Sycamore Schools Board Meeting March 11, 2026

001Thank you for that great introduction. And we're going to call this meeting to order. Mr. Burson, can you please read the role? Uh, Mr. Balot >> here. Mrs. Bther >> here. >> Mr. Gosnell >> here. >> Dr. James >> here. >> Mr. Harris >> here. Uh, if everyone could please stand and face the flag. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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 and justice for all. All right. Before we start our meeting, I'd like to begin with our mission and our vision. Um, our mission statement is to create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive and innovative learning opportunities for the whole child. And our vision is to empower

002learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. All right. And if you're watching on TV, you can see these fabulous young people here. They're going to start in a minute. I'm going to get through some things real quick because that's probably the best part of the show here today. So, um, all right. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. And thank you, Mr. Balant, for your second. Mr. Burson, could you please call the RO? >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Mount, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Uh, could I have a motion uh to approve the minutes from um approve the minutes

003from our last meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Mr. Person, >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Dr. Mr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Balance. >> I, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I, >> Mr. Harris. >> I, and then can I have a motion to approve the approval of minutes from our um, March 10th special board meeting? So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balant, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder. For your second, Mr. Buren, Mr. Balant. >> I, >> Mrs. Bidder. >> I, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I, >> Dr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> Hi. And now the moment everybody's been waiting for. Um, we have Mr. Lewis. You want Do you want to introduce? You want

004me to? I'm actually going to ask Dr. Santangelo if she doesn't mind just grabbing a microphone and introducing our great group and talking to us about what we're going to hear tonight. >> Absolutely. Well, it is March, which is music in our schools month. And so we wanted to share about 5 minutes of music, just some of the wonderful music that goes on in our entire community. We start all the way in kindergarten and of course then our instruments and choir start in fifth grade and carry all the way through the high school. So what you're going to see tonight are five of our top musicians. And u many of these students, three of these students made it to all state orchestra this year and they all made it to regional orchestra. And they've also

005been members of and are currently members of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, which is a a premier establishment that is a competitive audition for um our Cincinnati area. So, it is, I think, something to be celebrated that Sycamore actually has the highest percentage of string students in the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras of any school, which is a a recommendation to just another reason to recommend all of the wonderful fine arts that Sycamore uh has throughout all of our K through 12. So, we're here to celebrate that for five minutes. Um, so our students will be performing from from the De'vorjac G Major Quintet. Thank you. They're going to perform the second movement. So we do hope that you enjoy these few minutes of music. Thank you for having us. >> And students, before you start,

006we're going to move so we can actually see you playing instead of being at your backs. Wow. and I know you have your hands full. So, I'm going to pass you a microphone if you can handle it with your instruments safely because I uh Dr. Santangelo, I heard a another staff member at Pancake Day telling some kid, "Carry it safely. Carry it safely." So, he learned a lot about carrying it by the neck. Uh, I think he was in fifth grade. So, we'll give him a little break on that. But if you guys don't mind introducing yourselves and then just what's your favorite experience as part of, you know, whether it's being an all-state orchestra member, being part of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, like just tell us something about your experience that you enjoy.

007>> Hello, my name is Anna Christos. I'm a senior at Sycamore High School. Um, I would say one of my favorite experiences that I've had is actually been very recently. It was the sidebyside concert that we hosted with the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra as well as with the Cincinnati Symphony um youth or Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Um and that's an experience that we have every year, but it's really very special because we get to learn from actual professional musicians and work with them personally. Um so it's always a super cool experience cuz you just always learn so much um and just experience such amazing playing. So, it's a great experience. >> Hi, I'm Paul Crew. I'm a senior at Sycamore High School. And I would say my favorite memories also tie in with the CSIO and

008the sidebyside concert, but also just like during the rehearsals when we're surrounded by people who enjoy music just as we do and people who are passionate about our instruments like as much as us. So like to build that passion and that energy is very exciting every week. >> Uh hello, I'm Matteo. I'm a junior at Sycamore. Um, uh, one experience that I really loved was, um, All State, uh, where I had the opportunity to play with, uh, highle musicians from all around the state of Ohio. Um, and it's about two or three days of just near, um, constant like perfection and, um, practice of our materials. and we get to work with um really like sublime conductors and musicians and just having that high level of playing but still with a youth orchestra and like

009people with your interests is uh was a really fun experience. >> Hi, my name is Vivian New. I'm a senior also at Sycamore. Um like Matteo, my favorite experience was all state orchestra this year. Um, one of the reasons why I liked it was because like again there are so many musicians there with all with having like an extremely high skill level and it's just so incredible listening to everyone play together and rehearse just even for like a couple of days. Although it is hours and hours on end of rehearsal, it's still incredible to hear everyone come together and play something and perform together. Um, hi. My name is Julia Lenman. I'm a sophomore at Sycamore. And one of my favorite memories um of music playing is probably um continuing my studies over the summer

010um probably for around the last 5 years now. Every summer I attend music camps and it's just such a wonderful experience for me because I get to not only meet other people kind of like what they said about who just love music as much as me, but I get to make friends from all over and I really it's just like I'd say two to six weeks of just rigorous work every day practicing, rehearsing, performing, learning from just incredible professors and amazing making amazing friends. Yeah. Let's give these young people another round of applause. And Dr. Santangelo, thank you for not only bringing these wonderful students to display their talents, but I know the amount of work and effort and time that you spend with them. Um, I know you're probably a little bit tearyeyed. I

011heard a lot of seniors in this group. So, um, you know, Matteo and I heard, uh, Julia, you're going to have to carry the banner, it sounds like, for these seniors once they leave. So, uh, thank you for being here. I know that you guys are incredibly busy. Uh, but I think it's so important that our community continues to see the talent that we have in Sycamore. And not only are you talented here within Sycamore, but being able to go out and learn from other professionals. And I love that you talked about the passion that other people have for the instruments and the music and uh I love that you continue to bring that back to Sycamore every single day. So, thank you for being here. We will understand if you don't want to stay

012for the rest of the meeting and you have other things that you would rather do with your evening. So, thank you again for being here. Um, great job. That is really a that's kind of all inspiring to see. Uh, it's a very cool thing to say. Excuse me. To see and just to see young people with that passion and performing out and and doing things in the greater community. You know, that's why educators do the jobs that they do is for results like that. So, thank you guys very much. Uh good luck for the rest of the school year and good luck to the seniors in your next steps. So thank you. All right, we're going to begin our work session and the first subject that we have today is a presentation from SAC and

013about vouchers Ohio. So, if those members would please step forward >> and just to help us with time um with those members stepping forward, if we can do our best to just let them kind of work through their presentation because they may answer one of your questions as they work through the presentation and then kind of hold our questions to the end if they didn't answer your questions. So, that you just be efficient with our time today. All right. Uh, thank you for having us. Um, get the clicker. So, we're doing a presentation on vouchers for Ohio lawsuit. Um the goals of this project were to evaluate the impact of private school voucher expansion on Sycamore's education funding and student enrollment um and understand how other districts have um decided whether to join the the

014lawsuit or not and the impact of their choices. Um our sorry I forgot to go to the next slide. Um our final product is to come up with a recommendation for the board of education on whether to join or not join. Um this all started um the lawsuit all came to fruition because of the expansion to the voucher program which you all are aware of. Um initially the Ed Choice voucher program was for those living in um low performing school districts or failing school districts and you had incomes below 250% of the poverty level. Um with the expansion all school districts and all income levels um were allowed to get the vouchers. um it increased from 250% of poverty level to 450% and I believe that's for a family of four about $140,000 a year.

015Um 88% of the voucher recipients that are getting them are non-l low income and they're awarded about $4,700 a year. Uh Ohio expects to spend about $1.6 6 billion for the vouchers. Um this school year and uh next year they expect to spend about $1.2 billion. Um some background on the vouchers hurt Ohio lawsuit. Um they claim that the vouchers are unconstitutional and harmful to students. Um some of their claims are that it's straining money from public schools um since $1.2 billion is going to private schools and it's reducing state funding per student. It's also creating a a unconstitutional second system of privately funded schools. Um, it violates Ohio's constitution by um not having a thorough and efficient public school system. And it's worsening segregation and diverting tax dollars to private, mostly religious schools that

016don't have the same levels of accountability that public schools have. Um, currently there's 330 districts that have joined the lawsuit, which is about 54% of the uh total school districts in the state of Ohio. Uh, all right. I'm Kelly Tedesco. It's nice to be here. Um, I wanted to share a little bit of data about how this is impacting us at Sycamore. Um, we have seen because of Ed Choice expansion that in Sycamore there's a 3,000% increase in the students that are u receiving vouchers that live within our school district. So, we went from 18 students to 577 students that are um taking the vouchers. Most of those students are not lowincome. 96.6 six of them are are are not within that low-inccome category. And uh we don't know for sure, but we suspect that

017most of these students would have already gone to private school. Um that this isn't necessarily shifting kids from Sycamore to a private school, but it is subsidizing their private school spend. >> Please be sure to speak in the microphone because anyone who this recording and anyone who's listening won't hear if you're not speaking in the microphone. We hear you but no one else will. >> Thank you. Um so the money within our near our local area we see that um our local private schools all saints Mhler and Urseline per student they are all receiving more from the state than a student at Sycamore. Sycamore is receiving $810 per pupil from the state. And Mhler, for example, students that attend Mhler are receiving $5,700 from the state. 99% of Mhler students are receiving vouchers. They label

018it very clearly on their website um how to get the money for the vouchers. Um and again this comes along with no accountability and um and no state mandates. Um all right and then this is a slightly different data set. coming from the state, but we all generally know this. Our um wealthier, we are considered a wealthier school district and the statewide average of money that's coming uh from local versus the state. For us, we're funding most of our education, public education from um local dollars. Um and much higher percentage than the statewide average that you see here in blue. That is the data slides. I know we said questions at the end, but I feel like it might be easier to take questions about the data while we're on them if we can take

019a minute or two. Okay. Hi, thank you for having us. I'm Victoria Margram. I'm going to be covering the interviews with the other school districts. We did send out quite a few requests from other school districts through the state, but only Lakota, Upper Arlington, and Mason were willing to talk to us. So, Lakota, um, we spoke to the board president, Kelly Casper, and in Lakota, the district has been given over 2,000 vouchers were given, and 98% of those families already attended school. So essentially the cost of the um they didn't lose people in Lakota. The cost of their lawsuit is $34,000 and the teachers union came to the board and offered to pay half of that which is $17,000 and the teachers union has paid that every single year and they will pay it again

020this year. Lakota felt the cost was small enough to fight for the students and they wanted to protect themselves and they feel that schools should join the lawsuit to support each other. And one thing that I thought was very interesting is that the Lakota legislators that their two legislators are not happy that Lakota joined them and they told the board president, "We're business people. We're not education people." So maybe not always relying on your legislators to do your fighting might be a smart move. Upper Arlington, we spoke to the board of education president there, um, Jenny McKenna. Upper Arlington also has a levy in the fall. So it's very similar to Sycamore. And like Lakota, they've refu they've received almost no negative responses from joining the lawsuit. There are big points in joining the lawsuit

021where private schools don't have to accept everyone or follow IEPs and the vouchers are not fiscally responsible use of Ohio funds. With Lakota, one of their reasons is that, you know, with having more funds for Lakota, they bust just like Sycamore does students to private schools. They also pay for therapists, aids, etc. Also for Upper Arlington, um they felt that the dollars spent are minimal and it's going to cost much more down the line than it is now. Mason, we spoke to Dr. Jonathan Cooper and Sean Beavenon who are the superintendent and the CFO. Now, they've not joined the lawsuit. They're going to rely on their legislators and there are about 900 students in the Mason district that attend private or parochial schools. and Mason has roughly about 10,000. They didn't really give us a

022reason why they didn't join. So, in our sense, they kind of made the decision not to make a decision about the lawsuit. So, my name is Evelyn Wagner, um, parent here in Sycamore. We go to the next slide. Was it me? It's me. Okay. Um, so I did I I uh this section is also about um our interviews with the districts but focusing specifically on their communication with the districts. So um what was interesting about Lakota school district is when they chose to join they chose um to be very clear about the background of voucher programs across uh uh how it affects their school district to explain school choice uh to explain the ed choice voucher program and to explain the impact on their school district. So uh they gave a really clear explanation on

023their website. They explained it and then once they once they explained it they really left it there. They didn't sort of harp on it, but they wanted a very clear explanation. So, if there were any questions, they could explain it and they could have a clear, um, understanding across their parents and anyone in their school district. Um, so, Upper Arlington, um, here I'm listing more generally what their communication channels are. So they generally have coffee and conversations. They generally have financial advisory board discussions and they have a number of partnerships that they rely on um to help them make their decisions and to help them to um to be involved in the community to make to be informed and to advocate um for themselves. In terms of their voucher communication, the superintendent and CFO sent

024letters explaining property taxes. And when the Upper Arlington School Board voted to join, the superintendent emailed uh district parents to inform them of board decisions. And um they uh they weren't sure exactly what the response would be, but they were they heard a lot of gratitude for fighting the fight and they heard from parents who are usually quiet. So supportive parents who usually quiet and they sort of echoed their support for the school district. And as we mentioned, Upper Arlington has a levy that will be on the ballot in this fall. Oh, I think I missed Mason. So, Mason, generally speaking, um they communicate through a 321 newsletter um for the district. They have brew up conversations um that the superintendent holds on a regular basis, of course, board meetings and business advisory committee where

