Sycamore Schools Board of Education Meeting April 23, 2025

001Please rise for the allegiance of the flag right here. Everyone, I pledge algiance 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. At the beginning of every meeting, we like to go over our district's mission and vision. Our mission is to create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive, 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. Second. Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. James, I Mr. Ballot, Mr. Harris,

002I. Dr. Seager, hi. Mrs. Spitter, I. Can I please get a motion and a second for the approval of the minutes? So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. Steager, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. Seager, hi. Mr. Harris, I. Mr. Bon, hi. Dr. James. Hi, Mrs. Fitter. Hi. Over the past week, our school community has come together to remember and honor the lives of a couple of school teachers that work for Sycamore Community Schools. Um, Mrs. Mary Louise Huard was a beloved educator who made an unforgettable impact on Sycamore Junior High. She touched the lives of generations of students and her colleagues not only as a teacher but also as a committed substitute after her retirement were very very saddened by this loss. Uh this

003week our community also honored Mr. Kelly Maine. He was a beloved teacher at eh Green Intermediate School. Mr. Maine had been a member of Sycamore Community School since 2007. Throughout his time with us, he taught English and language arts and social studies. And most recently, he served as an intervention teacher. Mr. Maine was deeply respected and loved by students and staff alike. Many of the junior high and high school students had Mr. Maine as their teacher during their time at Green. This has been a really difficult time for our staff and for our students in Sycamore schools. Please keep the families of Mrs. Huard and Mr. Maine in your thoughts during this difficult time. We have a very special honor this evening. We have the introduction of a new Montgomery Elementary. Excuse me. Before we

004move on, I apologize. We have Before we do that, we have a moment of silence, please, for both of them. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is a very special introduction. We have Miss Ashley Friend. The introduction of new Montgomery Elementary assistant principal, Miss Ashley Friend. Mr. Lewis, would you like to make the introduction? Yeah. So, we're very excited to welcome Miss Friend to our administrative team. Um, she didn't have to come too far. Um she came from Mapleale Elementary uh where she has been serving um as an elementary teacher over the last few years. Um one of the things that I admire uh about Miss Friend is just her relentless pursuit of teaching and learning and making sure that every student in her classroom feels valued um and just loved and cared

005for. And I know she'll transfer that over into administration for all staff and all students. Um she came through a rigorous process. It's multiple rounds. Um and it's been similar to what we've done over the last few years with a screening round, a building round, and a district round. And um at every round, uh she was the clear best candidate um for for our school district. So um we are excited to see what's next for her um in the role of Montgomery Elementary. and I know they are very lucky to have her not only because of the skills and abilities that she has u but she has one up on the rest of us administrators. She's one of the only ad well she is the only administrator that has taught the new curriculum. So um

006it's going to be invaluable to have someone like that on our team giving us true feedback of what did the teachers experience this year uh with teaching new curriculum. So um and I lost my train of thought. There was something else I wanted to say about you, Miss Friend, but uh Oh, thank you, Mr. Balon. You're a great assistant. Um, you know, not only is she a great teacher, but she was recognized this year as the teacher of the year for the entire district. So, um, you know, I'm sure the teaching staff will hate to lose her in that role, but you know, one of the best things about being as administrator is you are teaching teachers. Um, and it'll transfer well into that role. So, Miss Friend, welcome and congratulations. I just want to

007start by saying I went to SIMS as a kindergartener to third grader. So to be standing in this building with this opportunity is very full circle for me. Um I'm thrilled, I'm honored, and I'm very humbled to work with Dr. Delete and have this opportunity. Montgomery is an excellent school. Their staff is fantastic. Their community is wonderful and I'm ready to get to work. ready to to get to know the people in the building and and find ways to learn and find ways to contribute. So, thank you for the opportunity. Unfortunately, Miss Ren won't get much of a break this summer because prior to interviewing for the job, she applied to be the summer school principal. So, she will get all of the things, finish teaching, be the summer school principal, and move right into

008assistant principal work. So, um, but thank you for sticking with that responsibility because that'll be a long summer for you. Thank you and welcome to your new role, Miss Fred. We are looking forward to having you as the assistant principal at Montgomery Elementary. Thank you. Okay, so the best part of the evening beside the other best part of the evening, which we just got to watch the Sims players, is going to be our Sycamore High School robotics mockbusters presentation. So, we have a team here that is going to do a some presentation and work on what they are currently doing. Mr. Lewis, if you'd like to You know what? I am not going to steal any of their thunder. I did get to see them in competition uh down at Xavier University. These are amazing

009young people. So I will let them talk about their experience and kind of what what their responsibilities are, what they do and um just you'll be amazed at what they tell you about all the pieces of components of what they do. So take it away friends. Good evening everybody. My name is IA Schillington and I'm the president of the Mongbusters F FRC team. This is my eighth year with Sigma Robotics and my third year on blockbusters. So, Sigma Robotics started in 2014 where we originally housed two programs. The FLL or first Lego League program which is at all four elementary schools and the age ring school where students on teams of about 10 compete for eight months to build a toaster science robot. Then we also have the FTC or first tech challenge program which

010is at the junior high and the high school which includes Juniper Robotics and that's where students of teams of up to 15 have eight months to build a microwave sex robot. It wasn't until 2023 where Sycamore Robotics and the Sycamore Community District had the program support to be able to induct our mockbusters FRC team where student teams of students of up to 75 have 12 weeks to build a refrigerator sized robot while also sustaining year-long outreach, advocacy, and fundraising initiatives. You'll notice that all of our programs start with the word first. BIRST stands for for inspiration and recognition of science and technology. It's a global nonprofit organization that builds science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills and over 7,080 780,000 students around the world through competitive robotics. In FRC, we compete against thousands of teams from

011around the world, including 100 over 100 countries in all 50 states. So, for us, this is our third year, and with only 24 members, we're ranked over a little over a thousand from the world, which puts us in the top 25% of teams worldwide. We're also We're also 26th in Ohio and we are so excited to share our story with you guys tonight. Hi, my name is Ryan Willick. This is my first year with robotics and I'm on the build sub team of Mockbusters 1997. As you can see here, this is our robot which competes in the first competition which this year was marine themed. But the overall goal is working with two other teams on an alliance, competing against another alliance. You score more points to win the game. This season in specific, there's

012coral, um, which you coral, which you score on a reef. You're going to bring one that's basically just an arm that you drop on. Algae, which you score through a processor, and then a human player throws it up into a barge, which is basically like a net. And um in the end game you can climb and hang to get extra points. Um we decided to go and focus towards coral and we did that making a two-stage elevator which has a rotating output. We spin and it flies it off. It can change to any angle. So the goal is to fill the entire reef with coral top to bottom if everything goes perfectly. And this is how we did that. So speaking of the first competition, once they announce that we have 12 weeks to get

013a robot in competition shape and that first starts with the designing and creating a CAD, a computer aided design for the robot, which is basically a 3D model which allows us to plan and reference while we're building this robot, which is a lot by the way. We meet um during those 12 weeks, we meet at least or three hours a day most days of the week or on the weekends up to 15 hours a week or more. And as I said, we make a CAD. So, we have our plan. We order all of our materials that we're going to need and all of our tools that we need. And one special thing about mockbusters is that we hand cut most of our materials in the school using things like miter saws, jigsaws, drills, angle grinders,

014stuff like that. So this robot here is basically entirely besides the electrical parts is basically entirely made out of extrusion which is this aluminum on the poles, sheet metal, wood held together with bolts and has polycarb and steel for some of the parts. So that takes a lot of space. Um and also we have to replicate the game pieces to reach the score on for a refrigerator size robot. So, we have space issues a lot. Um, and it's never just, hey, we're gonna make this piece, go get the metal and do that. We have to make a prototype. We have to see if that prototype works, which takes time, wood or material. And then we have to finally make our last make the final iteration of it. More materials, more time. So those 12 weeks

015really go by the wires make sure everything so um my name is Tate Pere. I'm on the programming or I'm on the programming team and I'm the current vice president of Mockbusters and I'd like to talk about something that's um often overlooked when it comes to robotics which is the program. So it's easy to see all the metal and all the gears and motors on the robot, but none of that would function without the programming side. So um we to run our robot, we compile data from two student operated controllers and 18 different sensors on the robot 50 times per second um to run our robot at speeds of up to 13 feet per second. So we use software to um accurately, precisely and quickly move our subsystems. So for example, the elevator that Ryan

016mentioned extends to a height of around 72 in. So we use our software to move up to full extension within under two seconds. Um and um so this might seem like daunting for um especially for newer members, but in our offseason, we teach our new members everything they need to thrive in our team. Uh and that allows them to get uh to make meaningful impacts on the team during season and um and gain hands-on experience working with the robot. So we also implement things like vision processing, machine learning, simulations. Yeah. Um, hi. My name is Jane and I'm the outreach lead for Mockbusters and I'd be delighted to share with you how our diverse team of 68% people of color, 36 diversion, and 86% multilingual is a catalyst for steam both in our community and

017around the world. Building futures beyond just our tiny little workshop at Sycamore High School. And our commitment starts here. Modbusters mentors the younger Sycamore robotics teams. We mentor sixl teams and two FPC teams, inspiring, teaching, and supporting steam values among 63 younger Sycamore students. We also hold um scrimmages so they're prepared for their actual competitions. And all in all, this has culminated in um the in 2019, a first Lego League team has made it to states and boosted district qualification levels from just 20% to 75% in just one season. And our impact spreads beyond and our impact spreads across Cincinnati as well. We partnered with Cincinnati Great Parks to create an interactive environmental exhibit for their 16,000 acres of land, greatly aiding in their conservation efforts. We created a magnetic maze for campers at YMCA

018Greater Dayton, which blended engineering, solving, and environmental conservation all into one. In Blue Ash, we turned an ice rink into a steam playground with a model airplane contest. These events and these partnerships, well, yes, they they do teach robotics, but more importantly, they spark curiosity in the next generation of problem solvers. And we global after winning the rookie Oscar award in 2023. to the first world 22 or 20,000 attendees all across the world and we've reached upwards of 10 people on social media sharing skits stories and educational content all to enhance scene both past present and future but before looking forward to the future we decided to reflect on ourselves inspired by my very own upbringing in the underserved communities of Los Angeles, San Antonio, and New York. We decided to um or we're driven

