001All right. Um, it's 6 o'clock. So, I'd like to call this meeting to order. M >> here. >> M >> here. >> Ma >> here. >> Mr. Here, Mr. >> Here. Everyone join us in the allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its nation. with liberty and justice for all. >> First up is our superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. I I know that earlier today you reached out and had a couple questions regarding um where we are with um school closures and weather and the number of days we have left with students. And I would say in working with um Anna Drake and as well as Tim Zero looking at our numbers, we actually have a pretty good idea exactly where we are included with today's
002closure. So I did distribute a chart to each of you. You'll see in the first column where it states um the grade bands and how many hours we have at the beginning of each year for each grade band. I'm just going to dive into where we are in reality today. And you see uh the third column from the end at the top says Monday 126 off which will be today. It will compare how close we are in the number of hours is where we plan for the beginning of the school year and where we are now. The final column under the yellow it says days left with Monday, August 12th. So right now we're in pretty good standings when we're looking at our elementary. We have anywhere from 13 to 16 days left based on
003grade level. What is on kindergarten also is outlined for students in grades 1 through five. Junior high um I believe that's a misul that is accurate because K through 6 are only required 910 hours. 7 through 12 are required to go, 101 because because of the 90ish less hours that sixth graders have to go. They do have that based on the length of their school which is equivalent to 7. So that's why that is a discrepancy. >> Thank you for double checking with her. I appreciate that. So you'll see right now for grade six they have 26 days left. Grades seven and eight they have around 10 days left. Ninth grade, seven days left. Grades 10 and 11 have I want to say that's six days left. My fifth need to be a little stronger.
004Uh and then with 12th grade at this point, they have a little over 4 days left. Now, the one thing that working with Tim and Anna, it's my understanding that we do have some additional hours, if you will, padding in the calendar if we get to a point where we reach for maximum days. and where that is entailed. In the second portion of this chart, you'll see that we have some hours for parent teacher conferences and professional development hours. If we had to make an adjustment specifically for our seniors or any other grade level, we will come back and make that recommendation to a calendar change to the board of education for you to approve that. That would in turn allow us not to have students extend their school year into June. So that's where
005we stand at this current day and time literally. Um tomorrow um is questionable right now. We are still at a level two in Lucas County as of 5:30 this evening from where we are at 6:03 but I can tell you a lot of superintendent are talking. I will tell you also that you all are very much well aware of that. Uh Lucas County is different in every area. We have Oregon schools who is very rural um and they have some challenges uh that they face with salting their roads and clearing snow and then snow blows right next to their country roads. We have districts such as Washington local and TPS who have a large number of students who walk to school. Um even with that they're looking already talking about should we delay based on
006either their road conditions or temperature conditions. And under my tenure for the past 6 years, we have had a threshold of -18. And I publicize that each and every year. So our parents are aware that our threshold is typically around8 unless there's some windtorm snowstorm rather snowstorm that comes through like we had this week that kind of alters what that looks like. I just caution us and I would like to take this opportunity to share with our parents that we do make a very real time informed decision as much as possible when it's snow I along with other folks on the administrative team are out driving some at 4:30 4:45 5:00 driving around the districts not only checking out roads but in our community I will tell you it's the developments that get you the
007developments of the subdivisions are tight and they have cars are passed street. They're not plowed as quickly as the main street. So, as our parents or community members may be driving to work, they may say, "Wow, Sylvania looks great. It's wet. It's clear." But if you go into Work Stone for Farmbbrook, it's not the same. Or if you're out of Mitchaw, which part of Mitchaw is plowed by county trucks in that city or township, it's not the same. But we try to cover as far as going far as White Road. And we just Everybody has a coffee zone. get together and we talk. We do consider what happens in other districts, but we also realize again districts like Oregon or Anthony Wayne may not have the ability to have the road crews that we have.
