001Welcome to February 5th, 2026 Fairfield City School District Board of Education meeting. Mr. Fields, would you call roll? Yes, Mrs. Bernie Miller. Mr. Clark. >> Present. >> Mr. Klein. Present. >> Mr. McDonald. >> Present. >> Mr. Napier. >> Here. Mr. Klein, would you lead us in pledge? Yes. I pledge 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. Thank you, Mr. Klein. Presentations and resolutions, Mr. Smith. Oh, there you are. Good evening. All ready and raring to go. Well, it's always an honor to present the state of the district, but I do I I really do have a disclaimer and that is and I know it has nothing to do with, you know, the over
002under on the minutes, but uh I did want to say um you know, for those new board members that we have this evening, the state of the district traditionally covers the start of the school year till December 31st traditionally and I'm very much aware of our financial status this year and uh and that will be mentioned throughout this presentation tonight in different ways, but that's not what tonight is about. Tonight is an opportunity to capture and reflect and go back in time and and take a look at all the wonderful things that have happened because of our staff and our students since the beginning of the year. So, having said that, I'll jump right in. So, if you're starting your timer, you can start those now. All right, Jay's on the on the clicker over
003there. We're going to skip to the very first one, Back to School Bash. Um I often say, if there's one thing that I can want site one example of describe the district, it's this event. And we started this back in maybe 2017. I remember being worried because we had a committee who was, you know, working so hard and excited about it and we weren't really we weren't sure who was going to show up. But people showed up that year and they have continued to show up every single year. It is just a massive community service party and we just continue to get more and more partnerships every single year. This past year, it was hard to keep up with how many backpacks we distributed because they kept coming in even the day of the event,
004but estimates were about 15 to 1800. And I often when I talk to our community members, talk about the fact that while that event may start at 9:00, we have parents show up at 6:00 a.m. Um multiple parents and their kids because they're so concerned about their child not having a backpack with school supplies to start the year. So, it's an again just evidence of the need that is here in this community. And so super proud of um that day and everything involved with it. Up next, we have the opening day uh ceremony each year. Excited to welcome back all of our staff members and recognize our teacher of the year and our support staff member of the year. Favorite thing with that is when the marching band comes in. That's the if there's a
005one downside to being superintendent, when I was principal, I could sit out there and just cry like a baby and it didn't matter. Uh now I got to at least try to keep myself together. But that's the marching band coming in is amazing. All right, up next we have bus driver professional development. We often talk about professional development for teachers, but the reality is we offer professional development sessions for so many of our employees. Here you see some pictures of some bus drivers learning about our PBIS systems that we have in place in our school building. So again, talking about that consistency, what happens on the bus happens in the classroom, on the playground, and so on and so forth. Drivers learn how to utilize de-escalation strategies as well. And I know it wasn't sure
006if Bear was in that picture or not. I know Bear is not here tonight. That's Matt's fault, Kevin. And but he is their favorite. Whenever I go, I try to take him with me because he is definitely their favorite. Back to school. This is the best day, right? Cuz that's when the kids come back to the buildings and that's when our buildings come back to life. Up next we have educating our community about school funding and finances. So as a district, we have worked so hard over over time to educate our community about school finance while being transparent about the financial stance of our district. This post is just one example, and you can see that's back in August, right? I mean, this is just that's a routine for us. This post is just one
007example of us sharing information with our community so they can have a better understanding of school funding in Ohio and how it impacts our district. And Jay has been amazing his first full year and and don't worry, I'll give you some more props a little bit later in the night. So Up next we have Principal wins Educator of the Year award. Carrie Gallo, our principal at Central, was named the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce Women Mean Business Educator of the Year. So we were super excited to celebrate that. Up next we have shout-outs. From time to time you see those on social media. This is one of my favorites. This bus driver, Ms. Bolzer, she found a bag of food that was left on her bus by a student. It would have been really easy for
008her to just say, "Oh my gosh, somebody left this." and throw that in the garbage. She was so worried, she took the time figured out who it belonged to, drove it over here to the high school to drop it off for that student because she was worried that that student was going to go throughout the day without anything to eat. But, here's the thing, those kinds of things happen in this district every day. And so, when we find out about them, we we we really want to take the time to celebrate them. Up next, random acts of kindness. That's our teacher of the year, Miss Masonic. Every year, she has her students in her random acts of kindness class cover the, uh, plaza in the front of Crossroads with positive and uplifting messages. So, that