019to launch an initiative that brings robotics to its inner city, bridging the gap and providing equitable resources for those who may not be able to have them otherwise. Thank you for listening. Hello everyone. My name is Arouche Pal and this is my first year in mockers at I'm on the business. Uh I was in charge of the budget in the 2014 25 school year which means I was in char I track all of the income and expenses for our team and I would love to tell you about our fundraising effort. So this year we've made over $21,000 which is 25% more than last year and almost double as much as we made in our first year which was in 2023. So, our funding this year came from two sources, grants and corporate sponsorships. In addition

020to previous corporate sponsors such as Info Trust, Baxter and L3 Harris, we've gained new corporate sponsorships through outreach events and pitching, most notably the Royal Bank of Canada. Additionally, we've also started uh fundraising in new methods such as cold calling and cold emailing in order to broad broaden our scope and find more opportunities to raise money. These efforts have helped sustain our team and also build connections with key industry partners. Hello, my name is Yajin. I am the business lead of Mockbusters and I'll be talking about our alumni. So, an amazing thing about first is that it actually increases a student's chance of getting into higher education and joining a STEM field. Um, let me just name just a few statistics that I pulled from the first website. So, um, if you are a first

021alumni, you are 2.6 times more likely to enroll in an engineering course the freshman year of your college. Over 75% of all alumni are in a STEM field as a student or professional and nearly half of all alumni are still in the program involved as like a coach or mentor or volunteer. So these stats also are reflected on Sycamore as well. For all of our alumni, 100% have graduated and have reached on to higher education with 90% pursuing a STEM major. Sorry. Um, what's even more remarkable is their continued engagement. Many mentor remotely while others like our Cincinnati based alum provide valuable in-person guidance. Their participation in STEM competitions such as FSAE and Rocketry demonstrate their lasting influence, our lasting influence on the program and how we build the future leaders of tomorrow. So to

022say that mockbusters has a permanent effect on Sycamore students is truly an understatement. Thank you. Hello, my name is Jack Smith and uh this is my first year and I'm a business team member. Uh I would like to extend thanks on behalf of my team for allowing students to uh take part in such a transformative uh activity such as this and um and and thank you for listening to our presentation. We hope that this uh presentation inspires uh a spark to um uh continue the for continuity and initiative uh of our F FRC team and Sigma Robotics as a whole. Uh we all would also like to thank you again for listening to our presentation. Uh we hope you all have a great day and uh go waves. Also, you guys mind introducing your coach

023because I know how much time and effort and hours go into the work that you're doing. And I know he has to have a day job, but I'm not sure how he does both of his jobs, but you mind introducing him, especially maybe someone that calls him dad. This is my dad's been with our program for eight years. Um, and he is the FTC and the school. Last comment I'll make about these remarkable young people. My favorite part of going to their competition and certainly like it's amazing. They took me around. and they showed me all the behind the scenes stuff that you don't get to see if you're not allowed behind the scenes. So, I got a special, you know, put some goggles on and get behind the scenes and see what, you know,

024all the different people and all the different things that go into it. But the most impressive thing about them is they were helping other teams problem solve issues with their own with their robots and especially smaller teams that don't don't have as much capacity or as many people to lean on as these guys do. And I I think that was my favorite part of watching them work. Not only problem solving their own issues, but helping out other teams and giving them feedback so that they can be better. Um, which is very impressive. So, thank you for your representation, the way you number one, you just represented yourselves very well again, but you guys do that all over the area and all over the world. And, you know, I I can only say as a superintendent,

025it's prideful to go out there and watch you guys do the things you do and show off your talent. So, thank you again for everything that you're doing. Yes. Fantastic. Everyone in the audience missed it. Everyone at the table missed it. They brought their awards over the past um couple of years. And they also put together some books for that I was able to flip through quickly before the meeting and very professional. Great job you guys. You should be very proud of every aspect of this team that you've done. So thank you very much for representing Sycamore and your entire community in robotics. So thank you. You've heard them say space is always an issue, right guys? So, if there's anyone in the community or if you know anyone that would like to donate a

026building, they would be willing to take it off their hands. A room in a building, right? A space in a building. Large spaces are premium, right, guys? And storage is premium. So, if if anybody wants to help out, Yeah. This is contact the business team. They'll they'll help you out with that. Yeah. Thank Thank you. That was We're very proud of all of you. That was that was amazing. You're doing incredible. And I noticed that each one of you have me you memorized your speeches and you and you delivered them beautifully and it was it was a really great presentation. So thank you for educating all of us and what you're you're doing and thank you for representing Sycamore. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. All right. So, the next item on our agenda is

027public participation. Of course, we're gonna wait to kind of get set up here, right? Oh, a few minutes. We're going to give a couple minutes to get ready for public participation. I don't know. Yeah, we don't want them to have to stay for a little bit of time. Brian, if they need to go out, we'll wait until like to get them so that they can get out of here. I don't want them to be trapped for the whole meeting. No, if I don't want them to have to sit through the whole meeting unless they just want to. So, that's up to them. Yeah. You're welcome. We're going to go ahead and begin public participation. Mrs. Logan, we have we we have public participation here. And Mr. Long, do we have anybody? I mean, that no

028one has reached out to you besides. All right. So before we get we begin, I'm just going to go ahead and I'm going to read a little statement that I've been reading in at the beginning of every board meeting before public participation just to kind of give you general rules of public participation. Um before we um and we like to do this before we welcome our first speaker. Public participation is an important part of our meetings and we value the input of our community. To ensure an efficient and effective meeting, we have allocated a maximum of 30 minutes for public participation. If we need to go over, we will do that. Individuals addressing the board must be stakeholders of the district, meaning they reside in the district or have a connection to it as defined

029in our policy. Each speaker will have up to three minutes to speak. Please state your name, address, and any relevant group affiliation before beginning. If multiple individuals wish to speak, no one may speak a second time until all who desire to do so have had an opportunity. All comments should be directed to me as the presiding officer. Individual board members will not be addressed directly. Board members are not expected to respond directly to public comments during this portion of the meeting. We ask that all speakers maintain decorum and remain respectful. Personal attacks, profanity, or disruptive behavior will not be permitted. The board reserves the right to interrupt or end comments that are ne repetitive, obscene, threatening or personally directed at individuals. Presiding officer reserves the right to enforce decorum and if necessary take appropriate action

030to maintain order. Additionally, please note that the board does not hear compla compliments or complaints about school district employees during public comment. We welcome feedback through email or website or direct conversations. We appreciate your cooperation in following these guidelines and your commitment to constructive dialogue. Public comment is a valuable part of our process and while we may not respond immediately, please know that we are listening and we take your input very seriously. Thank you and we can now begin public. Mr. Harris will use the timer. Yeah. So you can um once you come up you can stand uh right here would be a great place to stand. Okay. So the first person that um I have on my list is Alli Adams. Right. Good evening. My name is Dr. Ally Adams and I live at

0317655 Trailwind Drive. My son Teddy attends Sims preschool and he will be going to kindergarten at Maple this fall. Teddy is one of many students in this district with a significant disability. He uses a wheelchair, is non-verbal, and relies on adult support and compliant infrastructure to allow equal access to his education. Sycamore has long been considered a destination district for students with disabilities. However, as a parent with a lived experience, there are areas where we are falling short, which includes our school playgrounds. Our children are left on the sidelines while their neurotypical peers have full access to recess and equipment. This was never more evident than when Teddy experienced an accident this fall at Sims preschool playground in his wheelchair. Teddy was joyfully wheeling himself with his friends to join them at recess. But when

032his chair hit the transition of the sidewalk to the mulch, his chair completely flipped over. This means Teddy was face down, buried in the mulch with his wheelchair completely on top of him. Watching the security footage of this accident will haunt my husband and I forever. The district leaders in board are familiar with this accident and subsequent playground audit along with our push to make the district playgrounds more accessible. At best, there are one to two handicap swings on the playgrounds which are often broken. Someone had the foresight to even buy an accessible piece of equipment for the Sims preschool playground, but never even bought the ramp. Teddy is not an isolated incident. There are other parents and educators here tonight of neurode divergent and neurotypical kids who understand the importance of inclusive playgrounds. The

033bare minimum of ADA compliance is not acceptable as the mulch and equipment are prohibitive items for independent access to play. We are asking the district to discuss the findings of the playground audit with parents of disabled children and allow us to be part of the conversation on how to improve these for our kids. Our call to action is twofold. Finding funds to resurface the Sims preschool playground and remove the mulch. That is the preschool that serves the entire district for children with IEPs. And it's imperative it functions to safely allow them to participate. Secondly, to identify infrastructure funds to overhaul the elementary school playgrounds over the coming years. This is the responsibility of the district to ensure the safety of our children. At every school board meeting, you hear the achievements of neurotypical children and

034how they help put the district on the map as a top educator. These are opportunities I can only dream of for Teddy. It's time to prioritize and celebrate our kids, too. At a time when our nation is divided on who matters most in this country and the rhetoric around those with disabilities is hurtful and untrue, there's an opportunity for Sycamore to stand up for what's right. While Teddy's accident was devastating for us as parents, we want to use this as the momentum we all need for change. We will not give up this fight to make this district a true destination for students with disabilities. Thank you. Thank you. And next I have Rachel Pedabone. Hi, my name is Rachel Pedabone. My address is 1053 Adventure Lane. My son Calvin is in first grade at Maple

035Elementary. Um he uses a walker and a wheelchair for mobility. He has been attending Sycamore schools for five years now. During this time, we have run into several issues with physical accessibility in the school environment. We have voiced concerns regarding the accessibility of the preschool entrance here at SIMS, access to the handicap parking spaces during dismissal times, and wheelchair accessible cafeteria tables. The district has always worked with us to resolve these issues uh when it has been brought to their attention. Calvin is not the first student with mobility needs to attend Sycamore schools and he will not be the last. While I am thankful that the district has addressed our concerns, at some point we all need to acknowledge that it's a little ridiculous that we have to make these requests. A table for my