008Um, right now I watched the 5:30 news before we came here and we were actually having somewhat of a light discussion. Um, it depends what weather channel or station or news outlet you listen to. Um, the weather prediction can be a little bit of everywhere, anywhere from 5 to 7 degrees difference. I choose to use our local weather, typically channel 11 and channel 13. Um, I do check other um areas. Uh, I have a windchill national weather service windchill chart that I also utilize and I have conversations again with our team, not just checking on our roads, but what are the conditions? What's the windshield? Where's the school day going to start? Where is it going to be around recess? Where is it going to be at the end of the day? A number of
009variables. And for those out there, and I'm going to say this for my bosses, for those out there that may be calling them and saying, "What are we going to do? Are you hearing any chat or what's going on? What's going to happen?" Actually, they're waiting on me to make the decision. Um, they certainly can give me the directive of what to do, but they truly are waiting on me to make the decision because it is a superintendent's decision. But I just wanted to take the opportunity to share that we take that responsibility very seriously. I don't make the decision in isolation. I check with our own maintenance and grounds our transportation director who is driving around developments today as late as 4:30 I want to say checking what the development looked like because the
010other thing is tomorrow now they're predicting black black ice. So the roads can be clear but if black ice shows up that's something different. if the salt and the rind that they put on the road works or doesn't work because of the temperature. All those things are considerations. So, it's not as easy as shaking an eightball in the morning and going, "What are we doing?" It truly is an informed decision and I wanted to take the opportunity to share that. And that concludes my superintendence report and I'm happy to entertain any questions. I just want to Understood. Makes sense. Understood. Any questions about the remaining school days, though? I do want to remind our folks to say one more thing. We still are pretty early into the winter season. And I've never been a strong
011believer in the farmer's almond map, but I will tell you this one was predicted to have a pretty harsh, heavy, long winter. So we'll see if mother nature is aligning with the own and what we can do moving forward. That concludes our report. Mr. >> I appreciate it. Thank you for all that information. Um commendations. >> Yes. You know uh we have elected this evening for item 3.1 to table the recognition of the South View marching band. We had invited them to be here tonight because they earned a superior rating at the state marching band competition. But due to the road still being identified as level two, we asked them to postpone their uh recognition portion uh by our board for their combinations. But I can share that we have some students that are listed
012for North View um and South View for SAT and ACT scores. And we also have another student that we identified, Dylan, who um was named division 3 boys all Ohio. We've asked him to come to the next board meeting as well to be identified. So I don't know u Mr. Ko how do we just table one thing? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um next up we have public participate public participation for agenda items. And seeing none, um, we are with you. >> All right. Uh, we'll do consent agenda. Um, just a quick financial update. We'll do a 5year forecast presentation at the end of February at our second um at our second meeting of the month in February. Those laws did change. Um, so normally we do a forecast presentation in May. Uh, but
013this year it has to be done in February. So, uh, we're working on that. Um and we'll have that ready to go for a presentation um at the second board meeting in February. Uh 5.1 minutes of previous meetings we just had December 15th uh and then the two meetings on January 12th uh organization and work session. 5.2 is the treasures report. Uh just a few different changes. Um it did uh update the monthly cash flow. Uh predict a little bit uh additional revenues. uh based on some reimbursements that we anticipate getting in April from our health insurance company and then expenses on the other side of things had to increase as well to give those reimbursements back to our employees. So relatively uh similar to our forecasted levels state revenue did go down a little
014bit. uh they continue to update that once a month just with enrollment and and other various factors but uh we did see a little bit of decrease there and we go in depth uh on that in uh February. Uh 5.3 is availability of funds that now certificates we just have one um we had to sign an agreement last school year the down payment was uh due this year. Uh 5.4 is appropriation certificate changes for the month. Uh we just have a few um the our CCIP, which is our state grants that we get from um the Department of Workforce Environment, um just had a few uh increases, so we had to do an amendment to our budget there. Uh and then 5.5, we had two employees that uh will receive uh cell phone payments from