009means for a while, anyone that enters, visits Crossroads will be greeted with those amazing messages. All right, up next, the Dollars and Sense debut. So, as I mentioned, we have a history of educating our community about school finance. Uh, this year, Mr. Phillips began doing those, uh, providing bi-weekly updates to our community through these videos. Uh, provide a broader understanding of school finance, discusses the challenges we face, how schools are funded, how our tax dollars are spent, and the impact of legislative decisions. When he first told me that he was going to do this every other week, I was really concerned that I'm you're going to run out of material. Uh, but he hasn't and it's been amazing. And what I love and he's and I learned from him, too. And so, he he'll have
010a question, he'll implement that. Sometimes I'll do that in FCSD and five and sometimes we join together, do a joint video, and try to mention some of the things that get brought up to us, uh, on occasion, maybe just by one person. But, the reality is we know that if one person is asking, there's probably more people with the same question. All right, up next we have another shout-out. This is also for another driver, Fallon Middle. She was a second-year driver. Uh basically, one of her students who only rides the bus in the AM mistakenly got on the PM bus. So, she talked to the student, realized what had happened, made sure that she took care of him, and and the mom wrote in and said, "I just want to make someone else aware that
011this driver is amazing. I cannot express how grateful we are. She was able to recognize something was off with drop-off and keep my child safe. This means the world to my family. Please make sure to recognize this driver." Again, every day, every every building, uh we know what happens. We're so glad when we find out about these things. Up next, we have FC Cincinnati coming to Central Elementary. Uh they're having their physical education classes taught by retired FC Cincinnati mid- midfielder Manu Ledesma. Uh I don't know, that may or may not be how you pronounce his name, and I was shocked when I learned that he was retired. Kim was with me. He did not look retired. He looked to be in great shape. Um but I we had the opportunity to be there on
012several occasions for that. The kids absolutely loved it. All right, up next, pre-apprenticeship program. You if you I know you remember we had a presentation on that in January. Um this program just is amazing, continues to grow, um gives kids this is about opportunities, medical, manufacturing, construction, welding, automotive, and other fields. Mr. Malburg, you know, it's funny. I will walk by his uh office during the day, and the other day he had a hard hat on on a Zoom call uh with a bunch of people. Every It's like he has different uh outfits for some of these conversations that he's having. He is so excited about that work, and it's amazing for kids. Up next, we have an annual um uh ceremony September 11th at South Elementary. Um and you can see there the kids
013are amazing. Our students, the first responders are there uh to remember those who's lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. It's another one of those events I'll share a couple of those here tonight that everyone I would encourage everyone to attend that at least one time. It's it's a very special event. Up next, we talk about Cayden, uh a student at North Elementary for the last 6 years he has raised money uh for his school via his lemonade stand. His mom said uh his event highlights his dedication to making a positive impact. He has made thousands of dollars over the years uh and those dollars have gone towards a variety of initiatives to support the students at North. Up next, Britain's Battalion. In December 2020, Britain, now a junior in the online program at the
014Academy, was diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer. Her mom has fought to bring awareness and the need to increase funding for pediatric cancer treatment. Uh she and her supporters founded Britain's Battalion. Uh they had a uh an event back in September and the district um was proud to support that mission there at that special event. Up next, we have Women in STEM at FHS. We often talk about clubs and sports and student opportunities that we offer for our students and um we we do that because it's so important. We have so many kids here, uh not just in the high school, but across the district, and these opportunities are a way for them to connect outside of the classroom. And when you have in this building alone around 2,000 students walking the hallway, it's
015very easy for kids to come to school and just go go about their business, and some of them don't want to be seen or heard, right? And so, we're always looking for ways to expand opportunities for kids. This is an example, 80 young women in grades 9 through 12 attended the first meeting. Again, just another example of us meeting our kids where they are. Another opportunity up next, Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy. Um opportunity for students to learn leadership, build relationships, and perform community service. In their first meeting, they had fun, but they also completed their first service project by creating bags of books for elementary students. Homecoming 2025, uh that's just an amazing weekend here. Uh we've been blessed with amazing weather for quite some time. Uh last year, I mean, it's just the pep assembly.
