correct. Right. Okay. Yes. I don't think our budget likes or was that with Chloe? No. Looks good. Any other questions? Can you get a motion to approve the resolution to adopt the special education model policy and procedures? I'll make the motion to approve the resolution to adopt the special education policies and procedures. I'll second. Mr. Bell? Yes. Dr. Strickler? Yes. Mrs. Jonas? Yes. Mr. Bib? Yes. Item 151, board discussion. Anybody have anything? I got a couple things and I promise I'll keep it really short because I know it's late. Um, I want to thank everybody um in our community who put their name in the hat to for the the appointed

166position. Um, there were some in many many many incredible people out there and I just feel blessed to know we're in a community that would come together at a moment like that to help make sure that we are able to efficiently and effectively continue to support our schools. And with that, welcome Mark and thank you because I'm excited to have your expertise at the table. So close. So, um, reminder, the Forest Hills 5K is May 10th, and I'm going to condense my shoutouts by just reminding us that we have amazing focus on academics in this district, whether that was the Anderson Achievers pep rally this past week or u Mercer holding a reading challenge that led to the fifth grade winning with 43,776 minutes of March Madness reading happening in their home rooms. um whether

167it's based on our um social communication and behavioral supports for students um through Ayers's March Madness behavior booster that involved um taking on staff and uh teachers during basketball um basketball games turn in uh PBIS tickets to be able to play basketball and that was such a success it's continued whether that's through Sherwood and the service learning you heard about um and then also just the arts and um this past month at Summit There were three fifth grade students who made the OMA Allstate Children's Choir. They um Nala Chapman, Angie Grubby, and Kate Wzooski headed to Cleveland um under the amazing coaching of their music teacher Stacy Moyer and had that amazing experience. So whether you're looking at the arts, the academics, or the social supports were providing, we have a thriving community, and I'm

168very grateful for that. Awesome. All right, I might as well say hi to everybody. I'd like to begin by reading Homer's Iliad. Oh. Oh, Real quick, I said I I I appreciate the the appointment to the board. Um, just so everybody knows kind of where I'm coming from on this, my expertise lies almost strictly in the financial area. Um, I I'm not going to have a ton to say about whether or not perks of re being a wallflower should be in the curriculum or not. I'll certainly try to educate myself on certain things, but I tend to leave my opinions on that to the experts, which I'm certainly not. Um, as far as financially going forward over these next eight months, um, I mean, really, I'm I'm with a lot of you. Like, I I

169don't want to see a levy at any point in the next three or four years. We just had a big levy, right? I would like to see what can we do to make this district more efficient and while keeping it at least as effective it is right now. Having said that, I want to make sure we do it in an ethical manner that, you know, meets the standards that we expect from our students. So, that is really my goal. I've already asked Atlanta for a bunch of data uh because I'd really like to take a look at as we do have a declining enrollment. Uh certainly, this isn't like, you know, a manufacturing environment where if you decrease production by 10%, you expect a reduction in materials of 10%. It's not that simple. Uh it's

170certainly far more complex than that, but certainly I think it's something that we need to look at and try to maximize the efficiencies that we have. Uh certainly again trying to maintains those standards of effectiveness and excellence that we have within this community. I'd also like to thank everybody for the emails that I have received over these last three weeks letting me know your opinions on certain matters within the district. And you may think I'm saying that flippantly, but I am not. Uh it's very exciting to me to know so many people are interested in what's going on and so many people are so passionate about what's going on. Uh please know that when you send me an email, you would generally not receive a response. My responses will all be in a public forum

171for all people to read, not just one particular constituent. Uh when you send me those things, I want you to know one thing about me. I am a completely fact-based person. Everything I will do is based on facts that I read and facts that I see. If you do not present something that is factual, I am going to ignore you. Please do not tell me that the current treasurer is responsible for the movement of the buses over to the new town side. She was not here then. So that's just one example. There are many examples like that. So please, if you're going to send me an email, check your facts because I'm going to check them. Thank you. Right. So on that note, I mean obviously a business advisory committee, I mean I've been trying

172to get that, you know, since 22, but is there some way if you don't guys don't want to do a business advisory, some kind of community committee that we can actually talk about some of the issues like you said with what's going on with declining in enrollment and facilities and all of that. I mean, I know it's a scary topic for everybody and I'm just saying to talk about it so we can present, I don't know, scenarios or what would it look like if we redistrict? What it what would look like if we grade banded buildings? I mean, it would just be nice to be able to talk about it. Um, and I don't know what that process would look like or what we would have to do. I mean, what do you guys think?

