001remaining for the board of education. Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its one nationice for all you want to take the role please. Mr. Mr. Gordon >> here. >> Mr. Kwood >> here. >> Mr. Rafy >> here. >> Mrs. Zipold >> here. >> Mr. West >> here. >> Okay. Any communications? >> Uh yeah, it's that time of year. We just got to have a lot of things going on around the district. Um first off, a congratulations to Oak Hills High School. Oak Hills High School was recently named an AP honoral school and uh some of the factors that go into them being named an AP honoral school. Uh last year's class, they had over 50% of their seniors take
002an AP course and they had 39% of that senior class that received a three or above on at least one exam. And so uh they were recognized as an honoral school and so congratulations to Oak Hills High School. Um updates on our our building project. We are currently working with staff members throughout the district on a program of requirements and that is basically looking at the square footage that we are allotted for our buildings and then ultimately deciding how many classrooms we need, how big are your cafeterias, your gym space, all those things. And so our team will finalize some of that work tomorrow and then ultimately that'll go back to the architects and the architects will begin designing some of the schools. And so we'll continue to report back to the board on on
003uh any updates that we have with that project. And then uh just some events going on in the district coming up here. Uh we have the one hope one heart fundraiser at Oak Hills High School which will take place on March 13th. That is at 6:00. Great fundraiser for the community every year. Um, kindergarten registration has started and all of our kindergartens will have open houses the week of March 23rd and then, uh, believe it or not, spring break is March 30th, the week of March 30th and we are almost there, almost through the third quarter. So, um, a lot going on in the springtime and we'll continue to update the board in the community. So, one item, another community event, the main event, uh, Oakills Athletic Boosters is April 18th at Oakills High School.
004Uh, so more information at oakillsports.com. So, thanks to the boosters as well as the athletic department for their efforts in the uh, main event coming up here in April. >> All thank you. I have a motion to adopt the agenda. >> So, move. >> Second. Okay. >> Mr. Kler. Yes, Mr. Rafy. >> Yes, Mr. >> Zel. >> Yes, >> Mr. Le. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Superintendent report. >> Yeah, it's privilege to we'll introduce Mr. Adam Taylor, principal here at Bridgetown Middle School and Adam, I think, has an update on our advisory program that is uh we are using across all three middle schools, but we've brought back and we've used versions of that in the past. So, Adam, you the floor >> and Mr. Krueger or your first first time at
005Red. Um, so we'll get started. Matt and I will kind of tag team through this packet, the the red packet you have in front of you. The first one you've seen before and I may I may use this as long as I possibly can and remind everybody what a great school Bridgetown is. Um it goes through the achievement scores from last year, the progress component, um our gifted status, and then some of our goals. So, um you've seen that all before, but we wanted you to see it again. Is there any questions on that part? All right. And I'll turn it over to Matt. He's This is the plan. How we get there? How do we get to those scores? So, he's going to outline some of those. >> Yeah. So the second handout it
006says BMS DIP strategic summary is just highlighting what our fifth team which is the lens for building implementation team is working on. So we have two goals. One is around literacy, one is around attendance and really the team just works to look at those two goals, look at the data and respond to that around those things. So some of the things we've done around literacy um we've strengthened the assessment. It's aligned to the state tests around attendance. We've done a lot of like competitions and rewarded kids for being here. So, um, right now we're trending in the right direction and we'll continue to respond to that video. >> And then as attendance has been, you know, kind of the the hard work, some of the hard work um across the country really. Um, the next
007uh page in there kind of shows you what our our starting point was um where we were last year at 19.9%. Our goal this year was 17% chronic absenteeism. Uh we started off great, then winter hit. Um and then as you can see by that line graph, we hope that as we get into the spring and a testing season, our attendance starts to bounce back a little bit. So that'll give you that that view. And the next thing out is about our advisory program which we brought back um this year. We've seen a lot of positives come out of advisory and really the goal of advisory is just to strengthen relationship between peers and teacher relationships with students. So you can see we have a focus each day of the week. Monday is SEAL and