015January 1 through July 31st. Any discussion? >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Greg, >> yes. >> T, >> yes. >> Thanks, guys. All right, Dr. M. >> Thank you, sir. Um, I am pleased to recommend item 6.1, the appointment of Mr. Mark Pew as director of student support services. Uh his tenure would begin August 1, 2026 through July 2028. Um he will be compensated at the introductory level on the administrative salary schedule. And I know Mr. Q was here tonight. I thought he was here. There he is. >> First row. Um I recommend item 6.1. >> A second. >> Any discussion? >> I would like to share. Um I think Tim may have a few words. This is part of our transition um that seamless transition that we've talked about since Tim
016was appointed to follow me as superintendent of Serena schools. I know he and some folks conducted some thorough interviews before him went through the process. So I'm actually making this recommendation on behalf of Tim starting to construct his own administrative team as we're starting to see some shifts. So Tim, >> yeah, I just wanted to also add that um as Dr. Riley alluded to, Mark went through pretty two extensive two extensive rounds of interviews. Um, I know Melissa McDonald was here, our our current student support services director. She was a large part of that committee. But I think the the characteristics that stand out in in in our director of student support services job is sound decision making, clarity, and consistency. especially when you're dealing with court orders on legal guardianship, residency, enrollment, whether for
017expulsion, hearing, suspension, appeals, etc., etc. Kind of like I told the Northview staff on on Thursday when I when I let them know about this recommendation when it comes to Mark, there's not a whole lot of gray area with Mark is they know him more than all of us and they kind of shuffled and they agree. But Mark would be great in this position uh is approved just because of those characteristics not only fulfilling the job description but also those characteristics that I discussed with those those three qualities I need to have for this job. So just want to add that to it. Thanks. Anything else? All right. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Kim, >> yes. >> Kimmy, >> yes. >> Greg, >> Yes. And if I could add one more thing now that is
018approved. We can undo it. >> But but what it does undo is a Northview principal and in my tenure in this district and we talked about this Thursday with Northw staff as well cuz as excited as they were for Mark the next question 10 seconds later is who's going to be our leader? Who's going to take over? And um we haven't interviewed, went through a process or hired a North or South principal during my 15 years tender in this district. So in working with Josh, our goal is to get out in front of that early. Our goal is to have it posted if not tomorrow, this week. Um even talking with people on on in our department, in our in our building, it's going to be it's going to be an extensive process. We want
019obviously sea and OT members and administrators in one room. We want some parents. We want some student leaders to to put people through a pretty extensive process because with all respect to Adam or Dr. Mley or any other administrator, it's it's one of the largest administrative hirings we make in this district as a high school principal. So, um looking forward to getting moving with that sooner than later and and getting the next leader in place hopefully sooner than later. Not going to rush it, but putting them through an extensive process to to recommen for this point of next year. Congratulations. Congratulations. CONGRATULATIONS. Going to be very excited. We can wait for her. She was hoping to see him. Um Bri went to the principal's office the first week of kindergarten was Mr. Pew. So she
020was hoping to see him in high school, but I'm sure we'll see. >> Yeah. Y I recommended item 6.2 the acceptance of gifts. We have Marshall Adams donated $100 toward Norththeast. Any discussion? Thank you. >> Jul, >> yes. >> Greg, >> yes. >> Kim, >> yes. >> Thank you. I recommend it 6.3 which is an overnight field trip for some of our um four junior high students. Actually there will be seven 15 junior most junior want to make sure shout rea to company 7 15 sure that's right >> it's 15 okay I'm getting that little language there to Purdue University uh for science on January 30th which is this Thursday Yes. >> Any discussion? >> Kim? >> Yes. >> Tammy. >> Greg. >> Yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Thank you.
