HCSD Board of Education Meeting 3-10-26

001East Club. Doug Wear is our club director at our Lynen Club. And CJ Owens B is our club director at our club. U the only one not located in Hamilton at our Whitton Woods Club. Um Dr. Jeff Jordan is our director of operations and functions similar to an assistant superintendent's role. Um where he has direct supervision over all of our all of our club directors and is responsible for our day-to-day operations in our organization. That's something that I'm very proud of is um creating a career a career trajectory within our organization for people that start part-time and they can work their way through our organization to earn um boys and girls clubs can become their career and um we've done that the past three years and it's shown in the the leaders that we have

002in our organization. So, just to focus in on those uh five locations I just mentioned, our Highland Club obviously located at Highland Elementary and serving that school. Similar with our Lynen Club, which just opened this year in partnership with the Hamilton Community Foundation as well as the district. Um our East Club currently serving students from Riverview, Bridgeport, uh Fairwood, and Richard Allen. Our Grand Club um primarily students from Crawford Woods, but also Garfield Middle, Hamilton Freshman, and Hamilton High School. And then our Wittenwoods club which serves students from our uh from Whittonwoods Middle and and High School. So there's a sheet in front of you which I'll show up on the board in just a second here, but there's a lot of really great exceptional outcomes there. You might be wondering how did we accomplish

003those things and what did we do? This is our this is our strategic plan and this is how we've accomplished those things. Having world-class clubs, lifeenriching programs and caring adult mentors. For us, it's simple. You have facilities, a place for youth and teens to go after school. You have great things for them to do and most importantly, exceptional people who care about them and mentor them every single day. That's that sheet there. Um, couple things I want to just point to. We don't have to go through all the things, but from two clubs to five clubs. Um, three years ago, um, the organization only had two chartered locations, chartered officially with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Um now thanks to this board leadership in our community um superintendent we have five charter locations with

004for in our organization which makes our organization a lot bigger and um our impact much broader and um you can see the numbers there from 165 registered members to 816. Um that just shows in three years um what working collaboratively for our youth can do. focusing in on our first priority, world-class clubs. This is our East Avenue club, uh, our East location, starting some exterior demolition and and renovation. I'm very excited about that project. So, as you think about our locations and we look at them, think about the students and the the schools who they serve and um how our our organization um is investing into those locations. Obviously, we have beautiful locations at Highland and Lynden. You guys do an exceptional job and have beautiful facilities and we want our facilities that we own,

005our Grand Club and East Club to match those facilities as well. And this is what it will look like. Um, removal of a dilapidated pool that was no longer operational. Um, new concrete pad, basketball court, steel covered seating area. Um, community mural, painting of the exterior building. Um, new fence around the property. And this is going to be right across the street from Jefferson Park. Um, and it's going to be a gamecher for the Jefferson community on that end of the neighborhood. Um, I think that, uh, not only will it support our youth during the week, but will also be available on the weekends for families in Jefferson. So, think about how that park space will be used in a much more meaningful way now when you have an outdoor recreation space for youth and

006families, covered seating area. It's very exciting for the development. In addition to the build back the block initiative which through the city of Hamilton is um building new homes in Jefferson, the Boys and Girls Clubs and students are going to be recipients of that development as well. Those of you that went to the Hamilton Neighborhood Summit, I'm sure made your mark on this mural. Um this is our new mural that's um 17 neighborhoods, one community. This is going on the side of our Grand Club as a vendor there. all 17 neighborhoods are represented there on the side of that building. Um we want every child no matter where they come from in our community to know that when they come to the doors of a Boys and Girls Club that they're going to be treated

007equitably and that they're welcome and that they're safe. And so um making the exterior more welcoming and on purpose um is one of our initiatives as well and this is a huge part of that. So we're very thankful for our partnership with 17 Strong as well as Brent Billingsley and art. Um you might have seen Brent on Fox News as well talking about this mural. So, it's a very big deal. Um, he's actually going to bring it around to all the neighborhoods and I think talked with superintendent about bringing um this mural to uh the schools and allowing uh students to paint on it. So, the idea is that it's not just one muralist, it's thousands and thousands of muralists who get to make their mark on this um before it's installed with a ribbon

008cutting hopeful for June. I hope to see you guys there. Um, we made a large investment this past year and a half into our trauma-informed culture. We sent our team to a oneweek training intensive in Wisconsin and our team has come back and they've trained the rest of our team. Not only have we done that, but we've invested in spaces like calming corners and like um making our rooms more trauma-informed. We have posters in rooms that that show our youth who are in our rooms what that lesson plan will look like for that day. As well as we do emotional regulation, check-in and checkout. Um, and we're even partnering with Cohatch to move our administrative offices out of our East Avenue club. Um, so we can turn the administrative offices into a sensory space. And

009um, very excited to help our youth to learn um, regulation strategies in the afterchool setting just like you all do during the day. This is something that's very very exciting to me. So we two and a half years ago we piloted a program called club scholars where we said what would happen if we created another position in our club not just a um after school uh part-time position but one that required specific um qualifications. So we created a teacher position and for the past two and a half years we've had a teacher position at our grand club. That's Miss Jean. She's our teacher. She holds a uh masters in education. Um and Miss Jean comes every day and does targeted intervention. um with individual education plans for all of our youth at our grand club

010who are in our program. And over that time period since having Miss Gene work with our students um we've seen for every month in the program about a 3.1month gain in math and about a 3.6 month gain in reading. Um so we know that target intervention from qualified educators works in the afterchool setting, right? And so we're very happy to announce that with the support of the community Hamilton Community Foundation that we'll have teacher in every single one of our locations this coming year. So very very excited about the um expansion of our club scholars program. Okay, enough from me. Um I'm really So you see how all these all these things work and help the organization expand and and grow and do good work for our for our youth and teens. Um it doesn't

011mean a lot if our youth don't go out in the community and talk about it. Um I've always said that the best measure of a Boys and Girls Clubs and of an afterchool program is what your teens um say about it in the community. And so I have two really incredible special young leaders who are here tonight to give their speech. Um I'll introduce them to you. But before I do, I want to give a shout out to Dr. Hopkins in our partnership um with Miami. Um through um Dr. Hopkins program. She actually helped us identify club members that aged out of our program and brought them back into the organization after we made when I arrived 3 years ago changed that we now serve youth ages up to 18. Um so these two are

012recipients of scholarships. They are going as our youth of the year to represent our community in Columbus in a couple weeks and they're going to compete against 14 other Boys and Girls Clubs organizations in our state um for the title of Ohio youth of the year. So, first I want to introduce Nichollet who is our runner up for this year. And followed by Nichollet, we'll have Miam come up and give her speech. So, can we clap it up for Nichollet? When I came up here, there were some things you immediately noticed. Maybe my speech impediment or my Hispanic name that clashes with my white skin. What you didn't notice is the bullying I faced for having a speech impediment or the rejection I've faced from a community that's supposed to be mine. First impressions help

013us understand new things. Mine told me the world is cruel and dark. They say you don't believe in light when you've lived in a cave. I didn't believe in safety when I had none, or in love when I felt none. I didn't know I had a voice when nobody listened. I've lived in the richest houses and slept on the dirtiest streets. I saw how children in nicer clothes got more opportunities, but how women in gold get battered. I see how my parents hard work to build new lives is so easily reduced to a pretty face and dark skin. I see the taser in my bag when walking down the street because a man decided for me that my voice was meant to be heard by nobody but the mildew in a basement. I saw all

014these things, yet I was scared to speak up under the impression that silence was safety. But silence isn't something we choose. It's something that's forced on us. Everyone's story has a message, but not everyone is given a voice. As a Hispanic woman and the second youngest of 10 children, I learned this very early on. Luckily, I found my voice through my boys and girls club. I moved often as a child and the club was the one constant until life pulled me away for years. I forgot what it was like to be part of a community until a team came to my school and my friend pushed me to go with her. I'm so grateful she did because I was in a state of bleak acceptance that nothing I said or did mattered. I expected to

015see kids on their phones and adults watching the clock. Instead, I learned Boys and Girls Club is a place of connection. My me my mentors took the time to build real connections with me and saw the confidence I didn't see in myself. Because of them, TERS turned into laughter, isolation into belonging, and I finally had a place where my voice was valued. They inspired me to find my voice and speak out in my school and community even when my voice shakes. That growth is why I stand here today. Not with all the answers or a perfect story, but with a responsibility to create the same first impression that changed my life. That this is a safe place to speak up. What was once my hidden gem, I want to be everybody's standard. When I told