025they get advice on finances and vouchers. So, they maintain partnerships and a lot of these school districts seem to have the same similar partnerships that they rely on. um Alliance for High Quality Education, Buckeye Association for Superintendent. Um in terms of communication, they chose specifically not to join. So they specifically did not have conversations or communication about vouchers. Um and um and they made a decision not for the board not to vote on whether to join it. Um they mentioned when in the conversation with the superintendent and the treasur, they mentioned specifically that there were concerns with the current political climate. And so they and they were looking to maintain those relationships with the legislators. Uh what I noticed when looking into the research um you know sort of looking at these different school districts

026that it was notable to me that back a few years ago Mason uh reached uh was very comfortable talking to their community about um their need for um controlling the impact of vouchers on their community. If you Google Facebook and Mason and Ed choice vouchers, you'll see um a posting from Mason talking about the need for parents to support the school district, the importance of it, the impact that will have on dollars for the school district. So to me that says very clearly that they feel passionate that choice these ed choice vouchers are really impacting them. It's just right now they're nervous about saying anything about it. But that doesn't mean that they don't feel the importance and feel the urgency of it. Uh good evening. I'm Jim Friend and I want to one of

027the things we tried to do when we put this presentation together was try to strike a balance in what we're presenting to you. So if I get this right, um what we want to do is show you a couple slides on both sides of the equation. Uh first of all, the Alliance for Highquality Education uh which is a a group of school districts I think similar to Sycamore uh have recommended against joining uh the the lawsuit. Uh they think it's going to uh likely fail at the Ohio Supreme Court anyway. So participation is not going to impact it. Uh that the legislation damages relationships with our uh elected officials. And I can tell you in in our case it will not because I've talked to Karen Brownley specifically and it will not. Um but their

028and their recommendation is to pursue the other avenue which is to force the private schools who are getting voucher money into being more accountable for their students uh for academic reasons, for physical re fiscal reasons because they aren't right now. So we have requirements as a public school system that they simply do not have as private schools, but we're drawing money out of the same bucket. Um, I would also tell you that I was in Columbus yesterday and spoke to a a person on the board of the Ohio Education Association. Um, and they are not a litigant in the lawsuit, but they recommend that every school district join the lawsuit. They feel the more that join, the more pressure it puts on specifically the Supreme Court if it gets to that level. Um, and they

029are supportive and encouraging districts to to join. Um there's also a house bill that's introduc been introduced, House Bill 671. It was met initially with a great um with press and negative opinions. Basically, what it is is a a a person who is launching a bill to threaten our money. Now, originally, the bill as it has been introduced is to is to say, "We're going to put all of your funding into escrow and hold it until the lawsuit either ends or you withdraw from it." He the this this guy Jamie was uh interviewed and and again there is no co-sponsor. It is still in committee. It hasn't gotten been voted on by the committee yet to even get to the house. And in an interview he says, "Well, I was thinking about maybe just putting

030the money that the school districts put in for the legal purposes." So if Mason or was it Lakota's bill was 34,000, they would take 34,000 out of the out of the donate out of the money coming to the school district and put it in escrow. And they're not taking it away. they're just putting it in escrow until such time that the lawsuit, you know, is is finalized. Uh it's been called the bully bill and it's clearly a threat. You know, don't join or I'm going to take your money away. And I I personally I take that with great offense. Uh and for that reason alone, I would favor joining. Um the other part of it is again looking at fair funding. I know Chad the other night told us that it really hasn't affected our

031funding to date that we're still, you know, in good standing with state funding. Um the other issue that's going to come to bear at some point will be uh obviously um property taxes, whether they come or stay, how much they, you know, of the budget. I'm on Blue Ash City Council. It's a, you know, we're already looking into it as well because it's going to affect our budget and how do we make up for that income. It's easy to say property taxes are going away, but the bills don't go away either. So, um there's a lot of things on the, you know, on the horizon, not just the levy, but the, you know, the tax base and where it's going. So, um, a lot to look at. And then finally, you know, I know there's

032been expressed some concern among a number of people about if we get into the lawsuit, how does this affect the potential levy in November if the school board decides to to drop one? Um, I think I think we think the simple answer is no. But no is dependent upon a lot of variables. Um, first of all, if you look at the last levy, uh, it was a 62 to 38 margin. If the fear is offending private school parents and voters, they only represent about 8% of the community. So, that's not enough to swing the whole vote. And a lot of those parents have kids in the elementary schools and maybe only transition to private schools when they get to the high school level. Um, but any levy is dependent upon a number of issues. And

033I think this is probably lower on the list of those issues. the economy, you know, you something none of us can control in this room, but and then, you know, in the tax base. And it's also dependent upon two things. Getting your voters, the parents of your school students into the polls. And I know my son Jonathan was involved as co-chair of the 2019, that was his whole mission, getting those voters to the polls, not that broad message, but and if you don't do that, if you don't communicate, that's not going to happen and the bond will be then this issue is mute is moot. The other thing is uh it's it's how you communicate. If the parents in the school district don't trust you, don't trust your messaging, don't trust how you've been spending

034their money, they're not going to vote yes on any new tax levy. So, a lot of variables. I don't think this is one of the more serious ones that will affect the bond the the the operating levy. Um our we have a lawyer actually on our committee. He is not able to be here tonight. So, playing that role will be Jim Friend. Um, I did not stay at a Holiday in Express and I am not a lawyer. So, I'm going to do the best I can to give you an overview of this. Um, but it is now the the it is now in the Court of Appeals. Uh, we expect a decision sometime later this year. No matter which way it goes, it will be appealed and it will ultimately end up in the Supreme

035Court. Now, at some point, the Supreme Court, as you know, and I I said this at our meeting and I failed to say it earlier, no matter what you think of this thing, this is 100% political. 100%. whether it's being decided in the in the the House or the the representatives or the state senate. It's political. When it goes to court, it's political. At the Supreme Court level, it is political. And the the the current docket of judges there is not technically favorable for this kind of decision. So, you know, I I I don't know what's you know, nobody knows what it's going to do. There's elections in November, but you know, that is part of what you have to consider is the political landscape that's going on as well as the legal landscape. So

036again, uh, don't expect anything until after the election and probably in the next year before anything is finally decided. And again, it's going to be appealed. >> Okay. >> So, so arguments to join, we'll present both sides. Arguments to join is Sycamore stands to lose support from Sycamore families. um families move to the district where the schools and parents will be in happy district is not fighting for Ohio funds. Um I think that's a really important message. I think knowing that the district cares enough to fight for these funds, it's really important that it's not just on the parents. If Sycamore loses the money, we face either cuts or more frequent levies. Reductions in staff, larger class sizes, transportation cuts, school services, or um reductions in extracurriculars or more frequent levies will be needed. Um

037and just to pause on that point, I don't know exactly how the formulation would be. I know that we had a discussion at our sack meeting about the levy, proposed levies and some options for that. I noticed that the millage being requested is a little higher than last time. So my question is is that because we have less funds funding. I don't know the answer, but that's a question that pops up in my mind. Um and I wonder whether the district will need more frequent levies in order to make sure that there are enough funds. I noticed in the mailer I just got today that Sycamore relies 85% on local taxes and only 15% on the state because of the fair funding plan. That's only going to increase over time. I can't imagine that's going

038to decrease. That's a lot of money that is being expected to be paid for by local taxes. And I can only expect that as a parent knowing that the district is not funding for those fighting for those funds is going to have an impact on some potentially. I know we just said that levy won't be affected by private school parents. But I also think that there should be some consideration about the impact on parents who are paying for their school and wanting to know that those funds are being made available to them and knowing that the district is fighting for those funds on behalf of the parents and the students in our district. And there is more and more conversation about this. It was on Cincinnati edition last Monday a whole conversation on this as

039on my drive over this afternoon I heard another conversation. So while there has been fairly quiet across the district in terms of or across the state how much conversation there has been I think there will be more and more conversation. I think parents will be more and more aware of this whole funding fight for public schools. Um just going back to previous slides there really from the districts that we have spoken to we have not heard of any significant repercussions from joining. Um but of course as we know if funding moves away from public schools there will be significant downsides because the v if the vouchers continue. Um local Lakota and Upper Arlington's legislators relations still remain intact. So for that I mean it seems okay. I personally think um that how the board votes

040is separate from relationships with the rest of the district. So if if the board votes to be a part of it, my expectation or my hope would be that it would not have an impact on anyone else in the district who was not part of that vote. Um another just there just a couple other arguments. Representative Calendarer suit is called the bully bill and we've talked a lot at Sycamore about standing up to bullies. So as an example to our students, it seems to make sense to stand up to that. And at the end of the day, this was really a part of the Cincinnati edition discussion last Monday. The fact is is that this is a lot of money going to private schools. And one can say that the money is coming out of

041another pot. But at the end of at the end of the day, if the state is spending billions of dollars, Ohio spent a billion dollars for private schools and it expects to spend 1.6 billion this year. We've also seen that roughly that amount diminished from public schools. So while it's coming out of a different pot, it is coming out of the overall budget of the state of Ohio. And I think that's something that should be thought about in terms of whether we're fighting for those public school funds. So that's the arguments to join. And then I want to note that we had an updated a few slides that were specific for the board whereas this was for the sack. Um and those aren't shown here. Um but uh so just to speak to the arguments

042uh to not join uh there's really three. One is the fear of legislation retaliation. Um the second is that the lawsuit is going to go one way or the other whether or not Sycamore is in the lawsuit or not. And the third is the the nominal funds that it would take for Sycamore to join the lawsuit. While they are small, they could be spent on something else. Um and then finally our recommendation this again is not the right slide. We just have two recommendations for the board to hear. One is that we do recommend as a sack group that the district join the lawsuit. We discussed a lot amongst ourselves and of the six of us five wanted to give the recommendation to join. Um, knowing that that's not up to us, the our second

043recommendation is just in either case, the district needs to start communicating with the public and our community about vouchers. I for one didn't know uh about this before I started this project and I think there are a lot of others like me in the district that are unaware of of what's going on at the state level. >> Thank you. Questions? >> Yeah, I do have a few questions. So, in the very beginning, you stated that, you know, you you only talked to three school districts. You reached out to a lot of others. What what reasons did the other school districts give you for not wanting to talk to you? >> I think it was just timing. We were under pressure to present. We wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible, and it

044just takes time to get responses back from busy people. you just did back from >> um so we did hear back from um Indian Hill um but their superintendent just left for Texas so um they guess they had a lot of work on their hands but that we did hear back from um Indian Hill and um but they didn't give a reason other than I think they had a lot going on. I just, you know, we're basing a recommendation off of three three data points, which to me is, you know, in the science background, not a lot of data to recommend to really base things off of. When you look at comparable districts across the state of Ohio, um, did you look at how many comparable districts to Sycamore are have join have joined the

045lawsuit? >> Uh, we do have some information in the appendix. Did we take that one out? No. that has some of the other districts. I don't know if you >> Yeah. So, the state of Ohio has 20 comparable districts to Sycamore and only four have joined the lawsuit. Any thoughts on why similar high-erforming districts like Sycamore have not joined the lawsuit? Um, I did reach out to two other districts up in the Cleveland area, Orange and Solen, which I don't know if they're on the list of comparable, but they are very comparable. Yeah. >> Um, Solen, they I was I'm still waiting to hear back from their superintendent. Um, I talked to the board president and she didn't give me any information except um, talk to the superintendent. So, it seemed like there was some

046disagreement there. Uh, when I talked to the board president at Orange um, they decided that they would allow the Alliance for is it higher education to fight for them. But in the meantime, they did pass two resolutions u one in 2020 and one in 2025 expressing that the board is against um the a choice expansion. >> Yeah. And you guys did a great job on the presentation. Um one of the concerns that I have is I think you downplayed the alliance a little bit. So the alliance advocates directly for Sycamore. They advocate for 77 high-erforming school districts in the state of Ohio. So they're they're up testifying on our behalf. They're lobbying on behalf of similar performing districts. And you know, the alliance's recommendation is not to join it. And you talked about that. Um

047but to me that carries a lot of weight on uh a group that is very familiar with Sycamore, is familiar with advocates and lobbies directly for us um versus you know what other school districts are going through. So I I do think the alliance recommendation is is very important here. >> To that point, excuse me. Lakota was told by the alliance to join. And that was um a quote from the board president, Kelly Casper. So I don't know why Sycamore was told not to join, but Lakota was told to join by the same organization. So I just wanted to make that clear. >> Things change. Yeah. And you know, you you bring up that uh $12,000 isn't a lot of money. um this lawsuit could go on for years and some school districts have already

048been paying for years and years. So, you know, if you if this goes on for another five, 8, 10 years, you know, we're still we still have cases that are in in the Supreme Court of Ohio where the state funding has been ruled unconstitutional 30 years ago that's still being fought. So, again, you know, this couldn't this isn't $12,000. This could be 120,000. This could be 240,000. This could go on for a really long time. And you know, fees pay uh fees add up. If you really look at where that $2 goes, a $150 of that is going to lawyer fees. So the majority of what we would be paying is putting money in the pockets of the lawyers who are already fighting for this. Um so again, these are just some of my concerns.