021I recommend item 62.4 policies for second read. >> Any discussion? >> No. >> Julie? >> Yes. >> Tammy? >> Kim? >> Yes. >> Greg? >> Yes. Dan. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Mr. Tori over with you. >> Thank you. I ask for approval on items 7.1 and 7.2 consent a daily basis. 7.1 license and 7.2 is license. >> Any discussion? >> Julian. >> Yes. Jim, >> yes. >> Greg, >> yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Tim, >> thank you. I'll ask approval for items 8.1 through 8.4 on consent agenda basis. 8.1 are classified retirements. Congratulations to those individuals. 8.2 are classified new hires, 8.3 classified resations, and 8.4 are classified personal changes. for approval considered basis and second. Any discussion? >> Kim? >> Yes. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Greg, >>
022yes. >> Tammy, >> thank you. I'm going to ask approve for 9.1 through 9.4 on the consent agenda basis. 9.1 licensed up positions for 2526 school year. 5.2 2 are non- teaching pupil activity contracts for 2526 school year. 9.3 athletic volunteers for 2526 and 9.4 are some resolution corrections to supplement positions for 2526. >> Any discussion? Tammy Julie? >> Yes. K. >> Yes. >> Greg, yes. Dave, >> yes. >> Okay. So, now we're reports. I'm going to start cuz I have a couple things we need to go over here. Um, so the first is, and just do you want me to read the motion, then? Yeah. So, I'd like to make a motion to resend board resolution 26-23 titled resolution to proceed property tax levy that was passed on January 12th, 2026 due to receiving
023a new form from Lucas County auditor. Um, so I'll make that motion. Any discussion? Adam, you want to >> Yeah. So, um, today I received an email from, uh, Lucas County, uh, office, their form that we need to submit to the world elections that it was revised in early January. And in interpreting that new form, they clarified some things today in in an email that they did the form, it was not accurate, so they accurately reflected how form should be. So we thought it would be best to approve the correct form and the correct resolution. So that is why we need to resend that. >> So we resend the original one. >> Yep. And I'm assuming we're within our time frame. >> Yep. I drop off from I already did all the the board of
024elections drop off previously. Once passed today, we'll we'll we'll send to the board of elections tomorrow. >> Yeah. Is this any more special? All right, follow. >> Yes. >> Julie, >> Karen, >> yes. >> Terry, >> yes. >> D, >> yes. >> All right. So, now I would like to make a motion to recommend approval of a resolution submitting the question of an initial tax levy for the purpose of current expenses to the electors of the Sylvania City Schools District pursuant to section 5705-21 of the revised code for the purposes of current expenses. discussion. Greg, >> yes. Julie, Tammy, Greg or Dave, >> yes. >> Um, and then one one more thing I want to bring up for my portion of this guy. So, I'm on the stage board. Um just kind of I bring
025this up just for a while understanding about this but if you're not aware um so terrace the school district owns like a 1 acre square parcel on that corner that right now is where a portion of the parking lot and the pool sign for Sent. So we actually own that parcel. That parcel is still in the township. Everything around has been added to the city. Um and Stage Yard is working on the um concession stand project over there. So I had a meeting with the city today about that and they said, "Hey, we've got this little postman stand parcel we'd like to get cleaned up, hit our mechanics and reszone to make the whole the zoning area um current." So just kind of want to bring it up for thought. um you know think about
026what the board wants to do with that parcel of um there's a reason to keep it or if we want to you know it's one acre >> is it on the um land north side >> it's well it's both it's on the corner it's a 10 so fronts both streets >> and it's just one acre >> so it's on their parking lot >> their parking lot >> is on that or portion of it. >> Yeah. >> Well, it's in the township and is I believe it's zoned mixed use in the township. Um, Centennial Terrace the Centennial Terrace property was also zoned mixed use in the township. When it was annexed to the city, it kept that MX zoning, but the city doesn't have an MX zoning code. So, it needs to be reszoned to something
027that fits within the city. So, I I believe the state yard is going to probably go forward with that on their property, but we've got this I know I know well Julie kind of I believe at some point in time that property was donated to the district for for a potential school years and years and years ago. You know, the 1 acre bus you can build a school. >> No, no. Like I'm trying to picture why is there do we have an easement on there to allow Centennial Terrace to build a parking lot? >> I don't believe so. I think it's just a handshake agreement. You know there we'll maintain it. I mean SR maintains the parking lot sign. >> Will we pay taxes on it? >> No, we will get taxes on. So anyway,
028just think about it. If anybody wants more information, I can pull up yours and show it to you. But just wanted to >> Yeah. Is there any way was a car for the sun. >> Right. >> So I just want to hear that and that's the end of my report. This is right. >> Yeah. tomorrow. >> No, I have a um community services board meeting tomorrow, but beyond that, I haven't anything else. >> Okay. All right. So, now we're at um our second activity for public participation for non-aggenda items. And I believe we had one. >> Uh we had two. Is there anyone else who want to decide that? >> So, just a reminder bring the sheet up, we have um public participation is we try to limit it to 3 minutes per speaker. Um
029and it's just for a chance for you to let the board know your thoughts um and concerns um and then we'll we'll listen to listen to that and then um take action later if needed. It's not not so much a back and forth discussion. Um, so, uh, counter shoot down to. So, first um if you just state your name and address us for the record. My name is Connor Smith. I live at 3815 Cory Road, Cleo, Ohio. And I'm here to protest against a newly added addition to the Sylvania school's dress code regarding cosplay severely limiting students forms of self-exression they can take part in at school, namely animal related apparel. Wearing tails or similar expressive clothing is a form of self-expression. A way of silently telling everyone something about you that you're proud of.