016you that I've been held hostage, when I tell you I didn't have a mother until I was 13, when I tell you I backed away from the ledge, you will not see a silent victim. You will see that I am strong. This is what I want to see in today's youth. The confidence that they are worthy and capable of accomplishing great things. I'm proud of my scholars because they show that I have shattered my glass ceiling. I want to use my platform to change people's impressions by showing them that they have a voice. If we can change the expectations from fear to safety, from judgment to strength, we won't just be changing conversations, we'll be changing lives. Excellent. Nad, thank you for sharing your story. And Miriam, would you like to come up and share

017your story as well? Come on up. I know what it feels like to drown. I know the fear, the dread, and the helplessness of it all. In the third grade, I had to call the police on my father. Drip, drip, drip. I'm in the bathroom. I can hear the screaming and the thuds. 911, what's your emergency? I can't speak. The fear and the noise drown me out. I try to breathe. My voice trickles out. Splash. Suddenly, my head is above water. Laughter fills the air as the other girls and I continue playing mermaids. We are in the pool. When the violence I faced at home was too much and I had didn't have a place at school, I found a spot at the club. Third grade was one tumultuous time when most kids were worried

018about what toys they would play with next. I was too busy making sure me and my brother were safe. Home life was riddled with violence and school wasn't much better. When you are young and do not fit nicely into one category or another, it makes you a target. The summer I spent at the Boys and Girls Club made a splash, changing the trajectory of my life. It was my first safe space. Not a safe a space to flinch and hide, but rather laugh and play. A space I wouldn't have to worry. 60% of children experience some sort of violence in childhood. No child should have to experience that. I want to help make a difference and make sure that no child has to feel like they are being overlooked. With the Boys and Girls Club,

019I want to be this one to make a splash in other people's lives, helping them see the world for what it could be, not for what it is, helping change their perspective. I want to be an advocate for a place that has done so much for me and so many others. A place that gave me the confidence to regain my voice and the confidence to speak up what's for for what's right. I'm no longer in the water, but rather in the boat to helping take those drowning to shore. So, with your help, I'd like to continue making the Boys and Girls Club a safe haven, regardless of anyone's upbringing or background, ensuring that no kid has to ever feel like they're drowning. So these two are just really clear representation on showing that when we

020have to work together, it's not just important to collaborate with nonprofit partners and the district and boys and girls clubs and and Miami regionals. It's critical. It's critical for these two. It's critical for hundreds of other teams in our community. And um I'm grateful for the support of this board of the district as we continue to make sure that no child should have to wonder about having a caring adult mentor after they leave your facilities. No child should have to wonder whether or not they're going to eat dinner or get a snack after school. No child should have to wonder or not is there someone that I can call when I when I'm having an emergency and I'm not feeling safe. So again, thank you for your support. If you have any questions for myself

021or either Nichollet or Miriam, please ask them. Thank you. >> I just want to take a second uh Tommy to thank you for uh your partnership. I very vividly remember the first phone call we had about the idea of expanding opportunities for kids. What's so amazing about your programs as you opened in our schools is they are provided for zero dollars to our families. uh there is no income requirement, there is no um you know payment so that families don't have to make a choice of whether to have children sitting at home or to have caring adults uh supporting them. Uh to you two girls, I see nothing but strength and hope for the future that you have found a place that you belong uh both during the school day with Hamilton City Schools but

022also at the Boys and Girls Club. And I'm I'm just grateful for uh you being the voice of so many of our kids um in the in the lives that they've unfortunately had to experience. You are correct that no child should have to experience that. But we can try to make it better by creating a place where they belong. And so thank you for your partnership for that. But thank you for your bravery to come in here and tell that today. I am so impressed by the way you just told that speech. You made eye contact. you uh you you you really believed what you were saying and uh showed that emotion and that realness and I think sometimes uh we don't stop to listen to what kids have to say or their experiences and

023so you stepping out to do that today um I think is the absolute uh testament to who you are and what a hero you are to this community. So thank you. >> Thank you >> Tommy. I just want to thank you and all of the Boys and Girls Club staff for everything that you do for our youth and in the community for partnering with the district and with Upwardbound. But I also just have to tell Miam and Nicolet just exactly how proud I am of you. Every single time I get to hear this speech, every time I see all the phenomenal things that you're doing in the community, I say all the time that the city of Hamilton and our school district, we are blessed beyond measure with amazing young leaders. And so, thank you

024for being such a shining example of that. You give me hope. I say it all the time. You guys give me hope for the future. So, thank you. I'm very proud of you and I appreciate everything that you do. >> Thank you everyone. >> Okay. Next on our agenda, we have a presentation from Garfield Middle School with principal Josh Margum on America's 250 celebration. All right. Good evening, everyone. So, uh, what started as a small idea has now turned into a huge monster. Um, so we're going to be talking about that today. Um, so early in January, um, actually, uh, my social studies department chair, Matt Wilson, Matt, stand up. Um, because I do want Matt to be recognized. Um, Matt came to me about an idea about celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United

025States um, as with our students. he wanted to do a reenactment um and we wanted to make it um just just something at Garfield um that was for our students. Um that has since morphed into something much bigger than that um which we're going to be discussing today. Um so we are going to be putting on an America 250 community fair at Garfield Middle School um thanks to our PTO. So I would like to recognize our PTO president who's also here. You might know her and recognize her from another board meeting. >> Miss Fay. Um, yeah, give her a round of applause. Miss Fay will not be answering questions today. She gets she gets me in trouble when she does that. Um, so, uh, I'm going to be recognizing a few people in the room

026today um, as we go through the presentation. But this is in a nutshell uh, what's going to be happening on May 16th at Garfield if you are able to attend. Um so as I discussed uh prior um kind of our mission here was we really wanted to commemorate the 250 and make it memorable for our students um while also providing the educational experience and involving the community. Um so you're going to see that throughout this presentation that the all those check marks are being hit. Um, I think the biggest thing here is, uh, if you talk to any individuals that were around for the 200th anniversary of the country, they have very fond memories of it, of things that they did for the 200th. Um, so we wanted that excitement to be here for our

027students, too. And, uh, what better way for them to remember this than at their middle school. So, uh, on the evening of May 16th, um, we will be drawing in student, staff, and community members, um, to Garfield Middle School to participate in a lot of different things, honestly, throughout the day. Um, and I'll talk about that time frame, uh, later in the presentation, but we will be doing some different American traditions, um, Revolutionary War related activities, as well as other celebratory things throughout the day to commemorate the 250th. Um this is going to directly correlate with the America 250 events uh that are taking place throughout the country. Um we've also been fortunate enough to get connected uh to the Ohio 250 committee which we've uh discussed one of their their chair members too uh

028Mr. Paul Laroo uh who actually visited our school and did an inservice with our social studies teachers um about a lesson we're going to be doing with our students prior to the event. Um, also as far as this historical connection, speaking of the history lessons and everything that'll be taking place, um, we'll have some reenactment type activities on the football field. Um, also throughout the day, there will be, uh, other activities from the time period taking place, um, and we're going to discuss some of those. We, uh, also are going to have our students participate in some of these stations, be dressed in character, um, and do some of the historical aspects for the community. So, um, one of the big, uh, things that we're going to be doing, uh, to start the day out,

029um, is we've been fortunate enough to get connected to an 1800 style baseball league. Um, and they will be playing one of their home games. They have agreed to play one of their home games at Garfield Middle School. Um, so starting at 3 o'clock on May 16th if you're interested in 1800's baseball, um, the Cincinnati Red Legs, uh, will be playing against the Ohio Valley Muffins, which, uh, I was educated, um, on my history, um, that muffins used to be a baseball term. They they do not mean the baked goods. It used to be for players that couldn't make it in the major leagues, um, is what they called muffins. um they will be playing their home game and during that event actually um they have given us permission they bring their own announcers and

030all that stuff but they have given us permission um for Garfield's orchestra and band to actually do some musical numbers throughout the game as well. Um I'm hoping we bring some take me out to the ball game. Um we've got some things planned. So uh we will also have some fine arts performances throughout that game. Here's some other things that's going to be going on at the community fair. Um we are going to have some food local food trucks and vendors. Um we've been fortunate enough to get connected uh to quite a few resources um in the in the community and I'm going to talk about two gentlemen that made that possible a in the next few slides. Um but uh we have several food trucks committed already um several vendors. Uh I won't ruin

031all the surprises because I want to save some surprises for the day of but we have a lot of really cool things going on. Um what we're going to be doing is blocking off the south parking lot that JDC usually parks in sometimes too next to Garfield. Um and we're going to be blocking off that parking lot for the day of the event and all the food trucks vendors. Um and actually uh Chatterbox is bringing their screen set up and we're going to have a stage set up for some of the live performances and speeches that'll be taking place throughout the day. Um that will all be set up on that south parking lot at Garfield Middle School. Um we have been fortunate enough um to be given parking across the street at Fairwood Elementary

032and also uh the Butler County Fairgrounds president was gracious enough uh to let us use some of their parking down the street as well on the day of the event. Um actually he said he owed us one anyways because they always use our parking lot on the the fair day. So um he he was gracious enough to help us out with that. Um we are also uh working with the Hamiltonian downtown. um they have designed some shirts for the event so that all of our students can hopefully um be in the spirit of the event. Uh there they've been very generous and they are also uh going to be the day of day of the event selling the shirts um at their booth and all of the proceeds will go directly back to our PTO.