049>> Um may I respond? Is that okay? I don't know how the how this works. Absolutely. >> I don't want to. Uh okay. So, one question. So, one thing that I'm trying to get through everything. Oh, up >> one thing about the the So, one thing I want to say about joining what I learned about from talking to I think it was Lakota is that the join fee is prrated per year. So, for example, if Sycamore were to join in May, they'd be paying 1112th, right, >> of the amount. It's not a full year. So, to consider that. Another thing that we learned is that one of the school districts partnered with a teacher organization to share the cost and there was another district and I I don't have it in front of me that

050actually fundraised. They got an anonymous donor to donate the money. So I think as a personally and I believe as a group we don't want Sycamore to lose money for joining it. Um and um but we think it's important um to join it. The other thing is if you look at the comparison with how much Sycamore is getting from the state versus how much I think it was Mhler Sycamore is getting $810 versus Muller getting was it 5,400 something like that something >> and my question is is what's $88 or $810 compared to $5,429. It's a lot of it's a little bit of money. Hopefully Sycamore could get a generous donor or I'm certainly willing to help support Sycamore look for those funds. Don't want any more money to be taken away from students, but

051that um that's that feels like such a big differential. And my last point is um if I can remember it um the ruling is supposed to be in 2728. So I know that I guess these lawsuits could go on for a while, but the expectation is that this wouldn't. So we're it's not talking about a forever every year spending money but have a finite amount >> optimistic about our court system. >> I hope you're right. >> This is this is from what we we learned we asked specifically I asked specifically that question that was what the information that I got. So the hope would be that you know there it is not really pulling money away and hopefully not at all if we can find monies elsewhere. >> My next question is more probably to

052Mr. Buren Buren and Mr. Lewis. we lost students is is do we have more students or have we lost state funding since the voucher program was expanded? >> Uh no the data actually shows that during the time of the expansion that sycamore actually our enrollment actually grew during that time. Um whereas if we would if we would you know I think the uh sack already pointed to that that sycamore didn't necessarily lose the students. um they were just student families that were already sending their students to um the private schools to begin with. Um but you know, we do believe you know typically is there's treasures across the state that it just subsidized the families that were already going there anyway. So yeah, there may be a problem with the state um with with the

053voucher program, but we didn't see the enrollment decline during the expansion. >> And that Mr. Buren is 100% accurate. We didn't lose additional students. they were already there. So, you've probably heard the saying, the funding follows the student. Um, it's just not equal funding that follows the student. So, um, the amount that we receive per student is something we have been fighting for 20 plus years. And over the last couple of years, you may recall that I think it was toward the end of Mrs. Weber's tenure that actually we were successful in getting uh more of the fair school funding plan implemented to where we got an additional 5% uh funding during that time period. So that's why it's hard to say we you know it's a really confusing situation to say that Sycamore is

054losing money. We're not losing money because we actually gained 5% which is we're not funded at a high rate by the state. We're funded at minimum, which is 10% because we're looked at as a wealthy district. The other 5% comes from federal grants and things of that nature. It's really deceiving the numbers that the state puts out on their website because they put in their $2,300 and we had this conversation at SAC. A lot of that is reimbursement for our own local tax dollars. They're not giving us any additional dollars. So, I think one of the things that's important, no matter where we any of us land with an opinion on this, we all think this is bad for Ohio. And I think that's the thing we can't do is let a conversation divide us.

055Everybody's going to have an opinion. I don't think anybody thinks that what they're doing is good for Ohio or good for Ohio public schools. It's what's good for Sycamore right now and what's good for Sycamore long term that has to be paramount over all those components. So, um I don't disagree with any of the research that they've shown us. It's it's spoton. It's really um what's the move for Sycamore with all the different components and factors that we have to consider. So, um, you know, we're doing our best to manage all the components and things that we need to think about, but, um, you know, obviously this is a tough decision or a tough conversation because I don't think any of us agree that we should be sending more money to students that can already

056afford private school. Um, and I I agree with one of the points that they made. it's really creating a system um of imbalance and really lack of fairness. Uh the other component that they brought up that is really good point which is the accountability measures are just absolutely insane and I guess people forget about the ECOT program. Um yeah, hear some laughter. Um that was an unchecked program where there was tons of fraud. Um, this feels very similar. It's it's giving money away without any way to hold people accountable for it. And that's ex I mean I'm generalizing the ECOT program, but that's exactly what happened is they were just funneling money. I think there were probably fake students and there was no accountability for it until someone blew the whistle on it and found

057it. So my fear is is that we're doing the same thing. I'll say for myself and our the rest of our colleagues, uh we're we're sick of all the mandates. Um the lack of funding and then I think this year they've they've released I think it was 249 bills that impact education. They told us at a meeting that they were going to do everything they could to remove mandates from us. 249 new bills with education components in it. Doesn't sound like a removal of any components. So, sorry, I'll get off my soap box and get back to this topic. Add one more thing real fast. Go ahead. Um, one of the things that we did find in our research, not only are the private schools getting four, five, $6,000 a person, um, they are, some

058schools have also increased their tuition by comparable amounts. So, they're kind of double dipping in that increase. Um, and then other schools like I believe it was Mhler, they have signing up for Ed Choice as part of your um your application um to go to the school. So, they're forcing people to take the state money rather than giving them a decision whether they want to accept it or not. >> I want to thank the uh Sycamore Advisory Commission uh for your work. I always appreciate the fact that you are willing to give up a lot of your time to research topics for us and to um inform us of particular topics that we ask. Um I do want to know what is the end result results that um the lawsuit is is um looking for.

059Is it just to Well, I'm not going to give you options. What are What's the end result? >> Again, I'm not the lawyer, but I believe that again, if you The Constitution of the State of Ohio says you cannot, and I again, I don't know how the wording, but does not fund private schools. So, the objective would be for the money that's collected through property taxes or whatever goes back into the general fund that only goes to public schools. >> Okay. >> And Dr. James, you might remember from um I'll just say the past history um and Mr. Balant mentioned the number of times that funding of Ohio schools have been found unconstitutional. When it was found to be unconstitutional, they were funding Ohio public schools at I believe 42%. It is now dropped to

06033.5% and they're talking about going down further. So, I think, you know, that's I'm not a lawyer either and I did not play one on TV. So, um and I definitely didn't stay at a Holiday Express last night, but that that that concern of three times it's been found unconstitutional and nothing has changed. >> Yeah. >> So, even if this is successful and it's found to be unconstitutional, >> my fear is they'll change the name, they'll repackage it, and we will start all over again. and that it's just history of Ohio. I'm incredibly disappointed in our state from a education standpoint cuz standardized testing has dropped us from in the top five and 10 to 37th. I heard that directly from a legislator. Uh I don't know about you, but if I dropped from that

061high to that low, you guys would have sent me packing. Um so maybe it's time to send some people packing that are continuing that process because standardized testing is not working. and our funding in Ohio are we are 45th in the nation in how we fund public schools. It's embarrassing. >> Yeah. >> Not on a political note, but if you would have heard the governor's speech yesterday, you would not get that impression. >> I did hear it and I watched it for an hour while I was eating lunch and I stopped eating lunch because all I heard was mandate, mandate, mandate, mandate and all the things that he wants us to do. So, it didn't honestly it didn't impress me at all other than there were a couple kids he recognized and I was very

062proud of the recognition those students got. But outside of that, all I heard was more things for us to do with less money. >> Um I I will also are you I'll let No, Dr. James, you >> I don't I don't want to hog the mic. Go ahead. >> We all should take a turn. So, please you haven't had a chance. Um, so if the end result does not come in the next few years, we just I would imagine that the lawsuit would not be dropped. Would you imagine that would be the same? >> I don't think it'll be dropped. No. >> Okay. >> Unless, you know, there's 330 what school districts in it now. I can't imagine everybody getting out. >> Yeah. >> Because they they've invested too much at this point just to

063drop out, >> right? So, if it's $12,000 for a year for Sycamore, um, and and to your point, I think you made that point, Mr. Ballad, that this could be fairly expensive for us to to join uh in this fight, uh, as the years go on because I can't imagine it ending anytime soon. So, um, knowing that, >> $12,000 represent of the total budget. But it's not $12,000 is what I'm saying >> basis. What does $12,000 represent on a percentage basis? >> Um about a half a bus driver, about a half an EA. I mean, when you put it in people terms, when you look at the dollar amounts, yeah, it's a small percentage, but when you look at how we can continue to provide services for our students, you know, it it's it's a

064real number. Um, one thing I want to add is that these voucher these voucher programs are being considered by state after state across the country. This is something that, you know, other other states like Utah is facing as well. So, um, a lot of, you know, there's a lot of precedent that's probably going to be set in the next few years. And there's a lot a lot of reason to believe that there are many other states that will, you know, join the opinion that when you have so much money flowing out of states to fund private schools that it's going to be found unconstitutional in some level. So, I I hear the concern about money flowing out. I also see the I as I was learning and researching for this project, I was really shocked

065by how much money is being pulled out of school districts because of fair funding plan, which is really not fair funding. And from the Cincinnati edition report I heard last Monday, how much school districts across the state are expecting to lose money over the years. So there are some districts who believe that by 2019 by 2030 they expect to only have 19% coverage by the state whereas right now they're getting closer to 33 34. So while there is money and there is concern obviously um bus drivers are very important. I know we have the sack committee has the other the healthy start times where we talk about the need for bus drivers and trying to juggle that schedule and figure out how many bus drivers are needed to get the students to school. There is

066a real belief I think that you know that little bit of money is important to ensure that sycamore sustains itself over the years to have that funding because the funding is is leaving public school and just to go back to the point earlier I think it's really that conversation of explaining that to parents this need this request 85% of the school budget is really based on local taxes and 15% by state and the district is not fighting for that money. I think that deserves I think parents deserve an explanation. >> I I do have to step in. We are fighting for that money. We have testified as recently as as last fall. Um we've gone to Hamilton County to fight for money. We've gone to the state to fight for our money. So when you

067when you say we're not fighting, I really want to be clear to the public that we are fighting. We may not be fighting right currently through the vouchers hurt Ohio program, but you know ours our treasurer, the last two treasurers have advocated, have testified at the state level, the county level to advocate for fair funding for Sycamore and we have gotten more money from the state. So that is not accurate to say that we as a school district are not fighting for more state foundation money. >> And that's good to know. So, I would say that as the district is trying to is is um urging parents to vote for the levy, I would say that's a really important point to make because there is a feeling of money flowing out of public school and

068a concern of whether the public schools, our public school will be funded adequately. >> All right. May I jump in? >> First, I would like to say thank you for your presentation. You did an excellent job. Um, I was I was the board president at the time when this subject was coming up a lot. We were having a lot of community members come in and speak to the board and at that time our treasurer requested and I thought it was a great idea. The board was deliberating on this and we knew we needed to learn more information. We needed to hear the pros and the cons. We needed to hear the voices of our community. um our treasurer suggested that we do it um because your board committee decided to do this through through SAC.

069So, first of all, thank you. Thank you for your thorough presentation and all of your thorough work. Um to me, the community is you're the driving factor for how I do my work as a board member because I want to make sure that I am representing you. So, my question from your presentation um and thank you. I've been reading. I've been listening. I'm listening to everyone. I'm asking questions to anywhere I possibly can. So my question, you said that um you didn't think it would impact a levy of funding of a levy if we voted if the board voted for going ahead with this lawsuit. That was what you said in here. Can you someone tell me what you think would happen if we did not vote or we voted no? I ju I really

070do want to hear what your thinking is on that and then I have a follow-up statement that I'd like to make. >> I think what I'll just reiterate what I did say about a levy that I think there's so many other factors that are far more important than whether you join or not join this lawsuit. Um I asked somebody the other day, I said, "What do you think about the voucher program in Ohio?" They said, 'Oh yeah, that that allows kids to get lunches and and like and I said he parent didn't know anything about it. So I think that's a very minor part. Again, you've got to be able and from everything I've read, you've got to be able to communicate how you spent the last money, how you're going to spend this money,

071if you will, what the gap are, what the needs, the financial presentation showed it all. You've got to be able to communicate that first and foremost. Secondly, then you've got to get your voters out and and that's again that's the critical part. um when you're running for election, it's not about getting everybody to vote. It's getting your voters to vote. And so I think that's the second most important thing. So I think frankly I don't think this plays that much of a difference either way in in how the levy how the levy vote comes out. >> Thank you. Um now looking at this just as a you know on the whole I want to say that um and I think we've all touched on this. We have a lot of very big um challenges ahead

072of us and many of those challenges are because of our legislature, right? Because of things like vouchers and money being pulled out of public ed and brought into us, you know, basically pulled out of our funds and put somewhere else. And we can all we I do think that we all agree with you. We've just said it that we do not agree with this approach. Um we have we are advocating regularly with our legislators, our professional organizations, the treasures organizations, superintendent alliance, Ohio schoolboard association. Every single meeting we go to, we are advocating for public education for public education funding. And then as a board and as an administration, we are advocating for Sycamore because we have to look at it right from our own lens. So, um, I just want you to I want

073you to know that and I think you already do know that, um, what I took from what you said and just really thinking about the big picture here, the most important thing that we as a district can do and as a community can do is join together in making sure that we all are on the same page as far as advocating for public education. Okay, so we know that. Um the question would be how do we do that? Is it do we have to join a lawsuit for you to understand that we care about that? You said your second point was communicate with us. Tell us what we can do. Tell us how we can advocate. That is I agree with that. I feel like we as a district need to say to our voters,

074to the people living in the community, here is how you stand up for public ed. We don't want you to think that if we don't join or we join in a year or instead we do a resolution but we don't join that doesn't mean that we don't agree with you. We agree with you. I really I really believe that holistically we agree with you. Um the question is just going to be where do we put our energy right now? Right now we have to fund the district um for the next 10 years. We have to um we're working on healthier start times which is a massive achievement that we hope to go through with our district. We have to go through hiring a new treasurer. We know that. So we have a lot and we

075have 250 bills coming down potentially that we have to navigate that will take money away from this public school district potentially. So the way I see it is the conversation needs to continue whether it's we're I mean I will say as one board member I'm allowed to say this. I I will tell you my opinion. I believe in standing up and joining this lawsuit. I'm just going to say that I believe it because I believe in public ed. I don't if even if you say to me the chances are you're going to lose. I still think it's worth it. I believe that it's important to do that. I will say I'm a lawyer, so I'm allowed to counter myself. Um, the pragmatic side of me says, "Yeah, but we have so many other we have

076so many other priorities that we have to focus on as a district. We have to um and the biggest one of them of all is making sure our voters, our community stand up for public ed. 90% of all kids go to Ohio schools. Um, if if this was going to do it, like if this was going to do the trick, like, okay, we join and then boom, we're going to make sure Sigamore is funded. Oh, we would do it like that. All of us. But the problem is we're worried that it's not going to have an impact and it could actually be somewhat detrimental. Number one, because we have other things we have, we have other major priorities we have to focus on. But also, if there are situations where we're getting retaliation, that's just

077time and energy. we don't we want to focus on moving forward for other areas. So I will say I'm I mean even despite all everything I say I would support this. I would I believe that sometimes you have to challenge you have to stand up. I believe if Sycamore jumped in it could maybe help others join in as well. Um I think we are a leader. We should be a leader. I think at the end of the day even if we lose it we still should do it. That's my that's out of principle. That's just me as a person. But I also really know that pragmatically speaking, we have to do what's right by Sycamore. We need to listen to our administrators. If our administrators feel like this is not the priority we that the

078board should focus on, I have I have really I have given my credence to that. So I would and that would put a ton of pressure on our superintendent, but that's his job. But again, that's where I am. >> Okay. Thank you guys for this. I'm a better person for the time that we've spent together. You guys already know that. Um I am not a lawyer, but I am a university professor. So, prepare yourselves. Uh we're going to go to school for a second. Um I have a little bit prepared statement. Um, many have suggested that we don't join this lawsuit, uh, because we'll lose anyway, because the legal fees are a waste of money, because voucher programs not going away, because Sycamore can financially withstand the effects, because there might be political relational consequences.

