001[applause] >> Welcome everyone to the April 13th board meeting. >> [snorts] >> All right. Uh yeah, Mrs. Burger. Here. Mr. Burns. Here. Mr. Hood. Here. Mrs. Slate. Here. Mrs. Wooden. Here. Thank you. First first part is the recognition of guests. We have lots of students to recognize today and staff. And we want to kind of put in new education rising first. >> Yes. Uh we'll start with the educating or educators rising state champions. If you guys want to come on up so we can recognize you. >> [applause] [applause] >> SO WE HAD THREE GO DOWN TO STATE and win state championships and educators rising. I know it's a newer program here and Mr. Fryer started a few years back. Um, do you want to kind of I know Lola and get it back. >> [laughter]
002>> Uh, I know Lola and Maggie you guys competed together. Uh, and Miss Hatridge great great research project she did. She wanted to write it up. Do you want to take 30 seconds and talk about what you did together? Um, so me and Lola um, joined a um, contest that was we had to give a professional development lesson to the staff here at Beechwood. So we had a uh, professional development little lesson here after school one day about social emotional learning and it was for the high school staff and we had a pretty big turnout and then um, we recorded that, sent it in and submitted our like lesson plan document. Uh, we got scored on both of those things and then we did a review at the actual state conference and we got um,
003scored and judged on all three of those components and our score came back to be the highest so that's HOW WE WON. >> [applause] >> UM, BASICALLY MY COMPETITION I shadowed um, Mr. Kaiser um, for about 10 hours and then um, I did an interview with him and made a whole presentation about it and yeah. You want to say something? >> it was very good. Made me look really good. >> [laughter] >> Uh, well, uh, [clears throat] you three, thank you. Not just to you three but your whole team. I mean there was a bunch of educators rising. Um, Mr. Fryer as well. Um, anybody else involved? Uh, the guidance counselors helped a lot out with Maggie and Lola um, and uh, Miss Claire of course is the reason we have educators rising in the
004first place. So uh, we did set a record there was almost 900 students at the conference. So we saying we got first place like really big deal. Pretty crazy. Not good. Awesome. Awesome. Congratulations. Let's come up and GET A PICTURE. >> [applause] [applause] >> THIS IS MY LADY. SHOULD I WHEEL BRAD OVER? YES. YEAH, [laughter] I can just put it right here. Get in the screen. Congratulations. >> [laughter] >> So proud. Yeah. >> [applause] >> I'll add that. The name of this competition >> [clears throat] >> is exploring like administrative careers. Most people across state are shadowing principals and assistant principals. So for Anne and having access to a superintendent, being in our awesome school district, we have a superintendent that's really really really special opportunity. So I felt access to her. Yeah. Such my
005such busy schedule I just squeezed her in. It's good that we're on campus together too. That makes it really a great experience. Try. Try. All right. They can sit and watch the next one. >> [laughter] >> All right. Next up we have our superintendent brief key award winner. She's back there. There she is. >> [applause] >> This is what Miss Steckel had to say about you. Hannah consistently goes above and beyond what is expected of an educator. She invests countless hours outside the classroom planning engaging lessons ensuring every student in her second grade class has the opportunity to succeed. Her classroom is not just a place where learning happens. It's a safe, welcoming environment where students feel valued, heard and empowered. One of my favorite characteristics of Hannah is that she has the ability to
006pass along her positivity and empathy empathy to her students. She is patient, kind, enthusiastic and always willing to help a colleague by brainstorming ideas. Congratulations Hannah Burns. APPRECIATE IT. >> [applause] [cheering] [laughter] >> LET'S GO WASH UP. KYLE I KNOW SOMEHOW related with a Burns and a Bird. What do you have to say about Hannah? [laughter] What do you know about her? Any dirt? I will say something about Hannah real quick. The last few years it's just constant no matter where I am people come up to me and tell me just how much their child has loved having her, how much they love You know, a lot of kids have a a decorating scheme to their childhood bedroom. It might be sports, mine was Star Wars at one point in time. When Hannah was a
007kid her bedroom was a classroom. >> [laughter] >> She had desks, she had a projector, she had bins, she had a cart and she taught her dolls in her room and that was the theme of her childhood classroom and that's why she brings to her classroom every day what she does because she's living her dream every single day. Her childhood dream has come true with this job and that shows every single time she shows up to school. So we're very proud of her. >> [applause] >> All right. Uh, track team. Right on cue. All right. [laughter] Um, track team I'll give a brief kind of overview of the the the most recent state championship and this was indoor. You guys are I guess are still in outdoor. Sorry. Okay. Uh, so we got a boys
00855 meter dash, Hudson Edwards uh, state champion. Boys 200 meter dash, Tyler Fryman state champion. Boys 400 meter dash, Tyler Fryman state champion. Girls 400 meters, Carolyn She's here. All right. Uh, 400 meter dash, these are all individuals. Uh, Carolyn with a 400 meter dash state champion. Boys 1600 meter run, Gannon Park state champ. Boys 4 by 200 meter relay state champions, Nathan Papps, Brody Ayler, Hudson Edwards, Tyler Fryman and then the 4 by 800 meter relay state champs, Will Mooney, Elijah Mock, Gannon Park, Charlie Scheme and then Sloan Pengelly was also on there as an alternate. So uh, I mean are you guys going to have an encore coming in the outdoor season? >> [laughter] >> Okay. Good to hear. Um, >> [laughter] >> You guys are leaving here to go right up to
009the city building to get Okay. So let's come on up. Let's take A PICTURE. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] [applause] >> STAND IN THE MIDDLE. KIND OF STAND TO the side of me. >> [laughter] >> Take a knee. Come on up. It's all good. My knees are bad. We tried that earlier. >> [laughter] >> That would be really bad to do that. Thank you for doing that. >> [laughter] >> Very very good. I don't want to >> [laughter] >> All right. Ready to Thank you. >> [applause] [laughter] >> You can put it in the room. Yes. In the cafeteria. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> All right. Actually you guys can just do it in front of me. Okay, great. Uh, next group we have up here is um, the Tech Perch, the student council. Uh, student council members
