001City School District Board of Education meeting for November November 6, 2025. Mr. Mills, please call the Mr. Be >> here. Mrs. Bernie Miller, >> present. >> Mr. Clark, present. Mrs. Gund >> here. Mr. >> Please join me in 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. >> Presentations and resolutions. Mr. Smith. >> Yes, Mr. Members of the board. We have one presentation scheduled this evening and that is in regard to our state report card. At this time, I'll turn it over to Mrs. Thank you, Mr. Smith. So, Mr. Napier has been giving me a hard time lately about not having much to say at board meetings. Little did he know, I've
002been banking all of those minutes for 32 presentation. So, everybody settle in. Just kidding. >> Mr. Begley, members of the board, I'm here tonight with my department members Dan Jeffers, Georgie Bowman, and Katie Fishell to share our state report card results with you. We have included a lot of information in the presentation and we'll highlight and focus on certain things. Um, but of course, we're always happy to go back and spend time on a certain slide if there's question that you might have. So, as you know, the report card is intended to give us information to understand our areas of strength and areas for improvement. Along with the report card, many districts also release a quality profile, which acts as a complement to the report card to capture more of the great things happening in
003our schools every day. The report card measures achievement, progress, early literacy, gap closing, graduation, and new to the calculation this year is the college, career, workforce, and military readiness component, which rolls right off the tongue. And um then all of these components go into a district's overall rating. So, we're now in four of the star rating system. So, I think we're all pretty familiar with this now. This is just a quick reminder of what the stars mean for each component. And each of those components uh listed in the chart are rated on a one to five scale. And then a district or a building can earn a half star but only in their overall rating. This chart is provided to us each year so we can see how districts performed in each component across the
004state. And then here you can how a district's overall rating is calculated. Each measure is weighted a little differently. And then the graph to the right shows the distribution of scores across the state. This year, Fairfield earned three and a half stars, which you can see is in line with most other districts. But the hard part was that we were only 3000s of a point away from exceeding state expectations and earning those four stars like we did last year. And I felt like I had to include this slide. This is not available public facing data, but this is what lets me know how close we were to four stars. Um, so I don't want anyone to think I'm making this up, so I thought I to share this. So, we needed the 3.125 points for
005four stars and you can see up there we earned 3.094 in our overall points. Um, so, you know, close doesn't count in most things. Maybe horseshoes, hand grenades, whatever the old saying was that you never hear anymore. But knowing this information, you know, makes me believe uh that we will be back in the fourstar category again next year. We are certainly working hard to get back there. So, here's a breakdown of our ratings uh by building. The green highlight identifies the buildings that showed improvement from last year to this year. And just a few shout outs. I won't read all of them, but I do want to highlight the East, North, South, and the Freshman School. exceeded state expectations uh with a special congratulations going to North Elementary, the first school in our district to
006ever earn a fivestar rating. Now we'll move to some comparisons. I included the GMC schools in Butler County schools for your reference like I do each year and on this slide you can see that Fairfield is second to Lakota out of four bigs in Butler County. district and then as you know from previous years the most relevant comparison and the one we will use most tonight is the sim is with similar districts. So um provides us this list every year. It usually changes a little bit from year to year and we will use similar districts as points of comparison as we move through each one of the components. So, we're going to start to do that now, digging into each one of the components, starting with achievement. And this is basically how well our students
007did on on state tests and also includes the performance index. Um, this is where we get more points for students who score above proficient, fewer points for students who score below proficient. And you can see that we're continuing to get just a little bit better every year. So, we are at least trending in uh the right direction. Uh here's uh how our 20 similar districts performed on this component. Bearfield is shown in red and then our top five most similar districts are the ones with the arrows there. So will it be East Lake with the one behind it, they are most similar to us. Karma is second and so on. So I've only included the top five. These are all similar districts. I was calling out the top with the arrows. I would still be
008working on this slide if I had to make more arrows and try to line them up. So, so now I'm going to turn it over to the rest of the team to cover the remaining This is always our favorite thing to be presenting in front of you. So, um the next component that we're looking at is progress. And basically what we're looking for here is how much did students grow over the past year. And um our progress score of four stars is is something that we're always proud of. knowing that students are making growth every year moving forward. Um O2 has not released all of the progress data as of yet. Um so this might look a little different from what you've seen in the past, but this is the data that we have. And
009just looking at this data, you can see that um our ELA components are pretty strong. Um we have some work to do that and science has always been a bright spot for us. We have Um this is a high school across content areas. You can see that generally we are in those areas that are showing that students are making pretty significant growth. Algebra is an area that we need to focus on. But again, if you go back and look at the other slide with the map here, you can see why, you know, we have some work to do in mathematics and we are continuing to do that with our alignment with our programs and the different focus that we have that we have going on this year to really get our students in good shape.