033Um so shout out to the Hamiltonian for helping us out on that. And finally um and I can't believe Miss Bleven signed off on this, you know. Um, I thought I thought I was gonna get get a big no on this one. Um, but uh I I am learning lots of things during this event uh about all of the talents of the staff at Garfield Middle School beyond just teaching. Um, one of our uh one of our science teachers actually does all of the pyrochnics um for the Bengals halftime shows. Um, and he works part-time with uh Queen City Fireworks. and Queen City Fireworks has agreed to put on a show um in the back of Garfield Middle School. We did have the fire inspector come out. We can do this. Um so, uh we

034are putting on a show uh at the end of the evening after some live music and a keynote speaker that we're going to be having. Um so that is going to be kind of our grand finale wrapping up the end of the event. Um, as far as some other uh just smaller activities throughout the day, and I can't list all of the things that's going to be going on because like I said, there's some big surprises that are going to be coming. Um, but we have some additional events taking place throughout the day like fine arts performances. Uh, in harmonics is going to be performing. If you have ever seen them, they're probably one of the most impressive musical groups I've seen at a school anywhere around here. So, um, and luckily, um, I know

035their instructor really well. Um, and then, uh, there's going to be some readings of the Declaration of Independence by, uh, local dignit dignitary. Um, some speaking engagements by possibly some pretty big names. Um, and we're going to have some per, uh, other musical performances including the national anthem. I wanted to take some time out uh to also um recognize uh all of the different partnerships that we've had to have in order to make this possible. Um, HBD has been amazing. They actually brought a whole group over um to meet with us at Garfield and have been very good about working with us on this um and telling us everything we needed to think about and do that I would have never thought about because I don't do that stuff. Um, and then fire um safety,

036like I said, they've inspected uh for fireworks. Um, they've get they they're going to have people on site day of the event um to make sure everything's set up properly and properly inspected. Um, and then finally, um, I I told you I'd mention the date and time. Um, May 16th is when this will be taking place. Um, we are starting at three o'clock. That's when the baseball game will start. Um, and this will go till dark when we set off the fireworks. Um, also we're we're working with other facilities, obviously trash and and all that good stuff to make sure we leave it clean when we're done. Um, and I think the biggest thing is, and what makes this a great place to work, honestly, is the city has just been unbelievable in partnering with

037us. Um, in particular, these two gentlemen right here. Um, and I would like to recognize Mr. Dan Bates um, at the Hamilton uh, Chamber of Commerce. He has been phenomenal about they even did actually our branding for the event. So, that flyer that you guys have, his team helped us put that together and put together the logo for the the event and everything. Um, I was waiting till after I presented this at this meeting, but we're going to we have a social media um page that's going to be going out. Um, and Mr. Bates has even agreed to use the Chamber of Commerce's reach to help get our social media page out on theirs um and help market the event and advertise it even more for us. Um, so I really appreciate it. Um, and

038just that partnership has been wonderful. Um, we have the Veteran Service Commission is going is also advertising our event. Um, and they're going to, uh, actually have a setup at our event, too. Um, where they're going to have a setup for mental health services for former veterans. Um, they're also going to have a setup, um, they did a signup genius, uh, where they are getting former veterans from different wars who are going to be talking about the history behind each of those wars to educate people as they come through. Um, and then, uh, I already thank the Butler County Fairgrounds and Mr. Paul Laroo, the O, who's also the OD president, not just a committee member of, uh, the Ohio, uh, 250. Um, he led that inservice with our team. He's been instrumental in this,

039too. He's been great about advocating for us at the state level, um, and getting this even on the state calendar as an Ohio 250 event. So, uh, it's kind of making this more of a regional event, not just a Hamilton City event, which has been excellent. Um, and then I I already thanked Mr. uh, Bates, but I have to give a huge shout out, uh, to our mayor, Mr. Pat Mohler. Um, I want to make him an honorary Garfield Griffin. I don't have like the plaque and the banners like the mayor does when they do honorary stuff, but if I did, uh, I mean, Mr. Mhler hasn't just been our hugest advocate for this event. Um, he's been a huge advocate for everything we do at Garfield Middle School, our fishing club. Anything that I

040ask him about, he is 100% behind. He has got us in front of committees, got us connected to businesses. I am just so thankful um that we have a mayor like this in our community. Um, and just he he's been excellent for for our school and for our community. So, give a round of applause to Mr. President. Yeah, I want to shout out a couple more people before I'm done here and then I promise I'll be done. Um, I wanted to shout out uh also another city worker. Um, he's not a city worker for me, but he is in the nighttime. Uh, Mr. Joel Lowour, Councilman Lowour. Um, as I mentioned earlier, just like with Randy Kyer, who does the fireworks, um, I don't always get to see the skills that our teachers have outside

041of the school building. Um, but throughout this event, I've seen, uh, how connected Joel is to a lot of different people. Um, how great he's been about organizing things and and helping us get vendors and food trucks and money. Um, he's he's just got a really good skill set for that. And uh I just want to thank Joel for helping us out, so I appreciate it. Um and then uh obviously my team back here in the back, too. Um I mean uh my assistant principles kind of got dragged into this, but I I want to thank them for supporting this. They're going to be um a big help on the day of the event. I know already. Um and uh also Matt Wilson and his team um for coming up with the original idea that

042has turned into something this big. I could talk about this all day long. Um, and actually I'll be talking about it later this week at an event Mr. Mhler invited me to. Um, but if you have any questions um, for me, I will take those questions now or you can reach out to me at another time. I really appreciate the time to advertise this event. I think it's going to be exciting not only for the school district and for Garfield, but for the community and hopefully it's something uh that these kids will remember about the 250th anniversary of the United States. Well, Josh, I want to thank you. Um, I will tell you the first phone call when Josh sends you a text that says, "Give me a call. I've got a great idea." You

043never know what's going to be on the other side of the phone. Um, however, as he started explaining it to me, I said, "This all sounds great, but please make sure it's legal and permitted and all of those pieces." And it's just continued to grow. But I'm just so proud um of the work that your team is doing to create this memorable experience uh at Garfield, but also for the city. This is a big moment for the state of Ohio, and I love that Hamilton gets to be a part of that. Even more so, Hamilton City Schools gets to be a part of that. Um and Mr. Wilson, I I told you before the meeting that um a full circle moment happened the other day. I was actually meeting with a former student of yours

044uh Mason Wesson the other day that told me the reason he's going into uh education to become a social studies teacher is because of the impact that you made on him. And so what's really neat with this event is not only the students that you personally teach because I've been in your classroom a phenomenal job that you do bringing history to life every day but every kid um in our community is going to be able to experience and remember where they were. So, I don't know what there's a bigger legacy for a teacher than to have that type of impact, but thank you for the work that you're doing. Thank you for being willing to take the risk and bring crazy but great ideas uh to the table. And thank you to our team. I

045echo what Mr. Margerum said about Mr. Bates, Mr. Mohler, Mr. Lowour. All three of you are gentlemen that I consider friends and major advocates for our school system here. I just thank you for helping bring this idea to the finish line. It just continues to grow. Every time I talk to Josh, there's something new added and it's just going to create buzz and excitement and I'm I'm grateful for all you're doing. So, thank you for bringing this tonight and thank you for doing this and I will be there in a shirt. >> All right. >> I will. >> All right. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. That's very exciting just for our students, for our community, for the collaboration. Um, moving on. Next in our agenda is our superintendent presentation uh giving us

046some planning updates for the transition that we are undergoing currently. I got it. Oh yeah, if we could really quick, would we mind uh to pause just really quick and take a picture of our Boys and Girls Club crew and then our uh Garfield 250 club. Absolutely. You got mute. >> You ready? Yep. >> I'll bring Thank you guys. >> Thank you everybody. That was my first year. >> It is what we're talking about. >> It's special insurance you can buy. You're welcome. >> Oh, I'm sorry. wonder. >> All right, >> we'll go ahead and and jump back into here. I I don't um it's hard to follow those two presentations today. I did put inside of your packet just a draft um relocation plan. Um, something that I mentioned at our last board meeting