010from the senior class or junior class uh, to review kind of give everybody a recap of the Tech Perch that happened last week. I think it's one of the cooler things that we do here at Beechwood. It's been going on for a while. Um, just really really great experience. Uh, I think it's a little daunting probably for the juniors on the front end but I think on on back end they get some some sort of reward out of it. Uh we have uh, uh Ms. Harris, we have Mr. McDonald, and Mr. up here. You guys want to stand up and and kind of give like a little recap? Yes. Yeah, so to go into the organization, uh we were planning we've been planning it since about December. So, um there's a lot of planning that
011went into it. Uh the parents were great sponsors for the event. Uh we had about six in total, and we ended up adding two more cuz we pushed back the power off. We had about uh about 80% of people that turned in their grade cards in each class. Um it was a really really great experience making memories. Um the bonding was really special between our class. A lot of people interacted with people that they weren't expecting to talk to or like ever talk to before, which was really really great. Um conversations were more deep and genuine cuz we had no distractions. I I personally like had a great time. I hung out with people almost every day that I would probably never hang out with or ever think to hang out with, which is crazy,
012but it was so much fun to um uh get to know new people. And yeah, it was a great experience. Everyone ended the week with um just saying how fun it was and how they wished that we had another week of it or just like continue it. Yeah, and I think all of us had so much fun, but also just took a lot away from it, learned a ton from this week. I know, including myself, I was a little reluctant at the beginning of the week. I was nervous. I'd never done anything like it, which makes it such [laughter] a cool experience. It's kind of scary at first, but by the end of the week, so many of my friends, so many people were like, "We don't even want our phones back." Just learned so
013much about how much easier it is than we thought it would be and just how reliant we are on technology and how it's really something that we don't need all the time and just had such a fun week away from it. >> [clears throat] >> It's really great. Well, thank you guys. That was an excellent recap. I appreciate everybody participating in it. Ms. Stern, who coordinates it all, high school administration [clears throat] for helping assist with that, um providing just a probably memorable you will probably never forget it. So, >> uh glad for you guys to come tonight. So, much appreciate it. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> UH I BELIEVE THAT CHANNEL TWEL- CHANNEL 12 is going to do a story sometime maybe this week. Channel 5 has been here like two times to do
014a a bigger, longer story that's going to air sometime in May. So, um I think the coolest thing is like we have a whole community that's like, "Yes, we're all going to get on board and do that." Every parent, every family member, all of our kiddos, they turn their stuff into the school, and the school locks it up and gets to keep it for a week. [clears throat] I don't think there's many school districts that would trust their school district to do that. Uh we have just an awesome community, awesome kiddos, great staff to kind of all coordinate to give kids a a a lifetime experience that will never forget. It's really special. So, thanks to all who are involved in that. Um all right. That's That's it for the recognition of guests. Thank you
015all for attending. Thank you. Okay. All right, now we'll move on to public comment. I believe we do have some. Um as you call you up one by one, but um please remember we're keeping comments to 2 minutes or less. Um but please we're starting with Caroline Caroline Mackey. You want to just You can sit right there and Should I sit right next to Ms. >> Yeah. Well, I really don't like doing this. It makes me anxious, but it's [clears throat] worth it. This is something I feel really passionate about. My goal today is to just try to encourage you to vote yes on uh increasing teacher pay. I wanted to present two main reasons for this that I think will speak to almost everybody in this room, if not everybody. So, the first reason
016for me is pretty straightforward, and it's more personal. There's a lot of stuff going on in the world right now that there's a lot of division. One thing that I feel brings all of us together is that we all want what's best for our kids. Um part of what's best for our kids is a great education, and we offer that here at Beechwood. And the reason we have a great education is because of all of these people that have filled the room. It's because of our teachers. If our teachers leave, then that impacts the well-being of our kids uh directly because they spend so much time with our kids. They don't just teach them, they help shape them into who they are. If we don't compensate our teachers properly, then they're going to leave. And
017it's not because they don't care about Beechwood. It's not because they don't love our kids. It's because they have to get a second or third job in order to make ends meet. If we value our teachers, which we do because we care about our kids, then we need to compensate them accordingly. So, I feel like that's something we all can get on the same page with. The second thing is much less personal. It's very objective, and it's the fiscal reason. To not properly compensate our teachers is a very short-term perspective. Um anybody that owns property in Fort Mitchell knows that our property values are high because of our school district. If our the quality of our school district decreases, then so will our property values. So, if you're not making this decision for the well-being
018of the kids directly and it's more of a fiscal decision, then make it for that reason. Um the reason why we have a a good school district is because of the people in this room and the teachers that can't be here. If we lose good teachers, then the quality of our school district will decrease. And maybe that won't happen overnight. It doesn't happen just because one teacher leaves, but if multiple teachers leave, which has been happening, then it will in the long run impact the well-being of our school district. So, to not fund our teachers properly is a very short-sighted decision. The The loss of value associated with a lower quality school district far outweighs now increasing our teachers' pay. So, I really urge you to keep both of those factors in mind and to
019support the people that impact our kids' lives. I think I stuck under THE 2 MINUTES. >> [applause] [applause] >> NEXT UP WITH ANDREW COLLISON. 2 MINUTES. >> [clears throat] >> I think I can do that. Uh well, thank you all. Um I don't know who my audience is. I don't know if it's you or if it's folks in the room who might be skeptical about the increase, but I want to speak in favor of the increase. Um and I want to give sort of two reasons. Uh one is related to the fiscal reason that Carol raised. I just want to add a little bit to that. Um I [clears throat] looked at the data on property value increases over the last 3 years. Our own property has increased in value 24% a year uh each