010The Next component is early literacy. We have maintained our three star rating in early literacy. Three measures come into play with our early literacy score and that is proficiency which is the achievement in third grade reading. Um the number of kids that are promoted to fourth grade. And then we also have improvement in K3 literacy. And basically what that is is just when kids go from being more from being off track to on track throughout the year. So it's over it's growth over the year. So if they started like say off track in second grade but then in third grade they're on track that shows some growth for those kids and that's part of what they calculate. It's a very convoluted calculation difficult to work with but we do our best to try to figure
011that out. Compared to our similar districts in early literacy, we are in the top half of that with our three star rating. And you know, comparatively to the ones that are most similar to us. And then this was a bright spot with early literacy. I just want you to see that the number of students that went from being on a ramp or off track from last year, we had 49%. We're now of kids that are on track now up to 65% of kids that are on track this year. So, and that shows in the progress data to LA, you know, we're showing that we are making growth and that kids are achieving. >> Gap closing. The gap closing component is a measure of the reduction in the educational gaps for student groups based on goals
012set by the Ohio's every student succeeds act and they increase as you can see from this graphic here range from two stars in closing all the way five stars with combined rating of three stars. There are let's see the annual performance goals are established in six areas and the performance of specific student groups are measured against the annual long-term goals for each area. Those areas are English language arts academic achievement and growth, math academic achievement and growth, graduation, English learner language proficiency, chronic absenteeism and the gifted The state expectation for all areas is for them to continue to close the gap year after year. So here's a little graphic achievement and grow out of the achievement and out. And each one of those colors represents a different student for math. for achievement and we didn't
013achieve any of the growth goals for you graduation and English learners. Finally, we have chronic absenteeism and the chronic absenteeism is the exact same last year% last year we made the goal this year we didn't because they increase the goal every year and the state average this year was 25.1 so the state average and then for gifted see this year our performance index 96% didn't meet the goal. We increased it from last year. Last year's comparison to the similar districts same list of similar districts. Thank you. This evening I'll be talking about the last components of our report card, our graduation rate and the college career, workforce, military readiness, commonly referred to as CCW. The graduation component evaluates our effectiveness in ensuring students complete high school within the state defined fourth and fifth year cohort.
014It's essential to note that the graduation data used is always lag one year behind to include all summer graduates. For example, the rates reported on our 2425 report card reflect the class of 2024 students who started their nth grade year in 2020 and the class of 2023 for our fifth year cohort students who started their freshman year in 2019. We've maintained our steady fourstar rating in graduation with a weighted graduation rate of 95.1. Within this area, we are proud to report a strong increase in our fifth year graduation rate by nearly 3% from our previous year. This slide illustrates our focus on student perseverance is paying off. Among our five most similar districts, Fairfield holds the second highest fourth and fifth year graduation rates overall. The CCWMR component measures how effectively our programs prepare students
015for the the diverse post high school path, whether it's postsecary education, immediate workforce entry, or military service. Unlike the past two years where this component wasformational, the report card marks the first time CCWMR is fully rated and included in our district's overall report card grade. This component also follows the oneear data lab rule, meaning the readiness percentage is based entirely on the outcomes of the class of 2024. The CCWMR percentage is calculated by dividing the number of students within the graduating class who meet at least one of the 11 established measures measures by the total number of students in that graduating cohort. A few of these measures include scoring remediation free on the ACT or SAT, achieving one of the six Ohio honors diplomas, enlistment into the military, completing a recognized apprentichip or earning 12
016or more college credits through opportunities such as CCP. The CCWMR calculation mirrors the report card component formally known as prepared for success, meaning the student will only count once in the calculation no matter how many measures they may meet. As you can see, we have significant opportunities for growth in this area and we are confident that we will substantial increase in our rating with the reporting of the class of 2025 and subsequent classes. This confidence is driven by a few initiatives including an expanded pre-apprenticeship program and a special acknowledgement goes to high school assistant principal Joe Wberg who has championed the implementation of this new pre-apprenticeship program. Within this program, currently we have students who are able to look within industries they are interested pursuing in the years following their high school career. We currently
017have approximately 120 students participating this semester in the key industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and construction. We are grateful for our collaboration with local partners including Performance Automotive, Snider Electric, Mercy Health, and Elite Welding Academy for bringing this opportunity to life for so many of our students. We are also looking for ways to continue to enhance our CCP offerings to provide more pathways for students to earn the qualifying 12 or more college credits needed for this calculation. And we are looking forward to launching CCP Spanish course in collaboration with Cincinnati State and are actively pursuing other CCP courses to offer to our students in the upcoming years. We believe that the strategic forward looking initiatives and others will drive continued improvement in both our graduation rate and our readiness component score in the years ahead.