047is I'd like to start monthly just with giving the board the update on where we are in our budget reduction and transition planning. So, I've got a few slides here tonight. You'll see this is a draft of a plan that we're working on. Um, but I think there's some exciting pieces to update here the board tonight. Uh, first thing is just for our public here, just an overview. As we know, going into next year, uh there are many changes that are coming as part of that 10 almost $10 million reduction plan that we've discussed rolled out all of those pieces. Obviously, the building consolidation is a part of that with one less elementary in play, our freshman campus, uh nursing going uh nursing and preschool being provided by Butler County ESC, and then right sizing,

048right? There were many aspects to that plan. One of the biggest things that I think is important for our community to notice is we're going to go from a total of 13 buildings as part of our fleet, if you will, to 11 being used um next year. You'll see that there are 11 um of our schools that are there in white. And anything that's yellow indicates a change in either location or address. So, for instance, uh if you look where Fair Farwood was on the left side for this year, next year that's going to be the Hamilton Early Learning Center to help. I don't know that that's the name of it. That's just right now the placeholder so that people aren't confused that that is Fairwood uh because it will be used as that is

049preschool site. Uh there if you look at Wilson Wilson Middle School will operate just as it is just at a new location at the freshman campus. So that their address changed there to Northwest Washington Boulevard. You will see that our high school uh the only change to our high school is now they will serve students in grades 9 through 12. And then um our Miami school is moving to our current Wilson. So just as a reminder to our community, those changes that we're talking about. Um I think it's important to note these are the things that stay. I've had a lot of people say, "Oh, you must be cutting a ton of programs. You must be late uh raising class size and getting rid of transportation." Because that's what we're hearing in many of our

050surrounding communities. However, there are so many things about our district that is going to remain the same. The first being their class sizes will stay the same. We are not raising the amount of kids per classroom. It's just the location of where we're doing business. We're consolidating services so that we're filling up our buildings better. Um all of our other programs will remain other than French. Um limit we limit our options every year based on the number of students who register for them at the high school. So we're not eliminating any programs other than if too few kids register for a class like we typically do. There are no changes to athletics. We're not reducing any of our athletic programs for kids. There are no changes to our fine arts opportunities. We will continue to

051oper operate uh all of our fine arts offerings that you heard about um and and know to love in our district. We are not changing transportation for school age students. There is no changes. The the same kids who are transported right now will still be transported to those new places um given that they live outside of that that uh location radius that you'll see here. Uh there are no new changes to our meals or our fee structures. There are no new tax levies or increased costs to the community. And I think that's important to notice. Right now, our district has looked internally to make these reductions and are not there is no uh plan to put a levy on the ballot uh right now or anytime in the near future. Uh the reason why we

052did these things is this provides stability and time to see what the next budget does without needing to make additional cuts. So there will be no additional cuts coming at the next year because of this plan. If we would have cut smaller chunks, we would have been right back to this table a year from now. And we did not want to experience Groundhog's Day. Uh we wanted to create a stable uh ground moving forward for our district. And that's what this plan has allowed us to do. Now what? We've rolled this out in January. If it's crazy to think that was January 16th when we rolled this plan out. It doesn't feel like that long ago, but it's been a while. As we are now to this point, we are starting to get into the

053next phase of this, which is all about logistics. It's all about what does this actually look like. It's one thing to put it on paper and say this is what we're going to do. It's another to actually do it. So, I'm going to talk about each of these categories very briefly. The first is staff placements and recalls. Uh, first, I think it's important for the board to know we have met with every staff member that is affected by these changes. So all staff at this point have been spoken with whether they are part of that reduction in force number or if they are being displaced meaning they still have a job in the district but it's not in the exact same capacity it is now. All of our staff who are displaced have also already

054been placed and communicated with into their roles for next year. So all of our staff who are on the roster as of right now going into next year know what that position looks like. Okay. We've also in the month of March, we're providing opportunities for our staff to visit their new buildings. For some of our staff, they've never stepped foot in the places that they'll be going. That's an important first step to this transition is taking care of our people. They also have had opportunities to meet with their colleagues and the administrators so that they can start getting a feel for what it looks like to assimilate into that new school community. In addition, a number of our staff who were on that reduction um enforce list have been offered positions with Butler County ESC.

055I'm going to share some numbers here with that uh both through preschool and from nursing. We actually have a a large number of our nurses that will be returning serving our students in this new capacity in our building. Um it also uh all of these changes and being out front when I look at some of these other districts that are not going to put out what their plans look like until May. that's really late in the game and I know that's just kind of the cards that those districts are dealt, but by us doing this so early, it's allowed us to let our staff know where they'll be and they can decide whether that's the right piece for them, whether they want to retire, go into a new position. And so through that process and

056early communication, we have already started recalling staff. And so over here on the chart each month, I will share for you just an update here. Um, we broke this down by category. There are 84 uh staff members that are on the recall list here. We have recalled 29 of them already. And that was as of Monday. And I know that list has already grown since Monday. >> So, um, what that looks like is we have already recalled four elementary teachers at that K through six level. We have not recalled any secondary teachers yet. There have not been any teachers that have announced retirement, though I have heard there are some coming. On our special education, we had nine uh staff that were put that were said we did not have a job for them. We

057have already recalled seven of them. So, seven of the nine have already been guaranteed a job going into next year. On our educational assistance, 24 of them were on that list. Most of them were affiliated with preschool. Okay? because remember a preschool of those pieces. Many of our preschool EAS have chosen to go to Butler County ESC to continue serving preschool. Because of that, we have been able to offer 16 EAS positions that we did not have guarantees in January. So, we've already recalled them. Um, you can see here on second on secretaries, we've not recalled any secretaries yet or clerical media coordinators. There were three that were part of our reduction in force. We have already recalled two of them as EAS. So, we have offered uh 29 positions have been accepted by our

058staff that from January to now we're told they did not have a job. Um huge thank you to Mike Wright and John Zerry for their constant work on this. As we get um a resignation or we we get a retirement letter, they are automatically working with the union going through that list who is the next most senior on that recall and offering that them that position. So every month I will try to give you an update just where we are on this. Uh because remember every every board agenda moving forward you will start to see names appear that say rescending their reduction in force because at our last meeting you approved that massive batch of them. Okay. Any questions on this while we go forward? Okay. In addition, uh we're starting to turn our sites

059towards student placements to make sure our students, particularly that are at Fairwood, know where their new landing home is. Uh the day that this announcement was made on the 16th, parents were able to look their address up right away to know what school they're assigned to. But by the end of March, each of them will receive a confirmation letter from their new school, uh confirming this is where they'll go to school, who their principal is, all of that information. We are also in the month of April and May inviting those families to start getting engaged and involved in school activities. So some of those are formalized kind of open houses if you will. Others are popsicles on the playground or you know uh kind of different social events to help them see what their new

060school is all about. We are also working with our Fairwood staff to make sure uh that our the teachers that are going to be receiving new students have an understanding and that those students are supported. Then I just also put on here for families and for our board, we will in addition to all of the work we're doing right now still offer our normal openhouse opportunities. So I just listed what those dates are. It felt really crazy to go ahead and put dates for 2627 on this screen, but it is going to be here before we know it. We are we are not far from that. Any questions so far? Okay. The next one that I put on here is just an update with Butler County ESC. As I mentioned before, we are working very

061collaboratively with them. Uh they have guaranteed interviews for any of our staff members that are applying and have um you know have talked about the quality of our staff coming through the doors. It's made it easy hires for them. Uh they are also in the process. They have already started their enrollment window for preschool. So, just a plug for all of our uh families with young children ages three to five. If they're interested in attending our preschool next year, that application is out right now. Um we are working right now on coordination of space, resources, and responsibilities. Uh they because they will operate the preschool are responsible for their own site license. That creates a really tight timeline for us of getting everything school age out of Fairwood to be able to set that up

062as a preschool center. The date that they have to apply for their site license is June 8th. It's a really quick window uh for us to have everything out and in. So, there are a lot of moving pieces to this, but our current staff is collaborating. Uh I want to give a big thank you to Sarah Berdett for working very closely and Brad Watkins with the ESC to make sure that everything is set up in this transition. Let's talk about moving logistics. There are a lot of moving pieces to this. We've got the freshman campus joining the high school. We've got Wilson Middle School going to the freshman campus. We have the Miami school going to the current Wilson site. We have Fairwood going to Riverview, Bridgeport, and Crawford Woods. We from the start knew

063that in order to be ready to start the school year in August, we needed to work with professional movers. And so later tonight on the business agenda, you will see there is a quote uh to partner with planes moving in storage to help do that work. Um so you can kind of see uh they are experts in this field. They actually came and and walked through our buildings to look at what this looks like. They are going to make this process as seamless as possible for our staff and our facilities so that we can still make sure that we have our deep cleans and are ready to go with beautiful buildings in August. So I put the timeline here of what this looks like. I also gave you this is a draft packet um that