016If you've never been to the pep assembly here, it's unbelievable. That's also an event I would encourage you to attend at least one time. Uh that's usually Friday morning. Uh the parade, we had a huge upset over Lakota West last year, and a dance held outside under the stars, which just started a few years ago because of COVID. The kids loved it, and again, we've been blessed with amazing weather. Uh so, it was a fantastic weekend. That same night, the next one, community appreciation night. Uh we have worked hard and we didn't have to work hard because they're amazing people in the city and township, leaders and and uh elected officials, and our board. Uh we every night or every homecoming weekend at that game, we we host them. We we we invite them. Uh
017we have great attendance. It's just an opportunity for leaders and and and elected officials to get together and, you know, spend some time together, and it's been amazing, and and they love it, and we get They love the fact that we host that for them, and and I don't know if I'll touch on it again tonight, but we we have a uh state of the community luncheon in the spring, as well. And uh again, that's all about bringing city, township, and schools together. And and it's been and it's been wonderful. Up next, fire department, Fairfield fire department reading to our students. We always talk about the great relationship again that we have with our first responders, how much we appreciate them for what they do, especially when we have emergencies. But here, you see them
018actually taking the time to read to our students. That's a program that was started a few years ago and it's also just just wonderful. Up next, we have the state the district report card. This past year, we earned a 3.5 3 and 1/2 star rating. Means that we're operating at a high level as a three-star rating means that we are meeting expectations. So as a district, we were 0.03 points away from earning a second four-star rating because that's what we earned last year. So we were 0.03 away from 2 years in a row. Our report card, our approach to that remains the same. Celebrate the successes, use the data to improve how we serve kids every day. The reality is we are blessed to have amazing staff members who go above and beyond for our
019kids every day. Many of the things that they do are not captured on a report card and they never will be. FCSD supports Sophia, kindergartner at West who is battling cancer, going through chemotherapy. We celebrated her and tried to bring a smile to her face by wearing rainbows, unicorns, and sprinkles all across the entire district. It was awesome. And actually that'll come back up a little bit later in the evening as well. Up next, each year our athletic department brings awareness to mental health awareness through a variety of athletic events. This year, the Purple Monkey Project partnered with the district to recognize outstanding teammates on and off the playing surface who are also mental health advocates. Up next we have community conversations. Our district office team, we've been doing this for years. This is not
020new. Uh but we we make ourselves available generally uh two times in the fall, two times in the spring, one in the city, one in the township, one during the day, one during the evening. That is all by design so that we're just trying to create as many opportunities as possible, right? Uh and again, we did that in the fall and we have our dates set in the spring as well and they may or may not have been released yet. Up next, um our uh National Honor Society won an award. Uh they were the recent recipient of the Service Award of Excellence. Of over 17,000 active chapters of NHS around the world, only 77 schools were awarded the Service Award of Excellence. That's impressive. Up next, we have our athletes uh building focus and leadership.
02140 of our student athletes nominated by their coaches to participate in a focus and leadership session led by motivational speaker Mark Tigerman. That group meets on the second Thursday of each month and I think they're out in the arena lobby uh building their skills as athletes and leaders. Mr. Tigerman volunteers his time and lunch is provided by a guy by the name of Jeff Sims from Assistant Digital Media. All right, the next one. FCSD educates community about open enrollment. Every opportunity we we just again want to advertise the fact, share factual information about that program. I call this presentation a myth buster. I know that everyone in this room knows this continues to come up. It just came up the other day on social media and I provided uh a lady with a link to
022that presentation that contained all the factual information about that program. Again, we we we encourage our community members to review that data. Most of them would be surprised and we Mr. Crapo has made a presentation at our Rotary Club and again that's something I talk about on a regular basis. >> Yeah, just a quick plug this Friday's Dollar and Cents is about open enrollment so. >> Yeah, there you go. Thanks Steve. There you go. All right, FAFSA completion day at FHS. If you've ever gone through this as a parent, you know, it's a lot. And again, this is a perfect example of our folks doing things that they don't have to do but we have a FAFSA day here 8:00 to 1:00 or 2:00 to 6:00 where parents can come in and get assistance completing
023the FAFSA. Again, going above and beyond for our kids and our families. Up next we have the quality profile. That's released every year. I did give provide you with a copy. It's a companion to the state report card so it captures a lot of amazing things that go on here that are never captured in the state report card. So again, I think most people are surprised when they see that that profile and see you know, all the amazing things that take place here throughout the school year. Up next we have South and Creekside 67 students from South. 17 sixth graders at Creekside had their poetry published in the Young American Poetry Digest and 14 seventh grade students from Creekside had their poems published as well. All right, up next we have Fairfield continues to lead