020year. Uh if you look at comparable priced homes in places like Lakeside Park, uh the property value increase is about 7%. Um and so, if you look like at a $400,000 home, uh it would have increased by about $100,000 in Fort Mitchell. Uh it would have increased by only about $32,000. Um so, you're looking at close to a $68,000 premium that's just because your house is in Fort Mitchell. And the property taxes that we pay compared to a place like say Lakeside Park, um they're not that much more. And in fact, uh depending on whether you look at the levies or not, they're they're a little bit less, but they're pretty dang close. So, let's say it's a $100 difference. That $100 is basically getting you a $68,000 return. So, I always thought when people
021talked to me about property taxes in Fort Mitchell, I like to pivot the frame and say, "Look, you should be thinking about this more like an investment. It's not a tax, it's a wealth transfer." And and it's well worth it. Um so, I'm actually begging you to raise my taxes a little bit >> [laughter] >> um to uh to to protect that investment. Um I mean, it's like a This is where I'm bad at math. It's like a 24,000% return on that little tiny fraction of increase in property taxes. Warren Buffett's lifetime average is 20%. Hedge funds shoot for like 25 to 35%, I think. Um and so, it's just astronomical. It's a it's a no-brainer investment. Um so, that's just a purely self-interested fiscal type reason to support it. Now, the other kind of
022skepticism I can imagine you having, how am I on time? You have 2 minutes. 2 minutes? If you're a libertarian, Thomas Jefferson, the godfather of American libertarianism, who thought we should only tax to defend liberty, obsessed over higher education, and he thought public education was not a gift we give children, it's a necessary thing for the preservation of our liberties. So, all libertarians should support taxation for public education. >> [laughter] >> THAT'S IT. >> [applause] >> NEXT UP, WE HAVE JENNIFER WITHROW. GOOD EVENING. SO, I am Jennifer Withrow. I am a parent to a current fourth grade and sixth grader. Um and for those fellow Gen X women who are experiencing perimenopause and brain fog, like myself, I brought some notes. So, >> [laughter] >> because this is an important topic and I I don't
023want to miss a thing. So, call me seal. Um so, I would first like to express my appreciation for the board for bringing this topic up and taking an important positive positive step forward for increasing our teacher salary. So, thank you for that. So, this action reflects a clear commitment to valuing our educators and recognizing the critical role that they play in our children's success. But, I'd be remiss because at the same time, if I didn't mention a review of regional salary comparison, highlights that Beachwood continues to lag behind every school district >> [laughter] >> regardless of the levels of years of experience that the teachers bring. So, while this year increases are meaningful, the there remains a significant gap when competing for and retaining high-quality educators in increasingly competitive market. So, I won't go
024into how the strategic investment benefits teacher compensation in our community because my fellow parents have already stated that. But, competitive salaries aren't just a workforce issue. They are directly tied to our educational quality, our outcomes, our program stability, and the long-term success the district success, excuse me. I've also served on the SBDM on the elementary side and I've often heard Beachwood School District referred to as a private public school. Um and and that's a reflection of the strong parent commitment and engagement of a highly supportive community. And while that reputation has a source of pride, it can unintentionally create a perception that the opportunity to work for Beachwood is in itself a form of compensation. And we've heard that before that just working for Beachwood is a benefit. But, that mindset reduces and diminishes the
025professionalism, the expertise, and the daily commitment of our teachers, the very individual whose work has built and sustained the district's reputation as one of the most respected and distinguished in the state. And it is their dedication, not just in the community context, that drives Beachwood's excellence. So, thank you again for your leadership in promoting this work forward. I encourage continued progress in future planning cycles so that Beachwood teachers can remain a distinction for our district and for our exceptional educators. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> IT SAYS MARIA SANDERS. MARIA? [clears throat] SO, FIRST OF ALL, God bless Officer Pangallo. Don't Don't ever let him leave. Uh my name is Maria Sanders. My son Julian started at Beachwood in first grade and will be graduating in May. Julian and so many students in this rockstar senior
026class have been firing on all cylinders. Stellar ACT and AP scores, three national merit finalists, win after win for our marching band and sports teams, and now acceptance letters from tip-top universities. The class of 2026 spent this year in a near constant state of celebration. So, I am here to say a very public thank you to the teachers who have helped raise our kids, who instruct, inspire, and love them every day, and make school feel like a true second home. Many in this senior class were lucky enough to learn from Beachwood legends like Mrs. Wolf, Mrs. Tebby, and Ms. Haggard. Today, they have the present tense icons, Fryer, Seifert, Cisco, Gerst, and the list goes on. And of course, there is Austin Brawley who is always and who is and always will be a titan
027in music education. >> [clears throat] >> These are the women and men who boost our kids up, make all things possible. Speaking for many parents, we feel so incredibly grateful. And while we may have expressed our gratitude and respect in words, this school board can do more. For years, Beachwood parents and community members have been advocating for more competitive teacher compensation. Better pay to reflect the job well done and being done every day. I've heard all about the constraints. I've heard about the nickels and I've heard about the dimes, been told all about the separate buckets of public school finance. Meanwhile, our budgetary was given to construction projects, branding, and an overly grossly generous compensation package for the previous superintendent. Members of this school board were elected to do things differently. Mr. Kaiser, I believe
028is here to do things differently. So, please I'm asking you to figure this out. It is time to pay Beachwood teachers the respect in dollar bills that they deserve. Words of appreciation from parents and students are one thing, but words and meager salary adjustments from the school board are not enough. The teachers have already earned it. This extraordinary graduating class is testament to that. So, you can do this. Find a way. Show them the money. And to Julian's teachers, I want to say just once more into this room for all to hear, for all it's worth, we cherish you, honor you, and thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, moving on to our discussion and action agenda. First item is to take a motion to approve the tentative budget for the 2026-2027 school year.
