001Oh, >> good afternoon. We're going to call this meeting into uh work meeting into session. Mr. Fraser, if you can call the role, please. >> Mrs. Matthews >> here. >> Mr. Davidson >> here. >> Mrs. Baker >> here. >> Dr. Copus >> here. >> And I'll make a note in the minutes that Mr. Sprag will be absent this evening. >> Also, we have city council. >> Nope. Nothing for city council. So, I'll turn it over to Miss Wisro for our spotlight. >> How's that? That better? Okay. It's always fun for me to be able to spotlight some things that are going on in our uh district. And today we would like to honor a staff member. So today we are honoring uh Miss Amanda Green. Um she is actually receiving a community impact award from
002the Butler County Board of Development Disabilities. And that's she's going to be receiving that award on Saturday, September 20th at 3:00 for her her outstanding work supporting people with developmental disabilities. This award honors an exceptional Butler County educator who has made a lasting impact on the lives of students with develop developmental disabilities. Through her compassion, innovation, and dedication, Miss Green fosters an inclusive learning environment where every student is valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential. And I can tell you firsthand, Arrow and I have made a couple visits over there to Bridgeport and both times in her classroom, she is absolutely phenomenal. And you can see the sped team that's here to to support her. They all ask to be a part of this um to to recognize her for the her award
003that she's getting ready to receive. I know she's mad at me for doing this, but she she deserves the recognition she gets and her admin team is here. So, Miss Green, we thank you so much for all that you do on a daily basis. I know multiple times you've said to me that you're just doing your job and you are, but your heart and your love that you pour into your students, your staff in your building, it shows. And I'm glad that you're getting recognized for that, not only here, um, but receiving this community impact award. Keep doing you. So, if you don't mind, we'd like to share a little chachki gift with you. Come on up. Come on up. I'll give you the box to take it home in. But this is just a
004with our new logo. Nice way to have some cold water on days where you might be running around crazy in the building. Just a few, right? Just a few. So, one more one more ask. We're just we're going to smile pretty and just get our picture taken up front here with the board. Then you can send me bad emails later that you're mad at me. >> So board, if you guys don't mind, come on up. >> SP team, would you guys like to be in this too to recognize? No [Applause] stand ready. There we go. All done. >> Well, Mrs. Green, while uh everyone is walking back to their seats, I just want to thank you. Um, you know, I I know that you are extremely humble uh but you are one of the hardest
005working uh staff members in this district. You know, I've always said that it that our staff who really care for our most vulnerable students inside and out have a special place in heaven. And they um it's more than a job. So when you say you're just a teacher, it's not that. Every time you I talk to you, you're you're finding ways to connect with your kids, going above and beyond. um on top of all you do to support our your own ch your own children and and as part of our show choir program uh you are just a phenomenal human and a representation of what we hope all of our staff here are in Hamilton. So carry that head high. Don't be mad at us for this. And what I'll say is you're never just
006a teacher. You are a super >> Well, here's what I'm going to say. Your job is the most important work we could ever do. So, on behalf of all of us, I want to thank you. Like I said, don't be mad at anyone, but I hope you feel the love because the days are hard. The days are long, but uh they do make a massive impact both inside and outside. So, thank you for representing Butler County and Hamilton. Uh but also just showing what great people we have here. [Applause] Awesome. Thank you for that spotlight. was pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. Congrats again. Um, next on our agenda, we have our um, Ridgeway Elementary Building presentation. Oh, no worries, Mr. Britain. No worries. students. >> Well, good afternoon. Thank you so much for having us as
007um Mrs. Blevens comes to save the day and help with our presentation. I just want to thank the board uh board of education and our board members uh President Matthews uh Vice President Davidson, Mrs. Baker, and Dr. Copus for everything that you do for both our school and for our community. Mr. Frasier, Mrs. Blevens, and Mr. Wright as well for everything you do to continue support. Um also, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be back home as a Ridgeway star. Um, I love my Highland family and I know they are thriving on with Mrs. Lawson at the helm, but I am so glad to be back and uh, one of my greatest passions is being with students and green team, which has been a staple at Ridgeway since uh, Ridgeway's construction. So,