024the fight. Every year the freshman school transforms into a carnival-like atmosphere with games, refreshments, touching tributes to family and friends who lost their fight. This year the cross curricular event brought students and staff together to spread awareness and raise money to support Sophia, a kindergarten student who is battling cancer. Again, this is one of those events I would encourage you if you've never been just go into that building, walk around. It's all hands on deck. The students are highly engaged. The lessons, the the mission of the day, it's amazing. So again, I would encourage you to check that out sometime. Up next we have our Purple Monkey Project Award winners. So proud to celebrate our teacher of the year and Spirit of Reagan Award. Purple Monkey Project recognized West Elementary teacher Teresa Elash as teacher
025of the year and high school student and golfer Jacob Hopper was chosen as the recipient of the Spirit of Reagan Award. Up next, middle school runners, cross country runners made history. This was This is really I mean this was unique. First time ever I think in our school history we had Spur seventh and eighth grade duo to win their GMC races. They were both champions. And that was Lilly Dinninger and Landy Conley. Landy went on to compete at the state meet in Columbus earning a spot on the podium as seventh fastest in Ohio. Marching band earning a superior rating. Once again, I say once again because they earn a superior rating every single year. Thanks to an outstanding program full of wonderful students, staff members and supporters. Up next we have two seniors being named
026semi-finalists, Madison Baker and Brandon Rivas Valenzuela for being among the 1,238 selected as Coca-Cola Scholars Program semi-finalists. More than 107,000 students from the country applied. Winners of that application process could earn a $20,000 scholarship. Up next, we have FCSD gives back. This is amazing. Each year, I know at the Fab, we have what I call a very friendly competition of who can bring in the most canned goods. This year, I believe it was the business office for the first time ever won that competition. And there was some questionable antics came into play when we saw some individual coming in the front door with a truckload full of canned goods and she doesn't work in the business office and she doesn't work at the in our building or and I don't see her name listed as
027an employee. But, I guess next year if Matt is going to do it right, he'll put some rules in place. But, that's really not what this is about. Look at all those canned goods. I mean, it's unbelievable. It's amazing. And so, again, every year they come to us and our answer is yes every time and our buildings join us as well and and and as I've said, we are at our best when we serve. And I know I was joking around about some you know, some people like to compete really hard, but it's just it's amazing. I love that picture. It's a beautiful thing and you can't even see all that was there. I think while we did have a new winner, I think we probably had set a new record for the number of
028canned goods that we were able to collect. All right, up next we have the FCSD honoring veterans. It's really cool in this district what happens. Creekside hosted a Veterans Day ceremony for the entire school, served breakfast to veterans afterwards. And by the way, and I know I shared the story at lunch that day. I was so impressed by our middle school students, a gym full of them, complete silence, very respectful of our veterans and the recognition and the honor that day. It was really cool. Uh and that's the way it should be. At East and North, students lined the parade route with signs and waved to veterans. Uh and then of course we hosted a veterans luncheon for all of our employees who have served our country. Again, just really proud of how our schools
029and our district honors our veterans for all that they have sacrificed. Up next, this is amazing. Uh Ohio's PBIS recognition system provides an opportunity to celebrate schools and districts. Uh schools and districts are eligible to receive awards at the bronze, silver, or gold levels of distinction. It is extremely rare for schools to be recognized at the gold level, so we were so proud to hear that Central Elementary joined South Elementary as a gold level recipient. Uh so congratulations to the entire staff at Central. But also want to commend staff members at North, Creekside, West, East, and Compass for also being awarded medals. That says a lot about our staff members again continuing to go above and beyond to promote positive learning environments and improve student outcomes. That that's amazing. That's amazing. Uh up next, uh
030again, we um back in November we announced we would host multiple community engagement sessions for our community. Uh purpose was to educate, inform, and solicit feedback regarding some of the tough decisions that will be have to be made in the near future. In addition to being transparent uh with discussions at board meetings and making videos, we believe it was imperative to host these sessions as well. Up next, we have South Elementary celebrating Multicultural Night. Our district has always taken great pride in the diversity of our student population and our broader community. These events allow our students, staff, parents, and community to share about their culture as well as learn from others about their cultures. Again, that's one of those I would encourage you to attend, or you can even go to a soccer game. Uh
031if you've never experienced that, many many times those students will be there next to the concession stand, and they will be sharing food. Uh and it and it's amazing. It's I would encourage you to check that out, and not just the food, but also go to one of those nights at the building. Uh Central Elementary students making a difference. I know that every I believe everyone in this room was here at that board meeting back in November. Very impactful night. We heard from those students about the needs of many of the students that we serve. Uh and we also shared how they are making a difference by organizing food and clothing drives. They talked about how they created a plan to remove barriers to learning, and discussed how they are more than classmates. They are
032a community, and care about each other, and it was a really special evening, and I and I know we had I had some conversation uh with some of our team some of my teammates, and just really reminded that night when we left just how special this place is because of people, our students, our staff, and our community. Up next, we have uh celebrating signing day. Again, another really cool thing to take in. Uh student athletes uh signing on the dotted line. Uh they commit to playing at the next level. Uh each is recognized in front of teammates, coaches, family members, and friends. Very special day. This room is generally standing room only for those events. It's really cool. Up next again, uh some pictures from those uh community engagement sessions. You know, and I think