029I'll make the motion. I'll second. Okay. Discussion. Any questions on I know Brent and Laura are there as well. Any questions, comments, concerns on the budget for 2026-2027 budget? I know that we've as a preface we've had a budget committee [clears throat] that has met twice beginning and end of March working session where we talked about forward backward. Um done a lot of numbers. Personal shout out to Christie Ward who's worked the past 6 months to investigate and see and look at us as a school district and look at us as we fall in the region. Um and then multiple um times back to the drawing board and we're working to find more information, more information. So, I just want to say thank you for doing that. Um I know the board is well aware
030of the work Christie put together. Um Other than that, I I know we've put a lot of time into this. Um any any questions or any discussion? I'm Joe Haim something. All right, then. It's never been about not being not wanting to pay teachers or our staff. It's never been about that. It's about finding the way to do it. And we've spent over 10 plus years trying to build up our budget to be able to do something like this. So, I feel that as a steward of [clears throat] the taxpayers' money and Mr. Kaiser and Christie both doing that, to really watch over this budget because this is a very I know Christie says conservative, but in my opinion, it's very um I mean, it's the largest one we've ever done. And you know, I
031I'm afraid honestly because I've lived in the part of school board where we didn't have any money. We couldn't even This wasn't even an option back in the day. So, I'm excited that it is an option, but again, we have to really watch our finances to make those happen. And you know, I feel that um in the future, maybe we go to, you know, let our community decide, you know, what this is. I mean, this is a lot to put on five people to spend some you know, the taxpayers' money. So, I feel like in the future, we can do this, you know, um and maybe, you know, be even more competitive than that. Um but, as you know, I just wanted to put that out there that I feel and I do appreciate the
032numbers even though they were not really the way, you know, I'm used to seeing them in like hard numbers versus a presentation. I kind of like the hard numbers to, you know, view versus just there cuz some were a little like off. But, anyway, after I was able to look over everything and go back over the previous year, I feel like we can do it, but we just need to really There's not a lot left. So. I appreciate the board. And this is what we do. This is governance as you guys every one of you pushed myself, Christie, Sarah to dive as deep into the budget, deep into our sustainability efforts, our safety efforts, along with our general recurring funds, our recurring cost. The to to for us to present that to you three, four
033months ago and you're like, "Yeah, sure, whatever." That's not how we want to do business. The amount of times that we went back and got more, that made us better. Like, I know Brent said last time at the working meeting twice >> said "Sure, whatever." >> [laughter and clears throat] >> I'm just saying. You know what I'm saying? Like, to to we we don't want to do that. And so, It's it's a big commitment and it is a big commitment and being able to dive deep in and do that work and give you the the information. And every request was was great. It was a learning experience for us. Um even for Christy, who's been here Yes, this is her fifth year. Uh and even Christy learned some things along the way. So, I think
034it was it was an awesome experience. Yeah. And I I appreciate Yeah, Mr. Mary? Yeah. I I'd like I'd like to add some things. So, this is just the second time I've had the opportunity to to vote on this topic, being a new school board member, but um the experience this year was incredibly collaborative, and it varied greatly from my experience last year, which was no discussion, no numbers were shared, um and I'm not pointing fingers at anybody in the room. I'm just stating my experience from last year. So, um I did have something prepared as well, and I'm going to read it because I want to make sure that I have it all have it all, and I'll I'll try to keep it brief as well, but um this vote is really meaningful to
035me tonight. One of the reasons that I chose to run for school board is because I believe deeply in this district, both in what we've accomplished and what we're capable of becoming. And as we all know, Beechwood is one of the top-performing districts in Kentucky, yet that doesn't happen without incredible people showing up every day for our students. I've also believed for a while, though, that our compensation hasn't always reflected that level of excellence. If we truly value our teachers and staff, and I know we do, then that has to show up in how we invest in them. A 6% increase is significant, and it should be because the work our educators do is significant. This proposal feels like a meaningful step toward aligning our actions and values and toward ensuring we can attract and
036retain the kind of talent that has made the district so special and successful. I want to say also how much I appreciated the process that we walked through to get to where we were tonight. Thank you to Christy, to the newly formed budget committee, Justin and Sarah for the detailed information that you provided that helped guide the proposal. And thank you to the rest of the board for your thoughtfulness and collaboration. These conversations matter. They build trust, they sharpen our thinking, and they lead to better decisions. I'm proud to support this tonight, not just for what it does now, but for what it presents represents for the future we're we're building together. Now, I I would echo some of what Laura said, but I also want to say that part of the reason I feel
037so comfortable with this cuz Jeanie's right, it's big. It's a big deal, it's a big decision, and the numbers are big, but part of the reason I feel so comfortable with it, I cannot thank Amy enough for wanting to form the budget committee. I felt like that just put such an extra level of screening through the numbers and through the process and gave gives me personally a level of comfort with it, and I I really appreciate Amy having the foresight to have us do that. And you know, the old people in the room don't know that this hasn't always been an agreed-upon topic, hasn't always been a unanimous. There've been many times that the five of us have sat on other sides of the table on this, but that's okay, and that's how this process
038is supposed to work. And so, I'm totally uncomfortable with the idea that Jeanie sits here with a little bit of anxiety about this and skepticism. She's got a degree of historical perspective that I don't have and Laura doesn't have, and you know, Brad and Amy probably fall somewhere on that spectrum, but the reality is I think at this point we have done the work, we have put in the time, we have Christy probably hears our voices in her sleep at this point. We have put her through the wringer on this to the point that I feel confident that we have done our duty to the taxpayers and we've done our duty to the district, and I think we're in a good place to make a decision on this. And I do want to add when
039we keep talking about the 6%, it's actually step plus six, so it's like 7.1 7.1 on average. It's going to be about 7.3. Yeah. I know I think a lot of times when people say a step plus six, they don't really realize that it's actually more than that, so I just want to clarify. Anyway, any questions? It is it is significant, and yes, he's right, it did give me a little lots of anxiety, but I'm working through it. >> [laughter] >> This is the first time it's appeared on a regular meeting agenda, but this is the fifth meeting that this topic has been delved into at this point. And it's just that I've come from where we didn't really have any money for it, probably the same way, and so it's really hard to Yeah.
040Yeah. So, here we are. Yes. Yeah. Okay, I also prepared something, and um I'm with you with brain fog, so I wrote mine >> [laughter] >> I wrote down I don't want to forget something that's very important, so um bear with me while I put on my beautiful readers and and read to you all. Um the salary schedule for the upcoming 2026-2027 school year is a decision I have not taken lightly or simply accepted at face value. It is something I've carefully considered, researched, and thoroughly worked through, much like completing a very thorough homework assignment. While I may not have agreed with every piece of information that was presented to the board or the manner in sometimes in which it was delivered, my belief in the importance and the necessity of increasing staff salaries has
041never ever been in question. It is not about whether our staff deserves higher compensation, that is clear and unquestionable. The reality is we simply do not have the budget to pay our staff what they are truly worth. Our ability to even consider the salaries increase is a direct result to the strong financial foundation our district has built over many many years. As we near the end of a completion of a significant construction project, one that has greatly enhanced the working conditions of all of our staff, we are now in the position to shift the focus toward improving the salary schedule. That said, this is a process that will take time. The challenges we face were not created overnight, nor are they unique to Beechwood. They reflect broader issues of our state and of our nation.