008I'm excited to share with you also the best part of the evening, our students. And we have five wonderful sixth grade students who are very passionate about their involvement in green team and everything that they have uh done over the last many years. And as we go into their last year, the leaders of the building of Ridgeway, we wanted to take a moment to highlight them and to share all the exciting things that they're doing with our team. So I want to introduce just some of our staff that we have. Of course, Mrs. Wagenfield, our wonderful assistant principal. Mrs. Schulty, our wonderful kindergarten teacher as well as an adviser of Green Team. And Mrs. Banks wishes she could be here tonight, but she has another obligation. Um, but she's here with us in spirit and
009will continue to grow and lead Green Team forward through the year. So, at this point, I'd like to turn it over to Mrs. Wagenfield to share a little bit about what Green Team is. >> Good afternoon. Thank you for giving this opportunity to highlight this amazing group of kids. Um, the green team started 15 years ago with a simple patch of woods behind Ridgeway. So today, that patch of trees has turned into two trails and two outdoor classrooms. We're proud to be an Ohio Wild School site, one of only 200 schools in the state. The green team is all about conservation, environmental education, and inspiring future green change makers. Our students learn about local ecosystems, sustainability, and the importance of protecting our natural world. We provide hands-on experiences by partnering with community experts such as
010naturalists from Houston Woods, researchers like Jeff Davis from Butler County, bird experts from the Miami Valley Ottabon, Butler County Soil and Water, Fernald Rumpky, and many, many more. Now, I'd like to turn it over to Mrs. Schulty and one of our one of our green team teacher adviserss. >> Good afternoon. Our green team members, they don't just learn, they take action. They have participated in service projects like recycling, creating a pollinator garden, feeding the birds, clearing innovative plants, and conducting citizen science bird counts. We hope to continue our afterchool community events like astronomy night and al calling. This year, we hope to expand our impact with more service projects that reach beyond our school and into our community. We are proud of what we have already accomplished. Revamping our school trails, purchasing outdoor seating to
011help students connect with nature, and creating new spaces in our outdoor classroom. This is all thanks to our wonderful PTO. Ultimately, our goal is to empower students to become environmentally minded individuals who will carry these values with them wherever they go and perhaps they may even pursue careers in the environmental or conservation fields. We are grateful for the continued support of our staff, our students, our families, and our administration. and we are excited for the difference our green team can make and continue to make. Thank you. All right, before our students come up to share, we'd like to share a quick video of just some wonderful events and memories from the last few years and imagine some beautiful music being played. It's good. It's good. You can keep going, Mrs. Blevens. Just a visual of
012all the wonder. There we go. Perfect. [Music] Wonderful. Well, now's the best part of the night. We get to hear from our sixth graders. So, first I'd like to introduce Mr. Sawyer Adams. Come on up, buddy. Hello, my name is Sawyer and I have been in on green team for 3 years now and I'm going to tell you about the discoveries we make while we volunteer with the team. While walking the trails, we find very cool things in the wild like birds, feathers, fur, and bunnies. We even find fossils and footprints. We try to observe them to discover what animals they were. It is crazy to see what happens on the trails. When you find an animal, it be When you find an animal because it shows us how active wildlife really is. Last year,
013we broke apart owl pellets to find out what the owl may have eaten. I want you to know the things we discover are the best things I've ever seen, and that is what makes the green team special. >> Next, we have Elena Thomas. Hi, my name is Elena Thomas and I am a student at Ridgeway Elementary School. I am a part of a school community called Green Team and this will be my fourth year. I'm here today to tell you about my favorite part of Green Team and how it can help others in the environment. My favorite part is taking care of our school trails. I love cleaning the trails and making them safe. The outdoor classrooms helps us learn about protecting our environment. We help the animals that live there in two important ways.
