001Good evening. I'd like to call this April 14th, 2025 board of education meeting order. Can you call the role? Miss Hoffman here. Mrs. Conman here. Mrs. Lavallet here. Mr. Feller here. Mr. Moden here. Thank you. Please join us for 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. um for it's not typical for me to have a superintendent report during our work session agenda, but this evening I did want to take some time to um go back and have a discussion regarding our master facilities plan. We know that this was a plan that was well over 18 months in the process. It feels like it we were able to actually come to some significant conclusions, but those
002conclusions are also based upon a number of variables. So, I just wanted to share with our community tonight that um first and foremost, I'm pleased and that we chose to go through the process. uh when we look at uh the everchanging landscape of any community, but specifically Sylvania, we are continuing to grow. We have predictions of where developments may go. Um most recently, um I've had someone reach out that is interested in doing what they call fill-in constructions within our community and what that would mean for our district. We continue to keep a pulse on our enrollment in regards to preschool and our learning spaces as we serve students with disabilities. In addition to that, we are looking at birth rates and how some developments were to come online predicted to be online by this
003point nearly 2/3 done with 50 homes. I know one development in particular that was designed to have those 50 homes in place right now have five I believe and two may still be for sale but with that it's a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that we now have a plan moving forward that over the next three, five, 10 years, we have strategies in regards to how to go about accommodating our enrollment and our needs um in regards to physical facilities in our district. How do we accommodate for learn more learning space for our youngest Sylvanians, preschoolers in addition to how do we create um 21st century learning environments for some of our buildings as well as serving and providing space for intervention. Um one of the things that we have done is embarked
004upon an enrollment study for the past two years. And as I shared with not only our board of education, but those who are here this evening and those who may watch this at a later time, it's very important that we keep a pulse on our enrollment. It should be it shouldn't be a surprise. Um, but we keep a pulse on where we have been predicted to be, but ultimately how many belly buttons show up in our seats each fall and throughout the course of the year. Um we had uh worked with power school to go through an enrollment study for our district. I will tell you in some grade levels they nailed it down to 30 students they nailed it. In other areas they came up a little short and the prediction is not as
005on target as we would have expected. So, for example, I know based on our first enrollment study, we were projected to peak, I believe, at our elementary levels in 2027. And based on our current belly buttons in seats right now, we are actually gaining 11 classrooms in our elementary buildings this fall. where we were tapped out in some of our buildings. We are gaining space due to enrollment and how it's going the other way which is opposite of what the algorithm had projected. And I need to say an algorithm is just that. It's a prediction. It's a hypothesis to help us make informed decisions. Right now I don't think it's a matter of if children will show up as predicted. I will say we don't have the sense of urgency right now. um for us
006to peak at 2026 as originally projected. Um so for example, we know that we have the River Tree development. Anyone who has been through my MFP spiel knows that I've often spoken about River Tree. River Tree is a fairly new brand new development on the corner of Mitchaw and Sylvania Avenue and it's on the roundabout. uh they were predicted by this summer to have had completed their second phase of 25 homes, hence a total of 50 homes with a third phase starting next fall. That's an example of where we had an algorithm where we've worked with our county, we know how many plots are predicted to be there. There was a timeline for that. However, I do truly feel because of interest rates and price points of those particular homes, they're not coming online as
007quickly as we originally projected. However, the fact that we have a plan with options and scenarios to move forward will take the guessing work out of it moving forward. Once that development does come up under underway with more throttle, if you will, maybe not full throttle but more than what it is right now, we have an idea of what buildings will need additional space, if any, and those will be on the southwest end of the town. How will we concentrate on those buildings to provide space and for how long before that space comes, how long it will last before it maximizes and then goes back down. um is something that's going to be something I believe we should visit each and every year to keep a pulse on. This is not a plan that sits
008on the shelf. It's not unlike our strategic plan. We need to revisit the plan each and every year to monitor our student growth. The other piece I would like to share and please board of education members chime in where you feel uh necessary or just want to make a point. I also think we need to consider looking at um enhancing some of our learning spaces. Some of our buildings are in better condition than others. Some have newer learning spaces than others. Um I do think eventually we will need to look at redistricting and what that may look like. That may be one of the options that we have in addition to or adding on to buildings or doing temporary construction for a building. we may be able to accommodate enrollment through redistricting. We know that
009redistricting is very uncomfortable. is a hard decision to make, but I will say it is a natural part of any community as a neighborhood may evolve with being having um parents with young children that have little types play equipment in the backyard to once you become an empty neester and you may choose to keep your home, sell your home or downsize. The one thing about Sylvania that makes us so wonderful and so unique and such a sign of a healthy community is that even when individuals downsize in Sylvania, many times they still choose to stay in Sylvania, which is really a very strong indicator that we are a destination community. Not only do they want to downsize and be next to or still around perhaps their grandchildren, but even if they're snowbirds, they choose to