042My primary concern is the is the sustainability, both for this year and in the years ahead. Future decisions may require increased support from our taxpayers, and as a board members, that responsibility lies on us, all five of us. We are entrusted with making sound financial decisions while also being mindful stewards of all of our taxpayer dollars. I would encourage us as a district to continue to explore alternative ways to funds future salary increases rather than assuming our community will always be able to absorb that responsibility. Asking for additional support is significant. We must We must approach it with careful consideration and foresight. Ultimately, my support for the salary schedule reflects committing a commitment to valuing our staff while also protecting the long-term financial stability of our district. I believe we can, and I believe we
043must do both responsibly with thoughtful planning and a clear focus on what is best for all of our students, our staff, and our community. Brad, you got anything? >> [laughter] >> What you got, Brad? [laughter] I I'm good. I think we should just get ON WITH IT. >> [laughter] [applause] >> THANK YOU, BRAD. YOU ALREADY TOOK THAT AWAY FROM READY TO VOTE? All the discussion complete? All right, is that good? Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Mrs. Burger? Yes. >> Mr. Burns? >> Yes. Mr. Hood? Yes. Mrs. Slate? Yes. Mrs. Wooden? Yes. Thank you. Now, we'll move on to B, the salary and stipend SCHEDULE FOR 2026-2027. >> [applause] [applause] >> CAN I TAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE SALARY STIPEND schedule for the 2026-2027 school year? I'll make the motion. I'll second. Any discussion on
044any of the stipend schedules or the salary schedules? I'll incorporate my prior comments. They go hand in hand. >> Sure. Ready to vote? >> Ready to vote? Everyone Mrs. Burger? Yes. Mr. Burns? Yes. Mr. Hood? Yes. Mrs. Slate? >> Yes. Mrs. Wooden? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Um C is to amend the board policy 01.45 board meeting agenda. It's a first reading of this, so there's really no discussion. Let's take a look at it. Um go through it. It's some updating it, making it more aligned. I know our attorney board attorney and group have worked with other districts, too, to make it more aligned to what other districts look like as well, so yeah. Plenty of time between now and next, we can always bring it up at the working session. First reading. Okay. Um D
045is to amend amend the board policy 01.421 public participation in open meetings. This is a first read as well. Same thing. Clean up language as recommended from the board attorneys. I just want to say thank you for your help on all of the policy updating. It's much appreciated. Absolutely. And this just reflects kind of what the board decided back at the retreat about how maybe we wanted a sequence of things, so it just reduces it to writing. Right, Brooke? Okay. All right, um we can move on to our consent agenda. If I can take a motion to approve the consent agenda. I'll make the motion to approve. I'll move. Any discussion? Um there's field trips are as normal. Um Thomas More use of the facility request that's for us to use the Thomas More in
046the case of a rain out at the Friday night and Saturday day uh graduations. Um the Performing Arts that's prom for next year. Um pay applications for for phase six C normal. Um the change order for Bromide that is around the minor masonry that did the bid if we're not bonded so then Bromide took that bid and had to that's where that change order amount comes from. Uh you guys have been well aware of that for some time now. And then the other change order was for the dugout um falling down the hillside. They had to reinforce it to get it up and so that change order to fix the softball dugout. Um the 2017 BG5 close out that's to align uh that's from 2017 prior to myself and Christie being here it's just to
047align the the information that was in that. Um nothing of consequence for us it's just to make sure that that ours aligned to what the state had. Um surplus the suburban engine's out um need to surplus that one and then the weight room equipment to allow us to refurbish the weight room equipment and give an update to our weight rooms uh as part of that that surplus. Uh the RFP is for the the lower field weight room and [clears throat] that won't impact the upper field weight room when that kind of refurbishing occurs. Uh so that will be done by the um the athletic staff to get that done. And then Odyssey of the Mind is every year pretty much they make I was going to recognize them on the superintendent report uh but we
048had one of our Odyssey of the Mind elementary teams make it to nationals they first place in the state so our board generously every year uh helps to pay for that travel over to I guess uh is it Michigan or Iowa? Iowa. Iowa. Okay. So they'll they'll head over to Iowa and and just thank you to the board for helping with that. Discussion about that? No? No? You're ready? Mrs. Burger? Yeah. Mr. Burger? Yes. Mr. Hood? Yes. Mrs. Slate? Yes. >> Mrs. Wood? Yes. And Hero? Okay. Moving right along to the information portion of the meeting and superintendent's report. Okay. Uh first up we have we're going to have two quick presentations. Uh both of these presentations exist within one of the pillars of the three year strategic plan. That pillar is personalized learning. Um
049personalized learning is about how we meet the needs of every type of student here at Beechwood. Um we have a a short video that we're going to show. Um it's going to look kind of at a a broader umbrella version of how we personalize learning for all kids then once we're done with that to show how we meet the needs of all kids then we're going to dive in deep to a couple ways in which we do that. One is going to be the AI innovation team the other is going to be the exceptional populations innovation team and how we specifically target some of those areas within that umbrella of personalized learning. So we'll start with the video then we'll break it out to a couple quick presentations on how we're actually doing actual items
050within that. So enjoy the video again done by Mr. Zack Wells our video person along with a lot of staff helping out. Did we double the P there before you added ED? Yeah we did have to double it. Yeah you have 6,316 parts per million. Personalized this learning is [music] giving our students the opportunity to find what they really love to do. Have a great day Tigers and go to see you next week on the news. minus mu P for placebo and then go deeper. It will show up in blue it will wash out and it will disappear. Personalized learning opens the door for our students to thrive at Beechwood. Yes I feel like I'm going to be challenged in like throughout my whole like school day. Our next word is sprout you can go
051ahead and write sprout on that next line. times the volume of the solid right? >> At Beechwood I would say engagement is top priority. Kids are [music] working together they're building ideas off of each other they're learning from business partners they're learning from experts in the field it's just this constant never dull moment in the classroom. Edge is the seventh P. Everything that we do is a scope on from Edge because it's [music] the foundation of what we want done in all of our classes. It's life changing for them because they're getting skills that they would never get exposed to at any other school. Um the chance to understand how profits work and profit margins and >> [music] >> designing products that are going to be sold. My kids and the kids I've worked with