014One, we do not litter. And two, we stay quiet so we don't scare them. After events like the haunted trails, we always clean up for the animals. We also plant trees around the school, like the great wagon field tree we planted last year. Taking care of our trails keeps them safe for both us and the amazing animals living there. Thank you all for allowing us to present. I hope you all took in more information about Green Team. We have Hie McKillip. >> Hello, my name is Hi McKillip and I'm a sixth grader at Ridgeway Elementary. I have been on green team for 3 years and loved every moment. Today I want to show you my favorite part, recycling. Each Friday, teams of two to three members would collect recycling from each classroom in a pot
015and then would take a look to see if it was contaminated. Contaminated contaminated items would be thrown away. Recyclable items would be taken outside to the bin. Recycling helps our world by teaching kids that small actions at our school and home make a big difference. As a green team member, recycling brought me joy while helping our world, our school, and our planet. >> Next, we have Miss Autumn Isaacs. >> Hi, I'm Autumn Isaacs and I'm a sixth grader at Elementary. I've been on green team since third grade. I found that speakers and guests help the green team group and even affect some students career paths by showing what happens when you pursue helping the world not just as a hobby but as a career. They show you can make a living by conserving the nature
016we can't give back. They might have lasting impact on students which could mean more and more person giving the world the boost it needs to thrive. These speakers and guests help young minds change the world one person at a time. Thank you for your time. >> Mr. Max Wagenfield. >> Good afternoon. My name is Max. I'm in sixth grade and I've been a member of green team since third grade. I love feeding the birds at Ridgeway. Every Monday we fill the feeders and by Friday they are completely empty. I've seen many different birds like robins and blue jays. It feels really special to know that our work helps birds find food when they need it. I'm proud to be a part of the green team because the work we do makes a real difference for
017our school and our community. Well, I am just filled with joy as the principal at Ridgeway Elementary School. You know, Mrs. Schulty and I used to teach kindergarten back in the day, and I remember going out on those trails with loppers to say, "Hey, what could this look like?" and to see to come back with how incredible the program has grown and expanded both that community aspect and also bringing that career piece but also the connection with our community both in to the school and out into the community just fills me with joy and there's nothing but wonderful things ahead for all of Ridgeway but of course tonight specifically with green team. So once again I want to thank you. I want to thank our wonderful students and they represent a larger group that can't
018wait to dive in and help our green team community. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you guys so much for coming and um sharing with us. I greatly appreciate it. And I had no clue all this was happening. I really didn't know. So, I'm just sitting over here going like, "Huh? Huh?" So, um again, thank you for coming and presenting. Um, have you guys found any like creepy crawies, any bugs, or you guys not afraid of bugs and stuff? Is >> you want to you want to share what mom mom found the first week of school? >> Uh, yeah. My mom found a snake in the >> I was wondering. >> Oh, I hate snakes. >> We have lots of creatures around. You know, luckily this snake was outside, but sometimes snakes, birds, those
019things find their homes in Ridgeway when they're looking for warm spaces. We had a a first grader today find a spider while she was in a small group session and brought it down in jar and said, "Oh, that's great. Let's bring it outside as >> this awesome program you have." Um, and kids u awesome speeches. It's hard to get up in front of a group and do it. And you all did a great job. I'm proud of you, >> Ryan. I remember 15 years ago when you uh >> you approached the board about your nature trail. >> Yes. and your concept and your dream of doing it and it's turned out great and I I've hear from community members that go out on weekends that walk the trails and enjoy it and it's been a
020real plus to the district and I thank you for that. I thank your staff and your students for your club um focusing on the environment we need to and I'm I'm proud that we have it. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you, >> Brian again. You I'm glad to see you back at Ridgeway. I going back home is always, you know, exciting, isn't it? But just incredible these young men and women that young boys and girls that can get up here and speak to us. I'm just totally amazed you guys all did very, very well. So, um, keep up the good work and I love nature trails as well, so I may be show up out there some. >> Come on by. Absolutely. >> Principal Britain, thank you so much. But I do have two questions.