008attendance. Tuesday is ELE and Wednesday math. Thursday science and then Friday all of our students send home grade checks to their parents as well as attendance. So um advisory is really going well. will continue to kind of monitor and seek feedback from our stakeholders and then just make improvements. So that's advisory. And then last but not least, this is your official invitation to the Little Mermaid this weekend if you are so inclined. The kids would love to see you there and they put on usually a pretty great show. So So that's it. Thank you, >> Matt. I was curious. Did you get any feedback from parents about the grade check emails that go out? >> I think we positive feedback just because sometimes they're like, we don't really check our students grades a whole lot
009and that way they they have something regular every Friday that they know how their students are doing. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> There's fun back and forth between parents and kids because, you know, they say things like, "Hey, mom." You know, and they It's kind of fun to see the conversations back and forth. It's very heartwarming >> and parents will email back their their child and say, "Great job," or, "Wait till you get home." >> One or the other. >> Sometimes they'll loop the teacher in if if there's if it's that kind of a conversation because they copy the teacher, too. So, parent will chime in and be like, "Mrs. Visal, what do you think we can do?" And so it's it's kind of a nice indirect sort of instant support conversation if it needs to
010happen too and the kids initiating it so that that's you know supports resilience and independence and that sort of thing too. >> Yeah. I think it's great because if they are struggling a little bit, they can get in action earlier, >> right? >> Um especially if the parents aren't checking it regularly, >> right? >> Whatever you got to do, just keep whatever you're doing, keep doing the same thing. >> The scores are fantastic. >> Thank you. >> All I can say is our teachers work really hard to to make that happen. And it's everything from wiping noses to putting our arm around them when they think the world's coming to an end to sit down and get to work. So, takes a full the full gamut. >> All right. >> Thank you guys. >> Great
011job, guys. >> Treasures report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh I have three items to share with the board and the community this evening. Uh first item in your packet will be the January financial report. Look behind that golden rod sheet. You'll find the financials for January month of January. Everybody's there. Good. Okay. Um January 2026 total revenue general fund 4.3 million total expenditures 11.5 million. If you return to the back side with the graph our ending cash balance for the general fund was 22.6 million. Uh we did receive a tax advance in the general fund tax advance of 1.8 million as well as casino revenue of 250,000. Just to remind the board of the community, casino revenue comes twice a year. Uh it's about $500,000 annually. U we receive that 250 here in January.
012We'll receive the other half typically around August. About another 250. Um just as far as dollars and cents. Obviously, it's a lot of money, less than a half% of our overall budget. So it's nothing, you know, we appreciate funding from the casino revenue, but it's not material to any commercials you hear or anything like that. So, um that's as far as our general funds. our permanent improvement funds. Uh total revenue received 367,000 total expenses 230,000 and our ending cash balance in our permanent improvement fund was 2.4 million. We received a tax advance and that uh in the permanent improvement fund as well that made up that 367,000 that I had mentioned. If there's no questions on the financials, I'll move to item two of three. Okay. Uh item 20 of three is really just an
013announcement communication piece uh that uh we will be starting negotiations uh with both OEA our certified union as well as uh Oopsy uh our classified union. So those negotiations will begin here in March uh and they'll continue into April and so I know there's border representation and we appreciate you know certainly partnership with both OA and Oopsy. Uh and really I think it's important just to communicate that um this will be the first negotiation in the last three years. So the last negotiated agreement settled upon for a three-year agreement uh and then we will enter discussions here coming up in mid-March. So I'll keep the board and the community up to speed as uh as that process evolves. Uh the final item this evening uh and Mr. back and hop alluded to some of the
014actions regarding the bond issue and I think it's important just to kind of give an update on where things are with the bond issue as we do each meeting. Uh but a number of things have happened uh positive things and so uh as you know back on November 4th our community passed the bond issue by uh right around 67% which is the largest percentage of any levy in our district's history um in our 70-year history. We've never exceeded anything anywhere close to 60 67%. So really appreciate the support of the community. Um since that time, uh you know, I've heard someone say before, uh it's our responsibility to glide on the water but underneath your pedaling like crazy. And so there's been a lot going on behind the scenes. And I know I've had two
015community members, um one from the foundation, and then another coach actually approached me and just said, "Hey, you know, Steve, where where are we with this? Are shovels going in the ground?" uh is going to be a process. But uh with that, a number of things have happened since November. Um as publicly approved by the board of education, we approved an architect, SHP. Uh and that happened just a month or so ago. Um and then we're in the process of um potentially forming a partnership with a construction manager. And so that was also on the agenda here uh last month as well. So an architect, construction manager. And then as far as the financials, what does that look like? So here within the last month um we've had a number of things occur again all