052because I have worked with seeing how those students graduate from here and taking the skills and all the work that we've done to build this program and seeing it in action um it's the most rewarding part of this job. I feel like [music] experiential learning is so important here at Beechwood and it has driven where our instruction has gone >> [music] >> and just to see the outcomes and that the students create has been really amazing. All Beechwood seniors have a chance to do internships. It's such a unique opportunity and we are very very lucky to have that here um but it's not something that the students take for granted. They know that this is an a great opportunity for them. My name is Sawyer Kroll I'm a senior at Beechwood and I'm on the
053AI innovation team. While I it is making me more productive um it's also made me like think a little bit deeper um and so when I'm at home is when I use it most um and [music] it's more thinking like using it as a teacher when you're not in the classroom. So I think it's a it's really important and I think Beechwood is taking the lead by talking about AI and AI use in responsible ethical AI use. >> [music] >> You are like very challenged and it just helps you grow as a learner [music] and a leader. Personalized learning a key pillar of our strategic plan at Beechwood. >> [music] >> So we we are part of that. >> Yes and I clearly like this jacket. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> So so the AI innovation
054team um this was created because we wanted to take um this topic which everybody is talking about artificial intelligence and get ahead. We know where Beechwood is we we're at the front so let's go let's dive into it. So this what [laughter] as um Alan said this was part of the strategic plan um and we wanted to really to um you know form a committee and um and drive this forward. So we created our team and I'd like to point out that we have students on on this committee. Um that was a really critical part of this um three students served on our committee Henry Huter pole really led the way and he pulled some other students in with him which you saw Sawyer in that um in that video as well as the faculty
055and staff and community partners. That was a big deal for us too. We knew that AI was something that were our kid our kids were going to face and work with outside of Beechwood so we wanted to pull in partners who were using that in their workplace. We felt their input was extremely important. So we we uh gave uh had surveys that went out to our community our staff and our students and through that we found some important ideas that some themes that kept coming up over and over again. And one [clears throat] of the things that really stood out was the um ethical use of AI in the classroom and our students using that ethically and uh creatively [clears throat] um throughout the process. So this is the overall uh document that we have
056created that we will be sharing with our community and our students. We have already shared this out with our staff and they've had a chance to look at it. There are three different areas. I feel like I'm spinning. >> [laughter] >> There are three different areas that we're looking at here. Our students and staff um in order to make sure that we are all on the same page our students said we would like a lot of transparency. Transparency from the staff and then that way we know what the expectations are. We also wanted the tools and to know how to use the tools. So if you take a look at this document you'll see how we want to use AI as a partner and then the teachers will help teach that and so that the
057the kids will understand exactly what the expectation is. We want to make sure again that we are doing it in in an ethical uh manner so that our our students are following uh the guidelines that we have set up on this document. And you'll notice between students and staff there's a lot of mirroring of of the tools so using AI as a learning partner and the teacher modeling that AI learning um and keeping the teacher student relationship priority. Um we know that's critical not only did the teachers ask for that the students asked for that, and so did the community. So did the parents. So we want to make sure that's front and center. Part of that was developing what you see along the bottom, the zero to four guide They're kind of guardrails for
058us. So, um this will be used. This is the district policy, so it'll be used across K through 12. It's going to be familiar language to everybody. So, zero is pencil, paper, and your brain. And at any given time, in any given assignment, a teacher can do that. They can use zero, level zero. Going all the way up to four, where it is requirement of of the assignment. Um Mr. Ashley gave a really great example, and um and the library That was an assignment in library, and um the students had um the initial portion of that was come up with some ideas that are just yours. You Again, paper, pencil, come up with the ideas. But by the end of it, Ms. Raybuck had the students putting it into an AI um song creator. Well,
059at that portion of the assignment, that's four. You're using that in full collaboration with AI. So, it can be within an assignment, it can be the full assignment. But the important point is everyone will know the same exact language from K through 12. And if you, a parent at home, is going to say, "Hey, I would I would like to know what my my my student can use AI on. What part What part of this assignment is AI allowed?" And you will know the levels based on this on this guideline. And you'll notice that at the very bottom that our district we want our students to be using um Google Gemini because we feel that is the safest of all the AI platforms out there. And so that their their um information is protected. >>
060[clears throat] >> So, next steps, of course, we We're not just stopping there. Um we are want to communicate, collaborate, and and encourage lifelong learning with all of the stakeholders. And the first part of that was sharing out with our staff so that they have the opportunity through our PLCs. Elementary has already shared that out as well, so that our teachers can think about it. And then as we get to May with the PD sessions, um they will have the opportunity then to think um more examples that they can use in their classroom. This is the part I'm excited about, too. So, it's collaborating also within the district. So, I know, you know, zero through four is is an easy guideline from a district standpoint, but what does that look like in the elementary school
061as compared to the high school? And that will look a little bit different. So, both both buildings will create um visual guidelines for students so they have a little bit deeper um understanding of what zero to four means. Um so, it starting with the zero human only all the way up to um to level four. And we want to make sure that we are bringing in guest speakers some of the you know, members of our AI innovation team, bringing them back. Um like Shannon Estep from NKU, who was a very valuable tool to us um through our professional development. And then our our summit for educators in August as well. I went through that kind of quickly. Do you all have any questions for us about AI use? >> [laughter] >> We have found a
062lot of different um um and great feedback from other districts across the country, but as well as university level. And we There was some that did just kind of a red light, green light, yellow light, you know, but it felt too vague. So, we felt like establishing something a little bit more concrete would be uh something that our students understand, but a great tool for our teachers to use to be very clear about what the expectations were on an assignment. Is Google Gemini completely free, or is it like ChatGPT, where there's tiers to it? Um there are I would have to ask the the experts right there. >> [laughter] >> So, there's there is tiers, but we we are in a education group. So, you do get a little bit more, and it is fully