030It's not breaking any rules or doing anything offensive. You're simply showing that you like something. It could even apply to simple attire, too. this new rule. If simply wearing a tail or something similar is considered cosplay, then things that people wear on regular such as like cowboy boots or certain approved headwear or even the bags could be considered cosplay by certain teachers to to help address this new issue. I distributed petition to all three grades of my middle school. By signing, the person agreed that this new rule on cosplay should be removed. Despite the fact that only about half the school was given to chance to sign, we still got an end to over 120 student signatures. I understand that overall our cosplay can distract students and teachers being an obstacle that can make it
031difficult to stay learning focused. However, the already existing dress code restrictions would help ensure things do not go out of hand. primarily the catch all rule that pivots entire team themed to distracting. Now is a time when the student when students are discovering themselves and their interests. Removing this rule could further allow students to express themselves in healthy ways, improving morale and decreasing stress internally leading to better grades and improved focus in class. For me personally, wearing expressive attire to school was an amazing experience. I had no idea how people would react, how teachers would react, or if or if it was even allowed in the first place. After the first day, it felt like I had climbed to a mountain. It made school much more enjoyable for me, and that's a feeling that every
032student in the new school deserves. >> That's all. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, next we have Paul Ker. Let's go together. >> Please state your name and name, Mr. you. My name is Paul Gr. I live at 7040 Lister 2 in St. James Woods. And the reason I'm here is because of what I saw in the news for the proposal for the levy and the size of the levy. And what I'm asking for, and we hear this all the time in politics, is a little more transpar transparency. I saw it on channel 11 news and they said that 7.9 I think is the number if I'm correct. Okay. Uh which adds up to $277 per $100,000 value of the home. Well, there's not a lot of those in Sylvania. The I live in St. James.
033I've lived there 40 years and I'm embarrassed. That's the first time I've been to a school board meeting. I will tell you this. My I had three kids all grown and going great. They went to TCS. My son went to the school for a year, but I voted for every school millage during that period of time knowing how important it is. And you know, you take the $277, the average home in my neighborhood is 300,000. That's just average. That's $830 increased property tax. People didn't hear that. They heard I know I was in a car this 4 years in I ran the brown auto. Okay. And the way we sold cars was to sell my payments. It's a lot cheaper at $277 a month than 48,000 for the car. I get it. And all I'm
034asking for is transparency as this goes along to tell the people what it's really going to cost them because I plan on you know talking you know all my local neighbors okay are you know with this to say the least and again I'm retired and 40% at least of my neighborhood retirees okay and we just went through this last degree revaluation of properties, you know, as we all know, and my taxes went up $800 after winning supposedly to fight, you know, with the audience. So, you know, $800 a year increase in my property taxes is is something that, you know, retiring on fixed income is hard to do. And that's why I'm here, you know, just to express that. And I plan I frankly, you know, I don't like to use the word fighting, but
035I plan to oppose it, you know, strongly in my neighborhood and wherever I can because right, we need more transparency, but I'd like to know what we take in now. What's the budget? If if people saw that, maybe maybe it's really necessary. But at this point, you know, you do the math on 300 houses in St. James Woods times $800, that's 6.4 million. one neighborhood, you know, and that doesn't include a head all the commercial properties, you know, in Sylvania. So, that's where it's at. And I I thank you very much for hearing me and I I'm looking forward to more information. I really am. So, like I say, I love the neighborhood. I love living here. I love your school system. I think it's great, but you know, things are getting just out of
036control. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate your comments. >> Okay. Um, so next to the agenda, I would move that we go They're all on our website. Um, yeah, but all the presentations that that I've made since I've been here are all on the website. Monthly financial reports are on the website as well. Okay. Um any other questions or concerns? Okay. Um so I will move that we go into executive session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official. Okay. Any discussion? Greg, yes. Julie, >> yes. Tammy, Dan, Kim. Yes. >> And we will not be taking action after