010stay their keep their home base here in Sennsylvania. And that's a positive attribute that many districts don't have. So, I think that's something we should be proud of and remain proud of and remain focused on. The other piece that I would like to share is that, you know, when we look at some of the data that we received from our community, our parent surveys, looking at, you know, one of the focal points we had was really looking at an early intervention center, early learning center rather, that was centrally located in our district. Um, and even though we pounded the woods to look at a couple of different buildings and a couple of different scenarios, I would say now that we have these additional classrooms coming online that we did not think we would have and
011listening to the community, we have a little more wiggle room in regards to if we do have a need to open up more preschool classrooms, we can continue to do that in our existing elementary schools. um that will keep us from going to our tax dollar or to our tax base to our um our parents and community members for an increase in tax if we wanted to quote unquote build or purchase another building at this point in time. But it would be my recommendation that we if we will backfill some of those empty classrooms with our um preschool needs if and so once we get to that point. Last piece I think in regards to our our our plan for moving forward with our master facilities, it's really the financial landscape. Um, since we began
012this process, I want to say in December of 2023, I want to say um is that right? 2023 is when we started the MFP process. I want to say it was December. Yes, 2023. Um, I do think we are in a unique situation financially in the state of Ohio with school funding. We know that the budget bill has moved through one portion of Columbus and now is moving on, I believe, to the House. Is that correct? It's past the House. Past the House, going to the Senate. And as a school board, I and as a district, I think it's only wise that we monitor what the implications of what the budget bill will look like moving forward. Um, we actually in a way have received a gift that the numbers of students aren't as high
013as we projected in the sense urgency has reduced. Still there, but not as quickly. But I think we would be fiscally ill responsible if we kept going down the road to say yes, let's try and construct um a new building for an early learn learning center when somewhat financially the the future of public school districts are is kind of foggy right now. And if it's foggy for us, I know it's really dense fog for some of those folks that are in our community that don't understand how school funding works. But I think to be responsible with the funding that we have right now, um I think it's something that we can definitely set to the side in regards to pursuing an early learning center because we do have space in our current for buildings coming
014up in the fall. Um, but any thoughts, questions, or concerns for dialogue from our board of education members? Um, in regards to the investment that we've made in this process to make sure that we have an informed plan moving forward, regardless to what the landscape may be financially, we have options. If we're looking at buildings and redistricting, we have options that have been formalized. I mean, I think first we need to thank the uh master facilities committee for all the work that they put into this and I it makes me I agree with you given the the economic landscape um and also funding concerns. I don't think we can make any really impactful decisions right now. Um, but I do really appreciate all the effort that the committee put into this and I hope we
015can continue to reach out and engage with the committee um, as we move forward. The when we first started this and I think maybe midway through we talked about at the very minimum we had an urgent need for space at Central Trail. So with our enrollment numbers right now, we're not looking at trailers right now for Central Trail or anything like that. So, and I, you know, we at the presentation that we had at South View a couple months ago, which was a great presentation. You know, there was that one slide, you know, that talked about you can, you know, close one elementary school and and or redistrict and centralize your preschool or you can keep them all. At this point, what you're saying is that we need to just sort of hold tight and
016watch the enrollment data before because we have space for preschool decentralized we do and so we don't need to make any huge decisions right now. And then the other point you raised and I I think I' I've want to stress is that we did though learn a lot about our buildings and where some of them were lacking and even though we don't need space right now because of enrollment which is great. I think we still have to focus on fixing some of those spaces that exist. And I'm mostly speaking of Barbara Hills because we know that we've had a lot of trouble there and that the light the layout and the design and we've heard from those teachers and from those educators about the difficulties the noise um in certain classrooms because of where the
017cafeteria is. And so I hope that we can continue to focus on ways, you know, I know money, we always have to watch money, but I I think we should keep our momentum going forward on ways we can um upgrade our house or any other spaces that need it. So that's my thoughts. Yeah, I was going to say, you know, I'm like you said, I am glad that we have this because I think this gives us a framework and a roadmap going forward for when, you know, maybe our peak in enrollment got pushed back a few years with, you know, development slowing down and whatnot. Um, but I think this gives us a a framework and a roadmap to help us in the future. So when we do get to that point, we have something
018to refer to and say, "Hey, okay, we've got we've got options, we've got scenarios that we can look at and explore." So I I think it's I think it was a very good exercise to go through. Um and you know unfortunately enrollment uh projections changed since we started and then obviously the financial landscape has changed since we started building a lot. So but no I think it's I think and I agree with you 100%. I think it's something that needs to be revisited and updated you know on a regular basis so that we can keep keep an eye on the enrollment and then uh react as we need to. I would you say unfortunately the enrollment data change because I think that'd be fortunate, right? Did I say unfortunate? Okay. Well, maybe fortunate that unfortunately.