018And now I will turn it over to Mandy for some closing statements. on her paper. I don't know how she saw it. She's clearly the youngest. >> So, I wanted to end by sharing some specific action steps we're taking to improve all components of the report card. Um, as we always say, that the report card doesn't define us because there are so many amazing things happening uh in this district every year that cannot be captured on a report card. Uh but the report card does drive a lot of the work uh we do and that's true for my department and all district and building leaders. Uh this list is just a snapshot of some things happening this year um to work toward better outcomes next year. the district's move to I ready data meetings with
019the building principles which aren't really new but we continue to put I'm sorry to meet with the building principles twice each year around their report card data and their goals um a focus on improving attendance um working to expand the pre-apprenticeships as post official talked about um are some of the things that we believe will have the greatest imp for our students. And finally, uh this is not report card related, uh but we learned earlier this week that five of our elementary schools earned the US News and World Report best elementary schools award. Schools that made the list demonstrated not only high academic proficiency, but did so consistently across diverse student populations, maintaining strong instructional support systems. So, I thought tonight uh would be a good time to take a minute to publicly celebrate this
020achievement. Congratulations to the teachers, staff, administrators, and families of Central Compass North, South. So, with that, I will take any questions you might wish. >> I actually have a question. Um, and maybe I spaced out and missed it. Um, but on the gap closing slides, there was these like golden dots or yellow dots. Um, can you explain what those dots represent? >> So, Those change every year like our goal each year changes and so those dots just represent where we're at you know 59.2 it could be 67.3 it will change for each subgroup. >> Thank you. >> Uh otherwise I mean as you say report card does not define us. Um we are continuing and learning how they're going to grade us especially with new uh cases like the readiness, college, MCC, MW, I don't
021know. >> My favorite home is the WKRP in Cincinnati. Um, so I think that it's great that we're continuing to uh grow and learn programs like our pre-apprenticeship so that we can prepare our students because um you know I we never truly thought it was um something that we weren't excelling at, but now that we kind of have a metric um you know we can even do that much better for our students. So great job. Thank you so much for making this presentation to the whole staff. You guys always do such a great job making sure that our curriculum is prepared for students and teachers and well well um executed and I appreciate everything you guys do and thank you so much. >> Had a question about early literacy. There was a slide where you
022showed the diagnostic percentages and the significant increase over last year really over prior years. 246. So, uh do we know do we attribute that tremendous growth to anything in particular besides hard work? >> Um but I do think that we are just more focused. Um I think that We have we are developing really strong instruction where teachers are well and have a better understanding of teaching but I also think that we're doing a better job of aligning our supports which are interventions and things of which has been a focus and continues focus the right supports for what they're actually struggling So, I really do think that just the professional development and the work that we've been doing around our ELA has given teachers just a stronger understanding of early literacy and what kids need. All
023of our teachers are trained in Birmingham. Just lots of things that we've really been focusing in on a strong confidence and really a strong understanding what kids need to learn. >> Thank you. That's just so important, right? It's the foundation. That's a great answer. >> Um the I readiness implemented for the 2024 2025 school year. >> No, this year is our first year. >> Thank you for the presentation to your whole team. It's always interesting and really exciting to celebrate that almost four. That's that's just great because so much goes into just said the training and over the last couple years building around not only the team but the teachers but the students too right so great job there and then the ship I think that's just amazing that is iconic what these kids and
024if I remember correctly they come to the school but they come here for that correct That's pretty awesome. >> I believe we have a presentation in the future that's focused on >> January. While we're talking about free apprentichip, since that door just got open for me and you actually look to me to answer questions, I just want to share that uh you know, we we we talk about that program, those opportunities for our kids all the time. And it's just amazing. U recently I had um a community member actually a former board member Carrie Singer uh ask me about um you know could he would there be a possibility that he could maybe engage with that program um as a pilot and talk about aviation and I called Joe and said hey Sam has approached
025me here's his contact information or maybe I sent Joe's contact information. They connected. You know, a week later, Joe and I had a conversation about something else. And I said, "Hey, what what happened with Terry?" And I Terry, if you're watching this, sorry I'm telling your story and I haven't talked to you about it yet. Um, he said Terry came in and watched the program, I think, you know, with some other organizations, stayed for 30 minutes, came to the office, said, "I'm ready. When can I start >> like do a six week program or something like that?" And then off they are going just just like that. And that has happened numerous times this year. And every time Joe is so excited I mean aviation I mean this I mean he's so excited and passionate