033we had more at the second than we did the first, and some people were disappointed in the turnout, and that we maybe you know, wish we would have more people. By the way, we did some things differently uh for this. We put flyers out in the community, sent personal some personal invitations. Um but what I will say the people who were there, um their level in of engagement was outstanding. They had great questions. They engaged in meaningful discussion at at their tables and in their small groups. Up next, we have celebrating our student musicians. Uh five of our outstanding musicians, Cayden, Kendall, Ada, Cassandra, and Khalia, all almost all Ks, uh selected to participate in the Southwest Ohio Region Orchestra. This is a significant honor as students across the region audition for limited seats. Up
034next, we have fire poster winners. I'll again talking about first responders here. You see Alexander Sanchez, uh one of our poster contest winners, picked up at school in a fire truck and treated to a pancake breakfast with his mom and firefighters. So, that does take place in both of the city and township. Up next, we have mock trial team success, another great opportunity that maybe some people may not even be aware of. Uh they participated in mock trials with area law students, attorneys, magistrates, and judges. Uh Brandon Balanzuela, Sakar Timsina, and Jocelyn Moore won outstanding attorney for their roles in their trials while Serenity Sims also won outstanding witness. Up next, youth leadership training. Uh excited that members of our youth coalition attended that training uh in Sandusky, Ohio. The The main goal of the
035coalition is create a healthier, safer community for our youth by encouraging substance abuse prevention and promoting mental health initiatives. Up next, uh Shared Harvest. This was awesome. Um prior to winter winter break, we were approached, uh "Hey, can we have a food drive utilize one of your spaces? Of course we said yes, that's what we do. Um and we actually had a board meeting that night. That may have been our training session. I stopped by here on my way there. The line hadn't started yet. It was all the way around the building. Some statistics there. Uh 508 families were served food. The number of people impacted was 1,755. Most of them were from the city of Fairfield and Hamilton. 33,000 lb were served, which was estimated to be about 65 lb per family. They asked
036us if we would be willing to partner again in the future. I assured them we would do that. And they asked about volunteers. So, long story short, I said, "Well, you got to have it when we're not in school." So, they're having one on President's Day and you will see some of our people working alongside theirs to serve our community. And and I love that. And last but not least, we made the nice list again this year. And during during that last week of school, Santa and a few elves there may look a little familiar. Um really busy making the rounds. Um I truly believe Santa and his elves got just as much out of those visits as the students and staff. Um I mean, well, this guy right here. I mean, look at how
037hard he was squeezing Santa. There was so many like that. It was awesome. Those kids, it meant it was a lot for them. It was just awesome. So, it was a great day. It was exhausting, but it was a great day. Um and so, in conclusion, um just want to say I believe I know where we're at financially. We're we're we're working in that every single day. Um we're there. But, in spite of that, I I the state of our district remains strong because of people. Uh our staff members, our parents, our community members work together to do what's in the best interest of our kids. Uh we have faced many challenges. We know we will continue to face many more. In fact, as I've said, we are at a crossroads right now because of
038the fact that the funding of public education in the state of Ohio is not where it needs to be um and continues to get worse, unfortunately. We will continue to work diligently to educate our community. We will continue to be transparent. We We will continue to engage them. And while we remain committed to those very important tasks, most importantly, we will continue to strive to provide the very best educational experience for every single student who walks through our doors. And that is why the Fairfield City School District is such a special place. So, in closing, I want to thank this Board of Education for your support and leadership. Without your support, it wouldn't be possible for us to do what we do for our kids every single day. Thank you. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS
039FOR MR. SMITH? YEAH, MR. SMITH, uh great presentation. Is there a way you could let us know when these things are going on so that we could attend them? Sure. Yeah, we can we can take a look at that. Okay. There's a whole lot of things I'd love to go to, but I don't know when when they are. Yeah. Yeah, we can put something in place. That'd be great. Thank you. Uh well, I I want to say thank you for the presentation and and reminding us all of the wonderful things that happen in the district um including the amazing opportunities that we offer our students. Um but not to take anything away from the people that make it happen cuz that's really what it comes down to. Um we have staff that go above and
040beyond for our students in the community and it's always nice to take time to remember that. Um what I really want to say though is thank you and and you all for setting the example of servant leadership. It is when people ask me kind of what my number one thing that I look for in people is it's it's that. It's it's just that servant leadership. Um I I think you show that you recognize that we have a responsibility to the community, whether it's Shared Harvest or any of the other um examples. Uh I've seen the spirit of service in so many people in the district from staff to teachers to students and parents. Um it truly permeates the district and and it starts at the top. So, thank you. Mr. Klein. Well, thank you for