019Yeah. I mean, I think it would be fortunate because right now we wouldn't I don't know that we would have the funds to be able to do this or right to that right probably at some point. So fortunate fortunate yes duly of it. I would also like to say um I echo thank you to um our community of participants that went through this process. I think it was eye opening for them to have the discussions for us to gain their feedback for us to take field trips to other districts to see what the possibilities of new construction can look like or combination of renovating a physical facility and what it can look like without tearing it down and you know building you can add on or reconfigure to older buildings and kind of keep the
020character. I think we saw that in Rosford. But as we continue down this path into the future, I want to reassure our parents and community that just because we did one survey doesn't mean we won't do another to gain feedback and input um in regards to decisions that will be made. We have a reprieve right now which is good but we also as Greg said I like that as fortunately fortunately we have a roadmap of items that we would need to consider to make a more informed position or decision versus we have students showing up in 18 months and we don't have a plan at all. This will allow us as a board of education to really keep our community informed, our parents informed, and share our priorities when it comes to enhancing buildings and
021learning spaces, 21st century learning spaces. One thing I think our committee learned when we went to Arbor Hills, we go through a room to get to a classroom. We know that's not ideal. Um, we know that's the way they were building schools back then, it was an open concept with movable walls. And as we have evolved in school design, we know that's not the best approach. Um, so we can continue to look at what we can do to enhance our buildings. I think it was also helpful that we got to actually look at the actually take a hard look at the one high school sort of it was a narrative that's been floating around for a while. Should we do one high school? Should we do one high school? and we really got to look
022at it and and it was good to get feedback from the community, but also to say, "Okay, if we were going to do this, what would it look like?" And I think that it was nice to be able to look at that and say, "Okay, that's not an option." Um cuz it's just so unrealistic. So, yes, that's not viable. No, you can't you can't work. So, space-wise, not financially, financially. And I I don't think it would be good for kids. I think ultimately more opportunities. And you bring up a good point. You know, one of the things that I shared with the uh master facilities committee and our board of education members, ever since I arrived in Slovenia in 20120, I've heard the one high school, one high school, I'm going to have one high
023school. It's just been out there for some time, if it be a desired by a few or by many. It's been out there. But now we can't formally say it's cost prohibitive. We don't have space. It is not an option for kids. we would have one football team and in some some field houses people like that mega school powerhouse thought or position um especially when it comes to athletics. I understand I hear you. I understand it. But we also know that that lessons as you said Miss Conklin that provides fewer opportunities for kids to be on the field uh for football kids to be in a play or musical. there are less parts when you've got nearly 3,000 students in a mega high school to participate and there's only so many holes in the musical
024or the play and we have the opportunity now to maintain the tradition of North View and South View uh which is here at Sylvania tradition of um camaraderie but with just a little bit of sense of community I won't use the art word and I'm not talking redistricting but it's a healthy competition uh but it's also something that's just historical in our district and it feels good and people take their alumni affiliation pretty strong and we can tell that every year when we have folks who come back for the Hall of Fame dinner and the athletic hall of fame um how devoted they are to their high school and the memories they've created here [Music] thank you for [Music] Um, so I just [Music] have registration. I can move this down. This is our first.