036child to eat lunch at a direct and unobstructed route into the school building. Sycamore can do better. The request that I am making today is an opportunity to do better for these students. I am requesting that the district remodel its playgrounds giving consideration to standards for universal design so that the playgrounds are accessible to all students. I understand that this request is above and beyond what Sycamore is obligated to provide to students with disabilities. Currently at Maple, Calvin is able to play in the blacktop area. If his friends choose to play there, he can play with them. If they go to the swings, the climbing structure, or the slides, he cannot. He is physically unable to access this area because of the mulch surface. Maple does have a five-point harness swing that would be appropriate

037for Calvin to use during recess. However, this is located on the kindergarten playground, which is in a separate area from where the rest of the first graders play. Additionally, the strap on the swing was broken from May of 2024 until at least January of 2025, making it unavailable to Calvin. Anyway, when people talk about inclusion, it's a common misconception that the benefits of inclusion are solely for the child with a disability. In reality, typical children who participate in inclusive activities develop their communication skills, problem solving abilities, empathy, and kindness. Yes, Calvin would benefit from playing with peers at recess, but his peers would benefit from having the opportunity to play with him, too. I have heard people say that Sycamore is a desirable district for families who have children with special needs. To be a

038desirable district, you need to do more than meet the bare minimum legal requirements for these students. You need to do more than provide a lunch table when asked. You need to proactively identify barriers to accessibility and work towards solutions. The playground is an excellent place to do this. Please consider how you can support incorporating universally designed playgrounds into the future of Sycamore schools. Thank you. Thank you. Next I have Marggo Richie. Hey. Um I am Margot Richie. I live at 10141 Car Lane. Um so I had uh two students enrolled in Sims preschool. Um, just to give you a little bit of context, uh, shortly before his third birthday, my son suddenly lost the ability to walk, talk, and swallow, um, we were fortunate to live so close to Cincinnati Children's. And after about a

039million tests, um, and a few months later, we received a diagnosis of an ultra rare mitochondrial disorder. as we met with all the specialists at Children's and they really are wonderful and we're doing neuroot and neuropt and meeting with neurologists and urology and all everybody right um we as we're working through everything we're asking them what can we what can we be doing um what would you be doing if this was your son and I am telling you um the recommendation was always the same we kept hearing over over and over and over again. If you can just get into the Sycamore School District, that's the best place for William. So, we up and moved to Blue Ash. And William started preschool. Sorry. I'm thrilled to share that William is now five and he is

040doing really, really well and he is thriving here. Um, so far he has regained all of his his all of the skills that he has lost. Um, he's about to graduate from preschool and he will start kindergarten at Maple in the fall. He has a best friend. Uh, he loves his teacher, Miss Rachel, and he receives amazing support from the specialists in his classroom. Additionally, we, our entire family, have made best friends. We have been welcomed by this incredible community. We truly feel that moving to this district was the best decision we have ever made. We just urge you to maintain this reputation and continue to invest in families like all of ours and um just invest in these supports for students and families like mine because we already have this foundational reputation and it

041it matters so much to our family and we're so happy to be here. We just want you to continue to um make it a place where families like mine are accepted and feel really supported. Thank you. Next I have uh Brad Cumberford 8460 calway. I have received the results of a public record request that includes text messages that were sent to and from board members surrounding the events of the September 18th board meeting. There are two specific exchanges that I find very troubling and raises for me specific concerns regarding the impartiality and ethics of two specific board members. The first is a text message from Mrs. Grace to Mr. Harris on September 19th. Mrs. Grace writes to Mrs. Harris, Mr. Harris, and I quote, "Sorry if I was obnoxious last night. It was a long,

042long day." Mr. Harris's response was, and I quote, "No worries." I'm not sure what no worries means in this context, but I can think of a several interpretations that are very troubling. Again, this is coming from a board member who received over $1,200 and almost one-third of his overall campaign funding directly from Mrs. Grace. However, for me, the most concerning text exchange occurred on September 18th at 7:23 p.m. Mrs. Grace sent a text message to two board members, Mr. Harris and Dr. Steager, during the board meeting of education meeting. Upon further investigation, the timestamp of the text message was exactly when Mr. Porter was speaking. The message contained one word, fake. This raises several questions in my mind. The first question is this. Why did Mrs. Grace feel comfortable enough to share a disparaging comment

043about Mr. Porter directly with two board members during a board meeting? This was not, as explained in the investigation report, something she said under her breath. This was an intentional text and an intentional disparaging remark about Mr. Porter. My second question is this. Why did only one board member report this text message in response to public records requests? I certainly hope no board member deleted text messages which are by definition public records. My third question and most fundamental is this. Why was this text message not part of the investigation that Mr. Levelvel conducted? Nowhere in the investigation report was it shared that Miss Mrs. Grace referred to Mr. Porter as fake via text message during the board meeting. Were Mr. Level were Mr. Levelvel and Mr. Lewis made aware of this highly inappropriate text message?

044This seems like an extremely relevant material piece of information. The governing policy in this situation is policy BBF, board member ethics. Number six from this policy states, and I quote, "It is unethical for a board member to withhold facts from the superintendent, particularly about the incompetency of an employee." I have confirmed with both Mr. Lewis and Mr. Levelville, that neither Mr. Harris nor Dr. Steager shared this highly relevant text message to either of them during the investigation. It seems clear to me that both Mr. Harris and Dr. Steager violated board member policy BB BF. That's your time, Mr. Commer. It's also clear to me that neither Mr. Harris nor Dr. Steager have acted impartially. I believe that any board member who has violated the polic board member ethics policy should strongly consider stepping down from

045the board of education. At a minimum, I believe both Mr. Harris and Dr. Steer should be disqualified for any future votes concerning Miss Mrs. Grac's employment. Thank you. Next I have Dr. Dan Pasha. Good evening. Thank you. Uh my name is Dr. Ga. I'm a proud parent of Sycamore High School graduate and a current junior at the Sycamore uh high school as well. I have lived in the Sycamore school district over a decade and I deeply value the education and community our district provides. As a long-term resident and invested parent, I am always looking for ways we can raise the bar in terms of transparency, accountability, and public trust. Today, I'm respectfully requesting that the school board consider adopting a policy requiring a disclosure of conflict of interest at the beginning of every board meeting,

046whether public or executive session. Specifically, this policy would call for a formal announcement of any potential conflict of interest related to the items on the agenda that are to be discussed or voted upon during that meeting. This practice is widely recognized as a good governance measure and is a key step in ensuring open and ethical decision-m. By implementing this policy will strengthen the integrity of the board's action and further build confidence among parents, students, administrators, and the broader community. Thank you for your time and your continued dedication to serving the families of Sikabu and also you also heard earlier people asking to raise the bar raise the bar raise the bar and that's what we we as a community as a parent as a board member we should always look the opportunities how we can

047raise the bar what we are providing not we have to go back where we were 10 years back. Thank you. Next I have D Jackson. My name is D. Jackson. Uh I'm former parent of a second with Brad. I live in Montgomery 125 Cooper Woodward Lane. Um obviously we just heard what um Brad had to say and that was shocking to me. Um, but it's really the concern that I have is there was a note sent out to many parents, I think it was last week from Chad and Jenny about some of the funding changes going to take place with the state. Going to put every school including Sycamore in a really tough spot. All of you as board members are going to have to go, all of us as community members that love Sycamore

048going to have to ask people to probably dig into their pockets and spend more money to keep the level of services. uh where they are. Things like detective messaging with a teacher in a very inappropriate manner undermines that trust and it makes it a heck of a lot harder to ask for the resources that all of these wonderful students and parents deserve. And I just hope that the members that took part in that text message exchange consider resigning effective immediately. Thank you. Next, I have Heather Burgess. I live at 11652 Grandstone Lane and I am the parent of two Sycamore graduates and one junior. Um, I uh wanted to speak today to talk about why I am one of the 275 people who has signed a petition that calls for the termination of Danielle's grace

049based on her behavior on September 18th. Um, I read the investigation materials. I read the letters to the district that came out um from Mrs. Bidder and Mr. Harris. I read the note um from Chad. I read the apology from Mrs. Grace. and I joined the special sessions. I'm concerned about the precedent that your decision sets um and the patterns of behavior that I am seeing related to Mrs. Grace. This was not just a bad day, right? And based on the finding of the public records request, contrary to the letter that was sent by Mrs. Bidder and Mr. Harris to the community on March 4th, this was not her first disciplinary action. Uh which was concerning to me. It was a surprise that she was verbally reprimanded back in 2021 for a serious breach of

050confidentiality in a personnel matter and a letter was put in her personnel file. Um, she filed a grievance and it was settled uh but not before it was openly discussed as part of the standing board agenda items in board meetings and there were three board members here tonight who were on that board. So, the public record was removed from her file, but the personnel issue did not get removed from her Sycamore file, as I understand it. Um, as a community, we should expect leaders to be forthcoming and transparent. Your assertion that it was her first incident was untrue, and a majority of you knew that before that letter went out. I signed the petition because I know the backstory and because I'm not okay with condoning the behavior of of Mrs. disgrace on that night.

