Sycamore Schools Board of Education Meeting May 7, 2025

001M we we will begin the meeting now. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I 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. The beginning of every board meeting, we like to go over our district's mission and our vision. Our mission is to c create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive and innovative learning opportunities for the whole child. And our vision is to empower all learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. Can I please get a motion and a second for the approval of the agenda? So moved. Thank you, Dr. Steager, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. Stagger,

002I. Dr. James, hi. Mr. Balance, hi. Mr. Harris, I. Mrs. Bidder, I. Can I please get a motion and a second for the approval of the minutes? So moved. Second. Thank you, Mr. Balance, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your second. Any ads, changes? Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Mr. Balant, hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. James, hi. Dr. Stagger, Mrs. Bidder, I. We have a very important recognition this evening. We have Sycamore High School swimming state champion here today, Addie. And I hope I pronounced your name correctly. Robard. Robelard. Robel. Sorry, I said it wrong. Is Addie here? Yes. Yes. And Mr. Ovington is here with also swim coach Dan Carl. So I won't steal any of their thunder. I got to watch Addie swim a couple of times and it's uh

003very impressive. So I'll let them take over and talk about her accolades, but we are very excited to I will be very excited to watch her swim at Stanford. So yeah. So um thanks for having us first of all. Obviously we're very excited for Addie. Uh for us this is a huge deal. Anytime you have a state champion, it's a huge deal obviously in any sport. Um, but especially we want to celebrate Addy. But even for Addie, like it's a big deal for Sycamore, but for Addie, she's got huge dreams, Olympic dreams. Um, I'm listening back there to her mom and her tell stories about me from like this last weekend. Katie Lee's there and so on and so forth. So, she's around that type of talent. Um, this is kind of a once in

004a-lifetime athlete here that we're celebrating today. So, while she did win a state championship, obviously, um, she has so much more to achieve in her life. We're really excited to see that. I had the privilege of getting to know Addie this year. This is her first year swimming for Sycamore. Um, and just her parents and her are just tremendous people. Um, every meet we came to, they would say how much fun Add's having this year, how much fun they've had she's had with the girls and the boys on the team and coach Carl. And I think she had a great experience this year with our with our athletes. And I think it was actually our pep rally we did where we celebrated her and uh the other GMC. There were so many people that were

005just excited to have her in the building. Um, I remember a couple athletes I wanted to bring her into into the school day and like have her come to some of her bells just because she built such great relationships with our kids. Um, and I've told her this before and her parents as well of like, you know, she had a great year this year. But what's going to happen is she's going to carry on her legacy to the younger swimmers. Some of her relays she was in, she was in with freshman and sophomores and I think what they'll see is the work ethic she has, the passion she has. Um and hopefully that carries over for her um at Stanford but also carries over for our athletes here at Sycamore years to come. So really

006excited for Addie. Um Coach Carl's here also to say a few words. I'll let him go as well. Yeah. First I'll just say two time state champion because she won both of her individual events. Um probably well she set four school records this year in four minutes maybe four. Um, Addie is as equally driven academically as she is athletically, and that's always important to me. Uh, as Andrew mentioned, she has big aspirations all the way to the Olympic Games, and she is legitimate, uh, potential candidate for that. She is on our national team. uh this past weekend she was swimming in the lane next to the you know gold medal champion from 12 months ago 9 12 months ago 10 months ago uh so that shows you that the level that she's at uh academically

007she is studying neuroscience at stamp so it shows you the direction that she wants to go and that her talents are not just in the pool she'll represent Sycamore very well in all aspects of life final note unbelievable unable uh young lady that as Andrew touched on there uh well welll liked by even the freshman and she made herself welcome and open and a lot of times freshman don't want to you know talk to the seniors seniors don't talk to the freshman that was not her she had as many friends freshman sophomores and juniors and I think that speaks to her character again talent level was fun in Iowa but talent rust for a lot of this is on the old list. As you're talking, I'm actually thinking of a story. You probably remember this,

008but it was at GMC's at Mason and I'm standing there watching us and like whatever was going on and you were kind of like walking by and there was two kids from some other team and I'm literally standing like is that Addy Regar? Is that Addie Regard with her? They went up to you like can we get a picture with this? And you're like, "Yeah, sure. Why not?" You take a picture and you're gone. But um it's her personality. Uh she's very humble but obviously has high aspirations. She's really proud of her celebrator. So, congratulations. Thank you. We don't we don't you know we can't recognize but two we have two big things for you like one once you're an aviator you're always an aviator. So when you are home on breaks, if you need

009a place to swim, call Dan Carl. He'll let you in the pool. He'll get you in. We said the same thing to Carson Foster. When he's home, um, swim because you do have training and things that you can impart on the athletes while you're still training. So is always open for you. Um, and we would love to hang your banner on the other side of the pool next to all the banners that are up there. So, but we have a gift for you. Um, it's it's a very large ring that lists both state championships. So, Congratulations, Addie. That's incredible. And you're going to go out there and do amazing things. Thank you. Okay, we have another very exciting introduction in this evening. We have Mr. Greg Pabomb who's going to be the Sycamore High School

010principal. Yeah, exciting to uh welcome back Yes. Mr. Potabomb to Sycamore because uh Mr. Pota was a former Sycamore High School teacher. Um and Mr. Potbomb has never left teaching. When I say that he is, one of the things that was so impressive during his interview process is he is currently teaching AP stats because they could not find a suitable replacement for someone that had to be out on a medical leave. So, he stepped up in his own building to teach AP stats. Now, what he told me is I forgot how much work it is to get prepared for a class to teach AP stats. So, um he has not forgotten what it's like to be in the classroom because currently he's still in it. But, um he was here until 2017 as a math

011teacher and um he has spent the last eight years u five years as an assistant principal in the last three um as principal of West Claremont High School. So, we are very excited to uh bring him back home and have him as Sycamore High School principal. So, thank you. I didn't realize I'd have to follow this. Yes, pretty incredible. That's amazing. Awesome thing. Stanford and all of that is just wow. It's so impressive. Make me lose all my trains. Um yeah, when I left here eight years ago, I never thought I'd have the opportunity to return and I'm so honored and humbled to be able to um to come back to Sycamore. Um it is like coming home. Um, I always thought one day it might happen, but you never know. And I'm just really

012excited to uh to get get my hands dirty and get hit get hit the ground running and and work with the the amazing people that I know are at Sycamore High School and um and help make this the the best high school in the state. I really think that it should be and I think that that should be our focus and our goal. So, I'm just excited and humbled and um sorry I follow you, but but it's it's students like you that make it so that's why I think back to all the people that I coached and I taught at Sycamore back in the day. It's just how um how impressive the kids are. So, it's really exciting students like you. So, thank you. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. But,

013welcome home. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you and welcome s back to Sycamore. Welcome home. Okay, our next um item is the OSBA award presentation. We have Mr. Mark Euing with the Ohio School Awards Association here today. I was surprised by Mark Euing on the way here because uh we went from one award presentation to two award presentations for our school board. So, take it away. I tell you what, sorry, Mark, we put you at the cleanup spot there. So, well, I'm here to present a couple of awards. Um, OSBA uh has a master board member um award, and it's broken into four sections. It's uh called the Star Wars. So, service training um that thing where you take a test achievement and uh recognition. Yeah, I'm all blown up here. Those are the things. Um

014so, anyway, uh Sarah has earned the T, which is the training portion of the award. So when she completes the other leg, she'll become a master board member and that's a lifetime achievement. Thank you. Thanks. Congratulations Sarah. So the next award is for veteran board member service awardear service award for Paul [Music] Bal. Congratulations, Mark. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you making the trip. Thanks. Thank you very much. I was I wasn't exactly Thank you. I was not expecting that, but thank you very much. Thank you, M. Okay. So, our next item on the agenda this evening is public participation. Mrs. Logan, do we have any public participation? We do. Um, we have um a few that have signed up for non agenda items and then we also have one that

015signed up for an agenda item. So, um the first person on our list is Well, you go ahead. You've got your No, I I have I have been reading. I think most of you here have heard me say it. Um you have three minutes to speak and um Mr. Harris will time you. Please just try to stay within three minutes. Please obviously be respectful. Do not attack board members individually. Speak with me, please. and um not supposed to compliment or disparage employees of district. Those are the general that's the gist of what I usually read. So I don't believe anyone here will do that but that's what I typically read. So please stick to that and we will continue. So our first uh participant is Jenny Godby. Okay. Want me to stand here or over

016there? You can stand up here. You can right there. You can be on the camera. You're Yeah. Thank you. And I I'm supposed to state my name and address. Is that Yes, please. Your name and address. Okay. Uh Jenny Godby, 11568 Sims Gate Lane. Good evening. I am a mom of a ninth grade minimally speaking autistic student who's been attending Sigmore School since kindergarten. Every year, my son writes a letter to introduce himself to his new teachers. And I'd like to read you the letter he wrote at the beginning of this year. Dear teachers, hope you had a nice summer and feel ready to make it a great school year together. I feel ready and nervous to start my high school career. Here are 10 things to know about me. One, I'd love to be

017challenged with numbers and letters. It is even better with languages. Two, please believe in me. If my teachers don't, then who will help me succeed? Three, help me find my friends and clubs. I am ready to do it all. Four, let me have my safe space to find myself when I am overwhelmed. Sometimes I need to calm down. Five, can't always communicate what I want to say. Let me find my words. Don't speak for me. Six, you don't need to go easy on me. I am smart and ready to do it all. Seven, make sure you have fun with me. I'd love to laugh. Eight. It's not fun to hear someone talking about you, so please don't do that to me. Nine, I want to get my answers shared in class. Please help with that.

01810. Ready to try new things. There is so much I can't wait to try. Let's have a great year together. Within 30 days of the first day of school, this same child who loves to learn was placed under threat assessment and subsequently suspended three times over the course of the next several months. These decisions were made by members of the administration team that had never met my son, read his IEP, or had any special education background. My son struggles from body dyspraxia, motor planning, and severe communication deficits. He needed help that his disability requires, not punishment. He's faced some of these challenges in previous years as well, but was never met with this type of response from the administration in other buildings. The purpose of suspensions is to convey to a student the seriousness of

019their behavior so that they can modify it. This approach simply does not work for a neurode divergent student desperately trying to control a body that doesn't always listen or who wants to participate in class alongside his peers but has no one who is capable of supporting his communication style. His special education teachers have worked hard to help him turn things around. But it is a slow process to undo traumatizing events, especially for neurode divergent students. And this is not just my child. A letter written by the Office of Special Education Program states, "Despite the evidence that using positive proactive strategies can reduce rates of discipline and improve school climate and student outcomes, there remain notable disparities in the use of school discipline for children with disabilities compared with their non-disabled peers. I see familiar faces

020today as not too long ago I joined many other parents like myself on Zoom calls to listen to board member candidates share with us the Sycamore special education community that you cared about our students and our concerns and that if elected you would stand with us when we expressed our needs and we ask that you make good on that today. Thank you. Thank you. Next I have Christina Marowit. So Christina Marowitz uh 1033 Deerfield Road. Uh good evening and thank you to the board. My name is Christina Marwitz. I am the mother of two children in the district who receives special education services. Tonight, I am here to be a voice for my oldest son who is currently placed outside of the district uh by Sycamore schools due to his educational and behavioral needs. My

021son has non-speaking autism and other conditions that impact his learning. I want to emphasize something. He's intelligent. He's reading at grade level so much when he's properly supportive. In August of 2020, after thriving at Montgomery Elementary, thanks to dedicated teachers and aids, he entered Green Intermediate School. It was there for the first time in his life that he began to leaving the building and running to nearby homes. This happened three times in the first few weeks. Each time, my husband and I were urgently called to retrieve him because staff lacked the tools or training to keep him safe. They didn't know how to support him in the classroom and what he needed most structure and consistency was quickly lost. The message became really clear to my husband and I. Our son was no longer welcome.