079They're all valid points. I respect everybody who feels that way. Let's get that out there. I do have a different point of view. Uh this is is a discussion of politics, of narratives, of right and wrong, of emotion, of fear and retaliation. Okay. As an underdog in this discussion, I'm reminded that March Madness is almost here. And one of the most exciting things about March Madness is the Cinderella story, right? It's these incredible underdog stories that rise to national fame and destroy brackets. Okay? The underdog is not supposed to win on paper, but they still want to play. The underdog still wants to play in the Super Bowl. They have won 20 Super Bowls. That's 35% that the underdog has won. To build on this discussion, I want to take a step back further in

080time uh to 480 BC uh to the battle of Thermopoly, partially represented in the movie 300. This was a historical stand by a small Greek force against a massive Persian army. The initial result, spoiler alert. The defenders fell. They lost. It was a complete defeat. But that fierce resistance offered leadership in Athens the invaluable time to prepare for future decisive battles. That defeat created significant strategic and symbolic consequences. Ultimately, the Persians were defeated, ending the Greco Persian War and the Persian expansion into Europe. This battle and its heroes continue to serve as symbols of courage against overwhelming odds of heroism and defenders of communities. In 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in Paris that has been named the man in the arena. Just a little excerpt from it. I love it. Um, it is

081not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly who hes who comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming but who does actually strive to do the deeds. I think we should join the lawsuit. Not because I think we'll win because it's the right thing to do. I think we should stand up for our students, for our teachers, for our staff, for our community, for our neighboring school districts, and for public education. At the beginning of every board meeting, we're reminded of our mission and our vision. We are to empower, which is to promote the self-actualization of our students to reach their full potential and to cultivate,

082prepare, foster, improve, seek a culture. Those are all words of action. So, are there risks of joining this lawsuit? Yes, absolutely. But Dennis Weightley, a motivational speaker, reminds us that life is inherently risky. And the only big risk you should avoid at all cost is the risk of doing nothing. I yield back. Thank you. If there are no more comments, uh, thank you very much first of all again for your hard work and I know that sounds repetitive and everything like that, but it's really appreciated because I know how much time your own time that you put into this. Um, it has given me personally a lot to think about. Um, I like to, you know, being a history teacher, I like to to weigh both sides of an argument and come up with try

083to come up with a logical conclusion. as history's proven, we don't tend to do that well as a country, but that's an aside that I need to move on from. So, I appreciate your time. I'd like to really look into some more of this stuff here on my time to kind of think about it and everything. I promise you this issue um as president, this issue won't go away uh with us up here. We will continue to discuss this. Um, but I want to look at both sides and figure out because I want to make the best possible decision, not just for this board of education, but for everyone in the Sycamore School District. But again, thank you for your time. Thank you for your presentation and thank you for giving us a lot to

084think about here tonight. >> Thank you. >> I just had one more point >> with the data that we did get. Unfortunately, as you said, we only have a few points. This has only been going on for one or two years, so we still don't know how it's going to affect the public schools in the future. Are more people going to move to other parts of town where taxes are less because you get $8,000 to put your kids into public school? So, um I just want everyone to know that, you know, we still don't have a lot of data just because it's all new. So, uh, keep that in your mind when you think. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you. All right. Uh, our next topic of discussion here is um,

085uh, a little levy education 101 and, uh, Aaron Westonorf Wartman from Inis Britain. You can't make the joke anymore that I'm not the lawyer in the room. Is that what I can't do? >> But we do know you stay at a holiday and express. So, let's go from there. >> Sorry. Um, but at least you will have a lot of these materials right in front of you, sent to you, no problem, so that you can review them on your own. My goal is to make sure that if the board goes forward with a levy that you all know how to not be criminally indicted on the other side. >> It's kind of my goal for your administration of education. >> I really enjoy that. Reason being, very quick, um, minor history lesson. I'm not going

086back BC. Not my jam. Just gonna be honest. Uh, gonna go back just in the past few years. So, school district outside of Dayton. Um, really was challenged by this with the auditor. And what was happening is that the auditor was just looking at things a little bit differently. Same laws that have always been there are still there. Nothing changed in the law. It was just how the auditor was looking at it and how everyone was then interpreting it from the aspect of what is required of boards of education. And so the goal is to not be this school district as they said in their mailers they were sending to residents essentially continue the excellence with the passage of issue four. An investment in our schools is an investment in our community. It very much

087advocated for levy passage and I understand that that seems very tongue andcheek because as a board if you decide to move forward with a levy you do it in a public meeting and you are asking the community for money. You may then no longer support the passage of that levy publicly as a five member board or for any of your administration to do during the time that they're working for you. It seems very backwards, but that is the way our legislature has chosen to write the laws. In this case, the superintendent had four uh charges, fist first-degree misdemeanors, wound up actually accepting a plea deal of just one single count. And each of the board members had single uh first-degree misdemeanors as well. And so, we like to make sure I don't do criminal law.

088I don't really want to have to make that recommendation. I don't want you to be there either. Okay? So, where the law is, these are the statutes that are there. So, while you can put a levy on the ballot, you can't advocate it. You can't use public funds to support or oppose it. So, if you aren't a 50- vote to support a levy and you're against it, you can't at a public board meeting say, "Don't vote for a levy." None of the five of you can say at a public board meeting, "Vote for the levy." Because, and you'll see later, the only time that you are on board time is right now, right? When you're a community member, you're not getting paid for being at a meeting. Do what you want. Nobody, it's not that

089nobody cares. Everyone cares, right? But you're allowed to do what you want. Now, a group of you can't be on the committee. Two of you could be if you wanted to be on a pro levy committee or an anti- levy committee. When there's more than two of you, it becomes a board meeting and then we have problems. And so, you're not allowed to do that. But these are the statutes. And so these are what is very clear that if the board goes forward with a levy, your administration all needs to sit down, probably be trained, your principles, your teachers, you need to have reminders out to coaches, supplemental contract holders, bus drivers, because they're all implicated in this. When we've looked at the FAQ that has been issued, they've even given specific directives to coaches

090what they can and cannot do. And I'll have a brief mention on that here later. Okay, your communications person and Chad and Brody. So, Mrs. Schmidt should be very much tied to the hip. I would honestly recommend not for my legal fees to increase, I understand, to make sure everything goes out and through a legal lens to make sure the exclamation points are gone. That sounds dumb, but if you're excited, you think you're going to vote for a levy. Any sort of information that skews one way or another has to go through a review and it needs to be factual on its face and that's it. Okay. So those are your statutes that are there for what is permissible. You can publish and distribute newsletters all you want. Communicate about plans, policies, operations of your

091school district. You all are doing that. Um for some of you who do know, I am a resident of the district. I've been getting the mailers. Your regular mailers, regular provision of information is what will help you if you decide to pass, not pass, if you decide to move forward with a levy because you can provide additional information at that point because you already have done it, right? It is when you're starting to provide new information that becomes a problem. You can't do anything that supports or opposes. You can't pay any of your administrators for the bottom one to spend time advocating for a levy. So, in years past, we've told our superintendents and treasures at school districts around the state, your contract, your raise is tied to passage of levy. We we can't do

092that anymore. We can't put passage of levy in their evaluation or not passage of a levy. That doesn't work. We can't require our administrators to be on a levy committee to help run a levy committee. Especially when your administrators in central office don't really work a 9-to-f5, right? A Monday through Friday. It becomes very hard to separate when they are Mr. Lewis superintendent versus Mr. Lewis parent and resident. That becomes very different. And so your superintendent, your treasurer, your assistant supers need to all be information providers to the community. your levy committee and board members not at board meetings are the ones who are going out and advocating for passage or opposition to levy however you so choose. Okay. Um some very things for the auditor's FAQ. This is what came out in 2023. It's

093a link. If you want it, read it. It is it is a simple FAQ. It is not anything astronomical. But the very basics of it is you provide information. Everything is information. I'm going to go quick because you don't need me to read. Fair. and I've talked about it. Anything that's factual, newsletters, financial reports, board policies, actions, procedures, what I want to be clear on is if the board is ever considering this is what will happen if this doesn't pass, right? What that plan will look like, whether that's cost containment or whatever else, that needs to be a board approved plan before it is ever communicated out to the public. because you cannot have your administration say here's what will happen if the levy doesn't pass if it's not board approved because then that will

094be seen as promotion of the levy and so we need to be very careful about what those structures look like okay and that is just uh I am truthfully sometimes I'm the type of attorney who's like let's let's push the envelope a little bit in terms of what we can do versus what we can't do not when your criminal record is on the line I'm going to be very buttoned up on that one Okay. Um, what is allowed? You can't influence everything factual. You can say, "Please go vote," but you can't tell people how to cast their vote. If, as an administration, as principles, as superintendents, you go out every November and you say, "Don't forget today's voting day." Fine. If you only do that on levy voting days, that's a problem. We can't do

095that anymore. Okay. Um, just trying to go over any more what is new. We've talked about all of those applications. Advanced public awareness is what you're engaging in right now. If you say things on social media, I would still have legal review if they're coming out of Sycamore. If you have a social media page for you as a board member, right? If it is Mr. Valent, you want to be clear on anything you send out on Levy, if you're pro or against, whatever that may be, that you are putting it out on a personal page, not your board member page, right? Or if you have an ex account. I don't know that anybody has ex accounts anymore, but you know what I mean. Um, so common practices again, you can't post anything that supports or

096oppose. It is all neutral. Anything you do needs to be in regular course of communication. If you do mailers and postcards, do so every election, not in levy times only. Use of school employees. We've talked about can't be on working time. You cannot allow employees to wear pro levy buttons, pro levy t-shirts, anti- levy buttons, anti-vy t-shirts, even down to, and this is where I say the auditor specifically calls out coaches. Uses as an example, a football coach cannot come to a Friday night football game with a vote yes for a levy button on his shirt. Can't happen. That is considered a violation. And that will be a problem for the school district and the coach because he is paid for however much a supplemental contract holder can be paid for the pennies on the

097probably hour that are given. I understand right when we are looking in those moments if they are supporting Sycamore. They are working for Sycamore. They are volunteering for Sycamore in that time. They should not be promoting or opposing the levy at those moments. >> But a school board member could go to a football game with a pro levy t-shirt on. >> Correct. >> Anti- levy. >> Correct. You can't come to a school board meeting with it on, but you can go to a a football game. You can go to an orchestra concert and you can do any of those things and wear your opposition or proposition. Yeah. Okay. Um, any of those. So, buttons saying you voted fine. Having shirts that say vote for this, don't vote for that, not okay during the school day.