051I want to see district policies enforced. Uh and I want to see us uphold and live our declared intolerance for racism and bullying. I want also want to have my faith in this board's ability to be objective and to do the right thing be restored. I ask for you to reconsider your decision in that matter and I thank you for your time. Okay. The next person I have is Amy Shaman and I know you put agenda item and non-aggenda item and I think the agenda item is policy. So, correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Amy Shaman 11225 Acrewood Drive. Um, I want to say thank you for the the work that's done to make sure that those of us who sign up for the email saying to request notice of special meetings or change of location,

052etc., that that happens. Um, and and I appreciate the effort that that entails. I want to say that I'm I'm very interested as I made clear in a previous meeting in how we as a community and we as a school system treat everyone in the district from kids like Teddy and remember your kids name because I have a Teddy as well. um that for all of the kids in our district, those who come with a lot of privilege and those who don't, those of every label that we can apply and I know that we are living in a time that is challenging with all kinds of things that are out of our control and we are not the ones who voted in various bills that have been problematic in my opinion for and challenging the

053school district um on various issues. I know that the meeting that was held on the 16th had to be done in a timely way. I understand that it happened during the workday. That's why you didn't see my face there. Um, but I was really disappointed to see that there when I finally saw the minutes today. Thank you for putting them into the agenda here. I looked all day long and saw them the few hours before. Um, there was no recording of that meeting on YouTube. I understand that that's not required by law. I'm very appreciative as someone who can't always physically be at these meetings that I can zoom in or watch the recording afterwards. I appreciate that transparency. I don't understand why there wasn't such a meeting there. I do notice that from reading

054the minutes that it was four minutes long. There's so much challenge in what this bill from our legislators has asked you all to do in removing how we take care of each other from our district policy. Um, I I read very carefully what you all passed and I see that the words imply some need for some interpretation. I would like to ask that you consider involving the district and all of us who are part of this community in solving these challenges. Even if the laws are not what we might want them to be at the present time, we as a district can help solve this together. Districts throughout the state have had differing opinions, including the district in Dayton. Courageous stand that they have taken. Please consider allowing others to be involved in these conversations

055and make them public. Thank you. Thank you. That's the last person I had sign up um for public comment. You know, if I missed one. Okay, we've got another one. Rhonda Starill. Okay, no worries. Um, my name is Rhonda Sardel. I live at 11365 Avant Lane. I am the parent of two uh Syore students and a longtime resident. Um, while the impetus for my comment is like many others that you've heard with the incredulous behavior of Mrs. Grace, my my comment goes far beyond her conduct. Specifically, I want to express my deeply health concerns with the functioning of this body. After Mrs. Grace's conduct, the board made several choices and didn't make other choices that raised some serious concerns for me. These concerns include number one, lack of collaboration. Why did the board not work

056together with school administrators to ensure a suitable punishment for Mrs. Grace? I've been on various boards, including on an independent school board. One of the most important signs of a healthy board is how the board and administration work together. Based on what I observed at the meeting held on April 1st, this board is not working together with administrators for the benefit of our students. Two, not living up to our values of diversity and inclusion, community, and character. At the board meeting on April 1st, board members were asked if they supported the termination of Miss Grace. To my utter disbelief, two board members refused to publicly state that her actions should have led to termination. Are board members willing to uphold the values you read every meeting? If her actions are not worthy of termination, it

057begs the question, what is lack of communication? Why is the board not taking additional discipline disciplinary action after hearing from the community or at least explaining to the community why additional discipline is not allowed under personnel guidelines? And then we've already heard about the lack of transparency. Um, so there were more things revealed here today, but why are specific board members not being transparent about their relationship with Miss Grace and how those relationships affected their action? These are just a few of the concerns that have come to light as a result of this situation. I could go on if I had more than three minutes. Uh, my request of this board is to request these qu to address these specific questions. In addition, as it relates to the six resolutions adopted by the board on

058April the 8th, I have my own concerns about whether or not those are sufficient and truly address the serious issues that I've outlined. Setting this concern aside, I respectfully request that the board create a timeline and update the community on these resolutions. For example, what training is Miss Grace taking? When is she taking it? When will those campaign contributions be posted to the website? Which board members have opted to self-report to the Ohio Ethics Committee? on and on and on. If the board is serious about addressing the community's concerns that you've heard over and over again, I urge you to continue these conversations and restore community trust. Thank you. Okay. Okay. The next item is the superintendent's agenda. Can I please get a motion and second for the amendment to stadium gift agreements? Second. Thank

059you, Mr. Balot, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Mrs. But I do just have a couple of comments uh about this amendment. Um if you recall, we have had an agreement in place. Um it was a don original donation um to cover the cost of the soccer lacrosse facility turf um and a generous donation by the Seagar family um which resulted in the name of the facility for the next 10 years to be named um you know the Seager family stadium. So um in addition to that Mr. Seager is asking for an addendum to um that donation u to add additional amount to name the actual field recently deceased um longtime aviator. Um so I want to read this so that you kind of get why we request this and why

060we think it's important. Um Chris Holmes is always an aviator. He grew up in Montgomery. He attended Sycamore schools throughout. He graduated from Sycamore High School in 1980. He excelled at soccer, played varsity for three seasons, two of which he was a teammate of Mark Seager. His aviator teams won three consecutive Eastern Hills League championships from in 1977,778, and 79. Um, Chris attended Ohio Wesleyan University and played soccer with two other aviator graduates, Kevin Breen and Rick Wyman, who remain lifelong friends. Side note, um, Mr. Seager also sent me a video of his college coach talking about um, Chris, and this is, you know, obviously many years after he played. Um, and he still talks about a particular player that he had to guard or to defend. and this was like the leading scorer in

061the nation and he held him till like he didn't even touch the ball. Um so that was the kind of dedication that Mr. Cololmes had. Um Chris went on to coach numerous Sycamore players on both the aviator both the Aviator teams and also a coach for the Sycamore Arsenal club teams. He was an assistant coach for Xavier University for four years. Chris's most important contributions to our community came off the soccer field. After an early career with the technology company, Chris got involved with youth ministry at Montgomery Community Church and led several youth mission trips to Central America. In 2010, as a single parent, Chris adopted two children from Nicaragua. Uh those children attended Sycamore with his son Danielle, graduating in 2014, and his daughter Genesis, graduating in 2018. In 2011, Chris began his journey

062with Coalition of Care, a ministry responding to God's mandate to care for orphan orphans and vulnerable children. This was Chris's lifelong passion. As the executive director, Chris started many programs and calleding Safe Families for Children, a ministry that allowed church volunteers to open their homes to vulnerable children. He also introduced wraparound support, which provides sustainable care to foster, adoptive, and kinship families. Over the years, Chris spoke to numerous churches and walked alongside countless couples as they considered fostering an adoption. Um, after a year-long battle with brain cancer, Chris passed away on November 24th, 2024. U, Mr. Seager is wanting to honor Chris and his legacy and the impact of our comm to our community by naming the new field as Chris Holmes field. Um, I can't think of a better person. Um, I had the

063chance to interact with Mr. Colmes um, several times uh, throughout that last year. He was at games with Mr. Seager and I can't think of a better person uh, to name our field after for the next 10 years. Thank you. Mrs. Logan, please call the ROS. Mr. Palant, I Dr. James, hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Dr. Steager, hi. Mrs. Spitter, I. Can I please get a motion and a second for the resolution agreement with Mottz Group LLC? So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your second. It's just the turf replacement for it. Mrs. Mrs. Logan, um the cost of what uh we got for for the estimate or um how does that compare to what we put in our 5-year forecast for capital planning? Um I believe and

064I'm looking at um Mr. Level as well. I believe that the amount that came in through the process that we went through with MOS was right in with the budget amount that we had. It might have even been a little bit below, but it was within the donation will fully cover the cost. The donation that we received from Mr. Se from Mr. Seager covers the cost. The whole cost. Yep. Thank you. Which is great. Okay. Does anyone else any more questions you want to add to that? I just would say and I know we don't we thank him a lot but we we should continually say thank you to the Seager family for just the generosity and make sure to take care of our student athletes. Yes, Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. James,

065hi. Mr. Harris, hi. Mr. Bon, hi. Dr. C. Let's see. So move second. Thank you, Mr. Valention. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Mr. Levelvel, would you like to talk about the that schoolboard association has updated for us and you have worked on with the policy committee and you bring to the board today and we've talked about it in previous? Yeah. Yeah. We at the last board meeting we kind of gave the high level overview on a good majority of them but then went a little bit deep on some of the other ones. Um, one of the things I do want to mention is that we ended up having to cancel um the uh policy meeting that's supposed to happen a couple weeks ago due to conflicts with members and we're getting that rescheduled.

066I do want to address though there are a few policies that still need to come to the policy committee. they don't have to be adopted until July that we really want the policy committee to spend some time on and have some conversation. One of those specific policies that was adopted, I know our community member had spoken about it or um in it was the um religious release time policy. If you remember, we had to get that one adopted on a quick turnaround based on the time frame OSBA got it to us and when the legal requirement, I think it was April 9th, we had to have it adopted. um that needs to go back to committee because there needs further discussion about it and maybe some tweaks or improvements that we can make um to

067customize it for Sycamore. But overall, the policies that are in front of you um are ready to go for second read unless there's any additional questions and I did not get any feedback from the community um since the first read. No, the religious one. I did not. So, that one was already approved. That was approved I believe at the April 8th meeting. That's true. Um, but we're referring that one back to committee and then, um, if there's any changes to it, we'll bring it back for a first read for the updates and then second. But by law, we had to have it done by April 9th. So, we passed what OSBA had sent us that was vetted by our attorneys. Do you anticipate us, and I'm I already think I know the answer to your

068question, but do you anticipate that the school board in Sycamore and all the 610 school districts in the state of Ohio might get legislation from our legislators that kind of quickly throws us off a bit? We have to adjust to like do you anticipate any more of that? Every day is a new day. Watch the news. And what is the process for that? When we receive guidance, not guidance, mandates from our legislature and we have to quickly get guid. Can you explain to the board the process that you are taking? slogan's been in the biz a little bit longer than I have, but I can tell you in the time that I have been doing policy here and in other places, um, this year has been extremely unique and um, the amount of legislative um,

069regulations, laws that have gone through um whether it be in the lame duck session of December that had to get turned around to us or things we're hearing and get slid into the bienium budget last minute or there's just um executive orders that are occurring. There's a lot going on right now that we're having to respond to. Um in a typical in a typical format, um we would know what the legislators do and then that legislation would go to OSBA. OSBA would take that legislation, they would interpret it and then they would craft policy. That policy would then be released to us. And there are typically two types of policy. There is um regulation policy that we can't really change. It's law. Here's what you have to do. You don't have an option. You can't

070customize it. And then there's here's the bare bones of what legislation says, but you can customize it to make it sick more if you choose to do so. Um we get those typically in a decent turnaround time from OSBA. Um but sometimes it takes a little bit longer. These um last dump from December took a little bit longer. um obviously because things continued to change and shift and there was a lot of um disagreement around what the law actually said. And so um that's kind of how that goes. And then once we receive them from OSBA, we bring them to the policy committee. Policy committee is um it's a board committee. Um so there are two board members on it, there's administrators on it, and we bring those to the committee. We discuss them. We

071ask the questions and when we feel comfortable and confident, we move that to a first read. The first read's a first opportunity for the community to hear the policy and then if there's any feedback between the first read and the second read, we can either take it back to committee or bring it directly to a second read. Second read and then approval happened on the same day. Um other than the rare circumstance that they're telling us it has to be approved on this day by law, um for the most part, we have time to work with the policy. So for instance um the religious release time policy was the only one that we had that had to be approved but there was a whole host of other policies that we have till July that we

072can actually we still have we have to follow the law now but we don't have to actually have the policy adopted until July. So, um, our goal is always to keep pace with them because if you don't, as this board knows, we dealt with this a few years ago, you end up doing a lot of policy at one time. And so, our goal is to keep in the committee month after month and then do our best to bring it forward to the board when we have Does that Yeah, that does. And then as far as just I know that we received um the the United States Department of Education required all the school districts in the entire country to do something. It wasn't policy, but it was a certification that every superintendent had to sign.