022He missed 18 weeks of in-person instruction and various attempts to reintegrate, including homebound instruction, ended in failure. The damage to his trust and teachers staff took years to repair. Last year, we expressed interest having him return back to Sycamore High School for 9th grade. The district informed us that accommodations like a quiet room and consistent support staff would not be available. This despite his current school recording incredible progress, he now only requires one aid and demonstrates strong self-regulation. Yet we feared that any small misstep would result in another abrupt removal. While his current placement has been life-changing to us, we continued to ask ourselves, could this have been avoided if Sycamore staff had the knowledge and training to understand his needs at the time? How many bright, curious, and capable students are being placed outside

023of the district, not because they can't succeed, but because they are not prepared to be able to thrive at Sigmore schools. This brings me to five points for your consideration. Many students are placed outside of their home district due to lack of support. This is a systemic gap, not a student deficiency. We ask this district to invest in proactive, consistent training for all staff, general and special education alike. Out of district placements are costly and isolate students from their peers. With high staff turnovers and limited special education knowledge among several general educations educators, we must scale this effort districtwide. My our request to the board, please support the full implementation of communication for education program across all buildings and please help us build a district can stay, learn and grow right here in their home

024community. Sorry, that was Thank you, Molly Hospelhorn. You got it. Great. Okay. Hi, my name is Molly Hospital. I live at 9016 Fox Center. Um, I want to take this opportunity to share with you a training program called Communication for Education that was recently developed by an impressive collection of professionals in the field of special education. My family moved to Sycamore specifically for the amazing educators, innovation, and openness to diversity that the district offers. As the neurodeiverse community grows and a better understanding of how these learners can be supported in the classroom is developing, we ask that you continue your dedication to all students in our district by considering implementing this program for our educators. It is a comprehensive first-of-its-kind training program that helps educators support neurode divergent students who are often unable to fully

025to fully take part in the grade level curriculum and to adequately show what they have learned. Many neurode divergent students also struggle with body regulation and sensory issues that can keep them from accessing or participating in the general education classroom. This is where communication for education comes in. This program is not methodology specific but rather provides a broad foundation to address the needs of neurode divergent students. Topics include presuming competence, regulation strategies, relationship building, adapting academics, and building autonomy. This is a researchbased program developed with developed by professionals in the field of special education such as college professors, special education teachers, behavior therapists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, clinical social workers, a pediatrician, and more. Communication for education will benefit our students, our educators, and our district. Our students will benefit from more inclusion

026and participation in the classroom and decreased mental health issues as they are viewed as competent participants in their education. Teachers benefit by gaining the knowledge and skills to better support their neurode their neurodeiverse students in their classrooms and least restrictive environment. They will also receive CEUs from this course. The benefits of equipping our educators with this one course would continue year after year as the foundational knowledge and skills gained apply to many of our special education students within the district while cutting back on repeated training as our students move from building to building. There are flexible options to complete the course ranging from self-paced live interactive and hybrid options. Most importantly from a cost and sustainability standpoint, access can be passed on to new staff after any turnover. We have copies of the professional contributors

027list of credentials, the researchbased sources used, course schedule and outline, sycamore teacher testimonials and group sizing available for further review. Thank you so much for your time and attention to such a needed opportunity. Please let us know how we can partner with you to bring this training to our Thank you. Next I have Cindy Burke 100027 Windsag Lane. Good evening Sigmore board members. My name is Cindy Burke. I'm the parent of a son on an IEP who is non-speaking and a unique learner. He'll be a sophomore next year and I'm here to speak as both a mother and as an advocate. You just heard a b brief overview of communication for education cf from from fellow parents. Now I'd like to share why this program means so much to families like mine and why it

028has the potential to make an even greater impact across our district. Many families both here tonight and tuning in online have voiced their strong support for training and the immediate need for it in our schools. This program builds a stronger foundation for everyone, educators, staff, and students. Right now, many of our educational staff members have limited training in special education. This isn't a criticism, it's a reality. In Ohio, there is no special education requirement for general education teachers. So, it creates a tough start to the school year for both teachers and students. My son, for example, often begins each year surrounded by brand a brand new team. general ed education teachers, aids, and an intervention specialist who are unfamiliar with how he communicates. Because he is not speaking, the learning curve is steep. It can

029take most of the school year before he starts to feel understood and settled. And by that time, it's time to start over again. With the training CF provides, new educators would enter the year with a baseline of understanding. They'd be better equipped to support students like my son from day one. not only improving confidence and trust for students, but also making it easier for staff to implement IEPs and ensure real access to the curriculum. Another important point, more and more students who use alternative communication methods are going on to succeed in colleges and universities, but only when they've had consistent support and proper accommodations throughout their K through2 years. That's what FATE, free and appropriate public education, is all about. And that's what this program supports. It aligns with IDA part B funding requirements and

030reinforces the district's obligation to provide a meaningful education for every student. I want to acknowledge the efforts Sycamore has already made. This district has shown it's willing to listen, learn, and adapt. You've made changes when needed. You've worked to be more inclusive. What we're asking now is for you to take another powerful step. CF is evidence-based, flexible, and forward thinking. Just look at the range of contributors and the research behind it. It offers training that empowers not just compliance with a policy, but real skills that change outcomes. I'd like to close by sharing a message from my son, Luke. I'm thankful that my school team is talking to me this year. It's not always like this. You see, the buildings are all different. I feel the district can learn so much from these courses. The

031time it takes for teachers to understand me is the hardest to live through and is lost time. This course isn't about one technique. It is more for seeing the student for who they are. That's just one neuro divergent student who would benefit from this program. That's the kind of future we want for all of our kids. Thank you for your time and for considering this important step forward. Thank you. And I have some packets I'd like to give out to with additional information. I have two. I'll just let you guys. Okay. Thank you. We'll do that. Okay. This is someone I'm not passing up. Next I have Kelly Bruns. Bruns or Bruns. Bruns. Hello. Kelly Grunts 8965 Old Legend Court. And really, I just wanted to come up and say, you know, I've been much

032more diligent at trying to engage with the U school system after my kids have graduated and moved on. And uh, you know, the school system was a big part of their success. So, you know, we want to continue to have that not only for our kids, but also, you know, to have a community where we all are united and stand behind our school um our school district. um you know and people like me it's also important with um with my property you know this needs to be a desirable place to live if I retire and want to sell my home or whatever so the school district is important in of many many many ways most of all for our children but um I I watched over as we all have the past I don't know

033five plus years maybe 10 uh with Leland and every time a new levy comes up we've seen it uh it's brutal It tears the community apart and uh you see um our elderly that can't afford the taxes on the house. Um you know, if you're on a fixed income and it puts their housing in jeopardy. Um so it it really brings home the idea of fiscal responsibility. We've always been very proud to be in the Sycamore School District and the reports that we've received over the years that we have reviewed, the pie charts, the graphs, we appreciate all of it and we know that we've been very fiscally responsible in the past. However, I feel like we have started to stray. We all know that you know we're supposed to be spending about 3% um

034you know more per year and the board has been spending seven. So, um, obviously at that rate, we can't continue to keep spending. So, we've heard that there are some really high priority and important things that this district needs to do. And what I would encourage you to do is to review that. And in the world of healthcare, we triage. You got to triage what's most important. And then you make those choices. And you do that in a fiscally responsible way. So I do know that in the past we've had a lot more um financial expertise on the board and if you all feel like that is a gap then perhaps we can consider other ideas like uh you know I bet there are people in the in the Sycamore community that would volunteer their

035time that have financial and accounting expertise and could lend you know lend their services to the board and provide recommendations. But I do think it's really really important now that we correct the course of that ship and we try to get back on the path of fiscal responsibility. Thank you. And next I have Heather Burgess. Heather Burgess 11652 Grandstone Lane. Um so I uh since March I have sent a few letters um to all of you and I spoke about board ethics uh at the last meeting in response to community feedback. Uh I heard you promise to act with transparency and to elevate the level of communication um with the community. And I think I want to share my disappointment today that I have not gotten a response to my letters or an acknowledgement of

036feedback. And I understand you have a lot of folks that you are serving, a lot of different needs, but it's really important that people feel heard by the board. um we raised pretty significant concerns and it's just disappointing that that is not being responded to in a way that you know is is open and transparent. Rhonda Starill stood up here at the last meeting and said, "Hey, where are you on your plans to make good on your promise to act with more transparency particularly around the the personnel issue um and the board ethic concerns and it's been silent again. So, I want to share that feedback and I hope that we'll be able to address it." Thank you. That was all I had. I have one other Ellen Owens, but hers is for an agenda

037item. So that was all I had to say that we are unable to talk about items that are discussed during executive session. Also unable to talk about things that are protected under attorney client privilege. So just understand that we also do not comment during public participation to any individual matters that you will bring. So we're listening. We're taking in your feedback. We are listening. We hear you and um we are working as a board to address every issue that we possibly can under the abilities that we have. All right. The next item is the superintendent's agenda and we are going to um get a Sycamore High School athletics update from Mr. Oington. Yeah, we get to welcome Mr. Ovington back to give a quick update. I thought it would be a nice thing for Mr.

038Oington to kind of round out the year even though his year is not over with athletes, but um it has been a little while since he gave you an update and there's been a lot of good stuff going on um in athletics and I want to make sure that you all u realize this is Mr. Oington's first year as athletic director. It may feel like three years in one. Um, but he has done some amazing things to really highlight students um, and make sure that they have been at the forefront of everything that he has been doing. So, I'm not going to steal any more of his thunder. I'll let him talk you through what's been going on in athletics and he's happy to answer any questions that you might have. First off, thank you

039for having me tonight. Um, Mr. Lewis reached out to me a couple months ago about coming to a board meeting just presenting on what's going on in athletics. I'm just excited to be here tonight to kind of go through just some of the great things that have been happening within this year at the high school level. Uh on the top there, it's kind of literally a year on a screen. Um all the way up there in the top left for some of you that were there or around the Seagar family nitorium grand opening back in July, we did the Carson Foster watch party. Um which I've said before seems like literally three years ago. Um seems so long ago that the Olympics were even just happening that recently. Uh but it just kind of gives

040you the visual aspects of all the great things that have happened. We have an amazing student section with the a cape. We've had GMC championships, homecoming parade, state champions, district champions, district runner up, signing days, uh all these different things that have happened throughout the course of this year that we're all proud of our student athletes. There's so much to celebrate that I want to go through a little bit tonight. Um so just overall this year, and again this is only through fall and winter. Um, so right now, actually this week, we have four of our spring teams playing for GMC Championships. Our boys volleyball team played last night against MCO East for a GMC championship. They lost, but they were right there for a GMC championship. Tomorrow, um, we have our girls lacrosse team

041who's undefeated in GMC. They're playing against Mason for a GMC title. Boys lacrosse, uh, has one loss in league play. They're playing Mason tomorrow night on the road. So, if they win that, they tie for a league title for that. and also boys tennis coming up over the weekend. They'll be playing for a GMC title, too. Um, and then after that, next week, we also have track and our girls track team has won, I think, three invitationals so far this year. So, they're going to GMC championship feeling good. So, our spring sports is even on this, but they're having um a tremendous year. So, overall this year, two individual OSA state champions. Obviously, you met one today. Back in the fall, we had another AA Vessel who's a junior golfer who won state. Uh we

042have a team state champion uh which is as of last week which is our chess team. They went up and won a state championship last week. So I think we're celebrating them here at the uh at the next board meeting. Um three GMC athletes of the year which one was Addie, one was a diver named Simon Hoot. Um and obviously the best one of our athletes of the year as well. Three GMC coaches of the year, two GMC championships, a district championship with our boys basketball team. Uh three district runners up which was girls volleyball, girls soccer, and girls basketball. um 31 individual state qualifiers uh one national qualifier and then 14 which are national qualifiers are cheer squad which is the first time they've ever done that which is qualified for nationals and then

04314 college signees that we've celebrated throughout this year. So just a lot of things to really celebrate for our athletes this year as we've gone throughout. So um this is just kind of by the numbers some of that I already talked about. Um, in terms of numbers overall for athletes for high school and junior high from last year to this year, we're seeing a growth in the amount of athletes that are playing sports, uh, both the high school level and the junior high level, which I think is great. Um, which hopefully means that people are excited about sycamore sports, they want to be a part of it, and we're seeing that growth within our junior high and high school athletes. Um, on the one quick question. Yeah. When you list the number of athletes, does

044that if if one if one student plays multiple sports, are they counted multiple times or is that individual students? I think that's individual student. So, they are count. So, like if Rachel was playing two different sports, she's kind of once once. Okay. Um, athletics profile there on the right um is something I've kind of just handed out or given out at certain times throughout the course of the year. Just kind of gives an overall viewpoint of what's going on in athletics, facilities, overview, the amount of sports we offer. Um, and just general overviews of things we can celebrate. As we head into next year, I'll probably take some of the stuff I just talked about and put it on there just as a general profile for um stuff going on in athletics. Social media has

045been a big focal point of the athletic department this year. Just Instagram alone is kind of where we're trying to blow up because a lot of our students um are heavy on Instagram. Um and again, this focus should be on them. And so from the summer, so in July, we had about 665 followers. We're now up to 1568 followers as of yesterday. So almost a thousand followers growth within one year. Um and so that's big focal point of ours as well. Um and again like Mr. Lewis said, "Our biggest focal point throughout the course of this year has been highlighting our students." Um, one of the biggest things I sat here last year and just going through the interview process, like the biggest thing I want to do is highlight students because at the end