173You can't redistrict again until 2030. What's that? You can't redistrict until 2030. Oh, yeah. Has to be I read that one policies or zero. The policy that I just Yeah. Yeah. It's saying it was talking about it years. We had to do it in January 25 or January 30. Yeah. Okay. I'm with you. I read it, too. Um, however, I agree. We need to be having discussions. I I absolutely agree. I like that idea. Yeah. So, could it be like a committee with maybe like is it a board committee where there's like two members or I I I don't know what the different scenarios could be, but you can Okay. Um well, why don't we work on that a little bit and see what Okay. some ideas might be. Um certainly shoot them to me

174if you got some some thoughts on what that might look like. What I don't want to see is a freeforall. No, no, no. I see that as being just nonproductive. Correct. You know, based on who can yell the loudest, that doesn't mean that's majority of people. Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. Choose to to have. So whether it's maybe the ability to do some some levels of surveying our own our own people, you know, um Which reminds me, we need to do that anyway. I think needs to have one just kind of parent feedback. How you think it's going? How do you think the building's responding, etc. Just want you to be aware that we're going to have something like that. It'll be very simple if it's us doing it. Okay. So, um, but I think I think

175there are some options to do it. I don't know. You know, the problem you get right now is is like I said, You want to be able to get it honestly, honest opinions, you know, and listen to people, which is sometimes a challenge, but no, I I think that's fine. Well, also surveys from the community, but also for us as board members, like what are the options that we have in front of us instead of, you know, the constant levies or what else could we be looking at? I think that would be great. Um, and with with the different vouchers that you know and we see a lot of the transportation coming through, is there a reason why maybe that our high schools aren't doing open houses? Do you think that would be something that

176could maybe be favorable? I mean, are we losing out on kids because we don't have anything like that? Open house. open house where like an incoming eighth grader if they're choosing what schools they they want to go to, you know, maybe they could come look at Anderson, maybe they're looking at McNick. Anybody that that expresses that interest, we take care of that. But we don't have just an open generalized open house. You're talking doing something like Mhler X or somebody like that. Every year they have open houses. Right. I I've just heard a couple of kids be I and I don't know really the background of a lot of it, but because we didn't have an open house, they've gone somewhere else, I guess. And I just don't know. I mean, maybe that could be

177beneficial for us to have open houses. I mean, it's the environment's becoming a little bit more competitive. So, I just thought that was an idea. Yeah. And it's Remember, we're not an open enrollment district either, right? So, who are we? they would have to move here, right? And if that's the case, no, we can always how many we would have here. We can look at that. I mean, we can talk to our principles. Yeah. Okay. On on that note, do we ever do exit interviews of parents of eighth graders when they choose to go to a private school rather than continue at Turpin or Anderson as to the reasons why? I don't think we do. just one of those like like I mean there may be very good there may be religious reasons there may

178be very good reasons but what what I'd hate to see if we did something like that would be to see something where like well the educational opportunities are better here like that like that's those to me are red flags that you don't want to see I don't care if somebody's like you know I I'm going to play football at X I'm like oh okay you know fine I I get that you're trying to go D1 and all that good stuff great good for you but like I what I I just I didn't know if something like that would benefit us from the standpoint of like seeing why is if that's one of the reasons why enrollment is declining because some of those students are choosing private schools as they get to the high school. If

179there are reasons in there that we can somehow either prevent or be better at I don't know like I said I'm new and I'm educationally naive. So we're always looking we always would look at that. Um, one of the things that's that came out here, was it a year, two years ago when they switched the the way they were passing the funds, you know, to follow kids and all of a sudden, you know, the inquir says, "My god, you look how you've lost, you know, all this money or all these students." And I'm going, "No, we didn't lose anybody. They're just collecting." They were always at McNick or always at Mhler and they're now getting a voucher. So, it's like hungry. Come on. We didn't lose anybody. So, so that was one of the things

180that came out in the news, which was totally wrong, but I don't think they printed a retraction or it might have been on the last page, of course, fine print. Yeah. But I just I don't think information we can get from the kids and the more like information is not going to hurt us to allow us to make a more educated decision. Well, one of the things that I'm doing right now, too, is we're looking at, you know, maybe contracting with I didn't forget a company to um look at some enrollment projections, you know, that are a little more scientific, accurate. Um the fact is people are not having as many kids. What gap and we are aging. This is a destination district. People just don't take off and leave this. People like it here.

181So yeah, I think there is some slight movement. I think one of the things we look at and Rob does really a good job with this is we talk constantly about what are what's our enrollment within the district within the individual classes. Mhm. Um, and you heard him, I don't know if you caught it when he talked about a reduction. There was some reductions there because the students weren't going into those classes. And there's a point where you got to say, listen, we're not running that section. It's no different than, right, at Mount St. Joe or or UC, you're going to have to have so many students elect to go into that class. So, uh, we we watch that pretty closely. And I think you see in the especially in the human resources committee meeting,

182we go over that and we show every class that we have and where where the numbers are falling. And we look at that all the time. We've been robbing a little bit of that as some of those numbers dropped. We reduced regular ed. We've added some uh special ed teachers. and you hit it on on the on the head. We're getting more kids. More kids are being identified and special needs as well as the severity um just is is more and it takes more bodies, you know, and people and resources for that. So, there's a couple of pieces to that, you know, but yeah, I think it's still the vouchers on the table is the the other elephant in the room. the amount that's being paid out to families to choose private school at this