073Can you just explain once again what happened if the superintendent didn't sign this document that was written for us that we had to sign? what would happen if we didn't sign it to the superintendent and also to the district. So with any policy, whether it's policy or just legislation, you have to follow. Um there's inherent risk in it, right? If you don't do that thing, we are a state funded and federally funded school, right? We get state funds and we also get federal funds and our federal funds are tied to specific programs, specifically um student services for students with disabilities, um free and reduced lunch, things like that. If we decide that we're just not going to follow that mandate, then we are at risk of losing those federal funds. And if we lose those

074federal funds, the services either stop or we have to find funding to be able to resume those services. And so from the standpoint of legal liability on that end, um that puts the team at risk as well and our education license if we're choosing not to do that. Um that's a risk, right? And so for us lure of the the lure lure of the superintendent. Correct. Yeah. So um in situations like that which they come up occasionally again this seems to be a very rare um season that we're in. Um but that is always the risk that we have is that we would lose the funding tied to those programs. And then just generally refreshing your memory here or reme refreshing all of our memory. When you get that and it's only a week or

075six days or whatever the number of days is typically what's the process? What do we What do you do? You Sue, who do you talk to? Well, yeah, this is a unique situation. So, if there's 10 days, I think it was 10 days from when we got it. The first thing we do is call our attorneys and say, "Yeah, here's what we have. Here's what we know going on. What are the risks?" So, we get legal advice and we go through that process. We go through the process, then we reach out to the board and Mr. Lewis or Miss Logan would say, "We need a special session." And we have the special session and then we move to the approval to meet that deadline. Yeah. And it's a lot bigger than that. There were multiple.

076I think we both sat on multiple and you went to OAS. I actually had Hamilton County call a superintendent meeting for all of Hamilton County and that includes some other districts that joined with us, but because I just felt like everyone and it was so confusing because there were and I think some of my colleagues still did it. There were legal opinions that you got to have it certified by the 18th. There were some legal opinions that said you could wait till the 24th, but so I'll be honest with you, I wasn't willing to risk my license to wait till the next week and and the board also wouldn't be willing to risk the funding for students with special education in this district or children who receive lunch, reduce free and reduced lunch, right? Because

077we wouldn't do that in Sycamore. So, we were really put in a tough position. But if there's ever anything that we can do on that end, so what I'm just going to speak as one of five of us, if there's anything we can do that ass that assures our district once again over and over and over via our board policies, via our who we are as human beings, every all of us at this table um that we can reassure through some type of wording or proclamation or something. We would be I would be will interested in doing that. Um just so that the community understands the position that school districts are being put in. um and what decisions we have to make under duress. Really, I would just like to add a thank you to

078you, Mr. Levelvel, Mrs. Logan, and the entire team that digs into these policies and helps keep us compliant with the law. Thank you. Keeps us young. Thank you. Thank you for for that explanation. We do have Miss Miss Shaman that did want to Yep. Sure. Be quick. Three minutes. Yes. Three minutes. Three minutes. Yep. Thank you for the timer. Um so Amy Shaman, Anchorwood Drive. I do have a a kid at EH Green. Um I'm specifically have a comment question on um code JHCD. This is the one on ad ministering medicine to students. There's two of them. I think I picked the right one. Um my question is there's a statement near the end that is new and I understand that I'm sure that there is um feedback that you got from our legislators or

079other guidance for why this text needs to be in the policy. I'm not questioning the text in the policy. I'm questioning how our students can be protected. So there's a paragraph that talks about that anybody who is employed by the board, I don't know if that means everybody in the school or not because my understanding is they're employed by you. else I guess includes everybody else that um a person who has authority in the school district or in a school building school buildings personal assumption that I have is that we probably have one person who is authority most of the time. So are you of doing if we have children in the times of day for to have an option that if the person sitting and having the prescribing authority refuses to administer medication A,

080B, or C, whatever's on the list, and there could be many of them, um what will happen? I understand again this may not be a voluntary policy but as you look to put a procedure in place to follow this policy which might be required um I encourage you to consider what options families are going to have. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Are there any other questions, comments from the board on this on the second read? Okay, Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Mr. Ballot, hi. Dr. James, hi. Mr. Harris, I. Dr. Seager, I. Spitter, I. May I please get a motion in a second for the out of town field trip approval? So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. Mr. Steager for your motion. Thank you. Mr. Harris for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call

081the role. Mr. Harris, I. Dr. Seager, hi. Mr. Balant, hi. Dr. James, hi. Mrs. Bidder. Hi. Can I please get Oh, it's other excuse me, just a couple of quick things. Don't Dr. Adams, I know your story. Weed, but the rest of did not know your story. So, I appreciate you being vulnerable and standing up and sharing that with us and commit that we, you know, be willing to talk a little more deeply. It's hard to speak everything in three minutes. So, uh, but I do appreciate your passion and, you know, I I've I I certainly, uh, want to see our district do better in different ways. So, um, you have my commitment that we will reach out to you. Um, couple of things coming up. The Altitude, we're going to change the name next

082year to the Altitude and Legacy Awards because I think people didn't understand that it's for our retirees and our award winners. So, we will add that legacy part in um so that they understand this is really about celebrating our staff um or either their lifetime achievement or you know recent achievements. So, uh we will make that change. So that's April 29th at the Junior High Community Theater. Starts at 6 PM. Um it should be a fun night. So looking forward to it. Mama Mia, uh if you did not get tickets, you it's about sold out April 24th through the 26th. So it's starting tomorrow. Um and then we just saw the wonderful Sims. Um they have their show uh May 2nd through the 4th and May 2nd and third are at 7:30 at the Junior

083High Theater and May 4th at 2 PM. So the community theater is getting a lot of use. Great. Yeah, we're excited about that and sense of time. I would like to just thank Lewis for you said to the to the public participant participants and I would just like to also say that um accessibility is a very very important thing to me personally. I have two children with disabilities and I'm an advocate for people with disabilities. So I just want to say that this district is ve it's very very important that we follow laws. It's very very important that you understand that we care very much about making sure that children are included, all children in making our buildings accessible. Um, this board is committed to that. I know I know that we are and I

084I don't normally speak only on behalf of our board, but I know that we are and we appreciate you coming here and sharing very painful stories to us. Hard, it's advocacy. Sometimes you have to do it right and that's what you're doing. And um thank you for sharing your those stories with us. Thank you. Can I please get a motion and a second for the personnel consent agenda? So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. Seager, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Balant, for your second. Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Dr. Seager. I. Mr. Balant. Hi. Mr. Harris. Hi. Dr. James. Hi. Mrs. Bitter. Hi. The next item is the treasures agenda. Mrs. Logan. All right. Can I please get a motion in a second to approve the month in financial statements for the month ended

085March 31st, 2025? So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your second. Mrs. Logan, would you like to talk with us about Yeah. Um, so now is the time of the year where we start really digging in and analyzing the assumptions that we made for the 5-year forecast back in November. In May, um, we will be discussing and reviewing the updated 5-year forecast. Um I can tell you over looking at um things there is something that is you know concerning to me and I have my eye which is purchase services higher than what we assume but certainly um the conversations and the anat is is this our new trend and and why or are there some things that happen particular to this year that are not going to

086be a trend in the future. So I'm just letting you know purchase services were wise here. You know we've talked a lot about the new curriculum that we had. So there was a large purchase for new curriculum this year. So having that in mind and looking forward for the next four years on the forecast, we know that that is part of our story for this year. So you expect then in the next four years for the rest of our five-year forecast that that number would be significantly lower. I do not anticipate as large of an increase like we saw this year in materials and supplies. But you don't see that number going back down. I do not at this time. I believe that that So, is that based on cost or is that based on

087we're going to continue to buy all this new materials? It is based on um really the needs for our core business um which we've had lots of conversations and I'm I'm looking at at Megan and and um Becky as well. There are certain thing and we've had discussions with our building principles as well um on curriculum and instruction needs for this district and we believe that we're narrowing in better on um what is that need and what is the resources that we need to allocate for that moving forward. um and to try to get it on more just like we've talked about capital projects and having a more budgeted amount instead of the ups and downs. That's what we're trying to get to with our curriculum and instruction um needs as well. So, we do

088have I'm just looking at the five-year forecast and it's actually increasing I would say somewhat significantly over the next five years for purchase services. Yes. which that trend. Um services which encompasses a whole lot of things from um you know utilities um our consultants that we work with um legal services um the um transportation for our special needs children um tuition for our special needs student. There's a whole lot of things that when we look at those areas, they the increases have been pretty drastic. And so we're really just trying to find out is this our new normal? Um or is there going to be a a a moment in time where it kind of balances out? So yes, I think that's the frustrating part is I just I I guess granted this is more

089of an opinion statement, but I just don't see how things cannot eventually level off. Like where is the breaking point? Like and not just for us, but I think of how fortunate we are with our community and the resources we have. There are school districts that are going broke and going fast. And it's like, you know, where do you think these students are going to go? I mean, there isn't they're not opening the doors to new places saying, "Hey, everyone come in. We'll we'll open up a new school for you." So, I'm just It's a frustrating part of the process, I guess, for me is just when is it ever going to level off? It just keeps going the wrong I mean, everything tires, buses, I mean, buses have nearly doubled in less than four