046of the day, it's why we're all here, right? Um, and so we've really tried to do a lot of different things this year with athletics. And again, this is not this is a village. This is myself. This is Alexis Nubal who's our sports uh information supervisor. This is Dan Buchanan who's our assistant ID. This is Mr. Lewis. This is all community members that come in different ideas um that we try to incorporate within our athletics program because at the end of the day it's what's best for kids. That's what we want to do. Um so I already spoke a little bit on the social media. One new thing this year was the Aviator Athletic Council which is a leadership group. Um so back in the fall I asked our head coaches to give me names

047of great leaders in their programs. And so I had been part of our leadership council throughout the year. We've met once a month throughout the course of this year and they've come up with a lot of great things. um the aviator passport um which is their idea of trying to promote multiple events for multiple sports and um like the AFK basically kind of show up to other sports and maybe your bigger sports um so even as of recently yesterday we had an aviator passport passport for boys volleyball tomorrow we have it for girls uh lacrosse and what that is is students can show up there's QR codes there's a random draw and sometimes those kids can get um gear or whatever we hand out Nike t-shirts and things like that for the kids if they

048win that Also again, it's just kind of a small thing to hopefully promote kids to come to other events than you know some of your bigger sports. Um, athlete of the week podcast. So, our website actually hosts um podcasts for multiple different schools throughout the course of the week. Um, usually it's always on every Monday and they do it with anybody they represent. So, whether they have Princeton on their list or whatever, most of those are done with athletic directors. Um, one of the things I think is nobody wants to listen to me talk. They want to listen to students talk. And so throughout the course of the year, even though I'm talking right now, um, but and I did ask some student athletes from our aviator athletic council to help tonight and speak because

049I think they'd be better, but a lot of them have rain outs and things like that that they're making up so they couldn't participate tonight. So, um, but anyways, the athlete of the week podcast, so students that have won athlete of the week, they've had the opportunity to be on that podcast. So the the guy that runs the website, Rob Evil, he interviews them and they get feedback on their season, pregame rituals, things like that. um which is really really cool and that's always available on our website. So again putting the spotlight on them uh student student videos um which if you go on our social media right now even as of last week we have like u sometimes it's like a dual like pictionaries one of the recent ones we did with boys volleyball

050where one person will draw something on the pictionary and they got to kind of um obviously choose what they think they're drawing on there. Um so we've done that with two sports competing against each other like baseball softball. We did this all the way back in the fall as well. Um, again getting students in front of the camera, getting them on social media. We've presented these videos as well. Uh, sometimes at games and home basketball games, some football games also earlier in the year. The OSA pregame message is something the OSA has a script of like, hey, fan behavior, sporting behavior that they do at the beginning of the year. We challenge ourselves to do it with student athletes saying it. So, we've had about 10 different student athletes do a mockup. And if you've

051been to an event in the gym or at the uh football stadium or multi-use stadium, uh there is basically a video that shows um that pregame message which is coming from the student athletes. And I've said at multiple events or pregame or preseason um meetings with our parents that I'm so happy with our as an athletic director, so happy with our our fan behavior. Um whether it's students, coaches, and parents particular. Um you you go around you see a lot of different behaviors in a lot of different stands. And I I have very rarely had to deal with anything like that this year. Um I'm hopeful that a lot of that comes from that pregame message because I think it kind of sets the tone that you know 10 minutes before tip or game time

052you're kind of seeing that message from student athletes like hey we're here for the kids and it's not always easy but hopefully that's a small thing that leads to a good thing um for our fan representation. Uh Sycamore youth sports collaboration. So we met twice this year uh with our youth sports leadership. So, football, uh, volleyball, lacrosse, we kind of come into one room together like this and we just sit down and talk about how can we make um the gap between youth, junior high and high school better. What kind of things we can be doing uh to incorporate better unity and they have all sorts of great ideas. Um, we try to incorporate a lot of that throughout the course of the year as well to build better relationships from our youth all the

053way up to high school. Uh, district athletic council is also a new thing. Um, we've kind of talked about I think it's been presented here a little bit before, but this is kind of for emerging sports that have interest in becoming a sport. Um, we've kind of created an athletic council, which is a grouping of myself, uh, other members of the athletic department, the board, uh, Mr. Lewis, head principal, that we come together when there is a possible interest in a new sport emerging that we kind of have a process for that moving forward. Um, which hopefully gives better alignment for different groups that want to be a sport. So, we're looking forward to kind of watching that as we head into next year. a record-breaking breakfast which we had a couple weeks ago. So

054any student athlete that broke a record this year in their individual sport, we celebrated them in our breakfast, uh we fed them during Aviator Bell. Um gave a certificate and kind of just celebrated them. Senior athletic awards we did last week and celebrated um 140 different athletes with senior athletic awards. Uh signing days, we've done three of those this year. We celebrated, like I said, 14 different um student athletes. We had a junior high signing day. So when they came for opening house this year back in January, we set up and I think it's on the bottom right slide there. We set up a kind of like just a signing table and they kind of had obviously a ceremonial sign that they're attending Syc. We had a big sign they could actually physically sign with

055all their classmates. Just kind of a you know a cool way for them to kind of feel part of the high school at that time. Um and then actually as of tomorrow, Mr. poll is welcoming myself and some of our aviator athletic council members down to the green school where a lot of the kids that are interested in athletics we had them sign up submit questions and so we'll do a Q&A with them part of it's kind of Q&A with some of our athletes and then part of it is our athletes going out to recess and kind of playing around with them tomorrow so again just ways to bridge that gap between youth and high school so these are just kind of great things that are happening with athletics right now again it takes a

056village you do great things and so I'm just excited to talk about all that kind of stuff and just the Last slide I think is always kind of or I already talked a little bit about spring sports but that kind of just gives you an overview of where everybody's at. A lot of teams playing for GMC Championships coming up. A lot of good things happening overall um in our spring sports but like I said I already talked about that a little prematurely. Um so facility updates. This is always kind of a common question of like where are we on a lot of things? So obviously we got a lot of facilities. We got a lot of things that we're very blessed with in this community with our facilities. A lot of things I walked into

057uh my first year as athletic director just very very blessed with the amazing things we have here. Um so on the left I kind of have what's been done um whether it be this year kind of prior to and then really what's to come and what's upcoming. So you know starting with the main gym this year uh we put up team banners which is that first kind of image on the top there which has all the league championships, district championships, GMC banners um which is just listing all the GMC schools. We have a fight song banner that's right next to our AFK just to have the fight song right there next to them. Uh what's upcoming is our state banner. So, if you remember back before the gym was renovated, we had the state banners

058for each state championship that was there. So, we'll have those sound baffles and finding a sound baffle solution because if you go in there, uh the noise is is pretty bad in terms of being able to hear. So, still trying to work into a solution for that next year. Um the natiatorum, we put up signage for Dan Ketchum and Carson Foster for their Olympic medals. Hopefully, like Mr. Lewis said, eventually Addy Robelar down the road. Uh team banners for them as well. also donor and lane signage behind each of the lanes for our donors as part of part of that nitorium project. Um what's to come is record boards. So a lot of those record boards that used to be in the nuditorium. We want to make sure we get those up throughout the course

059of next year. Um tennis courts, those are done. Those are completed back in September. So those are done, rock and roll, and those are fully renovated. Uh baseball, softball, phase one was approved throughout the course of this year. Um we are just in the final process of planning a groundbreaking ceremony which we hope to communicate here soon um with a plan for substantial completion of that first phase uh by September which first phase is everything that touches the turf. Um so the fencing around the turf the turf itself um is largely what'll be renovated in that first phase. Um soccer lacrosse stadium uh the Seager donation was approved I believe at last board meeting the previous board meeting. Um so we're very very thankful for obviously Mark Seager and his generous donation not only for

060soccer lacrosse turf obviously the auditorium u but that donation is allowing us to move forward with our turf uh new turf installation which will happen in June and July of the summer. So that soccer lacrosse turf which is kind of that third image down there uh will be brand new over the summer um kind of the football post come down the football lines go away and it becomes fully soccer and lacrosse on that field. um the track the shot and disc areas thanks to our boosters were newly established this year. So if you go over by the multi-use stage board there's a new shot area and then in the grass area there's a disc area now. So that was completed uh for the spring and then planning for a new track. So if you've been

061at the track there's a lot of cracking and deterioration with track. So planning again for a new track in the upcoming future. Um wrestling, they've got new mats over the summer and then into the fall and then again signage for them and kind of getting them some signage in the wrestling room. Um fieldhouse lockers went in back in August again thanks to boosters. That was a big part of that. Um and restrooms went in as well and then still working on finding drywall to create office spaces and rooms and storage as well as signage. Um the Gregory Center is in need of updating. So planning for gym and waiting room updating. That's another part of the process for next year and the multi-use stadium. a long-term process of again windscreen stores to increase behind kind

062of the home stands and the eight cave stands to get some better storage and visibility there. So, uh some of the like all that what's upcoming obviously a lot of hopefully we can hammer out some of that next year but obviously that's just kind of a a longterm some things that are coming up that is all I got. So, sorry I talk a lot. So, I didn't realize how much I talk for four slides. So, any questions for I was just going to say I do think it's really exciting and we shouldn't we we can't ever forget the number of people that made donations to make these facilities happen. You know, the Seager family with the natiatorum and the turf replacement. Uh the Sadler family with the baseball softball facility. The Gregory Gregory family with

063the baseball softball uh facility. You know, I we could go on and on, but you know, without those major donations, our anonymous donor for the multi-use stadium, our booster organization, and all the fundraising they do to make, you know, the ticket booth, the fieldhouse, all those things possible, um, we wouldn't have these great facilities. So, you know, the and I think we appreciate the support of the community. I think that's the other thing that we forget in this is a bond issue was passed and they helped support um not only new buildings and renovated buildings but some of these great facilities. So, you know, our students are uh obviously reaping the benefits of, you know, being here and being a part of something special right now um that's happening in athletics. And I appreciate Mr.

064Oington's leadership of not resting. He's constantly looking at how can we continue to get better. And I'd like to say, you know, you've done a really great job with this. I've been through a lot of athletic directors and things like that. You've really put our sports out in people's minds on the communities and out in places and really advertised our kids and marketed our kids and I think that's great and uh continue to do that. You've done a great job with this. If this is your first year, I can't wait to see the second year. So, great job. So, yes, thank you for all you do for our student athletes and for our community. I really appreciate the fact that you're not just focused on the high school, but you're looking at students at middle

065school and at the junior high and um giving attention to them as well. I appreciate that. Like I said, it takes a takes you guys up there. It takes everybody in here. It takes the whole community to pull off something great. So, really thankful to be part of this community in a variety of ways. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay, the next item, speaking of sports and playing and getting ready for sports and getting ready for growing up and being an athlete, we have the Sycamore playground audit update. Yeah. So, we'll have Mr. Zimmerly come up and just give you some information about um the universal playground design and what he's found out and you know it just gives us information to talk about and discuss. Well, thank you board for having me and giving

066me the opportunity to share some information. Um, and so, um, I really just want to share basically information from an audit that we had conducted and really just, uh, put some items for consideration out there. And so, I wanted to start with the why. And so, we were in conjunction with the treasures department. Uh, we're preparing for the financial retreat and we determined that we needed to really take a look at our long-term capital planning. And so in doing so, um, over the course of about six months, we really looked into, you know, what are the kind of detailed needs that we have? And so we we partnered with Four Seasons. Um, they conducted a full audit of all of our mechanical, electrical, plumbing, uh, building facade, um, all of our infrastructure needs that existed.