016positive um similar to your credit rating uh school districts get what are called bond ratings and a bond rating is very similar to your credit rating in the case of school districts it's on a propo for a school A through F it's a double A is the highest rating you can get and it goes down from there uh essentially Oak Hills is rated as a double A2 And so for those financial analysts, what does a double A2 rating mean? Essentially on an A through F scale, uh it's an A to an A minus. And there was a lot of work uh months went into that to secure that rating. So the last time we had that rating was based on our last bond issue. As we all know, times have changed. Our financial position has
017changed. Uh we had to convince, I say we, Mr. Becken was instrumental in this. We had to convince our borrowers, right? our investors in our bonds that we have a stable economic base in our community uh and essentially Moody's who's the rating industry kept us at that level. That's a big win uh for our district and I'll tell you why here in a second. Uh so that was the bond rating call um that we went through here in the last month. Uh other financial pieces with regards to the bond issue is our bond issue pricing. So from a homeowner perspective, this is your mortgage. Okay, what's your rate? so on and so forth. So, as far as our mortgage uh as was alluded uh and included in black and white on the ballot, it was
018a 37-year bond issue. So, that 37-year bond issue uh has terms and again we had a high interest from investors which helps drive down the interest rate. So, um the bond rating helped that uh and essentially we secured a 4.85% interest rate. So, a 4.85% 85% interest rate uh is is outstanding. Uh and it is it's on quue with other school districts in the state of Ohio. So in Tangi, Columbus, um in Oakwood, uh those were three school districts that recently had to borrow as well. And so from a homeowner perspective, I think you know rates are a little bit higher than that right now. So we were thrilled to 4.85% interest rate. You have the schedule. The board has a schedule. So that'll be paid semiannually over the next 37 years. Um also uh
019really important as well is in 1997 we passed an issue that was about 28 years. Okay, for that issue that we passed. Well, just like you as a homeowner, interest rates change and you refinance your mortgage. Okay, so what's really positive about this 4.85% 85% in the agreement that we secured is that we have the opportunity as a school district they're call they're referred to as what's referred to as cullable bonds. So what is a callable callable bond mean? A cullable bond simply means that you have the ability as a school district if interest rates drop to refinance. Okay. And we did that in 2015 from our 1997 issue which saved our school district about $5 million and we talked about that at the time. So really thrilled and pleased with the way the whole
020process went. Um and again in 8 years, you know, hopefully rates go down and if they do at that time, we'll do what we did in 2015. We'll take advantage of lower interest rates. But um that's certainly great news for for our school and our community. Um and then the final piece uh is the OFCC uh with regards to air conditioning. Uh unfortunately OFCC had to cancel a meeting in February. As you know, air conditioning is high school air conditioning is part of obviously the building our future project and that air conditioning project is is largely contingent upon the state of Ohio. So, we want to secure dollars from the state of Ohio not only for a new Bridgesttown Middle School Mr. Taylor here um for for you know phase two of that project but
021also we want to secure dollars for high school air conditioning uh which will be part of phase one uh here coming up um in the next year year and a half to two years. So, um, everything is in motion, everything is in play. Uh, SHP, our architect, things are going to take time. It's going to take time to design the building. Mr. Becknot mentioned the program requirements. Things are going to take some time, but just know that our district is working hard, working diligently and moving forward, and we'll continue to communicate uh to our community through some sort of newsletter. I know Mr. Frank is going to work on that later in the spring uh just to hit some benchmarks and some key pieces that are being talked about. I think with that uh that
022is it as far as I have and support any questions. Okay. Thanks Steve. We have any director reports? >> No director reports tonight. Okay. And we did not have any constituent sign. Correct. Any old business? No business. Okay. Let's get to new business. Treasures recommendations. Steve. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Item number one, the minutes. I recommend that the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 2nd and development session of February 23rd as attached. Move >> second. >> Okay. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Eyel. >> Yes. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Item number two. I recommend that the board of education approve the January financial statement as submitted. >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay. Steve. >> Mrs. Ibold. >> Yes.