090years. It's ridiculous. So that's just an opinion statement. Mrs. Logan, can you touch on debt payments? Why our debt payments are going down and is that a trend you expect to see? So the debt payments are um for the debt. So we have debt payments that um are funded through our our bond levies, which the most recent one in 2019. Those debt payments do not appear on our 5-year forecast because our 5-year forecast only includes any debt service payment that is general fund paid for. So, we have some house bill 264 which is energy conservation projects um as well as and I'm district office. So, those type of debt service payments are included here um in the five-year forecast. And luckily, you know, some of those are Yes. Okay. Yeah. Mrs. Logan, for the purchase

091services portion of the conversation that we are having about new curriculum and instruction needs and things like that and tuition and transportation. Is it possible that we could find cost savings in like reducing let's say tuition or transportation by having our employees instead of like sort of so one of the uh contracting it out instead hiring more teachers or more professionals that can work with our kids and so that they that we're looking at are there things that we could do that and we weations um and we'll continue to have those conversations as well. Then there are some things um that are I know we've talked a lot about mandated from the state but there are some of these expenditures that are directly we get money from the state twice a month and there are

092some expenditures that are just automatically deducted from that related to some of these tuition things and we could drill down and talk more specifically about that. Yeah. I mean I think next couple meetings. Yeah. I mean, when we talk about our um just when we start to go into our parameters, yes, we get into the nuts and bolts of that in May. I think that that's a worthy to go into a little bit. One of the ones that we talk about regularly that could be a cost savings, but we're worried about ever stepping into that area is, you know, we we provide van service for some students and but you would have the infusion of a large cost of vans then drivers and then our worry is that if we start taking or making driver

093van driver positions available, it'll be bus drivers that jump over to do that. So, we can't not and we're, you know, we're not unlike, we're not immune to the national shortage of bus drivers. So, um yeah, that was the one I was thinking of because I know it's the one that we always go to. Man, there's so much Mrs. Logan, you know, this is my question I've asked since August. So, in the beginning of of of this financial year, we were seeing our operating expenditures up, you know, 12 14%. and you continued to tell me you were still very confident that we would finish the year at our budget of 7%. Uh the good news is it's coming down but we're still almost 10%. So with 25% of the year left, do you still see

094that we are going to to finish the year at 7%. You're confident in that or are you starting to be concerned? I believe that um overall our our expenditures are trending higher than what we thought they were in November. Do I think that it is a material difference? Um the only material difference right now that I'm really seeing is in purchase services and that's the one that I'm drilling into. So when we look at this next month, um we're going to look at not just the expenditures but the revenue side as well and we're going to look at some of those assumptions. Um I know Mr. Harris is going to talk about um legislative things that are are going on. Um, in our 5-year forecast, we did not anticipate any additional money from the state

095budget um for us for the next foreseeable future. Um, in both versions of the budget, the governor's and the house, there's about $2 million more there. But I will say this again, um it's it's a trick. um it's really not because of the additional things they have in there about capping the amount of cash that we can actually have on hand. So, there's some real um advocacy that needs to take place with our community. Um our passionate community um there are um opportunities that we are privileged to have here in Sycamore. um and the the things that we are seeing are are really um trying to take away that local control and what makes this district great. Um and so I'm very concerned about that. I also want to say thank you to all of

096you and um the people on the administrative team that came to the financial retreat on April 12th. We spent a lot of time, we we we dove into a lot of areas. Um, and we're going to continue to dive into those. Um, capital planning was one of those. Um, as well as staffing. Um, and so I just thank you for for that time and and um your commitment to that that you don't see that in every school district. So I I thank you. I thank the board for your commitment to this and to to look at things. So, any other questions that you have? I have one more question, more of a comment on uh cash balances. So, you know, we're paid most of our revenue twice a year. Yes. So, right now it looks

097like our cash balances are actually going up for the year, but in essence, that's not true. So, you still foresee that our cash balance is going to be close to what the five-year forecast is, versus here, we're showing that we've increased $10 million in in our cash balance since the beginning of the school year. That's not a trend you see continuing to the end. No. And you know, one of the things that that I've been thinking about and I believe we need to add it because of what is happening on a state level. I believe as part of our monthly reports that we need to also look at the cash flow um that I that I've predicted as well as what has actually happened because to your point, Mr. balance. There are highs and lows

098because the majority of our money that we receive is is received two times a year. So yeah, I mean this is just this would be misleading for someone to look at this and say you're $10 million up for the year when in essence we're actually forecasted to our cash balance to go down for the year. Yeah. And we're forecasted to spend more than what we're bringing in this year. And I correct I've Yeah. So, any way that we could update this to be a little more I don't know what the right word is, but easier to understand. Yep. I think would would be appreciated for me. I agree. I'm done. Thank you for Thank you for taking us through and thank you for um you know, we have just so everyone knows we we did

099a video of the uh financial retreats. You can watch it online. It was a special board meeting. We videoed it because we want the community to see it. This has been a long process. As long as Mrs. Logan has been on this board, we've been having this conversation and it leads up to where we are now and it will continue on. But it's ever changing. Um the landscape is changing with our legislature currently. And although we have a plan, which we are going to even talk about a little bit more here when we get to our board goals, um we have to also just be able to understand that plans can potentially have to change. So, we hope not, but we will be ready if it does. And Mrs. Logan, thank you for preparing those

100simulations and just understanding how we might deal with that if that happens. Okay, Mrs. Logan, um, please call the role. Dr. James, I. Mr. Balot, I. Mr. Harris, I. Dr. Seager, I. Mrs. Spitter, I. Can I please get a motion and a second for robotics first program fee effective for 202526 school year moved second. Thank you Mr. Balant for your motion. Thank you Dr. Steager. Mrs. Logan, would you like to these are the student students? We do have other students that um that Hi, Seager. I Mr. Harris. I Dr. James. Hi. Mrs. Spitter. I. Can I please get a motion in a second to accept donations? So moved. Second. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. Stager, for your second. We like to thank everyone who has donated money to Sycamore schools.

101Thank you. Um Mrs. Logan, please call the role. Mr. Harris, I. Dr. Seager, excuse me. Hi. Spitter. I. Next item is other board business. And I am going to we're going to go over um our board goals and go through an update. I printed out copies of what we actually I have a couple copies I think for you. Mrs. Logan and Mr. Sorry. So the remember just refreshing everyone's memory we talked about this and on uh September 14 2024 and on the 18th of September because we decided that we were going to get um the Ohio School Board Association to come down and train us and then we decided to come up with board goals and these are the goals that we created and um we were we are supposed to actually go through and

102evaluate ourselves this spring. So, we are actually in the spring. There's flowers outside and it's warm. So, we have to decide if we want to go ahead and do that. But I I would like to um go through each board goal just very briefly because we have hard at this and it is something that we have had on our agenda many many meetings and I just want to make sure that we see it through and I want to ask all of you board members if you would like to see it through as far as like evaluating ourselves if you'd still like to do that with the Ohio School Board Association if you're interested in doing that. Um there was like a form that we have to fill out and we basically fill it out for

103ourselves, right? Um but our board goal one was to create board community engagement plan and talk with our administrators about um aligning board messaging um with our administration, making sure that we had um calendars and timelines so that we could attend retreats, conferences, information sessions, trainings. Um and then we commit ourselves to doing those things through our administrators inviting us which we have and doing that going through this very briefly. Um we also said we would evaluate our current financial board policies and administrative financial practices and work with our treasur to review financial practices and chair financial review information um on priorities and parameters which we have done. did that. Well, we haven't voted on it yet, but we have gone through a very long process of talking about financial parameters that we will likely

104be doing in May. And then the third one was I would just like to add, you know, although we've talked about it, I think we're kind of at a holding pattern waiting to see what we get from the state before we start to set any financial parameters because that could dramatically change what we set. So, I don't know we're going to know anything in May. Well, we we Well, that is a question that we have to ask ourselves. Well, now that we're on this topic, if you'd like to talk about that, so do you want plan to bring it to us as a board as a recommendation in May or are you thinking you won't do that because you don't know what the legislature will do in the end of June? I plan to still

105bring it to the board for your consideration while we're reviewing the five-year forecast. It totally makes sense if we want to wait until we find out and then maybe do it in July. Um when you adopt temporary appropriations that make might make more sense than Yeah, I like that approach. I think we talk about it in the five-year forecast, but to go ahead and set the board goal and then have to change it two months later, I I don't think makes a lot of sense to me. So, I I would recommend let's talk about it with the five-year forecast and then let's wait and see what we get from the from the budget and then we can talk about it. And Dr. Steer, how do you feel about that? I think that's a What do

106you prefer? Do you prefer to do it in May or do you prefer to wait until we you're get the budget which will be at the end of June? I think we should wait for the budget at the end of June. Seeing since I'm on the policy committee with Mrs. Logan and Mr. Levelville, everything seems to be flying around changes wise. So, we need to be sure about what we're setting in terms of this. Okay. And what about you, Mr. Yeah, I know Mr. Bal and I have talked to Miss Logan about this and trying to set parameters, but parameters, excuse me, but it would be again not a good thing to do. Set something in May and then the budget changes, which it could, and then having to redo that. So, Dr. James, how

107about you? See? Okay. So it sounds like you have a consensus we would wait to get those parameters set until after the budget of the governor so that way we're not having to should they um independently but I think that's wise because if you set it and then all of a sudden we learn in at the end of June that everything is off the table and we have no so Okay, great. But either way, the point of the this conversation right now is we've had these board goals that we have been talking about regularly. So, um we also said we were going to talk about academic achievement and just how what would the what does the board member who's representative of student academic achievement do, right? And Dr. James, you Dr. James had a phenomenal

108yes written explanation of that. So, I don't have it right in front of me. So, I'm sorry that I don't have that with me right now, but So, this is my question for the board. Would we be can that be our student achievement policy representative guide that we use for ourselves? Does that sound okay? I think it might be. Yeah, it was comprehensive. Very comprehensive, I think. Did everyone read it or look at it? Yeah, I think and we've talked about at other meet. So, so we're good on that. We're good on that one. Okay. So, we've How about community engagement plan? Are we good on that? Do we want um do we want to have like an actual spreadsheet from the I think we had said before we would just request and you have