067um in in really close partnership with our maintenance team of really you know helping uh both sides communicate sort of what you know what we're seeing you know everything from uh you know chillers etc. Um, and so we we gathered all that information and then we worked with the Bradley Payne group, uh, specifically Dan Shaw, um, who you met at the financial retreat. Um, and so really started to put together comprehensive look at, what are all the needs that exist? Um, through that process, we also kind of realized that we needed to capture the the playgrounds that, you know, that's a a potential need out there that we need to put realistic dollars and costs around. So, we've uh parted partnered with SHP um and so um myself and SHP and a vendor, we went

068and walked every playground and looked at um everything from the surfacing, the equipment, the grounds, sort of all the potential things that would go into um you know needing addressed through this lens of getting to universal design. Um and so um you know basically through that assessment and and that audit uh conducted by them they came up with the number that was presented at the financial retreat. So that 5.5 million. So that was kind of and so um to to capture this was truly looked at um within that scope um you know so when we talked about the surfacing um to to get to that universal design you know we need a solid surface and so the surfacing we looked at options that would take it from being mulch to you know either a poured

069surface or a bonded surface. um from an equipment standpoint um they looked at all the what I would call the apparatus you know so all the equipment that's out there um through their audit they were there were some opportunities where we could retain some of the structures and so that way you know from a cost-saving standpoint that you know we we do have some pieces that would meet uh the the universal design concept um we looked at you know there's some minimal fencing needs that would come into play and that's really more with compliance and just kind of capturing um you know what is currently in place and might need replaced um contingency costs and permitting and installation. Um I I call that the work that needs done to do the work. And so in

070order to to put in a a solid surface herbs have to be poured around every playground. Um there's going to be drainage, there's going to be excavation, there's going to be you know working with um you know permitting for drainage. Um all that sort of this soft cost that exists in doing a project to to meet these needs. Um Mr. Emily, it's okay if you don't know because I don't expect you to be a playground expert, but I because when I was looking at your information, what's the difference between the poured in place or what the poured surface versus the bonded surface? Like it's a very great question, Mr. Lewis. Next up, salon. Oh, thank you. Okay, so sorry I didn't. Absolutely. Not a problem. Um, so, uh, to to dive into that a little

071bit more. Um, poured versus bonded surface. Um, so, you know, I wanted to to spend just a little bit time of kind of explaining the difference between those two. So, a poured is exactly what it sounds like. It's going to be a continuous pour. So, they're going to come in. Um, it's it pours out at about a half inch depth. And so, with that, you can make it, you know, all the pretty colors. you can can put a lot of designs into into that surface. Um it's a little more smoother than the bonded surface. Um with that, you know, again going back to some of the infrastructure cost that goes into putting in that type of playground. When you look at the curb that goes around that surface bonds to that concrete and so you're

072looking at a half inch that's going to attach to that concrete. Um, and so that does, you know, create some issues of, you know, the longevity piece of how how long and how well is it going to stay attached. Um, you know, with it being a little bit thinner, you know, surface cracks, those sort of things, it it does become susceptible to that. Can I ask a quick question? I know because my son went to the early intervention preschool at Maple. They had a playground for children um who were in that in that program because many of the children had disabilities and it was so that they if they had a wheelchair they could move around and and it was accessible. Is that the It was like that and they had problems with it. It

073kept cracking. It was that it was a disaster. It was a disaster. Yeah, I know that. But I just was curious if that's what that was. I don't know specifically offhand, but I would say it would be a similar surface. Okay. Y I was here. It was It was That's what I was going to ask is because it was kind of like it it felt spongy and it looked like a rubberized type surface, but we had numerous problems with it from and really it's Ohio. Everything breaks and cracks because of the freeze thaw. So that's why I'm interested to hear about bonded. So go Mr. Zimily. Go. Hi, Mr. Wall. Uh, so bonded, um, it's going to ultimately have a similar sort of, um, approach. It's going to be a solid surface. Um, the difference

074would be it's about 4 in thick. And so it is also a rubber surface. And so, you know, if you were to to stand and look at it, it's going to look kind of like a mulch with a a coating over it. Um, and so with that, you know, the idea is that hopefully would have some longer longevity. um it's going to have more surface area to attach to the curb that goes around the the the playground. And so hopefully what that would lead to, hey, it's it's a better product. Um, when you think about surface cracks and whatnot, um, you know, if there was less coloring and less, you know, designs put into it, if you know, our team or the manufacturing needs to come out and address a crack that's in the in

075there, uh, you're not going to run into as many of the like, you know, it sits outside for multiple years. it heats, it cools. So, you know, discoloration that happens if you put in colors, whatnot, you know, versus coming in with kind of a clear coat and putting it on, it's not going to be as noticeable. And so, um, like I said, I thought it was important to kind of describe those differences kind of between the different services because there is a difference in cost. Um, and so if you want to go ahead and go to the next slide. um you know when we when we look at what that overall number was you know that's that's a big ask um you know that that 5.5 million uh was with the bonded surface um and

076so that would be doing the entire scope of what SHP found through their audit and so you know addressing every playground all the equipment needs all the surfacing needs factoring in contingency all those things um go into that option A um options B, C, and D. Um what I did was just sort of break down what if we were to just address the surfaces, you know, to to kind of look at, you know, some some of our accessibility needs of getting to, you know, to the equipment that's on the playground already. And so what you see there is a breakdown of some different options of looking at if we did it for all four buildings or looking at just send to blue ash or sim blue ash Montgomery um and looking at what those costs

077would be to just put in the surfacing um whether it would be bonded or so um within that number um that does include uh kind of this contingency and you know installation costs. So um you know when you look at the material costs in essence you can the factor is about 30% more is with SHP on kind of what they factor in as their holistic expected cost. So you're looking at this just for the elementary schools not for green. So, so B, C and D, yes, would just be that's the cost associated just with those. But even Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Option B would not include but option A is five playgrounds would be um that also does include green and it might when we say five playgrounds some of these are broken into multiple playgrounds

078for multiple schools has like one of the options that I think and I I think one of the things that we could do is go back and audit with Mrs. Spencer um in our office of student services is because if you remember last meeting we heard from a lot of parents from Sims and Maple and a lot of the students that are leaving SIMS preschool are going to Maple and um I think that needs to be one of the options we look at. I looked at it personally, it was I think bonded was 715,000 or something around that. And that's two playgrounds at Sims, which is a pretty large space plus another space. And then Maple was again, they were all roughly about I'll just say around two to 300,000 each for the bonded surface.

079I'm because of Mrs. Bidder's comments, I feel the same way about the poured surface. I just don't think it's a good option for Sycamore or for Ohio. But that's just my opinion because if you remember, we heard clearly use it. We spent all this I felt like it was like this great idea and then no and then we couldn't and honestly the difference in cost to me it's not worth the long-term maintenance cost of a poured surface. Um so we heard clearly from our parents the mulch is the problem. Correct. And then the question was where the students where the preschools were what they raised was the preschools are at SIMS and every single student with a disability in the district is going to go through the well theoretically and hopefully they will go through

080our early intervention program at those two schools. So they said we were thinking at least that we would do those two, but are you saying we don't need it at Blue Ash maybe or is I I don't know that I we just didn't hear that at the meeting, right? I'm just commenting about what we heard. Have they looked I think we probably need to audit to find out do we have any students that are having accessibility issues at Blue Ash and if they are right then should address. We want kids in every elementary school to be able to play on the playground. If if they're in a wheelchair or if they have mobility issues, you have to be able to play. Play is a child's work, right? It's what you need. And be with your

081friends and be with your friends and socialize and watch them be. So, I mean, to me, it's obvious, but how do we Yeah. Yeah. That's a question for the board and for you. And quick question. How often is the replacement on the port and the bonded like I would assume the port is very quick it sound because I remember Maple when it was done and then it was pretty ratty pretty fast. So, um, in my meetings with SHP, um, you know, they what the manufacturer will tell you is it's approximately 10 years. Um, you know, there's a lot of factors that go into that, I would say. Um, but it's it's projected to be at about 10 years. Bonded bonded. Uh, they they said for both. Um, again, my skepticism would be a half inch

082versus 4 in. One seems like it would last longer. Is this more expensive or and I you may not know but I know there are playgrounds that have turfed. So more expensive, less expensive or about same. So, what I would say to that, um, because I asked that question as well, um, if turf falls in between the two, um, I will say in talking with a, you know, with a number of turf projects we have going on, I I did ask, uh, Moes, you know, they they stay out of working on playgrounds, um, with turf specifically just because of the strings requirements, uh, to to be in line with, uh, you know, what's out there from the state and whatnot. So, there's like little things that kids can put in their mouth. Say I don't

083I don't know that it would be the best mobility as well, but I just was curious. Yeah. Why people are making that decision? Yeah. Falls in the middle. And when you factor in repair for different items happen that that repair cost could be significantly more than addressing. One one of the things that I do think that needs to be in consideration, you know, Mark did a really good job of saying, okay, if we just did the surfaces, right, because that's the accessibility that we've talked about, um, the universal accessibility to go from the concrete to the structure. We just focus on the surface. That doesn't negate the fact that we have aging playgrounds. Um, we are in a situation specifically with Montgomery, the older playground at Sims. Um, Maple's getting there and Blue Ash where

084we're getting to that place in time where that equipment's going to need to be replaced. We have great PTO's and PTAs that invest in that, but if we put the service down, then we're locked in until the replacement of that service really to replace the equipment. So, there's other variables and consideration that I just want to make sure that we consider as we think about the cost associated with each of those options. And it's not that you can't do it and you can't move forward. You're just once you put it in, then you start taking things out and you break that surface. That's where to Mr. Lewis's point, you get water, you get freeze, you get thaw, all that stuff. So, um, is there a realist here trying to say about all that as another

085I'm just throwing out another idea or thought or question. Is it possible to create accessible way paths for the the play for the swing sets for the things that children I mean obviously you want to do it all with a plan to try to get it all when especially when the equipment needs to be replaced but I mean they need to be able to play like tomorrow spring right so how do we is there something we can do that fixes this maybe you already have that say so funny you asked that um I did have that conversation with SHP actually um earlier this week Um and just trying to give some more clarity about um what was you know called at the audit. Um and they did mention that you know that is a path

086that they make paths. Yeah, we can make paths and so um you know again sort of the the consideration to factor in is you look at down the road equipment replacements. Um you know it's very likely that you're going to do a significant replacement of whatever surface you put in. Um, another thing that that kind of goes along with all this is, uh, you know, mulch goes down over two feet, um, in most instances. So, get it to where we're putting only four inches down. Um, you know, there's stone and packability that has to to happen in order to to install this. So, um, you know, a lot of factors that that go into a place for for kids to learn and grow, right? Um, but definitely, you know, there's I would say outside of

087these options that are shown, there there are other options. Um, but at least wanted to start some some thought process around kind of what does the investment from a resource stand. Would it make more sense? I we have to do something and I support doing something, but I'll be very honest. We do not have $5.5 million in our current five-year forecast to do this. I wish we did. Um, you know, do we do one playground at a time? I'm not I don't like the idea of just I I like the idea of doing the surface to give accessibility now, but I don't like the idea of what Mr. level said of you're going to break the surface when you repair and replace equipment and then all of a sudden it's going to be three to

088five years and we're going to have to replace the surface again. We're not going to get 10 years if we start cutting them. I don't know what the right answer is, but you know, do we do one play you one building at a time, but do it the right way. Yeah. Maybe that's something we need to look at. Yeah. And pick, you know, where playground is either in the worst shape or it would give most give access to more students. Sure. At that I can see a step-by-step approach. I just I don't I don't see $5.5 million. We can probably come back to with a phased not be. Yeah, we can come back with a phased approach of looking at kind of good, better, best of here's what we would recommend. And I think we

089should also, you know, again, these were architects, engineers, we can get a playground consultant in to like kind of insert their feedback into what's the best way to tackle this and bring why phased approach back question. Why SHP? I mean, I know that they they made great buildings for us, but they obviously marked everything up. You know, they're in the business to make money, too. Is there a company that does playgrounds that we can just work directly with instead of going through an architectural firm? Yeah, there there absolutely is. I think for the purpose of this what we knew to be true was that SHP designed the majority of the well green and sims like so there was a turnaround that we needed to get the cost but I agree with you there are companies

090that will specifically work with this that we could do a design build with them on it. This was just to get us to the point to understand what is the scope of what needs to get done. Question SHP referring to seed have fall that's correct. architecture. Um, okay. I have another question. Does it have to be like I Is it allowed to be another material? Like can you use concrete or like are is that something we don't do anymore on playgrounds? Like Yes. We don't do concrete anymore. Yeah. Not for metal slides, too. That's No, no, no. I'm not saying for everywhere. I'm not saying for everywhere. I'm not saying for everywhere. Are there I would say to to answer that question green has don't doesn't green have we we could look at um you

091know the one of the the things that's noticed about our playgrounds is that in some of the some of the cases they are very large in scope in terms of the the size of where the mulch is and so there's always the consideration of you know do we scale back that surface as well um so you know what do you do around that so you only have that surface on a very specific area and then everything else is concrete because if you're in a wheelchair and you need to get up close to it, then once you're you're able to then get in. So, it could be like in the center of the of it instead of the whole entire space, right? Because it's about getting to the equipment. Yeah. And being able to go to

092all the things that all the other kids can go to. And then um I agree like that 5.5 number just seems so like okay, there's no way we're going to do this. seems so excessive, but we still need to do it. So, like, yeah, I agree. Finding ways to find a cheaper Is there another company that might do it better? I would say um can we phase it? Right. The the number that was put together um I think was a one that was truly through the lens of sure we don't want to bring in that's then going to turn into 7.8 of course. Yeah. Yeah. So trying to look at it through that lens of you know realistic what are contingency costs what are other factors and so you know till that was built in