063um boxed in or housed in, so they don't learn from our interactions. So, none of that data actually is passed out of our tenant or out of our out of Beachwood. So, yes, so that's why we're saying to use Gemini. There is There is a tiered option to it, but it there's a price to it. And that's per student is what it comes down to. Those levels make sense. It reminds me of zone zero, the the noise level in the elementary school. Zone like AI noise. Yeah, that makes Yeah, this is the one that's big in college, it was, too, in university. Big thing. Yeah, thanks for letting us be on that that team. It's been really fun working with the partners. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you FOR YOUR WORK. >> [applause] [clears throat] >>
064OKAY, SO WE ARE UM GOING TO TALK about the exceptional population innovation team. Um and Lauren and Gina and I um kind of led the work. We had a lot of teachers um and staff members in our group, so we are going to just kind of give you an overview of what we've been doing this year. [clears throat] Um so, exceptional populations is made up with essentially three different areas at school. So, our gifted and talented population, our special education, 504, MTSS, and then our English learners. So, those are kind of like the three almost like branches that make up the exceptional populations. So, this year um for 2025-2026, um based on our strategic plan, um we focused on feedback. So, like really taking the feedback from the community surveys that we did, staff surveys,
065um and just analyzing that local accountability. So, kind of looking through those results, which have been put on our our dashboards so you can see them, and figuring out like where do we need to go? What do we need to do? Um and then we started talking through, "Okay, the biggest thing we want to tackle this year is communication." So, what we worked on as a team is developing almost like a one-pager, for lack of a better word. Um just a one-pager that we could put in the hands of our staff to help them. So, when they're talking to a parent about gifted and talented services, our primary talent pool, or special education, and how all of those processes work, um here's kind of looking like a tip sheet of what you can look at,
066and words that you can use, and the language that's appropriate, um so that you can talk to parents and also kind of have that bridge before you need to come and talk to like Lauren or I about what's happening in those areas. So, we developed those, we introduced them to staff. They're in the hands of all of the staff members at school so they can kind of use those as they need to. Um and then we are in the process of um developing one for MTSS, which is essentially like um intervention um program, kind of that pathway. Um so, working to have that similar type of one-pager for teachers to use going through that process. Okay. Year one highlights. This is just a list, uh and it's I think it's a pretty impressive list of
067of things that we've done um to benefit our special population students. So, um I [clears throat] won't go through every single one of them, but you can see that there's um a lot going on to service their needs during the school day from 8:00 to 3:00, but also to incorporate their families and bring um make them feel a sense of belonging and a sense of welcome, um and and see it how how their diverse needs um can complement um our school as a whole. So, you see a a good list there going, and uh and I know that we'll continue to refine and develop that for years to come. Okay, so So, next steps. So, we've done so much work um the last couple of years with focusing on our community, um focusing on our
068students, um and our special populations, and we've done a great job with that. The feedback on the surveys that we received kind of reflected areas of growth for us. So, so the staff, while the feedback was um was great, we did realize that there's um we have a an an area of growth related to how confident some of our staff feel with supporting some of our exceptional populations. Um so, we've got a lot of things in foundation, but there is more to grow there. So, that's going to be our next step. We We've done a great job with our community, we've done a great job with our students. We're going to continue those things that are already [clears throat] um in the foundation, and our next step is to really build the capacity for our
069teachers' confidence in supporting our students with exceptionalities. And I think that comes down to looking at opportunities that we build into the school day um to help our staff feel more confident with training, um collaboration between the experts that are in the building, um and being in their classrooms, and giving real-time feedback. Um that's where I think the um the magic, I think, will happen um for next steps for us. But that's going to be our focus for for year two with our intervention team. Any questions? What's the world of the world of abilities? Yes, world of abilities. So, I So, yes, it's amazing. So, with our um special education, um the high school, Ms. Jennifer Weller, is the moderate to severe special education certified teacher. Um and our students that are in um middle
070school and high school have requirements through alternate diploma track that require them to have opportunities for work-based readiness and experiences. And so, um she came up with the idea to do a school-based um work experience. So, it is essentially a a program where our students that um have exceptional needs, moderate to severe, are working to do things within the building. So, Rory Abilities, they do they've done a couple different activities recently. They did the Down Syndrome Awareness Tri 21, 321. They did a business where any of the staff could fill out a a survey to have special treats delivered in honor of that particular awareness day. And so, the students are they are doing the the buying, the preparation, the packaging, all of that building right back into the school. So, it and that's it's
071endless. That's Rory Abilities is the overarching program. That was one specific recent example. Autism Awareness Month is is now and and then there's just so many endless possibilities with that moving forward. So, that's what that is. Thank you for asking that. Yeah, I just it's great. Anything else? Okay. Thank you. AWESOME. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> UM EVERY YEAR WE WE CREATE INNOVATION teams to work within each one of the five So, there's two innovation teams that fit within the pillar of personalized learning. There are other innovation teams. I know some of them have presented earlier this year on on April 27th, we're going to meet the Board of Education, the SPN's from both buildings are going to get together and do a recap of all of these innovation teams around the five pillars to
072see what we've done this year and also set goals for next year. So, great work to all of our innovation teams. Much appreciated. Next up, we have Christie. Just the finance report. I mean, really I I just kind of highlight what's going on. We're really moving along according to budget, no surprises. Um I mean, we're very solid. That's all. I mean, the questions, any questions? We collected most of our tax revenue for the year. There's still some business taxes that get billed around this time that we'll collect by June. And but and then our expenses, you know, they're pretty much recurring monthly. May is a big month because we push out a couple extra pays to the teachers to maintain that 24 pay with it. So, it'll be a little more expensive that month, but
073that's May. So, but as through March, we are as as anticipated. Uh Frankfort-wise, any thing you see and there's a slight increase in SEEK that will generate about 50,000 for us for next year. >> Yeah, it's like $40 a student. Depends on your ADA. So, we're saying around 50. Just for this next upcoming year. All right. And then just some items that have occurred and will occur in the next next week and future weeks. Beginning on this Friday, just a special shout out, Carol Burn, Tiger Ambassadors Alumni Association. Carol here? >> [applause] >> CAROL, THANK YOU. IT'S A BIG DEAL. IT'S A BIG DEAL. SHE puts it together. She's passionate about it. And now she jumps right into Tiger Ambassador interviews for next year. So, I mean, 48, 46, something like that? >> 44. Applications,