109been doing it that we request that you put on our calendars invites to the events that you want us to go to. Do we want more? Are we okay with that approach or how do you feel about that? How do how do you want to work on board goal one? I think there's so many additional things that we could do under this um particular goal uh that it may be something that we revisit and and be you know even uh become more specific about some of the things. It's it's way beyond just putting calendar dates on Earth. Right. I I agree with So what but let's talk about what kind of things would we like because this is the time to do it. Can I just jump in real quick? Mr. Lewis I know is

110working hard on the website still with the you know everybody in the district office. So just remember that that's also going on simultaneously as we're doing this. So just know that that's those changes are still going on with the website. Okay. Just to make sure I will say as a I think we need to do more of number one and not just I think make ourselves available at PTO meetings and all these other things but um and I don't know how to drive attendance you know that something that we ask our our parents and our families like what kind of things do you want to attend things would you how do we get people because there's nothing more disappointing than we put all these things together 12 people um You mean like t town hall

111like town hall type events. But I I will tell you what a couple of the things that I'm really passionate about going through this website like I'll just say rebrand, redesign, whatever you want to call it. Um I think there are things that we can specific topics that we can go out and engage our community on. And I know our team, we have been talking about after the retreat that we had, the financial retreat and into some of these decisions that we know are going to affect us financially. There is a good portion of our community that does not pay attention to what's going on, you know, at the state house with school funding. Some of them don't even understand school funding. And it's it's a complex matrix to even try to explain. So we've

112talked about being so we've talked about being a roving kind of group going around and informing the staff but we need to do the same things with our community and just not as I'll be honest with you. We can't assume that people watch our board meetings. We just can't. I mean unless people have a reason to watch them they're not watching them. Right. See? Yep. They all shook their heads. just have to find other ways that we can get out there and connect and build that partnership, that trust, that relationship that they understand what we're doing and understand what they need from us while we're doing it. So, I think what we do so far, I think we've made great strides the last couple years, but I think there is so much more we could

113do. I will say the the the thing that we're looking at as a team is our our vacant public relations position. We're really looking at it being more of a community engagement and public relations position. You know, it's bigger than just social media and website and it needs to be hosting events, coming up with ideas, you know, really strategy uh for us to be better as a district. So, I feel like we hear it enough from our community that we know this is a big important point. So, yeah, and I I mean I agree with Dr. James just I think the board has actually fallen short in this goal. Simply putting something on my calendar is not the solution to creating community engagement. You know, it says here, commit more commit board members to attend

114events. We're not doing that. Well, we you're just putting it on a calendar. We're not talking about, okay, who could go to this, who can go to that. I mean, it's just randomly on people's calendar and and it's more than that. It's it's making sure board members attend, you know, a wide variety of events instead of just having it on my calendar. But I think it also goes into what Mr. Lewis was saying, you know, I think the administration has done a phenomenal job of, you know, uh, of community engagement, of increasing community engagement over the last year and a half with ask us anything sessions with town halls they've had. I don't know the board has done much on this. I think we need to revisit this one and take a deeper dive on

115on what we can do simply other than simply saying there's an event on my calendar. Yeah, I'm I'm definitely not simply saying that, but I I agree that we should definitely not just put it on our calendar. We have to do more. But it's not just about attending. But but the of course not. The first one says obtain a communication plan from our administration and align board messaging. We have not done that. We received a draftish when we when miss from Miss Bonite in January. I think she showed it to us in a in a picture, but we never received it. And we requested requested that multiple times. So, I understand that she's not with the district anymore, but we can't we if we're going to do this one, are we going as a board,

116do we want to do a communication plan, get that? Do we still want to do that first one that we all decided we wanted to do? Um, we said we were going to identify stakeholder events that we wanted to attend, which we did do that. We came up with a list. Um, we talked about a number of events, but we never chose an exact number. Um, we said we were going to obtain a communication plan and align it with our messaging and then we were going to create a comprehensive work calendar. At this point, we don't have the communication plan or aligning board messaging. So, I guess I mean I really think until we have a communication director, it's hard to have a communication plan. That's my opinion. Okay. Yep. I will say we did

117do a communications audit um in preparation for now. We just got it today. So, uh, I haven't had any time to look at it, but I will say just a quick review of it. It was an individual review of every building. Um, and I think it's going to be powerful information to give to a new communications, I'm going to call it community engagement professional. So, okay. So, it sounds like for this one, we're still in working in progress. We are not really still in the early stages of this one. um is that or how do you feel would you rate it? I don't disagree with you and I think this is a goal that you should carry over ongoing. It's always as they all are. I mean realistically they all are. I just do think

118that you have been talking about obtaining communic you know vibrant community partnerships. We've been attending as board members community business breakfast. I mean, we're out there doing things, but we just don't have a how we're aligning our board messaging together, right? And I think that's what we will get when you do your audit with the communication. And then we are I would like for myself, I would like to see a communication plan from the district that the board can utilize and use when we're talking with the public. That's what I want to see. And I like the words you used, aligned and I would say strategic communication plan. like it should just I mean I can put together a communication plan that says we're going to do all these things but if it's not strategic

119and connected to our strategic plan and all the board goals then it right it's just words. So I mean the point of the goals was just for us to work together as a board and to try to come up with things that we felt that were helpful to the district that would be supportive of the administration so we could support you in whatever way we could as board members. All right. So it sounds like we have some clarity. Does anyone have anything else before we move to the next? I just wanted to add that with the the that board goal one the community engagement plan there are a lot of moving parts in this that I don't feel like we're blaming anyone but just I wanted you to remember we're all working together and there's

120just a lot of stuff that's been stalled and that's okay. Definitely. So just remember to give grace to everyone as they're working through their that they have to work through with developing their part. So that's all. So I and I'm kind of one of those people. I like to cross things off list and and get them done and I know all of you do too. So do we want to do a complete assessment self-evaluation of ourselves this spring on this matter or do we want to skip that? Is it a self invest self-evaluation on the board goals? Just the board goals or how we function as a team and how we work together. It's what we had our training on in the fall with the Ohio School Board Association. Right. And that was more towards

121centered on working as a team, you know, um goals too. But she said come up with goals together and we're just going to evaluate goals. I'm not interested. If we're going to evaluate how we work together as a team and how we be can become a better board, I'm 100% on board. Dr. James, what do you think? I would agree. I I I don't think we are clear enough on what it would look like in the best scenario. Um we've really not set up a a measurement of how we would assess ourselves. They have a measure, a specific measure that they use for boards. I mean, we don't have to use it, right? but it's not specific to our particular goals. I would like to see us set up an evaluation um system based on

122our specific goals so we know what we're measuring. Yeah. Um because right now I'm not sure what we're measuring with with these goals. I mean I sit there and say we of the three goals we have about one and a half complete. So I don't know how we would evaluate on one and a half complete. Dr. Steer. Well, I was just going to say I think there's something on the further down on the agenda to help us with that. So um to Mr. Balance point on D under other board business, the board of education professional learning and coaching proposal. Does that line up with what you're saying? I think. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say that's what I'm all for development. I'm all for training. But if we're just going to talk about three

123goals that we haven't completed, we all received I mean we did receive her like she sent us a packet of like what it would be if we and I don't remember it because I didn't I she sent it to us in October I think in 2024 but it I'm pretty certain that it's a comprehensive, you know, discussion of all of the all of the things you're requesting. I I mean she has our board, you know, she has our our goals, right? She actually has a copy of them and she has all that information as well. So I I'm pretty certain that it wouldn't just be us looking at goals and not having a tool to I mean I would recommend we all take a look at what you say we have. It's been since October

124since I looked at it. So why don't we do that and talk at the next meeting because I I don't I don't recall what that was. All right, Mr. Harris, how about you? Y that's fine. I think that's a good that's a good plan. Okay. I mean because I think all of these goals are going to continue to move. I don't think you're ever going to be sitting and going this is done. And so, you know, it's hard to evaluate something if it doesn't have that finite endpoint. These are things that are going to be constantly evolving and constantly changing and things like that. So, I think we kind of need to wait and see what that is. Definitely interested in seeing how we can work together better as a board doing things like that

125as well. So, okay, that sounds good. All right. Next item is legislative update. All right. So, nothing has happened in Ohio State Legislature the past four months. So, thank you. and I'm done. Um, okay. They finally uh uh in the passed the two-year budget and a couple of highlights from that two-year budget and not really highlights, but just things that are going on. Um, I don't know if people are aware in that budget, they put aside $1.5 billion in that two-year budget for PI vouchers. Okay? So, Ohio's funding about a hund,000 vouchers for students that come out of money from public schools. Okay? So that's obviously if you're taking it from public schools and give it someplace else is less for public schools in there. Okay. Um and in addition to that when they did

126pass that budget and Mrs. Logan's going to help me explain this so I uh don't mess it up is we keep a uh amount of money in cash reserve. Okay. Our board has determined that we need to keep I think it was 25% minimum minimum of 25% of cash reserve. Okay. to give us funding in case something happens. Um what the what the state has done is is they're they're going to pass a bill and it was a uh House Bill uh 96. Okay. What it does is requires districts to submit 5-year projection of revenues to a county budget commission. And budget commissions, they're required to reduce the property tax rates for any district whose cash balance exceeds 25% of their expenditures. So let me sum that up in regular language. People in our district

127have voted for levies and things like that to put I want to spend I'm committed to spend x amount of money on my schools. The state is going to say you're going to put that x amount of money in but we're going to take that away if it's over 30%. Okay? And we're going to take that away and do something else with it. They're taking the voice that you had away from you. Okay? You need to talk to your legislators. You need to get on the phone. You need to send emails. you need to drive up to Columbus and tell them this is not right. This is not right. Okay. To punish districts who work really hard to save money, who to try really hard to be fiscally responsible and then to last longer, right?