093to to help capture that you know we realize that projects like this you can start to go into a surface and realize that drainage needs you know so issues with you know with other buildings and and facilities we've built you know we've we've put money you know we paid money for a firm to come in and do a 60 or 100% drawing. Is that something like do they do that with playgrounds to where we can get a firm number? I think we can probably do it without doing what you just said. Like I don't most of the playground consultants will do it without doing 50 and 100% drawings. They'll they'll do some conceptual work to tell us and they understand their cost. So I think we have enough direction from the board right now for

094us to take that back, find, you know, work with some of our playground consultants and find the right ones to bring us back some honed in prices that would address and then a phased approach. You also need to look at the financial piece and how does this fit into the budget? How does it impact the budget? How does it impact? I mean, you take another five million out and we're going to be a lot closer to below our board polic board limits for levies before 27. We have 4.1 million included in the forecast right now for all our capital needs. This is not none of these options are included in there. So, it's about prioritization. So if this is a priority then it moves up on the list and something else moves off. We can't

095do everything. So So if you went I'm just going to say if you went with option B uh bonded 2.11 million and we decided we were going to do that next year, we would look at the 4.1 million and say we got to find 2.1 million to take off of this list. Um, and I'm just going to say when we looked at that at the financial retreat, there weren't like wishlist things. They were they were needs. Um, and so we have a true capital um project need in this district. Um, and we're going to continue this uh conversation, but absolutely we need to get more firm numbers, but also just to be aware, $4.1 million is what we have in the forecast. Technology, technology is a million of that. Mr. Long's back there shaking his

096head. So, we really only have $3 million in our budget for capital. One of the two on Ruseier. Correct. Yes. Yes. I have a question. I don't know if Mr. Zimmerly or um Mr. Level wants to answer it. Could we also break it down maybe with the preschool kindergarten playgrounds? You can break those costs apart from the other bigger playgrounds that are in those four elementary buildings to so we could at least Yeah, I would like to see just the broken down by actual playground on site at every building because that way we could also see what that looks like. Thank you, M. I don't see that. I just want to say for anyone who's listening like we know that this is a priority. This isn't like an extra thing that we're trying to we

097understand children cannot get um um to the playground. They can't play. There's kids that cannot do that and we understand that. We heard that last week and we are going to address that issue. We just are trying to figure out how to address that issue and we will come up you'll keep helping us coming up with numbers so that we can make that decision and so that it and we will also um balance our budget and we will align ourselves with that but this is this is a priority. We don't have a valid balanced budget Mrs. Spitter. We will I said we will balance our budget. We we will not. It's not the way schools operate. We do not operate on a balanced budget. Okay. We will operate by working to ensure that we are

098in alignment with all the financial parameters that we are setting for ourselves as we have been doing. We will continue to not hopefully not have levies every other year like other school districts and we have extended ours to almost 10 years which is pretty remarkable twice the amount that we had said we would do. So, we will continue to do that, but these this isn't like this is something we have to fix. And you can just tell us which one are the priorities right now and then we can problem solve on this, that would be great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Can I please get a motion and a second for out of town field trip approval? So moved. Second. Thank you, Mr. Valent. And thank you Dr. James for your second. Mrs. Logan, please

099call the role. Mr. Balant, hi. Dr. James, hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. Seager, hi. Mrs. Bidder, hi. We have other under superintendent agenda. Yeah, just a few uh quick highlights. Um, congratulations to all the altitude award winners in the district. Those were our teachers of the year. Some were specialty awards just to recognize uh extra efforts on staff and also we recognized our retirees. Um I think it was a nice event. Certainly gives us room to grow and keep thinking about ways that we can uh recognize staff. So it was the first ever and based on the feedback I've received, we'll continue on. I want to give a special shout out to our student MC's. They were the highlight of the night. uh beyond recognizing our great staff, Clarissa Ramirez, Satie Whan, Brett Kramer, and

100Lev Newton. They will be uh missed. Um I saw Satie the day after and she's like, "I had so much fun. I would come back and do it again." Um but I think we'll give next next round of students an opportunity. So, um Sims players, imagine a dragon. I went on Friday. Um I shocked my seat partner because they did not know that I was making a cameo appearance. Um, so thank you to Mrs. Bthun and Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Win Hop, Mary Winhop and the students that make us all look good. The students just did a great job. It was a phenomenal performance. I don't know, Mrs. Patterson, how you get 85 kids to do anything together. And there were princesses and um, your majesties. I remember that as part of one of my

101lines. But it was a lot of fun and the kids made it fun and um when I got back to my seat, the person smacked me and was like, "Why didn't you tell me you were going to be in it?" Not ruining the surprise. So um and then I believe uh on this Saturday, Mrs. Richardson did it. And then on Sunday, I think Mrs. Rston did it. So it was it was kind of a fun uh thing to be included. Uh but thankfully thankfully Mrs. Patterson gave me a script to read so that I didn't have to memorize lines. Mr. Wapom needs to take notes uh for Mrs. Patterson. He put me on stage with no lines. So, um Celebrate Excellence Breakfast was this past Friday. Um Ashley Friend was recognized as the CE celebrate

102excellence uh award winner and the teacher of the year. Uh we took our AES high school students uh which and our star students at the junior high. Those are the students just like Mr. Oington talked about a student council like a leadership council. I have leaders that I meet with. Uh they went off site on a field trip and then uh we visited Hop and Vines um for our our meal. U they've given such great feedback all year. They've done so many different things. U they've engaged at a deeper level than than I can ever imagine. Um, and get ready because I just sent them an email today asking for volunteers for the student ask us anything session. So, we're going to probably do that next Thursday um at 8:30 in the evening. So, if

103you always wondered what was on students minds, we're going to take a leadership risk and we're going to find out um next Thursday. So, I already have several responses like I would love to do this um junior high girls track Mr. Oington talk about our high school track team, our junior high girls track team, back-to-back GMC champions. Um, and and it wasn't even close. They dominated just about every event. So, uh, congratulations to them. Um, our sack leadership, our Sycamore Advisory Commission leadership is changing. Uh, Mr. Garren has hit his limit. Um, so Mr. Gearan and also Victoria Margram who has been in multiple roles on SAC leadership. They're going to be departing from the leadership. I think Mrs. Margram will still stay on uh Sycamore Advisory Commission, but so if you're available next Monday

104at 6:30, we're going to have a little um just gathering for them before the SAC meeting um to thank them for their work. Mr. Garren's been a really a a great support for a number of years. And then you heard Mr. Ovington mentioned the chess team. They'll be here next uh board meeting. Two things that I would like to corner the board on while we're all here together. Uh number one would be a date to meet with Katie for people fluence during the summer during June because um I haven't been able to get a clear answer from the five of you and the four of us to get on one date. Um it would be nice to be able to hammer that out potentially tonight. And then I would like to respectfully request that our

105summer board meetings, which no one attends, be moved to like four o'clock so that we all don't have to stay till 9:00 during the summer. Um, so and have those at do. And I think we did that last year and that was fairly successful. Um, but would like to request that we do that again for the summer board meetings, which I think we have two in June, one in July, and I think even the first one in August we can probably do. So maybe the the four meetings and then when we get closer to school starting, go back to the regular schedule. But yeah, I would just like to comment on the altitude awards. I mean, it was a phenomenal night for the district. It was it was really a special night. one of one

106of the favorite nights of my 10 years on the board that I've been to. Um it was so well done and the recognition that all of our teachers deserve I think was just phenomenal and to build onto that next year. I just can't wait to see what you do. So thank you to everybody that made it happen. Yeah, that was a really it was very enjoyable event altitude awards and I I enjoyed it and I hope that everyone gave you good feedback. I know there's a survey that was sent out, but it was it was really enjoyable and it just makes you realize how many how much how we're all connected. I mean, every single so many of those of the people that were retiring or that were honored or my kids teachers or there

107are my kids, you know, educational assistant or it's amazing how many people and how we are all as board members so connected to everyone, right? because our kids educators really really very powerful thing way of doing it and I like how I know we typically honor our retirees at a board meeting which I think is very nice and and respectful thing to do obviously but it was neat to be able to do it like that because we were able to honor the retirees and to really recognize some of the teachers that um had received reward awards and I know that every single teacher should receive an award because every single teacher is amazing and so our educator are. But it was just it was a great very nice event. So, thank you. I will say

108we've gotten some great feedback and some great ideas um to really add to it and you know, one of the things that we're going to do is change the name from altitude awards to the altitude and awards because really it is a the retirees leaving a lasting legacy of excellence here. So, um I think we are going to create a special award for them on top of their gift. so that it they understand that it's I mean that's where the idea started from was for our retirees because I like the board meeting as well but I also feel like they deserve a bigger grander stage to be recognized and celebrated. So that's where it it started was thinking about our retirees. So we're going to come up with something for them. But also I've had

109great feedback from people of have you considered this? Have you thought about these ideas? So, it's really keeping us moving on. Okay, there's we did a great job, but what's the next layer of getting it to the next step? So, keep that feedback coming staff because this is about you. This is really about celebrating all of our staff. So, excited for next year, but thank you for your feedback and thanks for being there. Yeah, really appreciate it. And if you guys can come up with a date for people fluent, uh, June 26, I think I sent it out today that does not work for everybody. I thought we were there, but we're not there. Did we not all respond to your request for dates? Uh, it's just been varied. So, and I know people are

110busy and emails get buried. So, if you want me to resend it, I can. Please resend it and everybody will fill it out. Yep. I can do that. And if if it's if doodle is not a great I'm sorry that's what it's called but if dood's not the best way I can send out a Google form. No you can send that it's just out I I think most people have filled out and I can also add dates anyone's miss please fill it out. Yep. Um and we will get that and I'll um I will I will make sure I'll go on there and make sure everyone's filled it out and we'll do it. If we already filled it out we didn't fill it out. You don't need to fill it out again. Okay. So be

111the same one. Yeah. And then are you guys okay with the summer meeting schedule? I am. Is 4:00 work for everybody? Does it need to be 4:30? Not you're not in school, but um I'm not sure my schedule for the summer. Okay, that it doesn't have to be decided tonight. Will you let us know? We can do that. I mean I think that would work for me. Okay. And if you let us know to do it early though you you don't want to do that. You mean like in the morning? Yeah. I thought because that was sort of a they because if that works better for everybody, I can do that as well. But I'm fine with 4 PM. But if anybody feels like a morning is a better way because remember I like the

112morning because that way we can go to work after that. Then we don't have to come home. I have to leave work early to be there for. I can do that. But be very prefer mornings. Yeah. Hey, I can do mornings. Sign me up for that. Okay. But not like seven in the morning. How about 8 in the morning? at 8 fine. 7:38 kind of thing. 5 in the morning. Says 9. All right. Okay. We'll we'll Let's Why don't you look at your calendar and see if you can do some mornings? If we can do all morning, we can definitely move. You're not going to get an argument from the four of us and probably anybody back there. So, we'll just suggest suggest the the times and then we'll confirm it. Yep. Sounds good. All

113right. Can I get a motion and a second for the personnel consent agenda? So moved. Second. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. Steer. Second. Mrs. Logan, please call. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. Hi, Mr. Balant. Hi, Dr. James. Hi, Mrs. Bitter. Hi. Welcome. All right. Okay. So, our next item is the treasures agenda. We have a five we are going to have a discussion which is a continued discussion of our five-year forecast update assumption discussion that we have had on multiple and we're going to continue to have that because yeah, it's that time again. Um, so we got this question actually at at the ABC committee and I thought, wow, I feel like we need to take a little bit more time and even describe and explain what is the five-year forecast

114and how often do we do it? Um, so the five-year forecast is done twice a year. Um, and that five-year forecast, the original one is done in November. And then in May of every year, we take a look at what our assumptions were in November, what's actually occurred throughout the year, and then we make adjustments. So, it's an update to the November forecast basically. Um, so you can go. So for tonight I our purpose tonight is just to review what has changed since we looked at this in November. Um and what do we want to do with based on the changes that have happened? Do we want to make any changes to our assumptions at this time? So again just to review um the forecast is only include it does only include the general operating

115fund and any general fund debt and Mr. Ballot I know you brought this up at the last meeting so I thought it would be um important to share this. So we do have general fund debt. We have two energy conservation bond issues. Um, and one of those mature December of this year. The other one matures in 2032. And then we also have district office bonds that mature this December. And we have debt on Blue Ash Elementary. And guess what? It matures in December of 252. So, when you take a look at our five-year forecast and you look at our debt payments and why are those reducing, that's why they're reducing because the majority of our debt is falling off in this December. Stop. That's good. Um, it provides three years of history. So, 2022 through