098Wearing just education, the future depends on it buttons, those are broad. That's not an issue. It's the specific tied to a levy issue. We're not going to get into this saying, "Okay, well, now it's a political issue." For those who have been around for a while, if we remember um Senate Bill 5, right, when we're talking about decimating public education, there's a first amendment right for your staff members to wear that into school. Fine. It was not a levy issue. The levy issue will be something different. Okay? Um use of school employees. Again, I cannot stress enough if you have some employees who we want to go out and present information. So, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Burson, if you're going to go out and present information, you're going to keep a really good calendar of what

099you're doing and when, and making sure you're keeping records for how you're providing the information, what you provided on what date, so that it's particular to information facts only, so that we are not spun into anything else. If a meeting, if you are invited to a city of Blue Ash meeting that I heard earlier from Mr. friend. Fantastic. Information only. And then if there gets to be a debate, pro or against, you're out. We're we're not having any of your administration in those conversations. >> So a PTO meeting, a PTO meeting would be the same thing. You're there at a PTO meeting. You're discussing a levy. You're talking about finances and things like that. Some parents start to talk about pros and cons against the levies and all that other stuff. We need to check

100out of that. >> Your administrators need to check out of that. Correct. They're there to present information from the five of you. If you're at a PTO meeting, you're not at a board meeting. You're allowed to be a private citizen. >> Even if I go as a >> If you go as a board member, you're not being paid as a board member at that point in time. It walks a funny line. I'd prefer you go as a private citizen for pure cleanliness of your criminal record. Erin, I know they've waffled back and forth between when we are we are 247 employees, we're not 247 employees. We can take vacation time, which I don't intend to do to u be a parent, but like can you just clarify can are we 247 employees? Are we not

101247 employees? It seems like it just keeps shifting on us and I'm trying to keep up with whether or not we are or not. I would tell you right now that I don't feel legally you're in a safe position to not be a 247 employee. I would not want to I mean and can't say that as an attorney. I'm always ready to defend a case. Let's go. But why? If you cannot have to defend a case, why go ahead and let's make the smarter choices. Information only. You have community members that just heard from the group of them, right? who are out here and want to support the school district and whatever that looks like. Rely on your school district, rely on your community members, rely on your board members who can go out and

102do that. The board is who's the governing body here. The board is who needs to go out and support or oppose or whatever it individually wants to do. Okay. Um any school employee participation in pro levy. So if you have teachers, it's on their own time. stop using school email. So, any teacher or any employee who uses a sycamore school email, even in the evenings, it can't happen. We can't be using any of our school emails or school devices or Chromebooks, any of that for promotion or opposition of the levy. Um, none of your school employees should be managing money. That needs to all be separate both for hourly and salaried employees. And then these are just quotes from the auditor just to highlight for you that is a confusion of when and how district

103leaders can take part. And I will tell you that they are very clear in it's a it's not a clear line. They're so clear that it's fuzzy that I would tell you not to engage in it during your 247 working. You have a right to participate on your own time and your own dime. It's harder for administrators, but as I said earlier for board members outside of a paid board meeting, you're good. I would just really be clear. You're there in your personal capacity. Sorry. >> So, if we were to walk the community in support of a levy, can we introduce ourselves as I'm Paul Balon, I'm a school board member. I'm here to talk to you for or against the levy. >> Yes. >> Would you correct it? >> Yes. Yes. So, your board

104email simply because you don't want it to ever cross lines should only be board business. Personal email, you can be that your time, your dime, private citizen, personal, private rights. Absolutely. >> Just make sure you guys are using your microphones because when you ask a question, people can't hear you at home. >> And so, okay, we get paid to be at a board meeting. >> Yep. But we do get, don't we get some type of pay because we can receive so much pay. There's like a $5,000 we're allowed to receive a year. Isn't there some extra pay that we're allowed to get for other things or is that related to conferences? >> No, that would only be just just for board meetings only. And we can >> That's for when we because like if we

105went to Ohio school board when we go to the conference. >> Yep. That's just reimbursements. I'm just trying to make sure that it's really only physically when we're at a board meeting. >> Correct. >> Right. >> That is when you are on board time, board time. >> Okay. >> I would say that the extra caution I would have right now >> because we have board committees and we go to them. That's why I'm asking. We're not getting paid for the committee time, but we're we're there as board members on a committee. >> But as a board committee, you're there as if it's a board committee. It is a board meeting. And so I hate I'm not I'm emphasizing it to stupidity. I understand. But that is not when like even if you're not paid for

106it, it's a board meeting. Can't do pro or anti- levy work at a board meeting or board committee meeting. >> Okay? And that's why I'm making sure that we say that because we don't always get paid for things that we go to under our as a job as a board meeting. So like SAC is a board committee. Our business advisory is a board committee. policy is a board committee. So that's work. That's work for us. That's board work. So therefore, that's those during those times as well. Correct. Even though we're not getting paid. >> And realistically, each one of us like is going to be there with you. So if we're present, you know, you can't >> really have that conversation. >> Correct. >> That's a good way to look at it with >> a

107reminder for ourselves that we burn it into our brains. Right. Well, and then if you happen to wear a button, and I don't even know that people make campaign buttons anymore, you take it off. If you happen to wear the shirt, turn it inside out. I I mean, there are ways to go about it. I say the care that I would take is we know that the board president can at times speak on behalf of the board. So, Mr. Harris will have to have a bit more caution on what he says on social media and making any big public statements. >> That just worried everybody with my name and caution. So, >> good to know. >> Just putting that out there. Um, so these are the pieces that we can remind school administrators about and

108making sure that they keep it external if needed for teachers, for principles, making sure there is no use of district equipment, district computers for any promotion. I I I wish I didn't have to stress that enough, but I do. Um, all social media accounts need to be pretty well called while we're doing this. If it is a board account, you're not putting any levy information on your well levy promotion or opposition on your account. Okay. And I think that might be it. You're allowed to answer all questions. You're allowed to go to trainings. Um, clearly you're allowed to be paid to be at a meeting where you're training. So, this is all perfectly acceptable. Uh, I know that Mr. Lewis and I have had conversations about is it okay if my administrators go to training

109and are paid? Yes, that's acceptable for them to know what's legal and not legal. Fine. That is not an issue. um you are now the five of you are the ones really focused on being responsible for if you put a levy on promotion or opposition in your personal time. That's where that is. It doesn't sit anymore with the people around you. And I think that's the biggest takeaway from where we've been. >> I know this is a silly question, but it happens like I'm ass I'm assuming it probably happens to them as just as much as me. People reach out and they send an email and I hate ignoring them, but it comes to my district email and they say, "Well, how can I get involved in the levy?" And I don't know whether I

110should answer them or not. Like, I don't really know what to tell them. Do I direct them to Victor? Do I direct them off like our district email? Like, I don't want to not respond to people because I don't want them to think, well, he's just ignoring me. But I don't really have a good answer of like what to do with those people that are reaching out. So I think the very basics of it could be I can't tell you for or against. I'm very limited in what I can tell you. So we give a response and if you want the contact information for those in charge of the levy committee for and against. So if you have an against levy committee who is out there, great. Here's the contact information. If you have a

111for levy committee person, here's their contact information and you stay out. You're neutral. We're providing the baseline. Okay. Mhm. Um, and that is it. I tried to be short, simple, and sweet. I'm not always good at being short. >> You had mentioned something earlier in your slides about a board approved plan. You said make sure it's board approved. Can you um can you repeat that because I I want and and I also want to know is that like the PowerPoint presentation that we may put together as a factual presentation that our committee I mean where where does that exactly line up and can you tell us the process for that? >> So factual information in and of itself coming out of your superintendent treasures offices doesn't bother me. If we're putting together a plan as

112a board or as a district to say if assuming we put a levy on sake of argument, okay, if the levy doesn't pass, here's what's going to happen. That here's what's going to happen. Whether you call it here the potential cuts or cost containment or any other fancy way of calling it, that plan needs to be board approved because otherwise that's not what the board is saying is going to happen. That's your administration. And the question becomes, is your administration now advocating for passage of the levy without something that's been board approved for information? >> And is that like a like a contingency plan kind of thing? >> Correct. It it's informing your public to say, look, here's what's going to happen. If we go for x amount of money and we approve this levy

113on the ballot, fine. And if it doesn't pass, we are going to look at and districts in years past have said, "We're going to bring transportation. We're going to cut that away from the high school line. Won't do that here. We're going to within the two miles is not going to happen. We're going to do all of these pieces. We're going to get rid of extracurriculars." I'm not saying that's anything we're considering here. I'm saying in general, right, when talking levies, this has historically been conversational elements from boards or from districts to their communities. If the levy doesn't pass, XYZ will happen. Well, that XYZ needs to be a plan from the board just for true. I mean, that is a belt and suspenders approach that I would rather this board have for the protection

114of this board and the administrators. So, no one is caught with allegations saying you advocated for a levy when really you did not. And then what about if um if we have some type of presentation that is being used a factual presentation that's being used to share with the community. Does that have to be board approved? >> Not typically. No. There factual pieces that have been presented to the board. Okay. >> None of that. >> And then what about um I know that I bring this up because I remember learning something about this at the conference. Do we need to have legal review that >> your factual information? >> Yeah, >> I would strongly suggest your communications out if you decide to go with a levy. Yourformational mailers communications should all be looked at with

115the review of is this legal? You don't have to, but I strongly suggest it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And that's because if we accidentally put an exclamation point on it then >> correct right >> correct that's advocating >> I know or the don't forget >> comment in the wrong place or you know >> Yes. Yes. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Thank you. This was good information to know. >> Um and again we will be hearing more and more and more about this as things go on but thank you very much. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. And last but certainly not least, all right, is our child nutrition presentation. And this is an annual presentation that is uh comes from child nutrition. So, thank you very

116much for being here and thank you for your patience. >> Thank you for having me. Um, good evening. I think there's only one person in here who I haven't met before, but I'm Liz Homeright, child nutrition director. Um, always excited to come before the board. Um you're going to notice that this is a presentation about 2425 school year, which feels like 10 years ago. Um but we've been really busy in child nutrition this year. So um we're going to start out going through 2024. Um and then I'll give you kind of high level of what we've been going through this year um to really improve our program. So um I'm in charge of the clicker, which is a problem. I'm going to start out with our mission and goals, which um I will admit it's

117been a couple years since I've actually reviewed the mission and vision for Sycamore. So um hearing it today was really nice. It um actually showed me how much our mission goes along with that same mission for the district. Um so this is something we've been working on for this school year. Um, we've set it to fueling Sycamore for academic excellence, empowering students through highquality nutrition and wellness to reach their full potential in the classroom and beyond. Um, child nutrition is um, a specialty within schools. We're often thinking about schools and we're thinking about teaching and learning. Um, but the things that you'll talk to a principal about that dictate their schedule every day are buses, um, meals in the middle of the day, and there's something else that I can't think about, but I know

118it's a thing. Um, so what we do in our program is we really set goals, um, to make sure that our standards meet the levels that we want them to. Um, and that nutrition excellence is our number one goal. So, um, the goals that you're going to see, these are ongoing goals. Um, first is about operational integrity. Um, this is to maintain an audit ready program daily. Um, if you don't know, our program is regulated by the USDA and Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Um, because of this, they set all these standards and guidelines that we're regulated to follow. Um, and every 5 years the state then comes in and they audit every single piece of our program from financials to inventory to staffing um, and spending. So, um, really what this goal is

119set to achieve is that we stay ready for that audit rather than making sure that we're ready um, and working towards getting ready. Uh, second goal is student engagement. Um this is driving participation through menu variety and positive interaction. Um participation is actually the best metric of success for child nutrition programs. So essentially the more kids that eat with our program, the more successful that we are. So um we treat our students like customers. Um we act like we're a restaurant. We have eight of them and they're very successful. Um and we focus on menu variety and putting the student culture first. So, making sure that we're meeting their wants, their desires, and that they're feeling safe in the kitchen and in the cafeteria to eat our meals. Um, third goal is about fiscal responsibility.

120Um, this is remaining 100% self- sustaining. Um, a point of pride for our department is that we do not take any funds from the general fund. Um, we continue to manage all of our costs including food, um, inventory, personnel, um, equipment. Um all of that is sustained by the um revenue that we're receiving from selling our meals. Um something to always be proud of. Um especially that we don't have to touch the taxpayer dollar. We talked a lot about taxpayer dollars today. So I wanted to put that point there. Okay. Um talking a little bit more got to switch the slide about operational integrity. This is that audit ready standard. Um, so you'll notice the four points on this slide are talking about um things that are part of a of a of an audit

121every year that we go through it. So what they're looking at is nutrition compliance, fiscal accountability, safety and sanitation, and administrative accuracy. So um this slide is really to prove to you that we are in compliance with all these all these standards. Um, we provide meals for nutrition compliance that meet strict federal um, restrictions on calories, sodium, fat, sugars, whole grains, even portion sizes. Um, for fiscal accountability, this is anywhere from what we're spending to how we're spending it. So, how we're procuring goods, the inventory that's on our shelves, how much we're spending to um, staff our kitchens. Um, so this is the meticulous tracking of that, making sure that we have good recordkeeping and that we're keeping those for the amount of time that we're required to. Um, safety and sanitation is maintaining um,

122a HASSIP certified kitchen. Um, HASSUP stands for hazard analysis and critical control points. Um, really what I think of there is critical control points. Those are your areas of concern where there may be issues of food contamination, foodborne illness. Um, so all of our kitchens are all HASSUP certified. They all go through um byianual food safety inspections. Um, we have plenty of clean kitchen awards that we received for three years in a row for I think at this point we're at seven of 10 or seven of eight. So that's pretty amazing. Um, and then administrative accuracy is really talking about um, recordkeeping again, but um, managing the free and reduced applications that we receive. So, at this point, we're at hundreds of applications every year. Um, this is our office team working through processing of

123those applications, making sure that it has all of the information provided for us to give eligibility for free and reduced meals for those families. Um, because if there's even a small amount of error on that application and we happen to have an audit, um, we face fiscal penalties. So, um, this is tons of work, um, and really important for our program. Okay. Um, next we're going to talk about student engagement. Um, I included operational performance in here because that participation standard. So, participation is our measure for success. So, um, before I dive into specific building data that we're going to go through next, um, I really want to highlight the big picture. Our program isn't just meeting the standards, we're scaling the standards. Um on here you'll see that last year we served 36,000 more

124meals than the year before. That's a huge number. Um before that we're at 60,000 more more meals from 2223 to 2425. So that is a giant jump. Um there's lots of factors that are involved in this. Um but it's also meaning that we are having to make big changes in how we're doing things. Efficiency how many people are doing what what we're serving. Um, and it's really amazing and it's a great a testament to um the hard work that's happening in the field. Um, how amazing our teams are, how hard they're working. Um, I'm really proud of it. I'm going to say that a zillion times tonight. Um, next up is strategic menu innovation. So, this is aligning offerings with student preferences. Um, we in general annually send out a survey directly to our students,