021Of course, >> Max, if you would please tell me what your favorite bird is. >> Um, I love to see like the blue jays, like the different shades of blue with the mixture of black and some white in it. So, I think like their feathers are really cool. >> You ever see hummingbirds there? >> Um, I think maybe once, but we don't see them as often as other types of birds. So, >> what kind of the bird feed that you put out on Mondays? So we have some like grains and like nuts some. Then we also have some berries in it too. So >> it goes quickly. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. Last question is for Miss Mrs. Schulty. You you mentioned uh after school community events. >> Yes. >> Um share some
022information about that. We have in the past we've had astronomy night um where we have um a group from Cincinnati come out with their big telescopes and we opened it up to just green team last year but the word leaked out you know that was that was going to be our meeting for the month was you know we're not going to have a meeting after school we're going to do it at we're going to come back tonight when it's dark and that's what we told our green team members but it leaked out the parking lot was full um there were three different telescopes set up and um it was just a line after each telescope. I can't remember what was special up in the sky that night, but it was sure special. Do you remember
023>> It was Jupiter. Look at that. It was Jupiter. Um we also have an owl calling night. U Mrs. Banks who's unable to be here today. Um she uh I believe used to work for Metro Parks and she has so many connections. So, she brings out some friends from Metro Parks along with herself and we just go through the trails and um see if we can talk to the owls. And we're hoping to expand more activities this year. That is our goal to have a more community base and have some more night events. >> Great. Well, thank you. Thank you. >> Well, to the green team, I just want to thank you for coming and sharing this gem of what you're doing over there. What I love about it, I wrote so many quotes down
024that I love that some of you were saying, but what I love more than anything is you show that learning doesn't have to happen within the four walls of school and you're connecting and giving back to the community that helps to raise us. Um, but if there was one quote that you guys said today, um, that I think is really powerful and I think sometimes we forget that it doesn't matter how big you are or what your title is or how old or things, but we can change the world one student at a time. And I think this committee is a small example of that, but it is so important to the community of Ridgeway and to our district. So, thank you for being ambassadors of that program. Um, you also are sh showing something
025that I call the Hamilton way. And the Hamilton way is something that sets us aside. It shows that we really care about our community and our school and all of those pieces. And so on your way out today, we have a special bracelet. These are a hot commodity. There are only two students in the entire district who have one right now. And these are these are just bracelets to remind you that you are displaying the Hamilton way every day. So, thank you for being amazing ambassadors. I hope your last day of elementary or last year of elementary school is amazing, but I know you're going to continue to do to do great things. So, thank you so much to all of you, to Miss Schuly, to Miss Banks, uh to Miss Wagamfield, Mr. Britain, just
026thank you for what you do with these kids. Parents, I love to see you here. I actually love to watch parents while their kids are talking because it just, you know, it makes your mama and your data hearts sore. uh to see that you have such wonderful kids who care about what they're doing. And I think, you know, we are blessed in our district to have 9,000 kids like that. But it's amazing to be able to showcase you're doing great things with your kids. So, thank you for sharing them with us and for helping to build this passion. >> Thank you. >> You guys got exclusive merch. Nice. Nice. >> Um let's see. Well, next on our agenda, we're going to consider a motion to executive session. And once we return from executive session, that
027will be the end of um business for today. And our next meeting will be on September 25th at 4 p.m. right here at the board office. So, I'll consider a motion. >> I'd make a motion we go into executive session. >> I second. Uh >> Mr. Fraser, if you call the role, please. >> Mrs. Baker, >> yes. >> Mr. Davidson, >> yes. >> Dr. Copus, >> yes. >> Miss Matthews, >> yes. Execut