1162024 and then five years of projections which include this year 25 all the way out through 2029. We do use it as a management tool. We use it for planning. Um when we start talking about possible levies for the future, the document that we utilize and so I know there's lots of discussion about moving this back to just a three-year forecast. I will tell you that even if by state we're only mandated to do a three-year, that is not long enough, especially when we're going to the community and saying making promises. If we're asking for a levy, it needs we need to project how long that would last. Um I also just want to say it is a snapshot financial report based on the information we know today. So, what did we assume when we

117looked at that at our forecast in November? Um, we just went, it feels like we just went through the total revaluation of property in Hamilton County. We're going to be looking at an update again in calendar year 2026, which would be collected on in 2027. Um just as a reminder though um as those values increase in Sycamore the millillage is rolled back so effectively we do not collect inflationary increases. So I just want to state that we are assuming an 11% increase which is half of what the reval increase was in 2023. I still believe that's a reasonable assumption. Um, and then as far as state funding, we did not assume that they will phase in the rest of the fair school funding plan. Um, I'm just going to say I think we should not

118anticipate any additional money from the state because it's a disaster right now with all of the discussions and trying to figure out what will happen. So, I think this is still a reasonable assumption. Um, I will say the governor's um budget proposal as well as the state um house of representatives, both of their budget proposals had Sycamore receiving an additional $2 million over the next bianium. We do not have that included. We are not assuming those additional dollars. So, nor should we because they're not guaranteed. That's right. That's exactly right. Um and we still have a long way to go with the state budget. Uh if we if if it's approved in June or in a June, it'll be in the next November. Exactly. Yes. Our next forecast will actually have the impact of that

119next bianium budget in the forecast. So when we look at the revenue assumptions and we say okay, what did we assume in November and then what do we believe is going to happen now um in May? Now that we have two months left in this fiscal year, how how are things looking? So operating revenues we projected um in November and what we're projecting now in May are 1.35% um close to what that estimate was. What are the changes? But we're down 1.3. We are down. Yes, we are down. Um, the taxes and tiff payments, remember we talked about the total revaluation and what happens when you see values going up by over 20%, you're also going to see a lot of challenges to to people's property values. What happens is when they challenge those values

120and if they win that challenge then they receive a a refund on their taxes and we are seeing that happen actually with our revenue. Um the all other revenues that negative almost 600,000 that's that's tiff revenues. Um and tiffs are so that's tax increment financing and what happens there is it's our businesses and economically um developed districts um and instead of receiving them through tax revenue we receive them through our tiff payments and so they occur on that line item but what has occurred with a lot of the businesses they've challenged their values and they've won those challenges and so we've received less revenue than we expected. And um also the other thing that I want to point out here is on advances in you know we we talked a lot about um those projects

121that are a partnership between our community and the district, a lot of the 7030 projects. And so we advanced money to those funds to make those projects happen. And then as those donations start coming in, that money needs to be advanced back to the general fund because that was a loan. An advance is a loan. Um we had anticipated that 2 million of those advances would come back this year. It's going to be more like 1.5 million, not two. So that's that's the other big change that I wanted to point out. So there's the variance. That's what we're Yeah, it's just going to be later. I was hoping it would be this year, but it's going to be later. We're going to need to push that. So now moving on to our expenditure side. um

122in November we assumed first of all our um increases for wages anything that is included in our negotiated agreements are in the forecast and what we decided was anything beyond when those contracts expire we should assume 3% increase in the base wages. So that's what's included. Um, we also assumed based on our enrollment that we would not add any additional full-time equivalencies, any FTEES. So, that's also included in the assumptions. We included 10% increase for our insurance, healthcare, um, and then purchase services and materials and supplies. We assume 3.5%. Um, and then again, we've talked about this, but the $4.1 million transfer to PI and then $135,000 goes to our athletic funds. So, Mrs. Logan, this 4.1 even before the playgrounds. We talked about at the financial retreat that this is a fixed amount, 4.1

123per year in the five-year forecast. It does not take into account inflationary costs that we've seen with buses, with roofing, with paving, you know, not in this one. But obviously in future discussions I I would challenge that that number needs to increase. Um whether or not we put the playgrounds in there is a different discussion. But even just for the routine uh continual maintenance of our buildings, it's going to go up as costs go up. So I think we need to put an inflationary number in future 5-year forecast. I I agree. And I think that the the tool that we looked at at the financial retrade is going to really help us as we plan for what are our needs and what should we put in this forecast for the the transfer moving forward. Um,

124I believe when we looked at that, we we all were pretty I don't think any of us were shocked, but we realized the 4.1 million did not meet all of our needs and that's without putting any additional things on that are needs as well. So yes, the good thing about it, I encourage us to have another I know you all love the financial retreats, but I would encourage us to have another financial retreat in the fall before we do the next five-year forecast. Yeah, I think that would be key. And I think it would be in, you know, really looking at this 4.1 million. Not only is is it enough, are we going to start to work other projects in there? Are we going to move priority of projects down? um to really hone in

125on this number because that that's that's a big number but it's not big enough. Agreed. And obviously increasing that number is going to change a lot of the future financial scenarios as well. And we'll know more then after the budget passes in the end of June too of what we're actually dealing with. Yes. Yes. I would I agree. I think we should all retreat. We'll start looking at dates. Um, also I think we should consider projecting uh increases higher than the 3.5% for selected purchase services and materials and supplies. I mean, who knows what is going to happen with materials and supplies. We're hearing a lot of things in the news, but I would suggest that we use 5% there. Um, and then on and I say selected purchase services, we're gonna move into like

126what what actually happened with purchase services. And I said this at the last meeting. The one that I'm really concerned about is purchase services. And we're going to we're going to look at what actually happened there. But I believe there are some that we need to increase by 5%. Um, and utilities I think we need to even look at even higher than 5%. also the transfer in advances for the baseball softball project which we have approved uh doing phase one. So what that would look like is a transfer of the 30% which would basically be $1.1 million and we would advance $2.5 million and get that back over time. So when we look at our expenditure assumptions um again we're we're spending more than what we expected um but it's within it's 1.3% higher than

127what we estimated. So, it's still we weren't far off overall um with our estimates. The purchase service account though, I just wanted to spend a little bit of time. I know Mr. Buren back there knows I've driven him crazy. I have dove so deep into purchase services to try to figure this out. And there's so much um included in here that I wanted to just kind of walk through some of these. Our substitutes um are purchase services for the district. And so we assume a number based on what we've seen previously. Um but what we didn't assume we we did have some related service personnel that occurred after the year happened um that we had to utilize services that we were not expecting to do. Um and that was $80,000 more than what we expected.

128Um our PD expenses, which is not a bad thing. We're actually we're investing in our staff. I hate to call that expenses because that's an investment in our staff. Um, but it was over our estimate. Um, we are investing in our staff more than what we have. It's above the trend. So, it was hard to estimate, but that one is is definitely up. Is that the curriculum that has something to do with the new curriculum? That that is our professional development for our staff. um that is um training that all all of those type of things going to conferences bringing people in um you know we've done a lot of leadership training those kind of things but it's not related to the new curriculum and getting trained on that it is that's included everything any

129of that would I'm sorry yes that would be included too I would think that we would have a significant increase based off of the two the new curriculums I mean that makes sense actually. And I also want to say that um the coaches that are included this year and next in the forecast to help with that curric new curriculum um that was $600,000 that commitment and that was already included in our estimate. And so you don't see that on here, but it's in for the public. Coaches are not athletic coaches. That's correct. Thank you for that clarification. Thank you for that clarification. That's right. Instructional coaches, this language arts, um utilities were over our estimate by over $120,000. Um, we looked at just gas and boy did we have a cold winter. Um, yes, there

130I know we're all feeling that at home. We our bills are often associated with what they call peak demand days and many of our peak demand days that we um experience. So basically they say these are going to be a cold snap, it's going to be hot. We're going to look at your usage and then that's how we're going to determine billing. um that was during construction and so there were many times we were heating buildings very much to keep the flooring down, things like that. That was in the past, but that's what's built forward and that's a lot of what we're seeing as well um with our utilities is playing catch-up from construction. We're feeling it this year. Yeah. Um our special education tuition um is over our estimate by $350,000. Um that total

131line item is one and a half million just for perspective. Um contracted transportation um was over the estimate by $150,000 and um payment lie of transportation uh was over the estimate by $27,000. And I didn't mention this on the on the revenue side, but our state revenue is down what from what we projected. And the reason for that is we have less riders on our buses. And so our transportation revenue is down by over $200,000 because we have less riders. Wow. Um and that makes sense that our payment in lie of would would be going up as well. Um because we have less riders. Um, and then CCP is college credit and that is up and we're seeing that go up and that's that's a good thing. We're giving our students more options. So then

132when we talk about um okay our revenue came in less our expenditures were more as far as our cash that makes our cash less than what we predicted. So May forecast versus November forecast is to the tune of $3.1 million less than what we expected. Um which means that our um total our fund balance that we're predicting at the end of this year which is 41.7 million it represents basically 40% of our total expenditures. remember what this the the state um budget uh the house version said the house version said that school districts should only have a maximum of cash balance from year to year of 30%. And what that means by by their version is we would have $10 million more than what we needed in our cash balance. And we know that when

133we look at our our 5-year forecast and we are completely running out of cash in 2029 based on our assumptions that this is not a realistic um expectation of schools. So I just wanted to put the graphs and I know right now okay yay got it to all come up. So, I wanted to just kind of show the operating revenues, those percentage increases from November to May. Um, and I'm just looking at 2025 through 2029. Basically, we were predicting 4% more this year. We're actually getting 2% more um in our revenues. Um but then moving forward the average is going to be about 1 and a.5%. Um that's where our our revenue growth is what we're estimating. And when we look on the expenditure side, um we were predicting 7.1% increase in our operating expenditures

134in November and what I believe is going to actually occur is 8.5% above what we spent last year. And then moving forward, I've made some adjustments, but it's still pretty close to to where we were last time we looked at this. Um, still about a a 4% increase average over the forecast. Yeah. And I I do just want to point that out, Mrs. Logan, because we did have a community member talk about where we were this year. Yes. That's not sustainable. And and we all had this discussion during our financial week. Wasn't sustainable. Correct. That number is closer to four and we might even challenge you a little bit lower than that. Yes. But you know our looking forward our our prediction is not seven or eight% growth premium. No it is not sustainable. Our

135that is not what we're projecting and we've talked a lot about financial parameters. We had talked about bringing that resolution for financial parameters, that commitment to our community at this board meeting or next board meeting and adopting that. And we decided it makes sense to wait until we find out what's going on with the state budget and then finalize that. But we're we're all still committed to a financial parameters resolution. So, we've just delayed it until we find out what's happening at the Do you have a timing on when you think the Senate will pass budget there? There was testimony um today in the education um committee. Um we have been told that the timeline is quicker than what we are used to. Um but I will still say it's it's going to be right

136at when's our second meeting in June. June. No, I mean even for the state for the because the Senate version comes out next and then they have to reconcile and then they do goes to the governor. Have we seen the Senate version? Have not lots of discussion but we don't know when that Senate will do you have any sense of the the Senate seems to be um friendlier and I I hate to say friendlier. I don't mean that they're unfriendly. They they are they are more willing to listen. they're more willing to listen. Um, and so we're hopeful. We heard a little bit from Senator Wilson. I mean, he remains optimistic that there's going to be a return. And I don't know that Jenny and the treasurers and the fair school funding team feels that

137way, but he felt that there would be a a restoration of or at least some implementation of the fair school funding plan. And then at least that's the discussion that he's involved in. And then also um he made a mention of something else that was on the tip. you say anything about the cash balance or oh the 30% of you know for our uh cash reserve that they're really more interested in in why and I think they're not understanding the full you know picture of everything because there are I heard you say it again today there are 400 school districts that are on the 20 mil floor um and that creates I think for them the issue that they're targeting which is people it it's almost like it's beneficial and people can get more money

138and bank more money because of being at the 20 mil floor and that's not us. Uh but I think we are advocates for all of our colleagues because I don't know that they're attacking the problem as much as just identifying something that they want to go after to feel like they're giving tax relief. I don't know. I I'm not a financial planner and I've not played one on TV and I probably shouldn't be talking about some of the things I'm talking about, but um I would say Senator Wilson at least gave us a picture of some positivity. Um but again, that's one person out of all the people that have to vote on this. So, we'll we will we continue to remain hopeful, but doesn't mean that it's going to be all positive and there's

139still, as Jenny said to our city leaders today, there's a lot more to go before we feel confident in that conversation. So, correct. Um and so then when we take a look and this is the chart that I always use um revenues, expenditures and cash. Um and that green line uh is our cash and you can see that it falls off the cliff basically in 2029. The red line is our board policy that says that a minimum cash balance should be 25% of our expenditures. So it just kind of shows you that um in 2027 fiscal year 2027 we fall below that line. That's why we have talked about in our financial retreat and we talked about it in November. um when is that right time to go back to our community for to address