183point. Sure, in many circumstances is more than we're getting for our public school students. So, that that is a factor. But I love the idea of an exit interview because I think that would help us gather good information or whatever that looks like in format. And lastly, I just like to say the board information updates. I appreciate all the um legal or legislative information that's in there. That's been really helpful. So, thank you. Well, I find it interesting. Some people like, "Oh my god, it's like watching paint dry, but it's kind of interesting. It's really fun to watch it." So, we got to vote on what Wendy has. Yep. I can talk fast. So, um I believe it was in one of the special meetings last month. We had brought forth I had brought forth

184a um first a resolution on behalf of the Forest Hills School Board to support the fair school funding plan. So, I am not going to reiterate everything that has been said here tonight. I would hope perhaps if when these are if and when these are approved, we could put them on the website as well as as other examples, but um a resolution that says as a school board, we support fair school funding using that fair school funding plan fully funded with the guarantee without the 30% crap. all of the pieces that have been mentioned here tonight in terms of making sure that we are um advocating on behalf of all public school students as well as in particular the students within our district. So I did send this out to the board information only. Any

185questions? Did legal review it at all? Did you have legal? Uh no, there have been other legal groups involved in putting forth the templates for it. Where were the templates from? Um, honesty for Ohio, Ohio policy matters. Uh, I'm trying to think if I saw something from OSBA. There were several out at one point had a similar one. So, I pulled together all of the ones. Was that your final version? Because there was some like spacing and I don't know, just like Yeah. No, I can fix the space. It's in a Google doc, right? So, it's a little bit messy. So, no, I'm happy to um clean make sure it gets cleaned up or clean up. When I spoke to Senator Blessing, I asked him what we can do to and he said he's asking

186his districts to pass a resolution like this. So, it gives him some weight when he goes into committee. Yeah. This facing issue is because we took the PDF from the original one from the governor's budget and put it back into Google so that we could Yes. So that we could revise it now that we knew what the house had proposed. So, it it did get a little wonky. I agree. So, but in terms of content, knowing we can clean up the spacing issues, um I would um put forth a motion to approve the the resolution uh on behalf of the Forest Hills School Board. I'll second. Dr. Strickler, yes. Mr. Bib, yes. Mr. Bell, yes. Mrs. Jonas, no. And then secondly and similarly specifically um had written testimony that we had also discussed previously. same

187situation. We had previously passed the testimony that went to the House Finance Committee and House Education Committee um on behalf of Forest Hills speaking to the need for um equitable adequate state funding, fair and adequate state funding um beyond what we're currently being provided and tried to provide some um narrative information on behalf of Forest Hills in terms of the support we do get from the community, but the understanding that enough is enough in terms of the um lack of support that is currently coming from the state. And so again, took this back after the House uh passed its budget and um changed very little in it other than to acknowledge the 30% cap on uh cash balance that was a problem. And so everything I sent in red were the the changes to that.

188So um questions about the testimony? I mean, I do like Larry, your your um statements and everything. You identify the problem, but then you provide solutions, which which I really appreciate. I I'm the testimony. I mean, it's just my opinion. I just find it very unprofessional the way that it was written. Kind of rude. Um and I just I just don't want my name on it. Just to let you know. Okay. Um it is definitely straightforward. It's definitely direct. It does provide for um solutions that we need in terms of the the recommendations that we would hope for in terms of um the model not be funded with 2022 inputs but be updated with more recent inputs. Um fully fund the guarantee, not include the cap 30% cash balance cap. Um and just kind of

189trying to help them understand what this looks like from from our perspective. So what's the advantage of sending this one in addition to that one? Um so the resolution serves as a full board. The testimony goes in terms of more of a narrative um statement around where we're at, but they go to the same groups and part of it is just putting forth the information. Testimony you could also go speak. So one of us could make the decision if it were to work in schedule to go. Um I have tried on occasion it's usually Wednesday at you know 10 a.m. I teach at 11. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure you Um, so it does provide the opportunity to be able to actually speak to them. But if you're unable to do that, they accept written testimony

190as another format just to have had the opportunity to speak outside of the legally resolution just in terms of the the experience of the district around the state funding and what we need. So, um, it's just a different voice in some ways. Any other questions? So, I would make a motion to approve testimony for Ohio senators on behalf of the Forest Hill School District Board of Education. I'll second. Dr. Strickler? Yes. Mr. Bib? Yes. Mr. Bell? Yes. Mrs. Jonas? No. All right. Thank you. I think that's it. Chapter two of the All right. Our next schedule board meeting will be uh May 21st, 2025 here at 6:30. May I get a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Second. Everybody. Mr. Bib. Yes. Mr. Bell. Yes. Dr. Strickler. Yes. Thank you.