064we are working on with planes right now that will go over all the information that staff will need related to the move and I'll pull that up here in a minute but you do have a copy of this in front of you. Um our timeline is obviously we're approving the contract hopefully tonight that's up for approval. Uh then in April we want to review the plan with staff. We want to make sure staff understand what's needed of them packing up their rooms, what's the process. We will provide all the supplies. Um then May 1st to May 22nd is that purge and pack. May 22nd is the last day of the school year that our staff are in the office. Um that is their last teacher records day. Uh currently our student last day is Thursday,

065May 21st. However, our movers have to begin on the 26th in order to get this done over this summer and be ready to go for the first day of school. It is my recommendation that we take a calamity day on that Thursday for students which would essentially move the last student day to Wednesday, May 20th. This would give our staff and all of those buildings I named because we every single building is affected by these moves. This would give staff dedicated work time to ensure that they are packed and ready to go so that those moving trucks can do their job. What I don't want to do, I'm afraid if we don't give this time, we're going to see loss of instruction during the the last two months of school as teachers try to pack

066and do those things. I want our teacher to be teachers to be able to focus on their kids and providing quality experience knowing that they've got dedicated time to do this work. >> Last couple days of school anyways are wasted >> celebration and and those kind of pieces. So, makes >> sense. That would be my my recommendation. I wanted to see kind of where the board was on that particular piece. Uh but that would be my my recommendation for us. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um and I've seen I mean when we first started talking about the need for this day, there were other school districts that take the day after Super Bowl, the day after, you know, for for Calamity Days. We are very conscious of of ensuring that kids have access to quality teachers,

067but I think with the the magnitude of the change that's ahead, this is definitely needed. So, um, if the board is okay, I'd like to start preparing communication to both our staff and eventually to the community of that change of the last day of school for students in grades 1 through 11. Okay. I >> think they're hearing it right now. >> They probably are. I know. I know. Um, in this packet, I won't go through each of these, but this is something that we are working on with planes. Uh, this is a a guide that will be given to each of our teachers through staff meetings. We have slides that accompany it as well. Um, but it kind of walks them through all it's a one-stop shop of everything they need to know, including relocation

068timeline, the phases of moving, you know, uh, of what goes in the boxes, what do they do with their personal possessions, all of that. This packet really starts to spell this out. We are collaborating. I actually met with HCTA President Katie McAfee today. This is going to be a topic on our superintendent advisory committee next Monday to to get teacher input to make sure this is a comprehensive one-stop shop for staff. But you'll see within this packet um as you go through it kind of what our process is, what each person will do. Um talks about the type of boxes, how to put your boxes together. It even will have a color-coded system depending on which school the staff member will go to. They'll get different colored labels. All of their supplies will be delivered

069to their rooms. Um those are uh supplies. They're heavy duty boxes. They're not ones that will be thrown away at the end. Planes actually takes them back so that there isn't this acrewing expense for us as a district. This is all built into the quote that you'll see later this afternoon. Um so I just wanted to share that with you guys so that you can kind of see what that piece is. The biggest stressor for us is we have to have classrooms ready to go by that Friday, May 22nd. That that has to be an all hands- on deck piece to make sure that we're ready to go so that moving trucks the following week can get started and meet those timelines and be ready to go for August. >> I'm glad you have planes

070doing the moving major corporations seamlessly kind of up and running when they say they're going to do it. They're pros at it. So, I was happy to when you sent that out. >> Yeah, they um we actually reached out to other school districts that have been through this. There's been many that have had to move buildings, etc. And this was the number one recommended program uh company to use for this particular piece. >> I had a major client of mine, a major corporation, planes moved their headquarters. >> Yeah. >> Did it in a oneweek period of time. And we're talking massive move. >> That's I I was shocked. I thought they'd walk through and say, "Oh man, this is going to be too big." No, they I couldn't believe uh their professionalism and and you

071know, as simple as we won't pack the classroom books in there. We have these rolling carts that will come in and we we shrink wrap them and we'll make sure it goes right back where they are. I mean, they they know how to pack up instruments. They know how to take care of technology. You name it, they are professionals and I think for this magnitude of a move, it's important that we do this right. >> Well, your bid was very reasonable. >> It actually is. The bid um was very reasonable with some of the other companies and they believe that they'll come about $25,000 less than what's on that bid, but I asked them to shoot for the ceiling, not the floor. I don't like to come back with needing more money. I'd rather need

072less. This was built into when we presented you with the the cut plan. This was built into that pricing. So, we are not acrewing any new costs from what you've already been presented. >> I just have a quick question kind of related to that. Is has there been discussion yet about changing over of signage on buildings and is that part of the cost that's already accounted for? >> That is a part of the cost that's already accounted for. Mr. Kilby is working through that particular piece. So, for instance, the freshman campus that says freshman right now that's going to say Wilson, you know, we want we want those facilities to look and and uh you know, say the the the new titles uh as much as the old. We don't want the old to confuse

073anyone. So yes, Mr. Kilby is working on those particular pieces, but th we were very conservative in our nine and our 9.5 number that we presented to you to build that in um knowing that we will be we'll be just fine. Nice thing is for some of those things, capital improvement can pay for signage and and those pieces. So it's even more of a savings to general fund because I don't have to tap into that. >> That's great. Yeah. Will that be accomplished over the summer as well? >> Yes. >> Great. >> Yes. All of those changes. Our hope is when we get here in August, we are ready to go under new structure, new format. Um, of those pieces, you'll also see within this plan, um, we are going to open up buildings a

074little earlier in July for staff to get in and set up rooms. Just knowing that many of our staff will need some extra time making sure their rooms are as welcoming. You go into a classroom and I don't I don't even know how teachers can do that with a little bit of paper and some borders, but they make the most welcoming environments for our kids. So, we're hoping to be able to open up classrooms sooner so that they can get in and do that work. Okay. And then just a few other things that we put in here. Obviously, with a few less buildings, um, we have been able to look at start and end times of our schools. Um, right now we have our earliest school staff arrive at 6:50 in the morning. And our

075last uh, school to dismiss is Bridgeport and Riverview. and teachers are not leaving there until 4:15 to 4:30 every day. And so by looking at having two less buildings in play, um I'm sorry that's so little. I was hoping that was a little bigger. It's a lot bigger on my screen. Um but what we have been able to do is for Hamilton High School since it's a combination of the freshman and high school, we split the time difference between those two schools in the middle. So Hamilton High School will actually uh the students will their day will be 7:20 to 2:20 uh will be their actual day. Right now our high school is 7:45 to 255. So it's a little shifting up while the freshman shifted back if that makes sense. They're right in the

076middle. Okay. I know there's a lot of high school kids who just said, "Oh, 25 minutes earlier." But your freshman kids will be happy because they have been going at that uh that god-awful early time. Um the other unique thing about this schedule uh if you notice Garfield and Wilson uh schedule, they also will be moved up by about 25 minutes because we don't have that freshman, you know, an extra drop off in there. But what we really loved about this schedule, it puts the staff day for 712 on the same day, 7:10 to 3:10. That allows for great collaboration. That will allow We have so many coaches that teach at the middle schools who are trying to run and get over to the high school for football practice or things like that. By having

077them on the same schedule, that will make it a whole lot easier for those after school and co-curricular activities. At our elementary level, Crawford and Highland, they will remain the exact same. There's no change to their time. Right now, our elementaryaries, we have four arrival and dismissal times because there's groups of two. Crawford and Highland have always been our earliest. They will remain on the exact same schedule. Brookwood will also remain the exact same time frame. Ridgeway Elementary will move up by 15 minutes. Okay, they're almost filling the Fairwood slot, if you will. Okay, so 15 minutes earlier uh for the student and the staff day. Then the really nice thing about this is we were able to have three schools on the last time and get rid of that late dismissal and arrival schedule.