140the need that we have and we have talked about calendar year 2026 and that goes along with this chart as well. Um so any questions you might have now you're not being asked to adopt the five-year forecast tonight. We're just we're talking about the assumptions and then at the next we'll get the five-year forecast all these numbers. You'll also get the assumptions packet like this with all of the notes that detail all of the information that that goes along with the numbers. So, any questions? When you say that you you said that you would you think that we need to increase utilities and selected purchase services are you saying that for the five you're saying you suggest to us that we that you increase that percentage on the five-year forecast for November for for this

141May so are you ask so that's what you would recommend to the board so when you bring us the 5-year forecast. That's what you're going to recommend. And I'll talk about which ones um that have been increased above the 3.5% and there'll be justification for it like and you'll have it what has happened in your report which is exceptionally helpful and the public will get that and you'll be able to see every single detail of behind every single item on the five-year forecast which I really appreciate that you do that. It's exceptionally helpful. Thank you. But you're not recommending for the May any increase in the 4.1 capital? I am not not at this time. The only increase as far as transfers to PI that will be included in the May forecast um is the

142money that has already been committed for the baseball softball project and the changes would be in the November forecast for the 4 if we change the 4.1. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your time on that. Thank you. That was Okay. Can I please get a motion and a second for the resolution accepting amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor. So move second. Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your motion. And thank you, Dr. James, for your second. This is just a we do this every year. Um just for um your information, we have over 70 mills that um inside and outside mills that have been voted on. We collect 25 mills just for perspective. Thank you. Mrs. Logan, please call

143the role. Mr. Ballot, hi. Dr. James, hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. Stager, hi. Mrs. bidder. I can I please get a motion and a second authorize the treasur CFO to reimburse Ryan Schillington for Airbnb expenses occurred for $2,42063 during a student robotics trip. So moved. Second. Thank you, Mr. Valent. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. And I do want to just say that it this involved students and mentors, coaches, parents. It wasn't just one person for the Airbnb. I just wanted to make that clear. I wanted to make that clear. Know that. Yes. Also remember they did a presentation for Yes. explained all that too. But yes, wanted to put it on the record. Say again. Typically stay at an a Airbnb type. No. No. That's why I'm

144asking for approval. Lodging is is traditionally done through hotels and so this is outside of our normal activity. So that's why it's on. Yes. Are they guided to in the future stay and hotels? Hotels. Yes. We are we are working on transitioning that. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Balance. Hi. Mr. Harris. Hi. Dr. James. Dr. Seager. Hi. Mrs. Bitter. I can I please get a motion and a second to adopt reimbursement resolution baseball softball project second. Thank you Mr. Balot for your motion. Thank you Mr. Harris for your second and all this does this is just gives us an option. We've talked a lot about all the needs for capital projects. This allows us, if we so choose, we would need to borrow that money because we need to hang on to our cash. This gives

145us an option of borrowing and reimbursing ourselves. That's all this does. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Mr. Ballot, hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. James, hi. Dr. Seager, I Mrs. Bidder, I. Can I please get a motion and a second to accept donations? So moved. Thank you, Dr. Steager, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Thank you to the community members who have made donations. We truly appreciate your donations to our school district. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. Seager, I. Dr. James, hi. Mr. Ballot, hi. Mr. Harris, I. Mrs. Bitter I Okay, so now we're under other board business and we have had some community um some community outreach regarding the vouchers hurt Ohio discussion that has been brought to us as a board. It's something that we have been

146talking about um as a board and um I know that Mr. Lewis has has given us and I don't want to speak for you but generally you have given us your preference to alternative areas of advocacy for the district. Um, but I would like to for the board um to have a moment and a time to discuss the topic because um I think it's important we're getting outreach from the community and it also has to do with public education funding for schools and um so I would like to bring that to the board for discussion. Does anyone have anything they'd like to say? Mr. Lewis, if you would like to begin, feel free. You don't have to, but if you would like to, please feel free. The only thing I would say is like whenever

147we get asked to join a lawsuit, my first call is to our legal counsel to just understand, you know, the components of a lawsuit. Been asked to join other lawsuits and other actions and you know, in discussion and just trying to understand what would be the benefit or kind of discussion for Sycamore. I would just say in consultation with legal counsel, it hasn't seemed to be a huge benefit for us to join um the cause or the the lawsuit so to speak. Um just you know I think the advice of legal counsel has been you know is it do you believe that joining this lawsuit is beneficial for the school district? Is there um anything that you would you feel like that is happening that you feel like the district needs to join in on?

148And I would say at this point I have not been interested in bringing a recommendation to you of that I think we should join. But you know this is really your guys's decision if you think we should as a district. I'm only one person with just again checking in with legal counsel and just trying to understand all the components of whether or not that I think that would be beneficial to the school district. And um you know, we had we had one of our legislators tell us vouchers are not going away. Um and and it would be a waste of our time to spend a lot of time fighting it. So when I hear things like that, I just feel like my time is better spent on things that I know make an impact on

149our Sycamore students. And I can't say that I'm going to spend a lot of time, you know, in the vouchers hurt Ohio realm because my job is u what do I need to do for sick more students? I agree with some of the arguments that I've heard. I haven't done a lot of research on what the lawsuit says, but um from my standpoint and talking with our legal council, I've I've I've tended to stay focused on Sycamore business and not state business. But that's my opinion on the topic. So I don't I don't know if that's I was just going to ask do we have a community member who was going to speak on vouchers or let's ask could you just briefly for the public explain what this lawsuit is about. Oh I was like

150me. Yeah. So, I I mean, as far as I can tell, and I get emails just about every day about this very topic. Um, there is a lawsuit basically saying that it's essentially unconstitutional to give funds from the state to private schools. Um, I don't know where it'll end up. U, but, you know, listening to our legislators again, they're not backing down. that's not going away. So, I don't know. I I don't know what's going to happen from a legal standpoint. Um, I don't know that we have a lot of control uh to tell the state where they spend the money. I I've you've heard me quote these stats before. Um, I'm concerned that they've spent a billion dollars to expand vouchers or expand opportunities for 4% of Ohio kids. Those are facts. um 96%

151of the students that were attending private school are now receiving a voucher to attend private school. So what do you think the private schools are doing raising tuition? So it's not helping anyone. It's not it's not expanding school choice. It's in my mind it's expanding the opportunity for the kids that already could afford the opportunity and that's not no knock on do any idea of the impact on sycamore that they might from the state through our community. Well, one of one of the benefits of the fair school funding plan, um, one of the things that we requested and they they agreed to was before the fair school funding plan, we used to get funded for for the kids and then we got deducted um, and it showed up as as an expense to us. Now,

152they are directly funding anything like that. So, that's a good thing. It doesn't come off of our our money. So number one, they deducted it once a student left Sycamore and went to a private school. Yes. Any scholarships or anything like that and now they're directly funding those? Um is that going to stay like that? So what I will say is um that there there's only so much money that the state has to appropriate. Um and to Mr. Lewis's point, the the amount that has been allocated for vouchers and the expansion of that continues to increase. Um while at the same time, public schools when we saw the governor's proposal, it was a decrease to um the majority of what percentage of kids in the state of Ohio attend public schools. 90% 90%. So the

15390% of kids that the total funding for those children actually saw a decrease while the 10% saw an increase. So I I think when I get asked the question like how does that impact it more? It impacts public schools because there's only so much money. And so if they continue to take away money that could be for other things and continue to fund vouchers, there's just less for everybody else. Um for Sycamore um in 2023 we had 32 students who were taking vouchers and last year it it bloomed up to 516. So just to kind of give you an idea and and to Mr. Lewis's point um when the discussion started it was about um failing schools more is not a failing school but it was to give choice um for parents who really wanted

154their children to have an experience somewhere else um because their they believed their public school was failing their children um and that's that's not the experience here and what we're seeing is um now these vouchers are going to children who've never been in a public school. They've always attended the private school and that's that's what's happening. Um, I will also say though, we have so many things against us right now, so many things we need to concentrate on to make sure that the the negative impact to us is minimized with this state budget that this one, if we brought this in as well, I think it distracts us from all of the other things that we need to be concentrating on which is making sure that that fair school funding plan model stays in place

155which brought us up to 10% and today during testimony we requested it be increased even more. So I I feel like we need to just focus in on the main things. We've got all of these um property tax reform that is im important. We have members of our community that need relief, but some of the things that they're looking at for property tax relief um is is going to negatively impact us and everybody else. So, I worry that um it's not that it's not important. The voucher fight, it's not that it's not important. I just worry that right now we need to stay so focused on what we need to prioritize that I worry it would just take our attention away that it's not important. Yeah, I tend to agree. I think I'm very concerned

156about it. what you're focusing on now to me is and I would say the other big concern that I heard at the state level was this the the way Ohio funds schools has been found unconstitutional multiple times that was when it was being funded at 40%. The current budget drops it to 32%. So, if it was unconstitutional at 40, I'm guessing it still remains unconstitutional at 32. I'm not a judge, but Yeah. I I would just like to You want to go? Yeah. I was just going to jump in real quick. Um for the community members, again, I'm going to reiterate that we've you've heard all of us say we want to level the playing field. If people are going to get vouchers, contact state legislators because things like testing like private schools don't have

157to take state tests. The public schools do. Let's see. We have to enforce truency in public schools. Private schools do not. Those are things you can actually ask to have change to make things a little bit more equal between public and private schools. Um, so students with disabilities, students with disabilities don't have to be accepted into private schools. So, just remember that there are things you can send, letters, call, whatever you feel like you want to do to try to help out leveling the playing field with vouchers actually currently going ary, I think, is a good way of saying it at the moment. Thank you, Mr. Spitter. I would like to say that I I mean I've been reading all of the information as well. I've been talking with you. I know as a board

158we have been talking about this as well. Um I feel like the timing is much closer now than it ever has been before. Um, I'm reading through just the the general we get a lot of letters and we get information all the time, but the lawsuit is, you know, it's it's challenging the constitutionality of the current voucher system. And it's doing that because they they want as many school districts to sign on as possible because it I if right now we have like over 600 school districts around 67 or something. So let's say 250 have signed on so far and people people who are really impacted by this school districts and other are 300 now okay so it's increasing so if you know school districts that are very impacted by this especially urban school districts

159rural school districts they are getting hammered by this suburban school districts maybe not so much but I can tell you Wyoming just signed on so what the pressure is coming now is or the questions are coming now is if we all join in then they have to listen to us. Now, we're we're like a little over halfway there, which is great. Um, I agree with what Jenny's saying, though. For Sycamore, right now, we have this budget that could crush us. It really could. So, we have to use all of our advocacy energy, I think, as a board and as a district on that right now. But my question would be, could we join it like right after we find out? like is it something that we should I feel like the time is either near

160it might not be now but I feel like it's getting closer because we have to stand up. I believe Sycamore needs to stand up and say we believe in public education and we're going to stand behind it and we're going to join this. That would be me. I'm one five people. I don't know that I would do it right now. I agree with what you're saying and with what you're saying, Mr. Lewis. I think we have to it's it's so much going on right now. However, I feel like I'm in the near zone and I think we have to Sycamore if we're a leader. So if we stand up and do it, I think others will too. That's my position. And again, I'm not ready to do it right now because I feel like we

161need to honor our treasur. Like I said, I I agree that the priorities now need to be focused on making sure that that that maximum cash reserve is not put in state because like Mrs. B said, that is going to not only is it going to crush us, it's going to cause us to go back to the community probably every two years and ask for more money. And then we're going to start to get into levy fatigue, starting to get into failure, potentially failure of levies. Um, and that's big time. And this I think we focus on that now and and we come back, we circle back to this and in July or August know what it is. And I don't think this is any shade towards private schools. Like we like private schools. We're

162fine with private schools. All we're saying is first of all, we h we are a public school district. So we have to advocate for public schools, right? Um, and for private schools, they don't have the same criteria. They don't have the same high bar that we have, but yet they're getting a lot. They're getting a lot of money, and it's coming out of the public school money. It's coming out of the fund. So, for the whole it's pi in this example. So, if we don't stand up for it, our community will also likely not be happy with us as well because I do believe our community feels it too. Um, and you're right, we need to be like what you said at the auditor's conference, like we need to be helping elderly people keep their

163homes. I mean, they need tax relief. Like, we're pitting school districts. What the legislature is doing now is pitting school districts against voters and community members, basically via public education cuts, which is really, really tough. So, we have to figure out how we're going to navigate it. But that's I think you're right. waiting till like July or waiting like a little bit later and then having the discussion again. I think that's a good idea too. I believe we had public participation from some would you like can come on up here. Helen Owens. Yes. Thank you board. Good evening and thank you for letting me speak um on vouchers and I just want a friendly reminder. We have you have three minutes going to be consistent just so you know and I didn't know what you