074yeah, applications for that to go through. Uh so, thank you, Carol. The April newsletter came out this week. Construction update. The baseball press box bleachers, there's some fiber that needs to be run, but they're up and running. Softball is almost completion to where it's ready to go. And then the bleachers are in and the soft and the softball press box is in. Just a couple more things. They just poured some concrete back there to finish up. Um and then our electric Uh then you move down to the football press box, the footers are poured, the concession stand, the footers are poured, they're waiting on plumbing to to kind of get checked off from a permit standpoint and then they can start to build. Those are going to go up really fast. The maintenance as well,
075which is up on top of the hill. Just noticed that shed is gone. That's going to get built up really quickly. Jay Hubbard, our VP of the outside, he's getting four garage doors worth of space up there for all of his stuff. So, he'll be yes, very much good for him. Um tennis lights are in. We'll play big tennis and midnight tennis with you next year. Tennis gets resurfaced. We're going to have a viewing area on the side, the hillside, you know, the hill where all the middle schoolers play during football games? Called Lord of the Flies Hill. We're going to terrace that up. It's going to be terraced with some seating. So, patrons can sit there and not just sit on the hillside. The track's going to get resurfaced. Um bleachers are going to
076get some extensions to them to add some more seating to the bleachers so people don't have to sit on the hillside if they don't want to. They're going to get some new like Cincinnati Red's stadium seating in the middle section for our boosters to do their fundraising with reserved seats for games. Um What else? The hillside's important because it will protect you know, the tennis courts from cracking after it's resurfaced in six months. >> It's it's more than it's it's going to look pretty, you know, there's a function there's a function. The retaining aspect of it is definitely a new a new retaining wall where the new playground. If you notice and go look over there if you've seen it, playground's almost double in size. So, great area for people to just send their kids
077to be babysat while they watch the game. >> [laughter] >> Uh Lord of the You're maintaining it, right? Yeah, I'm I'm supervising that area. >> [laughter] >> I think it's important to mention that the two new restrooms that will be in the concession concession stand and also, thank goodness, in the maintenance building. So, when you play tennis, you don't have to go to Kroger's to go to the bathroom. And then tennis is going to get some We actually have a bathroom. Tennis tennis will get bleachers up there, a new set of bleachers from from Taylormade. Um That's And then a big one is the new the high school is going to get new flooring. So, the flooring you see out in the halls here, that old linoleum that old whatever that was in the high
078school is all going to get taken up this summer and we're going to have new floors. So, that we're going to have the same floors throughout the entire campus, which will be really nice. That's going to be a big undertaking, so be patient with us on that. But that happens like May 23rd, the day after we're out of school. Um so, that's your construction update. Uh prom is Friday night. Good luck to those going to prom. Uh defensive learning for our sixth graders is April 23rd and 24th, which is always a great event. Love seeing our sixth graders start [clears throat] that process. Tech purge was last week. Spring map in the elementary occurred. Love to see the growth there. Can't wait to see the results on the spring map. Um youth sports camps are
079live. So, all of our athletic programs have put together their youth sports camps with the dates and times. On Thursday, we have a another site visitor from a district in Pennsylvania. Um They've been recommended to come see us as a high school reimagining high school and deeper learning. So, looking at the EDGE program. So, they'll be here on Thursday. Uh we we've collaborated started a collaboration with NKU. NKU's going to be on site to look at the EDGE program because they want to do something like that at NKU. And they're trying to figure out how do they translate what happens here, K-12, to a post-secondary institution. So, they'll be here in the next couple weeks. April 23rd, senior athletic signing. If you've ever been to that, go to that, it's really cool. All of our
080athletes will sign. April 27th, I mentioned the joint session with SPN's and board. Um May is assessment season. So, it's busy. It's assessment, it's honors awards, it's graduation. The team that's in this room right now to put together a successful May, they work really hard along with their offices to do a lot in a short amount of time. So, bear with them as they go through that month. Um Talk about Rory Abilities. I know there everyone Take Abilities where they're the the Rory Abilities doing collaboration. Um we have a team that they're building here at Beechwood. So, that's pretty cool. And then last thing is tomorrow, KDE comes to Beechwood to do a consolidated monitoring audit. It's a huge undertaking. It's something that a lot of school districts go through and uh the person who
081kind of allowed us to do this and do it successfully is Dr. SHERRILL. >> [applause] >> THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE HAD TO DO THE WORK, it it's a lot of paperwork. It's a lot of submitting. It's everything we already do, it's just proving that you do it. That's all you're doing. And so, the amount of paperwork, the amount of gathering of evidence, just so when they show up for two days and they want to see it all, it's a ton. Uh each person in this room that's part of cabinet or the buildings has gone through it. But they all know the amount that Sarah's done. So, much appreciated to Sarah and the team for for putting everything together to to have successful consolidated monitoring audit. That rotates through districts. Um usually they do it
082with like a new whenever there's a new superintendent or new leadership, they do one there. Then there's like point system they use and if you reach a certain amount of points, you get triggered we're going to go to an audit. This is nothing out of a result of any action that we've done. This is purely either point-based or it's usually around a new uh region. Uh and so, what we've asked for to the state, to KDE, is some transparency on how they decide in a cycle. We'd love to know who else is getting audited and how many times they have been. That's been requested. We have yet to hear and that's from the co-op, the North East superintendents. We want more information from them. We're giving them so much information. Um how about they share
083with us the results and just a bigger picture of the state. So, it's a lot of work, but it's not doing work. It's just collecting all the work we've done and being able to share it. So, that's it for me for my superintendent report. All the great work going on. All right. Well, we'll move on to we'll take a motion to make the agenda a part of the official board minutes. I'll make a motion to make the agenda part of the official board minutes. Second. Yes. Mrs. Burger? Mr. Burns? Yes. Mr. Hood? Yes. Mrs. Slate? Yes. Mrs. Wood? Yes. Thank you. All right. We'll quickly take a motion to adjourn the meeting. I'll make the motion. I'll second. Yes. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Thank you.