023>> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Mr. Oran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pler. >> Yes. >> Mr. P. >> Yes. >> Item number three. I recommend that the board of education approve the following donations from Western Hills Country Club, Guanas Club, Me Foundation, Charity, Charity Fund of Western Hills, Shivia Lodge, The Help Squad, Morgan Stanley, JF Bellis PTA, Rapid Run PTA, Doug and Lisa Eyebold, Oak Hills High School PTA, Oakdale PTA, Seal Harrison PTA, the Obero Foundation as submitted. >> So moved. Second. >> Okay. Steve. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ay. >> Yes. Mrs. >> Steain. >> Item number four. I recommend that the board of education approve the following appropriation adjustments as submitted. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Orban. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cruer. >> Yes. >>
024Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Eyold. >> Yes. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Dan, superintendent's recommendations. >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Item number one, I recommend that the board approve the resolution for the Ohio High School Athletic Association membership as attached. And this is for the 2627 school year. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, Steve. >> Mr. Krueler. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ay, >> yes. >> Mr. Eyel, >> yes. >> Mr. West, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. Item number two, I recommend that the board approve the following Oakill's local school district student trips as attached. >> So move. >> Second. >> Got it. >> Steve. >> Mr. Ay. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. K. >> Yes. >>
025I did before we move on to item number three, I did want to give a congratulations as well to our girls bowling team who's listed on here. They qualify for the state and they will bowl next Saturday. Mr. Connor, is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> So, congratulations to them and that's why sometimes these come after the fact. They qualify and we don't always know where they're going, but a congratulations to that team that's they're going to they're going to compete next week in the state tournament. So, >> just real quick, my be visiting my kids in Columbus and we plan on going. >> I already found out where the bowling alley is at and I'll have the kids decked out, so we'll be ready. That's awesome. Plenty of no noise, of course. All right.
026And uh item number three, I recommend that the board approve the following personnel actions A through K as submitted. So move second. >> Mrs. I >> Yes. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Mr. By >> Yes. >> Mr. Curler. >> Yes. >> Mr. Or >> yes. >> Okay. And then we had no constituents sign up address the board and we have a board discussion um topic for March board development topics. So currently on our end what we have and then you then ultimately if you want us to add anything else we currently have planned to um Mr. Connor is going to present on high school clubs um all the opportunities that kids have at the high school and then also sports participation um as part of the clubs as well. And then uh the second
027part of the board development in March will be for there are career component and of the career opportunities that are currently um being led by Kristen Listister at Oakills High School. She's doing an unbelievable job. And so Kristen's going to come over and present on some of the things that are going on with pre-apprenticeship programs and different opportunities for kids. So if there's anything else that you guys want to discuss to add to that. I mean I'd kind of like talk about some of the PI projects we're going to need to make some decisions on. Yep. We're going to be what we're going to be looking at from a PI standpoint for the next few years. That's a good one. Any other thoughts? Okay. Um, were there any other topics that you guys had you
028wanted to talk about today? Okay. So, um, could I have a motion to go into executive session for the consideration of the purchase of property or the sale of property if premature disclosure of information would give an unfair competitive bargaining advantage to a person whose private interest is adverse to the general public interest. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay, Steve. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, thank you for coming. We all be coming back soon.