164already knew so I'm trying to go okay um we don't mind hearing it again. I know. All right. In 2000, I put together uh some talking points that I will make copies of for the board about uh the voucher situation. Um uh the uh for 2025, your number of vouchers increased 1,671.9% for private schools. Uh 96% of Sycamore's vouchers are not for low uh uh lowincome families. Only 3% of Sycamore's V vouchers are for lowincome qual qualified uh families since year 23 when ed choice the education choice voucher expansion uh lifted the income cap uh applying for private school vouchers. There's been a 4,466.7 increase in the number of vouchers in Sycamore public school going to families that are not low income. Um, if you did join the lawsuit, it's $2 per student. It would

165be less than the cost of one high school voucher. I'm not saying that you anyway. Uh that would be $6,24. Each Sycamore public school student is valued up to $6,250 less than in pupil uh state funding when compared to the state per pupil funding for each private school student. This this stuff is blow it blew me away. So, each Sycamore public school student receives $2,149 in state per pupil funding. Each high school voucher student receives up to $8,47 in state for pupil funding. That is $6,000 more to each 9 through 12 full voucher student. Each K through8 Sycamore voucher student receives up to $6,165 in state per pupil funding. That's $4,000 more to that the voucher students get each. Sycamore school district would receive almost twice its current state funding each year. $12,860 uh $644

166uh versus the current funding of $6,800 uh6693 if Ohio would that was three minutes. I'm sorry that was three minutes. Okay, I'll leave this. We go because I have uh I spent a lot of time on it. I'll read it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Yeah. I I think that um the other thing to remember for all of us is that you know like what you said um Mrs. Logan that these were intended to help children who were living in poverty or who are in low income and that's why they were created to begin with and now it has exceeded that to every single child. Right. And then there also were vouchers vouchers but wasn't called vouchers but I think it was ed choice for students who have like autism

167or disabilities and that's not what no one here is trying to say anything about about that. This is more about just the amount the massive increase in funding that's going to students that are not students with disabilities and they are not students living in lowincome families. So that is what's at issue and it's not that we don't we care deeply about our private schools and we want them to exist and we're very proud to be partners our community with them but at the same time we are public education institution and we have to advocate for public education as board members that is actually one of the duties and roles that we have. So I'm glad that we're having the discussion. We appreciate the public feedback. If you would like to give us data or information,

168please feel free to do that. So, what excuse me, what would this pay be for me if I uh xerox this and send it to the board members? How do you want to receive it? You can just email it to us. That would be fine. Yep. Sure. Thank you. Okay. We have on our agenda also the education foundation discussion. Uh Mr. Lewis, would you like for me to I I think I generally know the subject that you would like to talk about and you you and I kind of connected on this. Um I do think you will have to chime in as well. Sure. But we over the years have talked about possibly we've been talking about education foundations. That would mean um we have um my argument has always been we have education foundations.

169We just have many of them. Right. We do not. We have community foundations. Mrs. better. They're not education. Operation Give Back and Bridges are are community neighborhood community organizations. They are not focused or associated with Sycamore schools. I don't know that I agree with that, but I'll respect. Okay. Um, so either way, we have foundations in Sycamore schools that um care a lot about our students and help support our students and our school districts. So we've had a discussion is we should create something called an education foundation and we had an attorney come and provide guidance of what types of education foundations could be created and that is our discussion. Um we are bringing it back because I believe Mr. Lewis has been community members have spoken with you about the subject again and so

170we put it on the agenda for a board discussion. I think there there's just a lot of frustration because they feel like what's the next step to finally move it forward. But I think um Mrs. Logan did some investigation and found out at some point Sycamore did have an education foundation and it may have folded um at some point um back in, you know, whenever it folded. I've been here 14 years. I didn't know that. So um I think there's some additional investigation. My feeling is, and I just would like to get some head nods from the board, this is really not, and you you all can't really weigh in on a foundation. It's not really the responsibility of the school district. It's not managed by the school district. This is a community initiative that

171they have to get behind. Someone has to get behind and run it and move forward with it. And so I, you know, and Mr. level I think was in the meeting with me where the boosters were very interested in seeing this get off the ground because we do know and I've been hit a couple of times there are people out there that want to give their donation and there are great people that donate to Operation Give Back. There are great people that donate to Neighborhood Bridges but an education foundation would directly support some of those things that we can't afford. Um and I think there are people that want to give to those initiatives. So there really has to be a community ground swell of people. I I and I often say this, I'm embarrassed

172that we're behind the eightball because there are so many different school districts around us that have these and they're operating and they're running and they're efficiently running and they're running gallas and doing all these fundraising activities and then I just sit here and I feel like we just constantly spin on this topic. And so sack did a lot of research over the last I think I think they've done this project three or four times like we just have to have someone step up and say they want to take the ownership of it and it's not any of you five. It's not your responsibility to run a community foundation or an education foundation. So I I approached Mrs. Bidder to put this back on to say this really isn't a board decision and we need to

173get it off our plate. we have more important things that we need to discuss. We do need to let our community know that it's hey, we we are ready for it. Bring it forward. Let's find the people that want to be on the board. Let's find the people that want to step up and run it and let's get going and like really get it off of our docket of things that we have to deal with because this isn't it for us. So that was my discussion and I know I may have jumped in front of you but if there's anything else that you have to add to that but and I I will just add to that when I was talking with Mr. Lewis, what I've said in front of the board many times is

174again, I'm thinking of it more from the legal aspect. It's a foundation, meaning it's a nonprofit, but it may not be the technical word education foundation. And I cannot remember I think we had a presentation from this attorney on this September of last year. So, I can't remember the exact definition of the different types that exist, but there is a foundation, a nonprofit that serves Sycamore School District in many ways. Um, and that's called Operation Give Back. It also assists children in other school districts as well, or in one at least one other school district as well. And it provides families with food. It provides children with um who need tutoring, with tutoring, low-income children. It provides um holiday gifts for them at Christmas time and different holidays. It's really been a very very positive

175um supportive organization for Sycamore students and families. So that that's supportive and it's for their education as well, but it's not for the school district. They can't they're not giving money to the school district for an endowment, for scholarships, to build universal playgrounds, to help with athletic facilities. They they are for the benefit of community members. So, organizations like Operation Giveback provide, they provide um like I said, food assistance, more long-term assistance for people that need help. Then we have something called Sycamore Bridges, which handles more immediate emergency type needs for students. So, in our community, so it's like pretty broad. It is students like students who go maybe at the to the high school counselor because they couldn't afford um they want to be in the band class, but they can't. So, the bridges

176will get them get them an instrument, let's say. Or let's say they don't have clothing because they're homeless. So, they'll get they'll get food for food or they'll get clothing for that child. And they do it like that. Like it's fast. Um, so it's like one's like long-term need and one's short-term need. But they all it's all for sycamore. It is for sycamore students. So, all I am trying to say is that I think foundations are wonderful. I used to set up nonprofit organizations. I believe in them. I think they're wonderful organizations and I think especially if they support Sycamore schools, yay. All I'm trying to say is this. I believe that Sycamore Bridges and Operation Give Back are serving extremely important needs in this district right now. So, if we create a foundation and

177who we don't run I don't run Sycamore Bridges. None of us do and none of us run Operation Give Back and we will not be running an education foundation. We are not allowed. That's the legal advice that we received. Unless we create our own very specific one that we run and our treasurer has said that would not be a good idea because financially you're mixing money, right? That's really risky. So if we do this other foundation, all I'm saying and one person just please talk to the organizations that already exist and be a like a team together. And I believe that that education foundation of course would do that, right? If you want to build playgrounds and raise money for playgrounds, that would be wonderful. We would not be have any problem with that. But

178just please I think that if they would all work together I think that'd be great. I mean I don't have a problem with it but it's just not going to be us. But we've already you know just just to verify we have already heard from both Operation Give Back and Neighborhood Bridges that they are supportive of this that this does not interfere with their mission at all. Yes. And I I Yes, I know that and I'm the one who requested that they do that. I agree. I that's all that's the only hangup I've had this whole time. But I do think it's important that Mr. Lewis has brought it back because he's getting the public to really ask more questions of how to do it. And for anyone listening, it really will be they're going

179to be using the Sycamore name, right? So money will flow to that organization because of the name. And as we know, there used to be a foundation and it it fizzled out or something happened. So there is some, by the way, legal risk to when you allow others to use your name to receive money that there is oversight by the district. So, it's not that we won't be at all involved. It's just we won't be involved in the day-to-day of it. So, that would be important to know like what do we have to do? I've I know I got the the award from the OSBA, but I did actually take a training on that exact topic through them. It is there is some legal there are some legal requirements by the board if they do

180it because they're using our name for their education foundation. Yeah. Still, I I feel um that this is something that we really need to get up and running. And I understand what you're saying is that the board can't run the foundation, but someone has to start this. Mhm. And there are many school districts who have foundations and these foundations receive money from donors and they have guidelines on how those monies will be spent. It could be for scholarships, it could be for school improvements, etc., etc. And they're not stepping on the toes of other boosters and whatnot in in other districts. So I think this is a very valuable uh vehicle for us to um raise funds. But how do we get that started if it's not a board um run foundation? I actually How

181do we get it started? I actually met with someone um a couple weeks ago, Mr. level and I met with someone who is very interested and has already researched the the legal part. Um they have people who have raised their hand and said they'd be willing to be on the board or anything else. They also believe they've even identified some donors who would help get this up and moving. So I think we're moving in the right direction. Um, and hopefully we'll be able to give you an update soon. But there there are I I will say there are members of our community who have been activated to get this started. Great. That's great. Glad to hear it. So, are they talking to you as they are moving through this developmental stage? Okay. Yeah. Now can

182our school legal council support ensuring that all the legal things are covered for us and for them and yes there there is a portion of that because one of the questions has been come up well can legal help with the beginning of this and to Mrs. Bidder's point there as it will be sycamore there are portions of this that legal is going to have to help advise through. So yes, thank you. And I do want to say, although I know I'm adding, I do want to say that a lot of education foundations from the schools that we've looked at in other districts, they that foundation itself does what bridges and operation give back does. So just know that usually it's wrapped up into one thing. In this instance, we will if we say we're going

183to do it, we're gonna have some different stuff going on there. So that but that foundation doesn't have to be that's right like that correct. It can be very different depending on Yep. Absolutely. But that's why I've been bringing it up so much because when people think of education foundation they think oh wow this is wonderful. I'm going to give money and then I'm going to help that student who is like have a food pantry, right? Or I'm going to have I'm going to get shoes for kids. Like that's usually what education foundations do, right? They at least the ones we researched they do. I think if you look at the mission of whatever the foundation is, it's going to be very clear what it does. Yes. The point I'm just saying is that's why

184I've been all I'm dying to do is protect bridges and um operation give back and then they already themselves have said we're good with it. We have no problem. We think it's going to be great. Then I I have no issue. I just wanted those I'm being a stickler because I just want to make sure that we're protecting those two organizations that are doing very important work and we will need them especially in the days ahead. Right. Do you have last item other? Yeah. I just have one thing. Um I requested at the last meeting that we talk about the resolution and how we're going to move forward on it. And that that was not on the agenda. So I'm going to make a second request that at the next meeting we talk about the

185resolution we made and the steps we're going to move forward. We got nod head nods from everybody, but again it's not on the agenda tonight. Well, we could talk about it under other. We can talk about it right now. We said we were going to talk about it at every meetings. Can talk about it right now. Would you like to give an update? I'm not the one to give an update. I I I want to know how we as a board are going to move forward with the resolution. I believe everybody individually has to do their own understand that I that I we received our own our own self-reporting to the ethics, but that's just one, right? Okay. Well, then we'll put it on the then why don't we put it on put it on

186the next time because we need to figure out what exactly how we want to go about doing that. So, yeah. Absolutely. Let's do that for the next one. But individually, I mean, that's there are some individual things that I'm working on my own individual things, but I think that we there's a lot of it is individual vehicle to do it. If we're going to talk about campaign finances and post it on a district website, I can put mine together, but there's no place for me to put it right now. I think you just sent it to Jenny. I think we have to send it to Jenny Logan. I think that's the whole point. We talk about we've never we've never come up with a we'll put on the agenda for the next meeting. Sure. Let's

187do that and then we'll talk about that. But the answer is going to be just so you know. It will be to send to Mrs. Logan and then Mrs. Logan will make sure that is up on the website. That's what we said we were going to do. But I would like to see time frames put together commitments made that we're going to do this by a certain period of time and the community has to do that. Yeah. So yeah, let's do that. I've added it to the draft agenda for the next meeting. All right, meeting is adjourned.