078We hear from so many families and staff members that that latest arrival and dismissal I'm looking at you as a former Bridgeport mom. >> I came to the board >> that was a that was a hard time. Um this allows us to dismiss and move everything up by 15 minutes. You might not think that 15 minutes will make that big of a difference, but it will make a massive difference for our families and for our staff uh by moving that up by 15 minutes. And so you can kind of see those changes there. Uh these would be presented as part of a handbook later on for approval. Like I said, tonight is just kind of where we are in logistical planning. Uh but I wanted to present them to you just so you can start

079thinking about what these look like. Okay. And then uh just for families to know, transportation, as I mentioned before, is not changing. Our K12 stays exactly the same. Uh going through this process, I actually learned our elementary, we bus at one mile. So any family that lives outside of one mile of their new school will receive busing. Okay. The state minimum is two miles, but we bus at a mile because for our youngest kids, have them walk. There are also uh certain areas throughout the city that we find that are unsafe for kids to walk that we bus within that one mile. So, there are some caveats there. Our middle schools will remain the same, which is 1.5 miles. There's no changes to that. That's what it has always been. And then high school will

080remain busing uh two miles or more. Um I a lot of people don't realize that high school busing is not required in the state of Ohio. But for us, it is essential to ensuring our kids have a safe way to and from school each and every day. We will also continue to bus our identified preschool students. We'll continue busing for our identified school age or IEP students that qualify, our parochial and our McKenna Vento students. Those are both uh groups that are required by law to be transported. Um our routes for 2627, we've had a lot of families saying when is that going to come out? We had to finalize building times before we can start looking at routes. And so routes will be published on August 1st on the district website. So, just for

081families that are tuning in, it's important that they know August 1st will be that date when they can uh expect their transportation routes. Any questions? Okay. Well, that is all that I have on this update. Normally, I just want to give an update on the recalls and those pieces, but there's just a lot of moving parts right now. um as we start to get into the reality and the logistics of the move and the scale of the changes that are coming. That's all that I have tonight. Thank you, Miss Blevens. All right. So, I will now consider a motion to adjourn into executive session to consider the employment of a public employee or official. >> I'll motion. >> Second, >> Mr. Frasier. >> Dr. Hopkins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Davidson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Copus.

082>> Yes. >> Miss Manuso. >> Yes. >> Thank you all for being here to celebrate Caitlyn. Everyone here knows exactly how special she is. Today, she'll be presented with a scholarship from the BFW program, Voice of Democracy. uh for a spoken essay she presented the prompt being, "How are you showing patriotism?" >> Never have I ever heard such an astonishing speech. I mean, she just took talked from the heart. Some people just follow the the person before them or something like that and they they talk about patriotism, but not like she does. >> I've been patriotic my whole life. I've always done things for veterans. I my grandfather and my father are both veterans, so I've kind of always been introduced to the topic, so it felt natural to me. I focused on my strengths

083and what I've done over the past few years, and it really drove my entire essay. Starting young, you can do it. I know a lot of people are like, "Oh, well, I'm a kid. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to start." Truly, starting is the hardest part. Once you start, it's so easy. And a lot of the schools have opportunities that really integrate it into our lives early on. And that truly is the most important part to get into the schools now so we learn a life of giving. Miss Wagenfield and I, we have a very close connection. I've worked with her for many years and she truly did start me on this path. >> We are so excited uh for all of our students accomplishments, but this student in particular

084has uh done amazing things. I've learned about a lot of them today. Um, but this VFW essay contest, uh, that she won through Butler County and then the state and now she's headed to nationals. Congratulations. Um, it just kind of shows what our students are about and that's pride in their community. It's pride in their country. It's serving others. And I think Kayn is is a great example of that. And so, uh, her house principal is here today, Miss Watkins. And we are more than thrilled to send her to Valley Forge to bring home the national victory for the blue. Um, but more importantly, it's just about the service to our community and our country that we are so proud of her. >> All right. Well, at this time, I'd like to invite Bob Long

085up from the Hamilton Community Foundation for a really exciting and generous announcement. Can we put it back here for you? Okay. >> Thank you, Andrea. It all kind of started with a very simple conversation that Andrea had the first time she met with the Hamilton Community Foundation's education committee. Kathy Clank asked her, "What would you think of having therapy dogs in the schools and Andrea immediately responded with enthusiasm and that was the start of a great partnership. Andrea and one of our foundation staff members, Tracy Eids, were all part of Leadership Hamilton class number 33. And that group decided, did I hear applause for that group? I think they're biased. >> There are other classes who might differ with that, but I won't. Uh, but they decided that they were going to make the positive

086connections therapy dog program a reality. And thanks to the generous support of many local businesses, school PTOs, uh the Hamilton High Student Council, many many other individuals, we have made tremendous progress. Therapy Dog Arrow and also Tango are having a big impact on our schools. Not just the students, but the teachers and the staff as well. They offer a lot of emotional support. They help reduce anxiety and also stress. And there are three more therapy dogs that will be coming this spring and summer. Originally, Andrea told me it was going to probably take five years for every school to have a dog. But then Andrea had to tell our community the bad news that the district was having to make $10 million worth of budget cuts. Our foundation CEO, John Gadulli, told me, he said,

087"We need to do something immediately to show our support for the schools." So this morning, I'm very pleased to tell you the community foundation board of trustees unanimously has agreed to provide a grant that will ensure every Hamilton school building will have its own therapy school therapy dog next school year. And this foundation grant will cover the entire three-year funding cycle that's needed for each of those six additional therapy dogs. Our foundation has prioritized education in this area for a long, long time, 75 years. And with more than 300 college scholarships, we can help a lot of high school seniors. We're also proud of our collaboration with Andrea and her staff on a program called Many Grants for Teachers, where we help roughly 140 teachers every year with up to $300 in out-ofpocket expenses that

088they need for classroom enhancements. We believe very seriously in collaboration, compassion, innovation, and also heart to make this a great community. We want to thank everyone who's helped with the therapy dog program because together arrow we are building community four paws at a time. This is Tango. And Tango is our certified therapy dog through the AKC. and he is going to be a therapy dog in Hamilton City Schools this school year and for the future. The students are so excited to have Tango in the building. Um even just seeing him through the glass as they're walking in, they're like, "Tango's here." I think the biggest thing that Tango is going to provide for us is really a lot of comfort um and emotional regulation. Um we know that students learn best when they are emotionally

089regulated. And so having Tango available to help us feel the calm, that connected state, and just be able to kind of calm our bodies, um it really helps to allow students to feel comfortable and safe, um here at school, which then allows them to be ready for learning. It's the connection. Um no one has to teach a dog how to connect and how to have empathy. It's part of their genetic makeup. It's part of who they are. um and their connectivity um just the way they feel um their sense of calm, you know, them picking up on how we smell different when we are having different emotions. Their noses are way more attuned. They can pick up on those things. Uh and they can respond and they intuitively know how to respond to um help

090us be calm. Um you know, uh Arrow, who's already been across the district, will stop and spend more time with people who might have something going on that no one's ever going to know about, but Arrow knows. Um, and now Tango is going to know too. And you don't have to use any words. They can take care of us without us having to talk because sometimes there aren't words for situations that are hard. Ultimately, we'd like to have a dog in every building. Um, you know, and that's we're relying on our community for that. Um, and we've already been met with an overwhelming response. Um, we have, you know, one building already successful and I've got three more buildings on tap that we're be going to be expanding our pack very shortly. One of our

091main missions is uh the community, right, and children and youth. So, it's all kind of the pillars of the American Legion. So, being able to keep it close and local is a great thing. >> His job is people. He is here to work for people, to be comfort, to be friendly, and he's just he loves love. He loves to be pet. He wants friends and attention. So, his job is people, and I want him to know as many people as he can and make a difference in as many lives as he can. I mean, it's amazing. You know, I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for here. So, being able to come back and and get the love that I get and be able to return it is it's it's huge to me.

092>> I didn't think this would happen cuz I kind of just jotted it down one random day when my teacher wasn't there. And I was like, I don't really think anything's really going to happen. I was like, oh my gosh, nothing like this has ever happened to me. This is so awesome. It was amazing to hear the stories and like their their thoughts on, you know, how how they made the design and and what it meant to them. So like hearing all that was it's awesome. >> I did the Phoenix on the very front of the shape and like the clock. >> You know, I picked a piece out of each each uh design that I seen and I tried to all implement it together and like try to make one like a really cool

093cleat so that way not just one person, but maybe like 10 or however many I could be able to get. Like I said, some of it related to me and some of it didn't relate to me at all, but it related to people that I love and people that I grew up with. So, it's like I might as well uh might as well put everything together if I can. >> I do suffer like how no one really no one really cares. No one really sees what I'm doing. And then this just kind of proved to me that what I'm doing is worth something to someone. >> You know, being able to just try to make it all about y'all, all about the kids. So that's something I love to do every year. >> Hi, I'm

094Shaqula Matthews aka Pastor Shaq. Born and raised in Hamilton. I am in my seventh year of schoolboard. Oh my gosh. Seven years of serving the community in this capacity has been an absolute blessing. um that the people would find the confidence in me for me to serve another year to be able to represent not only um this city but my community that I was born and raised in. And it's just been an honor to be able to serve the kids cuz I work with youth with hype. So to be able to serve in this capacity of being a part of the decision-m and helping make this district better than what I found it and also once my term is up to leave it better than what I found it is definitely the ultimate goal. Uh

095for me it was important to be a part of the board and to be able to work with others to help bring about change to help make sure that every student had the opportunity to be great and whatever that is. If it's excelling in academics, if it's excelling in their sports, however, I wanted to be a part of that process to make sure that young people had what they need to be able to be great in whatever capacity, whatever that may look like. For me, I think since I've been on school board, I've um been I've worked with some amazing board members. uh M Mag, Lauren, Dave, all of them. I've wor with working with some amazing people and I look forward to working with our new incoming board members, uh Carrie Vancuso, and um