041the presentation. It's It is so saturated with incredible things. And and what a what an awesome presentation that uh I'm sure is just a I know is a a small part of what's going on in the district. Um get to see things on the larger scale there where groups are doing things, some individual things. I mean, it will be, you know, it's there's all those things going on and then the things that go on daily with our teachers and students in the classroom that are just incredible as well that, you know, we just don't have time to recognize all those things. But, what a great presentation. And we talk constantly about how the community and the school are so intertwined and how those those two pieces go hand in hand. We move together. We're engaged
042with each other constantly. And and the way the school goes, the community goes and vice versa. And you see that throughout this all the outreach to the community and things going on. At first I was like, I'm just going to jot down a couple things that are really cool here. And and I do some some of these neat things. And it was my list is like 12 things long. But, you know, the the general things I I love seeing I love seeing student leadership. I love seeing how our students get engaged with things they're passionate about that develop them as as people, leaders, and just help them because they're going to be future leaders in our community and and great community members as they graduate and move on and build families. You know, just different
043things. The marching band superior ratings over and over. You said it is that they just do such an incredible job and you know, the central presentation. That was a great, just incredible presentation where the students took their school community and and just got together and got engaged with it. I could go on and on here. I've got a long list as you went through, but like there's just so many awesome things going on. Again, you know, thank you guys for the the leadership that you provide and the opportunities you just you you allow people to be who they are and do what they do and they tell you know, our teachers and staff, bus drivers, everybody does an incredible job with our students every day. So, thank you for highlighting those things. Yeah, I concur
044with my fellow board members that is always a one of my favorite presentations, right? And we joke about your length of time, Mr. Smith, but honestly it it could go on and on forever as Mr. Klein noted. The list just just it goes. You got the students, their sports, their the arts, the the the academic celebrations that we do along with the staff from cafeteria, the bus drivers, just the encompass it it the whole district and that's what's awesome to showcase with this. Um, B2B is my favorite. Back to school bash is just my my favorite. I love serving hot dogs and Mr. Hustle slings about what, 6:30 in the morning you start cooking, something like that. We go through about 1,500 of those before 10:00 a.m. It's awesome. Also love the shout-outs. I mean,
045um it a lot of things I don't want to say it goes unnoticed. It go it goes un uh published, unmarketed, unannounced. There's probably so much that people just don't see. So, that that's a great thing. Educating the community on a regular basis. Um you you have always done a great job with that and and the the the tag team between you and Mr. Phillips with the finance piece this year has been just amazing. Mr. Phillips, you've done a great job with that and just jumping right in. So, educating the community with those with those videos. And Caden, I did get the pleasure of meet that young man at one of the one of the board meetings, I think it was. And man, was it 6 years now he's been doing it, right? That that's
046that's that's awesome. And that fundraising support for North is just incredible for that for that young man. So, um so much collaboration again from the community as we saw the the names of the the food banks, the the businesses, the township, the city, the police, the fire, the whole thing encompasses what what we are as a community as a whole. Um so, great job. The Patriot events, th- those are just you know, you can't say enough about that support, too. So, um and to Mr. Napier's point about visiting and attending some of these things, do that. Get a hold of Mr. Smith, set up a time, whether it's going into a school, schedule with him so he can be there with you. We can do that. And that's that's part of the the pleasure that
047we get to do that on behalf of uh the community, really. Um but we get to enjoy that ourselves. So, schedule that with Mr. Smith uh to step attend a class or one of those events, he'll he'll send the calendar out to you. But thank you, Mr. Smith. Great job. And you couldn't do it without a great support staff. Thank you all as well. So, appreciate you. Yeah, I forget. I know it's me still. Superintendent recommendations and reports. Yes, Mr. Clark and members of the board, this time Mr. Hustle will cover the items listed under personnel professional and personnel support. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Clark, members of the board, I have three items for your consideration this evening. Number under personnel professional, number one resignations, letters A and B. Number two, unpaid leave of
048absence, letters A and B. Number three, employment, letters A through D. That concludes all the items I have for your consideration under personnel professional. Okay. Motion to accept these recommendations? >> I'll make a motion. Mr. Napier? Second. Mr. Klein? Mr. Phillips? Call roll, please. Mr. Napier? Yes. Mr. Klein? Yes. Mrs. Birding Miller? Mr. Clark? Yes. Mr. McDonald? Yes. Mr. Clark, members of the board, I have five items for your consideration this evening under personnel support. Number one, resignations, letters A through D. Number two, unpaid leave of leaves of absence, letters A and B. Number three, employment, letters A through E. Number four, support substitutes 2025-2026. Number five, athletic event workers 2025-2026. That concludes all the items I have for your consideration under personnel support. Great. Motion to accept these recommendations, please. >> Motion. Mr. McDonald?
049Second. Mr. Klein? Mr. Phillips? Call roll, please. Mr. McDonald? Yes. >> Mr. Klein? Yes. >> Mr. Clark? Yes. >> Mr. Napier? Yes. >> Mrs. Birding Miller? Mr. Clark, members of the board, we do have several items for board discussion this evening. Our first is in regard to the 2026 state legislative conference. You will see a document in your folder with some additional information about that potential opportunity. I wanted to share that information with the board in the event that a board member may have interest in attending. I know that Mrs. Birding Miller is not here this evening, but I do believe she does have an interest in attending, I believe. So, again, just wanted to allow the board to have some discussion about the possibility of that. Any questions or comments on that? I do