125um, asking them what they like about our menus, what they hate about our menus, and they'll be very honest, let me tell you. Um, and we also ask them for recommendations. Um, some of those recommendations are amazing, some of them are as crazy as, um, catering Chick-fil-A. So, um, we have a fun time reviewing those. um to give you a good example of what that looks like and what our process is when we do receive those surveys. Um I'm going to talk about sushi. So last year um we had tons of students that their prerogative was sushi. It needed to hit our menus. If it didn't, they were all going to leave us. They never wanted to eat with us again. Um that's what they had to say. It was great. Um so our process

126in that in that is to do the research. So we did. Um we went to our vendors. We told them that we wanted sushi. How are they going to make it happen? Needs to fit our nutrition guidelines. We have to be able to afford it and it has to taste good. Ultimately, we did find a product. That product did not taste good. It did not have good quality and it was too expensive. So, um, just showing you kind of what that picture looks like. We love the feedback from our students. We're always doing everything we can to try and bring in the items that they want to see, take off the items that they don't want to see. Um, but we always have to meet those three lenses of is the quality there? Does it

127taste good? Does it have a good texture? Um, does it meet guidelines? And can we afford it? Can we afford to serve it to every single one of our students? Okay. And last one on this slide is operational excellence. Um, maintaining high service standards while managing record-breaking volume. So those 60,000 meals additional, obviously we need to make sure that we're still being kind while we're serving them. Um, this one really shows us that yes, our team cares. We have a team that wants to be in the cafeterias. They want to work directly with our students. They care about what the food tastes like and they're showing it. Um, so this is them just keeping up with those standards. Um, and really showing us how much they care. Okay. Um, let's talk about some actual data

128now. So, this is 2425 breakfast data. Um what I really want to highlight is um total breakfast meals served. Um we hit almostund 105,000 breakfast last school year averaging at about 467 meals per day. Um what I'm going to show you here is that that percentage of participation is only 11.74%. Um what I'm also going to tell you is that we're actually really proud of that number. Um, where we struggle with breakfast programs more than anything is we have tons of competition. Our parents are serving our kids. They're making a complete breakfast for them before they leave the house. Um, they're going to Starbucks. Kids are definitely going to Starbucks and they're getting, you know, those little egg omelettes that everyone's obsessed with. Um, tons of competition. So 11.744% might not seem like that much,

129but other competition that we're seeing is also um bus schedules um actual schedules for our students. So when there's five minutes for a student to sit down, eat their whole breakfast, and then make it to class on time after their bus was 5 minutes late, we're competing. So we're really proud of this. We are seeing actual continued increases year-over-year. Um from 23 to 24 um 23 24 to 2425 there was a 1% increase and the same last year. So we're feeling really good about that. It's a great metric. Um the other piece I want to say about our breakfast program that it's a struggle with all throughout the state, all throughout really child nutrition programs in general is um we're often seen as serving only sugar. Um, this is something we struggle with constantly. Um,

130the main thing in our programs is the sugar is what the kids want to eat. So, we talked about wanting to create a menu that the students want to eat and they're going to continue to come by come for. Um, and these thriving numbers that we're seeing on this slide are because we're serving some of those sugar items. Now, um, I love nutrition. Obviously, I'm incredibly passionate about it. um I don't want to just serve them sugar either. So, what we've been doing this year is really to while we're going to continue serving those cinnamon rolls that all our kids are obsessed with, um we're also going to serve some protein heavy items. We're going to make our own breakfast sandwiches. We're going to have um burritos that are different for our students. Um while

131those are some of our least purchased items, at least we're trying. Um, we provide a fresh yogurt with a yogurt parfait at our high schools that all of our kids really love. We do fresh smoothies that we make homemade. Um, I will say our high school level programs really have more room for success because the price point is higher. So, we're able to provide them with items that cost a little bit more and have a lot more nutritional value. Um, but I always also like to remind our community that just because we're serving those sugar items, we're going to call them sugar items, doesn't mean that they're the same sugar items that you're seeing in the store. So, I can serve donuts, but those donuts have limitations on how much sugar can be in them,

132how many calories are in them, how much sodium is in it. Um, they're not the doughnuts you're buying at Crispy Cream covered in glaze. They're not. They don't taste like it either, I'll be honest. Um, but it's just something that I like to share. Um, breakfast programs, they have a hard time, but I'm really proud of what we're doing. Okay. Um, looking at actual building data, this is a good um, visual showing you how we're doing from building to building at breakfast. Um, the building I want to highlight is our high school. Um, 11% is the highest of all the district. Um, I'm going to not mention St. Sicilia in the end because that's a totally different district. Um 11% at 181 average meals per day. So high school has three breakfast periods meaning kids

133can come before school, they can come after first bell, they can come after second bell and after third bell. I'm sorry I miss I added an extra. But that means that when kids start to get hungry, they can still get a breakfast. That's driving our participation up in that building. Um, I think where that building also struggles is some of those students don't come to school in the morning. So, if we didn't have those additional breakfast periods, they wouldn't have access. Um, you're always really going to see a little bit of a dip in the secondary levels. So, you'll see a small decrease junior high in green. Um, that's because of those really tight schedules that those buildings are seeing. The secondary level adds extracurriculars. They add extra scheduled items. So, um, we've been trying

134to combat that at eh green with two locations at breakfast. We've had those for a couple years. Um, that can be successful. Um, we're going to continue that metric at junior high as well. And then, um, while they're smaller percentages at our elementarymentaries, they're always growing. All of them have at least a 1% increase. Um, showing that the team that works there is really, um, providing a morning of excitement for those students and bringing back the same customers daily. Um, and finally, the reason I left St. Cecilia on its own is this is a prochial school that we provide just meal service for. Um, they have a stable number that's sat at 37% um, simply because they have a ton of free and reduced students there in the district. Um, we're seeing the exact same

135students come to breakfast every single day in this building and the exact same students coming to lunch every single day in this building. So, um, we love to see the stable participation. and we're happy with what we can do for them. Okay, jumping into lunch participation. Again, the giant numbers I'm going to highlight. Um, last year we served over 450,000 lunch meals. Um, I'm saying meals specifically because this doesn't count all the extra entre that we served. So, that doesn't count the extra chicken sandwich or the extra chicken nuggets that we served for Billy who got four entre in one day. This is just meals. So, this number is probably double that number. That's also 26,000 more meals than the year before. So, giant increase. Um, averaging at about 2,700 meals per day. Um, and

136at 47% participation. Um, I have to stress how high 47% is. We are so close to 50% of our students eating in our in our um, cafeterias. Um, and our free and reduced participation is actually very high. Um, it's an it's an odd thing that happens, but sometimes free and reduced buildings with free and reduced participation that's higher. We still have less students that eat. We are seeing tons of participation from those students. What's your question? >> Yeah, I'm going to ask a quick question. This is not a gotcha question at all, so I hope it doesn't come out like that. What is I'm just curious because I don't think people in our community are really aware. What is our percentage of students on free and reduced lunch in the district? >> I think you

137know what my next slide is. We can talk about that. Oh, you got two more slides, but I'll I'll share it with you. Don't you worry. Don't you worry. Um, let me finish up with lunch and then I got you. Okay. Okay. Let's go to actual building data. Um, again, these numbers look amazing. Um, I definitely want to highlight eh green here at 63%. Um, this is a team of seven that work in that kitchen and they serve over 550 meals on average daily. They also have very tight schedules for lunch with almost zero time in between and by zero I mean four minutes. That's not enough time. Um, so 63% what's this showing is that it's this is completely ingrained in the culture. The students want to come to lunch. They're excited to come

138to lunch. Kids are running through the lunchroom and they are very very excited for what they get to eat. Um, also always want to highlight our high school. Um, they're serving the same number of meals as EH Green. They have 14 staff members, by the way. Um, but they're probably serving um, three times as many additional entre. So, really what that number would look like is closer to 800 meals per day, which is amazing. Um, I do want to say junior high staying stable here. We talked about um, kind of the volatility of the secondary buildings and all the things that they have going on. and their their schedules are just packed. They have extracurriculars, all the things. Um we actually take stable participation as a win. Um we don't want to see a loss.

139So um keeping this age group at a stable participation really means that the same kids are coming back and they want to eat what we're providing. Um never want to not highlight our elementarymentaries. Um these are completely different demographics at each of our buildings. Um they all have the same menu, so sometimes that can be really tough. Some kids at one building might absolutely love the French toast and some kids might want to throw it on the floor. That's a lie. They all love the French toast. Um, but we're seeing great participation here. Um, I'm going to be honest with you. I think the 37% under Sims is incorrect. I think that's supposed to be 57. So, please ignore that that value. Um, and then again, St. Cecilia, you're seeing 73%. That's that stable percentage.

140It's grown 1%, but um, that's because they've actually grown in number of students. Um, okay. Let's talk about free and reduced. You got it, Victor. Um, I want you to first look at the image on the right hand side. Um, I'm comparing fiscal year 22 23 to the to the last school year. Um, and that's simply because 11% was what our district sat at for about eight years. Um, so that was the standard that we set. Um, since that year, we've seen a a growth increase of at least 3% each year. um we're up to 18.54%. Um this is attributed to the additional work that we're doing in the office to make sure all families that could be eligible are actually applying for the program. It's also um a good representation of state support. So

141um expanded eligibility for Medicare students. Um it's also just the society that we're living in. That's what we're seeing. There's growth percentages in a lot of those districts that um we would call um as having a lot of money. So 7.54% over two and a half years is really great. Um I always want to point out the ones that are doing well. So SIMS 8.82% increase at almost 24%. Green with a 2.85% at almost 20%. Um, what I will say is while you see some decreases in the elementary, that's because some of these students are going to green. Some of them are going to the the the junior high or they're going to other districts. It doesn't mean that they're failing or that that participation is because we're not seeking those individuals to apply for

142the program. It's just movement. That's it more than anything. Um, and always we have our outlier of St. Cecilia who's 83%. What I will point out with this piece, I know that's not sycamore specific, but they're 83% free and reduced and we have, what did I say? 73% participation. So only 10% of those free and reduced students aren't eating with us, which is really amazing. >> Miss Helbride, I think it's also important to point out you're providing the students of St. Cecilia, the same experience that you're providing for Sycamore students. Without you being there, they would not have that experience and they would not have that ability to have that level of nutrition. And I'm not speaking ill of any of the outsourced companies, but they are not putting in the effort >> for choice

143and student voice that you are uh to ensure that those students are getting a really good meal. So, I mean, I think that's a one of those I don't know that our community knows that we serve at St. Cecilia and it was a partnership that we've had for a number of years, but to be able to continue to do that provides a great service to students that would otherwise not have it. >> Agreed. Yeah. Um, Oakley, St. Cecil is in Oakley, if you don't know. Obviously, it's not directly in our community. Um, but those community members are also voting members of the state of Ohio. So, um, where the partnership started was a director a couple years ago. She, um, coordinated a couple different programs. Um, and really what this does for that community is,

144you're right, Chad, they might not have access to meals at all if we weren't there. Um, we had other um, other parochial schools reach out to us in the past that have said, "We have the whole program, but we don't have the administrative support to run it. We can't run those free and reduced applications. We can't create the menus. We don't know what those federal guidelines are. Um, it's a ton of additional administrative work. I'm not going to lie to you. Um, we have thought about adding additional prochial schools within our community to help support this. Um, but most of the time what you're seeing with that is just adding more burden to us. And I never want to take away the standard for our Sycamore schools. So, for now, we focus on this and

145we grow as we can. Okay. I'm going to go into financial standing. This was another one of those goals. This is just us again proving um compliance within those standards. Um talking about financial health. So I'm very proud always to um say that we are still in the black. Um this is for 2425 school year, but um we are also in the black for 2627. Um, what this really looks like is us just making sure that we are spending appropriately. The revenue that we have coming in, we are putting towards the right things. Um, federal compliance is um there is federal law just like in uh the regular general fund that um dictates us having a certain amount of extra cash in our funds. um that uh regulation says that we can only have three

146months of operating costs within our budget or we have a spendown plan in place. So um we are in excess of those those three months expenditures. Um and we have had a plan for multiple years for how we improve our programs. Um we use this excess funds rather than thinking of it as just spending as um a strategic reinvestment into our program. So, the district has been upgrading our buildings for years. I mean, four brand new absolutely beautiful buildings. Not maybe all brand new, but the kitchens are gorgeous. Um we've been working with that excess spending um with the spendown plan to continue that movement into those kitchens to make sure every elementary student has the same experience that not just Sims who went through the remodel is seeing all the beautiful signage, all of

147the new equipment, all of the um cleanliness and all of the things that come with a new kitchen. So, um, not only are we we reinvesting them into our physical spaces, um, but also into our staff. Um, we talked about all those crazy growing numbers and our staff on the front lines need fair wages. Um, it's been something that I am incredibly proud of this district for continuing to work on over the last couple years. Started with exempt staff last year, continuing with the Oopsy agreement coming up soon. Um, very proud of that work. I will say um without our staff, we couldn't do these things. So, we're happy for that investment. We've planned for what that would look like long term. Um and that's where we would um that's where we think is most

148important for us to reinvest. Okay, before I keep rambling, um meal rate stability. So, obviously I'm talking about all these excess funds. Um what this really means is that there will be no price increases for the meals for the upcoming school year. Um this is a calculation that is provided from the state. It's based on all of the funds that you have. Um as long as you are in excess, you do not need to increase unless you see concerns of um food cost increases, labor cost increases that you don't think that your current budget can withhold. So we're in a good spot. We are not going to see any increases into next school year. Um and finally, account management. So, this is just really proactive monitoring of negative account balances. Um, we created a uh