096Dr. Ashley Hopkins. So, I'm looking forward to their input and what they will add and bring to the board. But, I've seen so many great things. I've seen a lot of great partnerships come along with working with the city and development in that regards. I've been one thing that that I've been really excited about is the program that Chris Canel heads up with students and them finding employment. I think that has been just just phenomenal how he's really taken that by the head just to really move forward with that program and open up so many opportunities for kids to be able to find employment. So that's been important for me. I also love the CCP course that the students are able to take advantage of. They're able to of course continue working at towards graduation

097but as well as earning the associates degree in Miami. So for me those have been two amazing things that stand out to me that I really really really really love about our district. So, cuz I've talked to many kids that they're graduating from high school as well as college. And I just think that's phenomenal. And I that's really setting that that child up to really be great. And I think that being a part of those things in the district has been amazing. We have great leadership. We have great leadership with Andrea. We have a great school. We have great schoolboard members that are willing and dedicated to us being great and putting us in the best position as possible. We all know that um districts over all over the nation are facing challenges as it

098relates to budgets and just everything. And we feel as if a district we're we've done the work. We we are dedicated to coming together and being supportive of our admin team and of our leadership to make sure that we are able to continue to position our students to be great, continue to support our teachers and staff, and make sure that we continue to do things the Hamilton way. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Couple years ago, we had a plan that we wanted to work with a company to start designing a cafeteria that was different than your typical school cafeteria. We wanted it to feel more like a food court and less like your typical long tables, benches, rows. So, we wanted some different types of seating in there. The response

099has been wonderful, not just from the students, but also from the community. We've had lots of adults in here on open house. We've had other jealous teachers from other buildings that have been telling us how great it looks. Uh, so we've had a wonderful response. Honestly, >> it feels more like when we went to Miami, we just got to sit in their cafeteria and it felt just more like mature. And so, it just is really cool that our cafeteria is a lot like that. The kids are doing better this year. Like from last year, we always would get up, scream across the whole lunchroom cuz you couldn't sit with like all your friends. It's like kind of a small space, but now it's like a bigger space, more tables. You can just sit and eat

100with your friends, be comfortable. It's a very big change from last year. >> I feel like it's very comfortable. Um the students enjoy eating there while talking to their friends. They really um seem to like the new changes that were made this year. >> We tried to bring not just Garfield in here, but also the city of Hamilton. We brought in Hamilton things from around our community, including some maps of the neighborhoods that our kids come from. >> It makes you feel like you're being part of the community and enjoy the places that are important. >> I'm just so glad that we get to share this with our students. I'm so glad they get to enjoy it. And I just love making Garfield even better. My name is Dr. Ashley Hopkins. Uh I work for

101Miami University directing our Upwardbound College Preparatory Program at Hamilton High School. Uh, I've worked there for about eight years and I have worked in public education for almost 20 years this year. I decided to run for school board first and foremost because as I mentioned I have worked in public education for almost 20 years. Um, and I'm a product of public education and my whole family is. I come from a workingclass bluecollar background um, from Appalachia. I'm a first generation college student myself and if it wasn't for the great public school educators in the small town that I grew up in in Galiples, Ohio. Um, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I'm at now. I wouldn't have my doctorate in educational administration and I wouldn't be serving my community here in Hamilton

102and helping open the door to educational access for other students. I think in the district, we do a really exemplary job of providing an individualized educational experience for each of our students. And so we have a district that has many many passionate educators from our um support staff in the cafeterias and in the classroom, our teaching assistants, our teachers clear up to our administration. They really all genuinely care about students and their well-being um and their ability to learn and succeed. And so we're really focused on doing what is best for our students and and that looks very individual for each student. we take the time out to get to know our students and to think through each one of those individual needs and problems that they maybe um experience in the classroom or in

103their educational journey. I'm really excited to stand as an advocate for our students to continue the student focused educational uh traditions that we've developed at Hamilton School District. Um, I really am focused on being an advocate, especially for our students who are uh maybe overlooked or feel overlooked, making sure that our most vulnerable populations are really advocated for in the board meetings and when we're making different difficult decisions throughout the year. So, I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the performance in our data and being at the front of that and thinking about how we can continue to respond to the changing educational landscape, maintaining that data while also protecting and supporting our students overall well-being and educational access. I know that we have challenges ahead, but to be very honest, those challenges are uh

104some of the motivation for me to even jump in right now. I think it's a really important time to serve public education. And so for me, this is a bit of a call to service um as we navigate choppy waters, but we're going to come out on the good side. >> As a new principal at Hamilton High School, I was really thinking about this Hamilton Baiten game and how we could make this a community celebration, but really at the core of the Ben mission is service to our community. And that's always been an important part of uh what my passion is in education. So whether it's working with 17 strong and micro grants with our youth or just getting out in the community and doing cleanups, we really wanted to launch something that was bigger

105than the football game, something where our kids give back to the community. Some of them are actually throwing stuff in the dumpster right now, helping out Miss Ebony, the executive director at BTW. And then we have boys out in the community, walking the streets, picking up trash. So over the summer, uh we had the the opportunity to meet uh with Hamilton High's administration and and just talk about this game. Uh this game is such an awesome opportunity for both schools uh to showcase really what we believe what we're all about. And in meeting with Tai and talking, we wanted to do something to make our community better to bring our uh our two football teams that that obviously are competing to win win football games. Uh but more importantly, we wanted to come together to

106to serve the community in the midst of a rivalry week that we're working together to make things better. I think that, you know, when I look at, you know, our guys and Hampton's guys, there's so many little faces in those crowds, little kids that look up to them. them. I mean, they see them as celebrities at times and just to inspire in them a desire to to be more than just what they are on the football field. I mean, they're leaders in our community. They're doing great things and I think the opportunity to showcase that really to inspire hopefully some other people to get involved in 17 strong uh here at the Booker T. Washington Center to get involved here, which are great organizations uh that need need people like this to come out and

107serve uh and make the place better. And it's just really to me signifies kind of a new launch of service to our community for both of our schools for Ben and for Hamilton. So it was great to see everybody out in their jerseys. Uh it is Hamilton versus Ben Friday night, but right now everybody's working together to make our community a better place. I'm Dr. Joe Copus. I'm a board member here in Hamilton. Uh I've been on the board for two years. Um lifelong resident of Hamilton. I'm a product of the uh public schools here in Hamilton. Uh I'm married to Joanie Lowour Copus for 42 years. We have uh three grown children also here in Hamilton. Um I am a retired dentist. I practiced clinical dentistry for 30 plus years. I'm also a retired

108colonel from the United States Army having enlisted in 1983 and retired in 2018. Um I love being on the school board. I think uh the health and the welfare of our city is in a large way dependent on the status and condition of our public schools and even though we currently are facing some challenges, I think we're doing the best that we can and we're still producing and delivering a very good product to our city. ever since day one of me being elected to the board was I I am very much an advocate for the staff. Um I've said on multiple occasions that the three most influential people in my life were teachers that I had in the Hamilton City Schools and they truly have affected me and influenced the decisions that I've made in

109life. So I I can't focus enough on the welfare of our staff and our goal as a district should be to attract and retain as many great educators as we can. I think that's so critically important not only to the success of the schools today but the success of our city as we move forward and fortunately our schools I think have a very good working relationship with the city and I think both of those two entities understand that each we're dependent on each other and the success of each is dependent on each other. One of the things I wanted to accomplish when I was elected is that I wanted to see the culture in our district change a little bit and I think because of our new superintendent Mrs. Blevens and her staff. I think

110it has. Um, and I also wanted to see I wanted to try to take better care of our staff. And fortunately, each one of our unions in the Hamilton district has been able to renegotiate their contract and they've been given what I think are some pretty substantial pay increases, which makes us very competitive in what we're trying to do as far as finding good people and keeping them here in Hamilton. It's an honor to be on the board. And uh, when I ran for the board in 23, there were two seats available. there were four candidates and I think it's very appropriate that the uh community at that time had a choice. It really is a critically important job and the decisions that you make uh not only influence the schools but it influences the

111health and the welfare of our city as a whole. Arrow is the Hamilton City School District's first therapy dog. Um she is certified through the AKC as a certified therapy dog. Um she is here for our students and our staff and uh is just a part of our the Hamilton community >> and I'm just so impressed with her poise. Um she is so well trained and just does a great job already uh to lighten all of our moods. I I couldn't be thankful enough to leadership Hamilton Hamilton Community Foundation and the Pauls and Stripes College for preparing such an amazing partner. We couldn't have asked for a better dog. I know Andrea just saw the benefit and all the research that was behind how therapy dogs make a solid impact with students, you know, through