128To make levies last longer. And this will create a cycle where districts are going to have to apply for levies every two or three years in some cases. And all of us who live in the school district don't want that to happen. So this is something that's really important on the horizon that that's here now that you know we need people to talk about. Okay. Because it's going to hurt districts that are being financially and fiscally responsible. Does that explain that? Okay. Yes. And I and so if we look at our five-year forecast and what we predicted for this year, um what would be based on what we're cash balance to be? Uh we would be $13.6 million above. they say we need um your your reduce your taxes, but then Mr. Harris's point, then

129we're going to have to come back to you sooner to say, guess what? We've run out of money because we're already predicting that we have a need. And so this just makes the need greater and faster. We quicker. So again to make it simple think about you've saved at home and saved your money and you know for whatever you're saving for and then the bank comes in and says you know you saved too much money we're going to take that money away from you and spend it somewhere else you know so that's something again you need to get in touch with your legislators you need to make some phone calls you need to be angry about this because this is hurting districts that are responsible like Sycamore and my my request for anybody that would

130be watching online or here in person, please do not call and really get upset about the vouchers. The vouchers are not going away. They've fought for the they've been working on this for years. It is not going away. You know, I think what you can ask is you can ask questions like how much how many more students did you serve with vouchers? Anybody know the percentage? 10%. 4%. Yeah. 4% was their expansion. 96% of the students that were already going to private school are now receiving vouchers. 96%. As a state fact, uh, anybody know the number of the percentage of funding from that we get from Ohio. 10%. Very good. 10%. Which if you look at what they provide per student, $8,100 is what they say per student. That I paid attention. Yes, you did.

131$810. All we're asking for is why are we getting $810 a student and that voucher 1,500ish per student. All we're asking for I'm not I'm not arguing against giving a voucher to a student that goes to private school. What I'm arguing for is give me the same for a Sycamore student. Make it equitable. And that's this woman to my right has been fighting for that for 20 plus years about fair school funding. And so that's the question and that's the advocacy we need from our community is implement the fair school funding plan that you voted in and said you would put into play. Don't don't pull some tricks to remove some funding. Give us the full implementation of what you said you were going to implement. And that's that's all that we're really asking for

132from a public school standpoint. Um you know pulling funding away. I I don't think we're going to be able to convince anyone not to do vouchers at the state level. I think what we can convince them is why not make it equitable for everyone. The other thing I would ask you to advocate for is why are the why are the systems different? There is no accountability for the voucher system. Zero. I heard a legislator tell me, well, we're accountable to arch dascese. I'm accountable to this community. I'm accountable to this school board. If that's the case, take away all the other accountability measures. We don't need a report card. That's costly. We don't need testing. That's costly. Let us be the accountability measure. So, we don't need truency to follow up on that if that's

133the case. That's a lot of we have a lot of follow-ups that cost us. And a lot of those schools do not take children that have disabilities, right? So, they do not I was going to say they're allowed to discriminate legally, right? So, they're receiving public money, but they do not accept all students. and there are other students that they will not accept as well. So, public schools take everyone, right? We accept all students and we we love public education and we are happy to do that, but we also need to be able to run our school districts and have an excellent education for our children. Um, and so we're not at all against, you know, public or private schools at all. We just want to make sure that if you're going to receive public

134money, you should also have to follow the same rules that we do, right? Seems that seems fair. All right. Any more legislative? Nope. That's all. Joy for us today. Okay. All right. So, our next two things um are the updates for the for sack and for BAC. Weird. So, um sack update. Um Dr. James, you want me to start? Go ahead. Okay. I was just going to um I'll start with our presentation that we had this week was done by a group that was looking at why people are choosing private schools over going to Sycamore and we did um get a lot of information although there was some response there. There was only like 59 respondents out of 800 and something. So just keep that in your minds. But there's a lot of good information

135um in this and the reasons were um perceived academic excellence, smaller class sizes, faith-based learning, different athletic programs, and different kinds of community engagement. Um and if then it was they were trying to um the presentation was trying to show us that how can we use what we are learning from these presentations or from these respondents to attract students to Sycamore. And I some of the things that I enjoyed hearing about were maybe doing some different kinds of open houses and the ongoing marketing and followup. again followup I know is expensive everybody having kids go to camps at um our schools in the summer instead of like oh look you're going to go to the zoo maybe you can go to you know go to Mapleale or something for a camp I'm not saying that's

136happening this year everybody just keep that in mind um and then part of the other thing for the high school age group was that open houses and shadow days are very effective and then also if you can bring those down to younger grades also like they do in the private schools it could help kids a feel more comfortable in the buildings and then welcome the whole family and everyone together and get that um going from an early age. Um let me just look hold on one second. I've got more notes over here. Dr. James, if you want to jump on in quick. The Sycamore Advisory Council is a board committee and that council of people is made up that council is made up of um community members, staff members, staff members and they typically take

137a topic and study it for us and then gives us some feedback so that um we know how to uh what kinds of things we might want to do with that information. So, the reason that the council council was looking at private schools versus public schools or private schools versus Sycamore is simply to make sure that we understand what our stakeholders are looking for and um so that we can um you know improve if areas where we need to improve or to um pat ourselves on the back for areas u where we're doing very well. I think one of the things that was interesting to me in this report was that um there are 112 homes students who live in the district, 863 who attend private schools, and 5,64 students who attend schools. and we

138um are supportive of people who make these different choices for their students, but we just want to make sure that we're understanding what people are looking for and why they are choosing what they're choosing. And uh so it was it was really good information not only in terms of they surveyed the uh residents who send their children to private schools. Uh and so we found out some reasons why people choose private schools, which was great for us. And then they gave us some recommendations on things that we might do uh to meet the needs of our stakeholders. So it was a really good it was a great presentation. The one the other one just to have this come back full circle to a couple of stack presentations has been done even when Dr. James was

139superintendent. Um, one of the things that they said private schools do well is their alumni/admissions offices with reaching out to people in the community, which I know Mrs. Logan understands that that would be the fund. Um, so that's what that kind of an that kind of an office as one of the reasons that they're more successful at some things in private schools than we are. Will you be sending us a copy of the presentation? Yes, I think we have it. You just we have it. Okay. Just recently. So, I think we just got it the other day. Did you? Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, business advisory council. Um, we we had a meeting um and it was um I just going to keep itly high level. We just um we talked about

140um some feedback from the February 27th, business breakfast at EH Green which was a really wonderful thing to attend. Um got to take a tour. We bring community, business community into the school and it was a really it's always amazing for them to see our students and for our students to be able to interact and share the incredible work that they're doing um with the business community so they can understand. Um moving forward though um we want now to bring the business community to the students and say have a we're planning now for an October 2025 career day type of event at the high school. So now bringing in like career day events for the students. So now it would be flip flipped on it, you know, flip flip around. Um and then the other

141um thing that we are working on is I'm not sure if that's if there's a there's like a a breakfast, right? The summer breakfast. We were talking about just coming up with maybe some ideas talking about community engagement for doing that in the community. That was still Yeah, we're shooting for a summer lunch and I think we're actually June 13th for basically the older members of our community that don't send students to our school district and they'll be able to come to lunch and then go to the uh theater performance. That's our hope. We got to get that out. When is that? June June 13th that's coming up. I got to get back. I'm hard to believe high school is out, but we have summer theater, right? So, we're Yeah. Oh, okay. So, we're going

142to keep engaging with our community and keep that communication moving and I think that now that we have our buildings complete, it's just a really it's a we've had very very high attendance and people are very interested in seeing that. Okay. Um All right. Board of Education professional learning and coaching proposal. Mr. Lewis has been bringing this to us. We have already had a little bit of training on this through People Fluence um at a board retreat in the fall of 2024 when we had our academic retreat, but now we're bringing it around to ourselves as a board. So, Mr. Lewis, would you like to say something or do you want us just to So, you'll see the proposal was for six one-hour sessions. My proposal would be um in June if we could identify

143one day. She said it's more effectively delivered all at once. Um so it would be a one full day session instead of six separate sessions if we could get that commitment from the board. Um really I think it would help us um just I think it was one of the commitments that we talked about as part of you know um just regaining trust and showing the community that we care about some of the things that they've said to us and that we want to keep figuring out ways that we can be better as a team. So um and she calls it a team transformation and I will say what we have gone through it really has been trans transformational in different ways and it really is about looking at your own leadership but also looking

144at ways that you can work better with other leaders that maybe think differently than you. Um so it it certainly brings a new appreciation as I look around at the team members that are here. you know, I' I've gained an appreciation for the way they think and the way they work because I better understand how they work um and what they need from me as a leader that works with them. So, um I can only say and Katie is a community member. Um she calls herself a retiring um what should I say? A retiring um corporate person. So um and she has really brought a lot of those principles that are relevant for any type of leadership to us. So she's not an educator by trade. Um she cares deeply about leadership and uh seeing

145transformation of leadership. So I would do it identif who will be participating in this training. Uh it would be obviously the five of you and then uh the four of us would be with you. I'm just gonna go through and make sure. Are you good with that? Absolutely. Okay. Dr. Gains, I know I have some conflicts out of hospitals that I'm going to have in that month. So just that's going to be a an issue for me. So I will put that out there like that. Dr. or sorry I keep calling you Dr. Harris. I keep get call Yeah, Mr. Harris. It's probably an insult to doctors calling me Dr. Harris there. But yes, June would be um yeah, I can do something in June as well. All right. So, we will um I will

146organize actually maybe maybe you can give us some dates in June that you think are possible and then I will reach out to all of the board members to create a date and Dr. Seager would be appreciated if you could try to make that with us. Um I really enjoyed that um retreat, great retreat and I remember her portion and it was like spoton and how she put us all in our little groups and then we realized that was very revealing. It was it was actually really enjoyable and I learned a ton. So I'm looking forward to that. I think that'll be great for all of us. All right, last item other. Do we have any other under other board business? Yeah, I have a couple things. Um you know, one I would like to

147congratulate Mr. Lewis. He was recently recognized by educator insight insight as one of the top 10 superintendents in the country. Uh so I think that is phenomenal recognition for his work that he's done. And then and then my last one is just um you know I agree with one of the public participations that talked about the resolution and putting dates to when we're going to do things. Um, I think that's critical. If we're going to show the community that we're making steps to rebuild trust, there has to be followup to this resolution. So, I would encourage that to be on the next agenda to talk about this again and to put dates on on when we're going to do this. Absolutely. I agree with that. Anybody have any others? No. Okay. Meeting is adjourned. Thank

148you.