149meal charge guidelines um internal procedure last school year um to really hone in what this means. Um we what that what those guidelines include are specific standards that every student's going to get a meal no matter what their negative student balance is. Um we're going to give them a meal. Now, it does need to be a complete meal. They can't have chips. they can't have drinks. Um, but we're going to feed them if they're hungry, and that's not something we'll take away. But for fiscal accountability, we still have to proactively look at those negative student balances and include them in our budgeting. So, this is us um making sure to send weekly announcements to our f to our families who are in the negative. Um, working with community support. Um, we've been working quite a

150bit with um Operation I'm sorry, not Operation Give Back. Um, Sycamore Bridges. They provided tons of donations for our department for um student negative balances. We've had tons of anonymous donators this year. It's really fantastic. Um but this is just making sure that this is something we keep our eye on. Okay. Um this is actually a picture of those finances from 2425. Um as you can see, we started with a really healthy cash balance at the beginning of 2425 of 1.8 million. Um, going into what revenue looked like for that year, we spent about 3.1 million. Um, most of that, I'm sorry, not spent, we received about 3.1 million. Um, most of that you're seeing is coming from our sales. Um, that's the sales of all of our snacks, drinks, ice cream, any catering that

151we're doing. Um, it's also the sales of the meals for our students that pay full price. Um the second highest um revenue source that we have is state and federal funding. So that is actually the reimbursements that we receive from the state for those free and reduced price meals that we're providing. They're reimbursing from us for those costs. Um under expenses, we um spent just a little less than $3.1 million. Um most of our cost is in personnel, something that I will say I am proud of. This means that we have the right staff in our buildings and that we're providing them with the right finan financials that they deserve. Um, again, something that we're always working on. Um, and our next second cost is food and supplies. Um, that's pretty normal. Most of what

152you're going to see in most food service programs are those two giant costs. Um, but I what I really want to highlight here is our net profit. So, we're talking millions in this budget that we're talking about. A net profit of only $12,000. It's a tiny margin and that's something that we're proud of because that means we're spending and we're receiving appropriately. We don't want to have a net profit. That's a ton of money. We want to make sure that everything that we're doing that our prices are appropriate. We're not making way too much money by what we're selling and we're also not spending way too much. Um I will say our expenses for this school year have been quite a bit more than this and that's because our spendown plan has been kicked into

153motion. um th some of those big costs are really happening this school year. Um so a net profit in in another year might be negative and we're going to be okay with that if our starting balance is okay. Okay. All right. I promise this is my last one for 2425. Um we're going to talk about nutrition guidelines um and compliance. Really the reason you were here, yes, Victor, is because I have to be here. um Ohio Revised Code mandates that every year we go through um governance that we are following all district policies um and that we are serving food that we're allowed to be serving. So, um we are 100% compliant with all food and beverages that are being sold. Um they're meeting all of the federal nutrition guidelines. Um, I also want to

154highlight here that the 2425 school year um focused their nutrition guidelines on these three points of interest. Um, simply as kind of a reminder to our community about all the things that we're um going through while we're menu planning. So, vegetable subgroups is one of those first things. Um, this has been going on for a couple years, but it was something that was definitely highlighted in 2425. um every week for a menu that we plan. Um in that 5-day period, we have to provide all five vegetable subgroups. Um we're not just planning a menu because a vegetable sounds good for it. Um we are meeting those subgroups. So those include dark green vegetables. Those are things like spinach that are super high in iron. Um red orange vegetables are carrots. um things in the carrot

155category that are super high in vitamin A, so really good for your eyes. Um beans and legumes, that's your black beans. Um those are going to be um really high in fiber, which keep you full for longer um and keep you thinking harder. Um starchy vegetables are things like corn and potatoes. Um these really give your brain fuel. There's they're your quick energy sources, so they're going to get your brain working right away. Um, and then there's actually a vegetable subgroup called other vegetables. Um, they could have been more creative with it, but um, these are your vegetables like cucumbers and onions. Um, they're generally going to be really high in water content, but also really high in vitamins and minerals. Um, the reason that they have this subgroup included is because those are volume

156fillers. So, that's going to add volume to your plate without adding a ton of additional cal calories to that planned meal. Um, so it's really interesting. Uh, second one is sodium. I feel like I've been talking about sodium my entire life. Um, but we are compliant with this mandate. It was for last school year a 15% reduction from previous values. Um, it says target 1A and really what that means is USDA um created a system where it's a slow introduction into decreasing sodium. So the elementary for example um to plan a specific meal for a student we have to keep the sodium levels below 1100 mg. Um to put that into perspective a fast food meal from a regular restaurant um is generally planned above 2,000 milligrams um which is actually your recommended daily value.

157So um this is the first step. I think we've done a really great job um getting to that level. And I think um really where we struggle with it is that the food service industry is having a hard time catching up. Removing sodium is a giant ingredient that helps with pres preservation and flavor. Um so we go slowly so that they can keep up. Um and then last one is whole grain rich. Um so we did meet the 80% threshold. Um, what that means is that 80% of the grains that we serve in a five-day period have to be whole grain rich. Um, not a lot of people know what whole grain rich means. Um, to put it really simply, you think about a whole grain, which is literally a whole grain. So, a grain

158of wheat. Um, a grain of wheat includes the outer shell, which has um fiber, tons of fiber in it. Um, there's the inner cavity that has essential vitamins and minerals. And then there's the germ which is the inside. Um that's all your brain fuel and your quick energy. So enriched grains on the other hand um they go through processing and the outer shell and the inner inner cavity they are both removed. They're called enriched grains because just the germ remains and they enrich it with those vitamins and minerals that are removed during the processing process. Um so the reason this happens is for extended shelf life. um also for texture. Um but you can see why it's really important for us to serve those whole grain-rich items um and why our um compliance with this

159is really important. Okay, last one. Smart snack standards. Um there is a common misconception with all of our snacks. This is our vended items. So snacks, drinks, ice cream, those extra entre um that maybe they're less healthy than what we're serving as part of our complete meals. Um, I like to kill this misconception because those items that we're serving are sometimes more regulated than what we're serving as part of the meal. So, to meet USDA Smart Snack guidelines, um, a product first has to have their first ingredient in the ingredient statement be a fruit, a vegetable, a dairy product, a protein, or a whole grain. Once it meets that, then it goes into does it have the right amount of calories, sodium, fat, sugar. So, less than 200 calories, less than 200 milligrams of sodium,

160less than 35% fat, um, based on the amount of calories, and then 35% of the weight and sugar. So, there's tons of snacks out there that we would love to serve. The kids love, they ask for constantly, but they don't meet those standards, so we can't serve them. Um, I like to kill this m misconception because again, the Doritos we're serving are not the same as what you're seeing in um, a regular grocery store. So, we are compliant with this piece. Um, it's something we're always working on. We're always taking taking recommendations. Always want to serve more. Okay, that's all I have for last year. Anyone have questions? Good. Okay, so um, talking about this year again, it's been crazy. Um, I like to always highlight three areas where we're seeing lots of change. Um,

161first one is our team. Um, I'm always really proud to report that we are 99% fully staffed with the exception of one position. Um, this position we're actually hoping to post in the next week and then hopefully fill it very quickly. Um, we have tons of staff members that love working there. So, um, having even that one position can be really difficult. Um, and it hurts our efficiency. So, um, 99% is great. We won 100%. Um, talked about all those increases in numbers. What that meant is that this year we took a hard look and we actually added two new positions to our high school. Um, that has already grown our numbers tfold. Um, it has improved the morale in that kitchen. It has increased efficiency. It has really done a lot. We're really, really

162happy from what we're seeing with that. We also have this school year a new field supervisor to our program. Her name is Michaela and if you haven't met her, I highly recommend. She is wonderful. Um she is incredibly passionate about about the program. She's passionate about students. She got hired really her interview um what sold us on her was she was the only one we interviewed that said, "I'm here for the students." That's huge. Um, she's shown this more than anything by showing up. She's in the buildings every single day. She's working alongside our staff. She's running a register. She's talking to students. She's getting feedback. Um, so that's been really, really great for our program this year. It's also been a ton of training and I'm so proud of the work that's being done.

163Um, student experience. So, we're talking about Michaela already. Michaela has also brought live taste testing into our buildings. Um, what this means is she has brought manufacturers in with items that we want to add to our menus and she's actually let the kids try them during lunch for free. Um, so think Costco, all those cool free samples. Um, we've had tons of good feedback. The students actually get to vote for the items. They give us all of their feedback if they like it, if they don't like it. Um, all three of the taste tests that we've done already this school year, we've ended up adding those items to the menu. and those have been the most participation we've seen in new menu items ever. So, really, really cool. Kids are very excited. Um, facility branding.

164So, we were talking about how pretty those schools are. Um, and how we're working it into our elementaryaries. Um, last school year, actually, we finished the project at Blue Ash Elementary. um basically changing some design features, signage, um making it more inviting for students, really sharing that sycamore experience that you're seeing in all the other buildings. Um it's beautiful. If you haven't been in that blue kitchen, please go ahead and enter and they will be very happy to show you all around. Um same thing is actually happening at Montgomery in two weeks. Um the design piece of that project is starting April 1st. Um, so it'll be pretty in there, which we're really excited to see. And then over the summer, we'll be upgrading all of their frontline equipment, so things will run more smoothly,

165more efficiently, and we'll be able to hold our food more appropriately. Um, we've also updated tons of technology. Um, so we've been working through new point of sale systems for our cash registers, which means our lines are flowing faster. um new equipment for signage, which is showing our students the allergies that are in their foods, sharing with them what our menu items are, getting them excited about new things coming up. Um we've had really good feedback on those. And then procedures, um this is really what's been keeping us busy, if I'm being honest with you. Um we've we have two initiatives. We pick we try and pick two initiatives under this um every school year. One of them is to be a die free um a die free school. Um this is something again that

166we're waiting for the industry to keep up with us. Um we try very hard to meet the sickmore standard and I think die free is something that um our families really want to see. So we're proud to say that we're about 90% deree. We have some items that our students like too much for us to take off um that are all a cart thankfully. So you don't have to buy them. They're not part of the meal. Um, but we hope to be 100% by next year. Um, and then minimal ingredients. Um, this is somewhat of a self selfish prerogative. Um, I'm a human that um, I have food intolerances and allergies to 900 things. Um, which means there's more things I can't eat than I can. Um, what that says to me is that our

167students should be eating things with minimal ingredients. I want to give them something that tastes really, really good and that costs the right amount and that meets those federal guidelines, but they should know what those ingredients are. There should be there shouldn't be something in there that they've never heard of before or they can't pronounce. So, we've been working through this over the last couple years. We're really pushing it this year. Um, I know we've talked about our hamburgers are only three ingredients. Um, next year we're hoping to bring in a taco meat that's one ingredient and the ingredient is beef. That's amazing. Um, it means that those items that our kids really like, they really like our current taco beef, so this one's going to be a struggle. Um, it might be a struggle,

168but um, we also know that our families in our community want to see that. So, um, big initiative. We're working through it. Um, and finally, um, this year was year five, so we had our administrative review. We were audited by the state. Um, you know, now from my presentation what that means. It means tons of work. It means three months of record polling. It means a week in the schools with the state auditor making sure that we're doing absolutely everything correctly um and in compliance. Um this year it was junior high and Sims Elementary that were audited. Um the auditor spent a day in each of those buildings. Um and while the audit is not complete, I don't have the complete results for it. Um she had minimal comments. So I take that as a

169plus. um Sims and junior high, those teams blew it out of the water. She was incredibly impressed with the work that we're doing. So, that's something to be very proud of. Um and from here, we just wait for those comments. Um I know Brad got the absolute pleasure of sitting down with our auditor, um who's a little scary if I'm being honest. >> Yeah. But I I've got to jump in because she's downplaying this and it was a ton of work. And you know, I just get the pleasure of walking at the very end when the auditor sitting in her office and says, "Brad, you need to come in here and hear what's going on." What she's not saying is that the auditor truly looked at me and said, "I wish, you know, in these

170situations, I have a list and I have to go and these are hard conversations, but you truly are the gold standard." Like this district is a gold standard. And what I heard there is that yes, we have incredible people. Yes, we have incredible facilities, but Liz is an incredible leader that is crazy passionate about food service, diet, um the diet that our students are receiving and not only that, but increasing participation, not because she wants more revenue, but because she believes so deeply in the food program. So, I just want to call out Liz and Michaela and the and Chris and the hard work that they do in the department every day alongside so many team members and and it truly was hearing from her. It was I wish I could take her on the

171road to every district around the state and share what she's doing. So, um, kudos to Liz. >> Thank you. I hate when he talks about me. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Tons of work. That's all I'm going to say. Um, and that's all I have for you. I talked really fast. Um, so if you have any questions or want me to review anything, please let me know. >> I just want to I just want to say thank you. you know, what we feed our children. Our kids are, you know, the most important people in the world, and you have so much care um for our students, for our kids, and I think it it's just remarkable, and I I appreciate that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. Well, I will leave you be.