112attendance and grades and behavior and she did a lot of research herself and brought it to the team and wanted to take the project on. And this is one proactive strategy that local communities are using to help build resilience, kindness, positivity. There's a lot of research out there about how a therapy dog will lower anxiety and stress, which so many of our young people and our staff are facing on a day-to-day basis. Our goal is to get a dog for each of our buildings. Um, as you know, there's a lot of needs that go around and Arrow is just one. We're a very large district. And so, our goal is to onboard four to five dogs a year that would allow us to eventually get there in the next few years to a dog per

113school. that will allow that dog to become really a part of that school culture. Through community donations, through different agencies, we've been able to raise the money completely so that not one district dollar is being used for this. >> She's calm, mild manner, just very sweet, very gentle, listens very well, a lot of love, a lot of love, a lot of happiness. Um, a lot of energy behind it, which is great. My name is Dave Davidson. I'm a Hamilton City School District board member. Uh I'm starting my will be my 11th year. Uh I was just reelected um in November. I am a product of the Hamilton City Schools and actually I'm a third generation uh Hamilton City School graduate. My father graduated in 1951 from Hamilton High. My grandfather uh from Hamilton High in

1141928. Uh I have three boys that graduated from Hamilton High and I currently have two gr grandchildren who are students in the Hamilton City School District. I'm married to Kim, who's a teacher in the Hamilton City School District. I have 10 grandchildren. Two of them live in Germany. Uh I'm a practicing attorney here in Hamilton. I've been practicing for about 35 years in Hamilton. I love Hamilton. I came back to Hamilton when I graduated from law school. I'm committed to Hamilton. It's a great place to raise a family and I was fortunate to do that. Uh, I've been very active in community activities. Uh, I was involved with Westside Little League when my boys were younger. I'm on currently the planning commission for the city of Hamilton. I was on city council for 5 years

115back in the '9s. The reason I went on to uh the city council back then is Hamilton was going through a difficult time. Everybody was complaining. We were losing manufacturing jobs. People were moving out of Hamilton. We had empty storefronts, no businesses, and we were all complaining. And one day, a friend of mine said, "Quit complaining. Do something about it." So, I ran for city council. Very much enjoyed that. Did my time on that. But I have a passion for kids and children. And so I ran for the Hamilton City Schools um board of education back in the um 2008 uh and did a term at plus one year at that time. Absolutely loved it. for personal reasons uh with health issue with my my previous wife. I stepped off um and decided later on

116I wanted to come back and do it again because I loved it so much. Um loved being around the children, love around being around uh teachers and administrators. Our district's great and I loved it. One of the reasons I I came back this last time is it really seemed that there was a disconnect with our teachers and our staff and morale was very very low and the school district did for a period of time go through a rocky period of time. I think we're on the upswing. We have a great superintendent we just hired. She's very ener energetic, very positive about the district and she is very uh teacher oriented and wanted to make sure our teachers are happy because that's important. Hamilton needs to start retaining our teachers that we have and recruiting. Uh

117unfortunately people don't want to be teachers anymore. So there's a teacher. >> We have returned from executive session. We will start with our business meeting with the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, next I will take a motion to approve the uh board of education agenda. >> So move. >> Second. Any discussion? Mr. Frasier, if you'll call the role. >> Dr. Hopkins, >> yes. >> Mr. Davidson, >> yes. >> Dr. Copus, >> yes. >> Miss Manuso, >> yes. >> All right. I will take a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. >> So move >> second Frasier. >> Mr. Davidson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Copus. >> Yes.

118>> Dr. Hopkins. >> Yes. >> Musa. >> Yes. >> All right. Next up would be public participation. We don't have anyone from the public joining us tonight. So we will move on to our superintendent comments. >> Thank you, Dr. Hopkins. I just have brief ones tonight. One, I want to thank the board for allowing us to add a special business meeting tonight to this meeting to approve just a few items. So, there are not many items up for uh review tonight. I'll I'll go over those here in a second, but I do just want to update the board that we kicked off fourth grade fourth quarter this week with a great wonderful start. It is the home stretch for many of our students um and many of our senior celebrations are ahead. So, I just

119encourage our community to help us in this final uh lap around the track for our seniors to help us celebrate and wish them well as they cross that stage. Um, I also encourage our families to stay connected to building community events to sell to celebrate all things HCSD this spring. On the evening on the agenda this evening, you'll see there are uh just a few items. The first item that's up for approval is the Jefferson TIF that I know Mr. Frasier has spoken with the board about and presented uh in work session on. Then on our HR agenda, there is only one item up tonight on the HR agenda since this is a special meeting, and that is the recommendation to approve our new girls soccer coach, Jamie Newmier. Hopefully, I'm saying that correct. Um,

120as you mentioned, as I mentioned, we've already kind of announced that she is pending board approval, but tonight will be the vote. From what I've heard, she's doing a phenomenal job starting to get uh to work in the community, working with the students and the families, and I've heard rave reviews so far. Then you'll see on the consent agenda tonight, there are two items up for approval on that. The first is the moving contract with planes. As we discussed during the work session this evening, you'll see that is the ceiling amount uh that that could be charged to the district for that move. Um though they anticipate it being considerably less. Uh you'll also see there is a field trip uh for our boys wrestling team to travel to Columbus for the state wrestling competition.

121And those are my comments this evening. >> Wonderful. Well, thank you, Miss Blevens. We'll move on to our TIFF CRA for the Jefferson Neighborhood Project. Uh, Jeremy, was there anything, Mr. Frasier, that we need to add to that conversation? >> Uh, no. I can provide a a brief explanation, though, if if the board wishes. Um, so for your approval, we have the Jefferson Neighborhood TIFF economic development deal. Uh, it's a mouthful. Uh, the legislation will help support the city of Hamilton's build back the block initiative. I can't believe I said that right. Um, it's a multi-million dollar housing initiative where the city plans to construct new homes on vacant lots throughout the Jefferson neighborhood. Uh, with the project occurring in five phases as the homes are built. Uh, the agreement establishes a 30-year tiff. Uh,

122in this case, the city has agreed to remove the debt payments from the deal, which was very important to us. Um, and because of that, uh, the school district will receive 75% of makehole payments generated from the project. Uh, currently the district receives essentially no tax monies, uh, from the vacant lots, very little. Um, and based on conservative projections, we're looking at about a 6.9 to7 million deal over the next 30 years. Um, I think it's a a winwinwin. It's it's good deal for the city. It's a good deal for us. a great deal for the neighborhood. So >> wonderful. Thank you. I'll take a motion to approve >> make a motion that the board adopt a resolution approving certain economic incentives in a school compensation agreement for the Jefferson neighborhood project in the city

123of Hamilton and waving certain notices in connection therewith. I'll second. Mr. Frasier, if you'll take the role. >> Dr. Copus, >> yes. >> Dr. Hopkins, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuso, >> yes. >> Mr. Davidson, >> yes. >> Thank you. Moving on. It's recommended that the HR agenda be approved as presented. So, we have our human resources agenda. I'll take a motion to accept or I'll accept a motion rather to approve. >> So move. >> I'll second. >> Sir Frasier, if you'll call the role. >> Any discussion? >> Oh, any discussion? No. >> I just want to make a point. Great hire with the coach. Like you, I've received a lot of positive comments about coach Newire. how active she is and soccer programs around the area. I know the girls soccer parents are ecstatic to

124have her. >> Great move and I I applaud Missy for her hard work. And >> we have a first and a second. I'll call the role. Dr. Hopkins. >> Yes. >> Miss Manuso. >> Yes. >> Mr. Davidson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Copus. >> Yes. >> All right. >> If I may real quick, I want to go back to the the the tip the Jefferson neighborhood. I want to thank Jeremy. You put a lot of time in. This has been >> a long time coming. >> It's I mean, we we talked about it last year at this time, even before that. >> Yeah. >> I think I told Dr. Copus I'd had lunch with Craig Bukite around this time last year on this subject. and you put a lot of time into it. I I do

125I do appreciate that. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Sorry. >> You're fine. Thank you. Uh next we have our consent agenda. I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Any discussion? >> Docer. >> Dr. Hopkins. Yes, >> Miss Manuso. >> Yes, >> Mr. Davidson. >> Yes, >> Dr. Copus. >> Yes. >> All right, that brings us to the end of our meeting. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 21st 4th, 2026. I'm done talking for the day at 400 PM 533 Dayton Street here in Hamilton, Ohio, 455012. Meeting adjourned. >> We need a a first and a second. Actually, >> I move that we adjourn. I thank you. >> Yeah. Do we Did we have a second? I didn't hear it. >> I seconded.

126>> Perfect. Thank you.