050agree with Mr. Smith. I think Ms. Burding Miller has expressed interest in continuing on with that. Yeah. Good. Mr. Napier, you good? Good. Thank you. No objection. All right. Okay, great. Thank you. All right. Our next item for board discussion is in regard to the FCSD O H A A membership, Ohio High School Athletic Association. Um that is an annual event. Each year the board must pass a resolution in order for our school district to maintain its membership. You will see that uh resolution later in the agenda under other items for board action. Any questions about that? Okay. Good. All right. Our last item for board discussion is in regard to a grant update. This time I'll turn it over to Mr. Perry. Thank you, Mr. Smith, Mr. Clark, members of the board. Governor DeWine
051launched Ohio's school bus safety grant this past fall. The grant was designed to improve safety on school buses across Ohio. The district applied applied for reimbursement for all eligible safety features on buses purchased in the 2024, 2025, and 2025, school years. We were notified about 2 weeks ago that we were we were awarded just over $25,000. This funding will help offset the cost of the safety equipment already installed on these buses, and the district will continue to actively seek and apply for additional grant opportunities as they arise. Any questions? Questions, comments? Just quick comment on bus safety since it's bus safety. Having been on several buses, you know, the last several years coaching, and our bus drivers do such an incredible job of presenting the safety at the beginning, telling the kids what to do
052in different situations, and every time we get on there. So, that's whatever training we're doing there is excellent. So, >> That's good. Thank you. I'll share that feedback, for sure. Yeah, thank you for continuing to find ways to, you know, get grant money to to fund these things versus just general operating funds. So, thank you for that diligence on that. Absolutely. Yeah, that'd be my comment, too, where, you know, where we are with the finances and every little bit helps, and I know you're very diligent with good being good steward of the funds and looking for those ongoing opportunities. So, thank you, Mr. Perry. Yep, no problem. Thank you. Mr. Clark and members of the board, I do have several items for your consideration under letter D, other items for board action. Number one, recommend
053approval of the middle school and high school programs of studies. Number two, recommend approval of the 2026-2027 OHSAA Board of Education resolution as follows. And if it's okay with the board, I'm asking to waive the reading of that. Okay? And then that concludes the items that I have for your consideration this evening under letter D, other items for board action. Okay. Motion to accept these recommendations. >> I make a motion. Mr. Napier? Second. Mr. McDonald? Mr. Phillips, you call roll, please. Mr. Napier? Yes. >> Mr. McDonald? Yes. >> Mr. Clark? Yes. >> Mr. Klein? Yes. >> Miller? Motion passes. Committee reports, legislative update, Mr. Klein. Well, there's a lot of interesting things going on legislatively. Um, needless to say. So, I'm going to focus on a couple things that one that that goes into effect
054here in March, and then one that we're going to keep a close eye on just because of the interest of it. But, House Bill 114 passed at the end of session in 2025. It goes into effect March 20th of this year. It refers to references the age for kindergarteners. They have to be five or at least five years old and we have to admit five-year-olds on the first day of instruction in the school year, which is a slight change from a date. It also addresses interestingly enough a scoring error on the 24-25 end of course exam for science. So maybe that could get us that 0.003 points or 0.03 points we need, but But there was I I I I found it interesting that that's part of that bill. They recognized that and and make
055that correction. House Bill 671 is one that we're going to keep an eye on. It's a brand new bill that that went into the process just I believe this week. Um The Department of Education and the Workforce, it says can show and hold state foundation funding if school districts are part of a complaint or a member of a complaint in a legal action against the state specifically around the foundation funding money, which includes things like the state state scholarship program, which is you know includes the voucher program and things like that. So that's an interesting interesting bill that we'll want to keep an eye on as it goes through. So there's some other things I'm I'm just monitoring through the process, but on those two are pretty interesting. Thank you, Mr. Klein. Mr. McDonald, student
056achievement. Yeah, so I haven't I think it's been a month since I've got to do one of these and I had to like pair down this list. I think there's more of these worthy of this than legislation for Mr. Klein. >> presentation used to last 60 minutes. I know I'm going to I'm going to need the rest of your 30 minutes. Um Mr. Klein, can you get the timer out for Mr. McDonald, please? I I I will say like I spent I spent yesterday morning doing this and and over the course of time I'll I'll forward things to myself to not forget them and I literally had this massive list and I'm like oh my gosh I've got to pair this down. But one of one of the things I want to say too though
057is what this speaks to me so vividly is how important it is to have that third place for our students. Whether it's athletics, whether it's the arts, whether it's the academic team, whether it's the mock trial team, what whatever that is where they make those relationships outside the classroom and and and learn things like leadership and and teamwork and I just I can't stress that enough how important that is but um want to say congratulations to our academic team including juniors junior captains Sakar Timsin Ben Holloway along with senior Gavin Croswell and sophomore Jafar Alwazzu. And I did see Mr. Brom last night to confirm that pronunciation. Um they scored a perfect 20 for 20 during the alphabet round in their match against Princeton. It's an extremely rare occurrence first time in coach Brom's 12