172>> Thank you. >> All right. Um, we took that financial perspectus off. Okay. All right. Um did get those in the mail, though. I got mine today, so it's good to see. All right. The superintendent's agenda. Um the first of all, um Mrs. Bidder's favorite part of uh our agenda is policy. So, uh Mr. Levelvel, if you'd like to go ahead and take this. >> Sure. This should be pretty pretty easy. I do want to point out that there are first reads on here and you'll see the policies that are there. This is from the winter update. So I think I'd mentioned in a previous conversation that um the legislative passed um all the laws and so this is playing catchup. Um a lot of these on here what you'll notice is we just recently

173adopted these uh well not adopted but we recently did the first read second read from the Neola transition. These are back on here again because the ones that we just had the first and second read changed again. These are just here. They'll go for a second. Um but then they will um wait till the June update. That is all with the exception of one policy that I will be bringing back for the next meeting that I have to get approved and I'm going to be requesting that we expedite it. It's because it's a policy related to food service. Um the long and short of it is it's a policy that a legislator pushed forward basically saying that um we have to call the food what it actually is. We do that. Everybody does that because

174you have to buy the food that way. And I wish Liz could have spoke a little bit on that. But anyways um the way the law was written is it has to be approved now um for whatever crazy reason. So I'll have more conversation about that. That'll come back up in the policy committee, but that might be a quick approval at the next meeting. >> Y >> Thank you, Mr. Levelville. >> You're welcome. >> Um, any more questions about policy? >> Yeah, I just Brad, just uh Sorry, Mr. Levelville. Sure. Just one question on the um 5112 kindergarten entrance requirements. I just I know we've had this conversation before. Um the language was changed. the uh turning age five by the first day of instruction of the school year of admittance. Did did we have

175to specify what that first day of instruction? No. >> No, we do not. Um and our recommendation would be to keep the policy as generic as possible just because every year that that changes. Um but we do anticipate that there might be new legislative action around this in the future as well. So >> yeah, >> because the consistency they tried to create didn't create consistency. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Loveville. And those second read policies are also included for people to look at. So no questions and everything on that. All right. Um, a couple of things. Um, authorization to advert Oh, yeah. I was just going to say then I was going to give a motion. Authorization to advertise for bids for bus purchases. Do we have a motion to

176approve? >> So moved. >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balot for your second. Miss Bidder for your motion. Um, any questions about the buses? All right. Mr. Burson, could you please read the role? >> Uh, Mrs. Bidder. >> I. >> Mr. Balot. >> Hi. >> Mr. Gosnell. >> Hi. >> Dr. James. >> Hi. >> Mr. Harris. >> Hi. >> All right. Um, next thing is the DCS contract uh renewal. Is there a motion to approve? >> Move. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. And thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. >> All right. And uh that's with Dayton Cincinnati. Questions about that? All right, Mr. Oh, I was just going to mention this is our renewal of our outsource technology company um long-standing partner that provides um several

177team members for us. So appreciate your vote on this. >> Thank you, Mr. Long. All right, Mr. Buren, please read the role. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. Next up, we have something with dark fiber. And I actually just really wanted to say dark fiber because I thought it sounded cool. Um, is there a motion to approve? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balance, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. And, uh, what is dark? What is what is uh dark fiber? >> Yeah, so dark dark dark fiber is fiber that runs between our buildings. Um and basically it's it's what provides internet between our buildings. So this contract here is

178the maintenance contract. Um we own the fiber, but we partner with Spectrum in the event that that fiber gets cut or something happens that needs to be replaced or fixed. Um they have the expertise for that. We do not. So that is what this is for. >> Okay. All right. Um Mr. Buren, let's approve some dark fiber. Mr. Balant. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bidler. >> I >> Mr. Goznel. >> I. >> Dr. James. >> I. >> Mr. Harris. >> I. >> Okay. Uh, a contract. And this is for internet access. Uh, do we have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Ballot, for your second. >> Long. >> Yep. This one's for uh just a continuence of our internet uh service provider.

179Um, Zo is the partner that we have had for the last 5 years. So the recommendation is to continue with them as our partner. Um internet's kind of important. So we want to make sure it works. Um so that that's we're staying with our our current provider that we have had for the last 5 years. And we've had a great partnership and great success with them. >> All right. Great. Thank you. All right. Uh Mr. Person, could you please read the role? >> Uh Mrs. Bidder. >> I. >> Mr. Ballet. >> I. >> Mr. Gnull. >> I. >> Dr. James. >> Hi. >> Mr. Harris. >> I. All right. Next up, uh do we have a motion to approve a contract for our uh 20 26 uh district paving projects? >> Second. >> Thank you,

180Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. Mr. Levelvel, anything on this? >> Nope. This is just our standard. We went out to bid and this is tackling our paving that we'll start this summer that includes both asphalt, concrete, ceiling, all that work. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Uh no qu no further questions. Mr. person, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Uh, next up is the calendar. Um, and we've calendar has been out. So, this is a motion to approve the calendar for the 2728 school year. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Balot,

181for your second. Person, could you please read the role? >> Um, Mrs. Bitter. >> Hi, >> Mr. Balon. >> Hi, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> Hi, >> Dr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I uh we got a couple of out of town field trips we need to approve. Is there a motion to approve? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder for your second. Um, any questions there? All right, Mr. Buren, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balot, >> I. >> Mr. Gno, >> I. >> Mr. Harris. >> All right. Um uh and then next we have a um discussion the superintendent >> for the work session under other. Um is there a motion

182to approve? >> I just >> it's just other it's just a other just discussion. Anything there? >> Uh just I'll quickly point it out >> myself to the late hour. Um Just want to mention to the board, we talked about setting up legislative meetings. Um was able to get in contact with uh Senator Wilson's representatives for April 7th at 9:00 a.m. Um Mr. Gosnell, I know I sent both of these to you. And then Representative Brownley responded for March 31st, uh 2:30. Both will be in person. So, uh Mr. GZnell shaking his head. So, uh we would love to have a second board member join us if it's possible. just because I think it's important. I think it's good for them to see that we value their time and um and I think Mr. Harris,

183you said 9 a.m. >> April 7th at 9:00 a.m. Yeah. >> So, if there will be another board member that's interested in the 2:30 on March 31st, we welcome you. But if not, Mr. Gno and I will represent us uh very well and have those conversations. Uh >> check my schedule. >> Okay, no problem. Just to mention, uh, April 19th, 2026, cars and coffee event. Second year, 8 to noon. I think it's 8 to noon. Uh, April 8th, 2026, 4 to 6 is the business expo at the high school. We have about 20 plus students that are also participating uh, as entrepreneurs. So, they're very excited about it. Uh, April 4th, 2026, science fair 12 to 4. uh April 23rd through the 25th. Mark your calendars. The Greece musical is 7 pm on those dates.

184Also mark your calendar. April 10th through the 11th, Frozen Kids at Eh Green. Uh but it's going to be at the junior high. So at our community theater at 700 p.m. on the Friday night and 2 p.m. and 700 p.m. on Saturday. And last, but certainly not least, a an event we're very excited about tomorrow night, take flight night. Um, Montgomery and Sims from 6:30 to 7:30. 6 to 7:30. And then I think I'm getting this right. 7 to 8:30 is Blue Ash and Maple. So, uh, lots of surprises. Kudos to Mr. Levelvel and his team. There's a lot of excitement around this uh, idea. So much excitement we had to split it into two sessions. So, we'll see how it goes. And he he's very nervous about it. And I said, "Don't be nervous.

185You just try new things and we learn from whatever we do." So, uh I think high school, Sycamore High School. Yep. So, that's all I have tonight. >> All right. Uh do we have a motion to approve the uh personnel consent agenda? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. Uh, >> Mr. Burson, could you please call the role there? >> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Mrs. Bther, >> I. >> Mr. Gosel, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Last uh but not least, we have some other board business on here. Um, future uh uh work session topics. Um, I think I got those out to everyone or I got those to Mr. Buren and I think he's

186distributed those out. um >> or >> yeah, I thought I'd set that an email and I um didn't send them to everybody because I wasn't sure I was allowed to send them to everybody. So, >> I will go ahead and forward those on. I do have them. So, yeah. >> Yeah, because I I don't want to go to jail. So, >> well, I mean, maybe >> I can quickly >> say them, can you read those off? >> We're head of board meeting now, so we're good. >> So, uh here are the topics that are uh that were submitted. finances, updates on strategic plan, MTSS updates, district staffing plan. We just heard the child nutrition update, so check that one off. Capital improvement plans, healthy start times, which will be coming. uh professional coaching, college readiness

187and workforce update, great oaks update, enrollment forecast, communication plan which will be coming um culture and climate uh community event, but we will also have uh an update from Gallup for you very soon as I sent you via email. Curriculum updates. Oh, Gallup survey results was on there that kind of ties back to culture and climate and then AI updates. So, those were the ones that were and I think we, you know, and I I think all the presentations we've experienced were great tonight, but I think, you know, as we sit here 2 and 1/2 hours in, we're going to have to really be uh more efficient with what we what we put on our agendas just because it it does make for a long night for all of us. So, I think probably tackling

188more than two topics is probably too much. Um, that's just my opinion as a as a person that worked all day and I know many of you worked all day and then now we're sitting here at 8:30 and we still have portions of the meeting to go. I think we just one of those topics when we're not having a um sack presentation is probably enough. >> Do do we need to choose are we saying that we need to choose two right now for next month or you because didn't you say we were going to do the gal or that was in May? You're going to have at least um a SAC presentation next month during the work session. Um I don't know. We'll have to look when we get our results and when we'll be

189ready for the Gallup. Okay. >> My goal was at least by the end of May. You've got an update and some information. >> I do know that we're going to meet um >> we've got at least a tenative date. we haven't put out yet about April 28th to talk about healthier school starts. Um we're in deep in the um phase of looking at our options. We've really centered around a couple I think workable options. We want to get that in front of you first. Uh but I certainly want to put it, you know, we won't ask for any action from you. Um but I do think it's important that we get out and have some community discussion about what's their reaction to what we've put together. Um, but I do think for next meeting, we

190know we're already going to have a like for our work session, we're going to have a sack update. I do think in May we won't have a sack update. The only reason I say that is the May meeting was supposed to be the healthier start times group and I don't know that there's a presentation for them to make. Um, we know where we're at. I don't think I don't know what they would present to you. And I kind of hung around after the meeting with that group and just told them there's no expectation that you have a presentation quote unquote. I think it's more of providing our sack group an update of where we are, what we've been doing, and where we're headed. And I don't think you you guys can get that from me.

191I don't think we need to drag them here to do that kind of update. So, um I think there's some room for this stuff. I think certainly uh planning towards the fall would be best because we still have you know we're still going to need to have more discussion about uh levy options. I you know we haven't finalized that. Um I think we still need to have some community conversations around that as you guys are considering those options. Um so I think that's going to take up a lot of our time leading uh to making a decision. So Mrs. bitter during that earlier portion. You made a good point. We have to prioritize what is important to us right now and what are some of the things that we just we'll get to it and

192we will come back to it. But I think we all know right now priority is finances of the district making a good levy decision and healthier start times. And when I think about that between now early March and the end of the school year, it's a lot. And then you know what summer's like. We I would say we tend to scale back our meetings so that you know they're really focused on the business we need to get done on during the summer. So I I would say maybe taking these topics and really planning towards the fall of what are the things that you all want from our team. I feel like we have September, October, November, December to really plan and you know we can also present topics to you at the business meeting and

193we just have to know that okay how do we control the business meeting and keep it as truncated as possible. Um cuz I think I still I I still think our goal should be 90 minutes for a meeting and and you know I know that we can get off track cuz these are important topics and some of them are not going to stay under 90 minutes but I think if we shoot for that as a goal you know then we we have the ability to try to fit things into the schedule. >> So how do we how would you how how do we give those to you? like what do you want to I mean we already have a good list. I think if maybe you someone could come up with a draft of you

194know an order maybe our president and our vice president and you could come up with a draft like of two per month or yeah two per month and and then present it to us that the next time sounds like the next meeting we we have sack and then there's probably going to be something about finances so that probably covers next month right >> Mr. Harrison Dr. James, would you be okay if we took this into one of our cabinet meetings and just came back with a like here's where we see these things fit? >> Yeah. >> Um cuz you know like and I'll just use like if we did a curriculum update that's probably enough without a second presentation that's a pretty depending on what we're updating you on it could be pretty significant. So,

195let us take a stab at it. And obviously, we have the ability to send things to the whole board, uh, versus, you know, feeling like you're under the gun, and I know what you don't want to feel like you're communicating information that should be talked about in a public meeting. So, we're happy to take a crack at it and come up with a schedule. We've had a schedule before. We can just kind of clear the schedule and reformat it and get it back out to you and see what what your thoughts are. And I think you know last at last night there was a presentation that the administ that you all did last night that was excellent. Um there are some you know like not I don't want to say hot topics but like AI

196is top of mind. That would be a great one. You have to decide when you would want to do it. Maybe you want to wait till fall but I would or maybe you want to start in the spring. But I think that's a great topic that people really want to hear. So, um, I, you know, if you could just look at what you think the community has been asking you the most and maybe getting those sooner rather than later just to answer questions for the community, that would be helpful, too. >> Mr. Lewis, I just wanted to add real quick, too. Um, thank you for the student presentation. I think as much of that as we can try to fit in. Um, selfishly, I don't know if it's possible, but I was seeing this robotics

197competition. I don't know. Just throw throwing that out there. They're pretty awesome. We have two ro two high school uh robotics teams, so that's certainly something we could do. And then um I'm glad you said that because we just found out we have a state champion chess player. So, we'll be bringing him forward for some recognition. >> Yeah. And I think student presentations are always that's not those aren't the like we can only have, you know, that's one we always like to have, right? >> We always make room for that. >> Okay. All right. Is there any other board business here? I just wanted to uh let everyone know that we continue to work with our firm who's helping us with the search for treasure and uh we're hoping that we would be able to

198identify a treasure uh in in the in spring early spring um with the start date of August 31st is right >> August 1st I'm sorry >> all right thank you Dr. James. All right. Now, um, is there a motion to move into executive session to to consider the employment compensation dismissal or discipline of a public employee uh, the Ohio Revised Code 121.22G1 and also to enter an executive session to prepare for, conduct or review negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. >> So moved. Thank you for your uh motion, Mrs. Bidder. And thank you for your second, Mr. Ballot. Mr. Burson, could you please call the role? >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balot, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Dr.

199James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. The board will now move into executive session. We will not reconvene after that executive session. Thank you for listening and everyone have a great night.