025So this will be our first opportunity. Seeing none, then I was supposed I just had one item for the month and um, yes, the budget did come out. Um, currently you want to dissect it a little bit more. I have some webinars um at the end of this week early next. So at the regular meeting I'll talk more about the budget kind of implement implications that will have on us. Um so I just wanted to get get that quick plug in there um for the 28 meeting. And then 4.1 solicitation of bids. This just a resolution to authorize us to go out to bid for some district paving and ceiling projects. So, we have some need to reseal the the project or the buildings at or the asphalt parking lots at Northw and South View.
026Uh, and then some grinding and milling of two of our buildings at two of our elementaryaries at Highland and Hill View. Um, so we want to go out to full public bid to get some pricing and determine what we can afford or what we want to do. So, this just gives the authority to go out to bid, get some pricing, have some conversations, and then um whether we move to go forward is is another story, but we need to get the pricing first. So, that's 4.1. No second. Any comments or questions? Greg, yes. Julie, yes. Dan, yes. Kim, yes. And Tammy, yes. Thank you guys. [Music] Thank you. I recommend item 5.1. This is the annual college credit plus agreement with OS College for year 2526. [Music] I'll second. Any comments or questions? Julie, yes.
027Jim, yes. Tammy, yes. Dan, yes. Greg, yes. Thank you. I recommend item 52. This is a college credit plus agreement with Columbia State Community College for the 2025 2026 school year. I'll move for approval. I'll second. Any comments or questions? Kim, yes. Greg, yes. Julie, yes. Tammy, yes. Dan, yes. Thank you. I recommend item 5.3 being a number of policies that are listed for second read or approval. A second. Any comments or questions? I just have one question. Um policy 0171 review of policy. We're rescending that. And that was basically just a policy that said the board will or the the superintendent will from time to time review and recommend changes or be just getting rid of that because it's I mean did he give you a reason why we're getting rid of this? He
028did give us a reason. I believe what this allows me to do is to make changes to policies that are like typographical in nature. That's technical corrections. was that the review I'm just curious if anybody remembers why we're just getting rid of that all together. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Do you [Music] recall some guidelines manuals perform? We basically just said we'll look at these from time to time which maybe is just goes without saying I guess. I don't know. I would assume I can get some information for you. It's not I I I would like you to know and we can definitely follow up on that. the Neola notes that we received and give you some feedback. I just I guess the reason it sparked cuz I was wondering is there a something stopping us from
029doing reviews or is it coming up somewhere else or I think it was mandated that we do this and it's not anymore. No, no, no. Because it's required. We don't need a policy that says we're going to do it. Oh, so there's state law now that says there's a lot of state laws. I know. We have a new policy. We have a ton of policies to say we're going to follow state law. I think that was the the justification was that it was this is now a requirement. Therefore, we don't need a policy since we're required to do it. Okay. Should have always been we should always do that then. Thank you. And Tim, thank you Mr. Zer for making those changes to electronic devices. Anything else? Tammy, yes. Greg, yes. Dian, yes. Kim, yes.
030Julie, yes. Thank you. I would like to recommend item 5.4, which is payment move for the 2425 school year. [Music] Second. Any comments or questions? These just like a continuation, but we have shocking at the moment. Correct. Correct. shocking. Okay, Adam. Timmy, yes. Dean, yes. Greg, yes. Kim, yes. Julie, yes. Thank you. I recommend item 5.5, which is an approval of overnight field trips. We have our uh South View trial team participating in nationals in Phoenix, Arizona. We have the South View um I say it is Also, they're going to science Olympiad tour, the Ohio, sorry, Science Olympiad state tournament. Um, down in Columbus, I do believe. And then we also have Northview High School um to go to Akan for the esports Ohio State Championship. This is third year in a row for North.