058years of coaching that he has ever seen this and even the opposing team stood up and cheered for them. That's how rare it is. That team is 12 and two right now and fighting for the top seed in the upcoming GMC tourney so great job and then good luck to them. Uh the mock trial team you mentioned this that team in your presentation and another name is going to a name is going to come up again. Uh they participated in the Ohio Center for Law Related Education District competition and won all four judges ballots to advance to the regional competition. Special shout out to Sakar Timsin who played the role of prosecutor and won outstanding attorney. He's obviously been very busy. So congrats to him. Congrats to our middle school wrestling team winning their fourth
059consecutive GMC championship. The team was led by three individual league champions, Drayden Simpson, Joe Jonah Lee, and Elijah Smith. Congratulations to the ladies of Pure Elegance Fairfield show choirs. They finished first runner up at their first competition last week in Columbus. I was lucky enough to be there supporting them and it was a lot of fun. Great shows this year if you get a chance to to go see them. And last but not least, certainly not least, congrats to two FHS seniors, Connor McCollum and Luke Minnick on achieving a perfect 36 composite score on their ACT. Less than 1% of all test takers achieve a 36 on that exam. So, like I said, from the academic team to athletics to ACT, we have some amazing students in this district and it is my absolute honor
060and pleasure to be able to do this every board meeting. So, thank you for allowing me to do that. Good job. In fact, I may be incorrect, but didn't we have two last year or was it just one that perfect score? Was it two? I think it was just one. I think. I don't know. But still, that's that's that's incredible cuz that's small small percentage and we've got four in two years. Thank you, Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir. And Ms. Abby Burding Abby Burding Miller is not here as you can tell. I'm sure Butler Tech has some stuff going on. I just want to announce the AM the AM Hub grand opening that a lot of us were at the other day, which was pretty incredible. It's the combination of Miami University and Butler Tech who
061has remodeled, revitalized the Champion office building down on River Road next to the Miami University sitting there. So, it was it was a great event and it's going to be an outstanding again partnership with Hamilton and Fairfield and and all the schools, too. So, it was really good event. Um parks, not a whole lot going on. Um it's cold. Um but the uh Fairfield Fire Department did have a emergency um uh ice rescuing training at Marsh Lake. Um and of course the the big banner is don't get on the lake. Right. Um but they do that training there. And then uh on the 21st, any crossword fans? Uh there's a crossword puzzle contest Saturday, February 21st at 10:00 a.m. at CAC. So, um Jay, is that you? Yeah. Nice. Love crosswords. Nice. Manny does too.
062Manny, too? Oh, we got us we got a champion to hammer out. >> going to be a competition. Oh, yeah. Yeah. She just said, "Bring it." Uh that's all I have for parks. Mr. Smith, uh Planning Commission updates? >> Uh yeah, their last uh meeting, January 28th, was canceled. So, there is no update from the Planning Commission. Thank you, sir. Uh announcements, February 12th, 2026, community engagement, uh FCSD finances, the road ahead uh 2.0, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Fairfield Central uh Elementary Cafeteria. That's February 12th. February 16th, President's Day, no school. February 18th, 2026, uh second community engagement is the again road ahead 2.0, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Fairfield North in the cafeteria. That is again February 18th. And February 19th is our board meeting, regular session, uh at 6:30 p.m. right here
063in the Catherine D. Milligan uh community room. Board member comments, Mr. Napier. You know, I'd like Mr. Smith for the state of the district. Uh very very informative and everyone up here for all the hard work they do. And even the board members, they Kevin had a nice uh long list there and John had a long list on that and Scott speaks well. So, I I give my time to them. Mr. McDonald. Uh I just want to reiterate thank you for the the the great uh state of the district presentation and um want to also say thank you to Mr. Phillips for uh kind of arming us with uh facts that that we can point people to and thanks for not running out of topics. I'm sure I'm sure it'll be a while, but thank
064you for continuing to do that. Um it really does mean a lot and and they are very helpful, so thank you. Mr. Klein. Um also want to thank you for the the presentation. It's such an exciting presentation and again, just so many things are are in there to so many things that that there isn't time to cover. So, just uh thank you for the the uplifting presentation. That's good stuff. Um just want to also thank dollars and cents. I mean, it it we continue to share that information um to educate the community. It's great to be able to point people to those things um and and just continue to put out that factual information so that uh folks can understand what's going on with with school finance, with our finances and uh how we can
065how they can impact that positively. So, thank you very much. Yeah, I concur. Great presentation, Mr. Smith, as always and um you know, the community engagement, the community involvement, the community um awareness. Um I I hope they see this. Hope they see these presentations and again, it takes a staff behind a great leader to do all this and uh yeah, to touch on the the the dollars and cents Mr. Phillips you've really taken that not it was it's organic and brand new but you've set the bar high for it any other next topics that we're going to have and you do a great job with that communication piece and that's important to the community is our work out to work community tonight. Thank you all so so very much. Um I would just uh encourage
066the community again watching uh reach out to your state legislative reps, contact them about funding and why uh some funding has been taken away, uh contact them with questions, concerns, write them, call them, email them, text them. Make sure you reach out to those in Columbus cuz that's where where all this really needs to uh uh take a head. So Um with that we'll recess to executive session uh to discuss employment of public or employment of public employees 121.22G1. Motion to uh to mean to executive session. I'll make a motion. Mr. Napier Second. Mr. Klein Mr. Phillips you take roll please. Mr. Napier Yes. Mr. Klein Yes. >> Mr. Clark Yes. >> Mr. McDonald Yes. Passes. 7:25 You read it? Yeah. That's what I do. Yeah that's that's about it together.