031That's fantastic. Second time. What's your question? on everybody. Greg, yes. Julie, yes. Kim, yes. Tammy, yes. Andy, yes. Thank you. I recommend item 5.6, which is an administrative resation for Miss Kelly. Um, it's bittersweet that I bring this resation away this evening. Kelly's been with us for three years. uh that she's having some changes that are positive uh for her family dynamics. So um she is uh making some shifts in her priorities. So we do wish her well. She will be uh resigning effective July 31st, 2025. And we wish wish her the best on her new journey in life. It's pretty exciting. Move approval. I'll second. Any comments or questions? Oh, yes. You know, Julie, yes. Kim, yes. Tammy, yes. Greg, yes. Dean, yes. Thank you. Bear with you. Thank you. I will recommend items
0326.1 through 6.4 on a consent agenda basis. 6.1 our license to substitutes. 6.2 is a license to resignation. 6.3 license leave absence and a 6.4 [Music] license on a consent basis item 6.1 through 6.2. I'll second questions. Julie, yes. Greg, yes. Dan, yes. Tammy, yes. Kim, yes. Thank you. I will recommend items 7.1 through 7.5 on a consent agenda basis. 7.1 classified retirement. Congratulations, Carol. 7.2 classified new hires. 7.3 are classified personnel changes. 7.4 is a classified resignations. And 7.5 is classified position. I'll move for approval on a consent agenda basis. Item 7.1 through 7.1. I'll second. Any comments or questions? Jamie. Yes. Kim, yes. Julie, yes. Greg, yes. Dave, yes. Thank you. I will recommend items 8.1 and 8.2 on a consent agenda basis. 8.1 are supplemental positions for the 2014 school year and
0338.2 are athletic volunteers for the 242 school year. I'll move for approval on a consent agenda basis items 8.1. [Music] Second. Any comments or questions? Yeah. The is this junior cooler program all is that the um junior junior high? No, it's uh I believe they are same thing we did with the basketball youth program at Norview with their coach Payer. These I believe those they're not junior high. I think they're fourth, fifth, sixth graders that they're running under the softball program at South. Well, I hope they're also running junior high. And that would be silly to skip junior high. Okay. But it's not high school. We don't have six coaches for seven coaches for high school. They're all volunteers. Yeah. Both of them are parent volunteers. I was just curious. I'm glad to see they're
034doing this program. I They've been doing North View for about four years now. And I really think it helps. So, I'm glad they're doing it. But I just wondered if that's what this was. So, thank you, [Music] Greg. Yes. Julie, yes. Dan, yes. Tammy. Yes. Yes. Thank you. This is our second opportunity for photo participation which are not on the agenda. [Music] Okay. When I call you up your name and address here. She's right there. Okay. All right. You might want to stand to the side because the camera's right behind [Music] you. Um, okay. My name is Adrian and my name and I am a school counselor at um, thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening. I'm here this evening to express my concerns about the reduction of high school counselor position.
035The high school council role is one that has changed drastically over the years is a high high stakes position and one that affects every student in the school. The reduction of a counselor at Northview will result in at least 60 additional students per counselor and will put the counselors 70 students above the American school counselor recommendation of 250 students per counselor. While I believe that there should be no reduction in a counselor position, I have proposed a creative solution to balance out the numbers between Northampton counselors and I ask that you take this under consideration. As it would stand currently, North U would have an additional 60 students per counselor and Southeast would would be reduced by 10 students each. And this is all numbers I got from Congress school. If the counselor this position
036is split between the two schools, which there is precedent for, the number of students per counselor at Northview would increase by 29 and South would increase by 17 students. If as I have been told that one of the reasons for the reduction in the council position is to make things equal between North View and South View, then splitting the ETH council position between Northview and Southview is the ethical solution. And I have provided you with just a a visual of um 2425 counselor case loads. So currently Northview um has 259 students each, Southview has 291. If you look at what is proposed for next year, you will see that North View would have 318 students and South View would have 281 students. As I said previously, that's an increase of almost 60 students per counselor
037and North View and a decrease of 10 students per counselor at Southview. With my proposal of splitting the position between Northview and South View, it would be more of like a four 26 probably or maybe like 3 days south, 2 days north RFU. you can see that we would even up um the responsibilities of the counselors at each school. So if we are trying to make things equal, my suggestion is that we have the counselor at both South View and North View. I do believe this is in the best interest of our students. I believe that um I would in the best interest would be to not lose a counselor at all. Um, but I think this proposal is a fair proposal that would um help the case loads of North Quest. Thank you. Thank
038you. Appreciate your time. Thank you. With that, I'll move that we go into executive session for the purpose of [Music] compensation. Yeah. Compensation, employment of personnel. [Music] Who second it? [Music] Julie. Yes. Greg, yes. Kim, yes. Tammy, yes. Dams. We will not action.