026but really I mean you heard the numbers how many kids uh we have involved and I've seen those projections. they have goals for just you know more students second semester and so on so forth and and since I have the mic I just want to say that you know that when you ask a question Georgin has an answer ready for you about well what you know and just for people who aren't here that's how this that's how it works here you know they just don't you know they're not in it so they don't realize it that that we have people all over this district who are just working so hard for our kids and our families and there are just so many things going on behind the scenes. I saw she had attendance listed in
027our last meeting. We talked about Dr. Grani has spreadsheets and these giant uh posters in her office of all these kids names and attendance records and she sees it every day and makes phone calls and that's just that's what our teachers and our administrators are doing over the entire district. It's not a coincidence that we were four stars last year and we're just that short today. Scott, I appreciate your round up philosophy. Maybe spend some time with Mr. I'll stop now. I could go on, but I'll >> thanks for sharing that, Mr. Smith. That's just like you said, so much that the community doesn't see. A lot of people don't understand they don't come to a board meeting and see these great presentations or watch them afterwards. They miss a lot of information. You did
028a great job. Thank you. >> All right. Ready for superintended under professional and personal support. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Begley, members of the board, I have three items for your consideration this evening under personnel professional. Number one, resations, letters A and B. Number two, unpaid leave of absence, letters A and B. Number three, employment letters A and B. That concludes all the items I have for your consideration under professional. Thank you, Mr. Hustle. I entertain a motion to accept these recommendations. >> Second, Mr. Clark. Mrs. Miller further discussion call the roll. Mr. Clark >> yes Miller. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gund. >> Yes. >> Mr. N. >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Mr. B. Members of the board I have four items for your consideration under personnel support. Number one resignations letters A through
029E. Number two unpaid leave of absence letter A. Number three employment letters A through N. And then number four support substitutes. 25 2026 concludes all the items I have for your consideration under personnel support Mr. Helain a motion accept these recommendations >> second cl >> yes >> Mr. M >> yes >> Mr. board discussion this evening our first item is our study this evening. We are discuss chapters. Uh we have often talked about um prompts I read, I noticed, I wondered or any other insightful words of wisdom you'd like to share. I don't want to steal your thunder here. If you'd like to lead us out, >> I'll try. It's actually a very interesting book for me. >> So, we're here in the in the first chapter. Uh you highlighted I was that there is
030so much more good in a person than there is bad. So find the good, bring it out, give others the benefit of the doubt, judge those on how they treat you and stand up for others who don't stand up for themselves. Very well put. This is an interesting read. It's it's John Gordon who we've actually read one of his other books before and he's um He's in he's kind of writing this for PJ Fleck and PJ Fleck of course is the current coach of Minnesota Gopers and this is sort of his life story and we're gleaming from it the things that made him special as first aized athlete student and then as a coach number different levels. So, really some neat stuff here. >> Um, on page 48, I'm going to kind of that middle
031paragraph kind of jump around to a couple quotes on there. Um, but it's talking about the bamboo tree and it says, "Grow higher. In order to achieve what we want to accomplish, we knew we couldn't stop growing." And then a couple lines later, it says, "In two or three years, the root system has formed and then in one year the tree can spring up to 90 ft." Um, and speaking of that, we like literally have talked about that multiple times today, talking about the pre-apprenticeship program. You know, it started off with one or two or a couple programs and we're just now getting the roots and it's going to grow so much more. I mean, it's still growing and continues growing and we're only halfway through the school year and we're already looking at stuff
032for next semester. And so, um, I just think that it's truly important to recognize that not everything has to start off with a bang. You know, you get your roots in. You start off and then it's going to just excel from there and just shoot up with a good foundation. Speaking of foundations, it's not to keep talking. Uh I absolutely love the reference of building um on page like building the house. Um on page 37, I compare building a program to building a house. In the year one, you can dig deep down to the plot of the land you have been granted. Speaking of using the resources you have, you kind of have to dig into that. and build from there. Um, and I think that's just super powerful to like recognize that you have
033to kind of use what you have and dig deep sometimes. >> Too small, too, about talent. That's a success. It's more than just talents more than a physical ability and stature. You start, spirit, creativity, will effort, passion, ability to be a great team. All that goes into success. So many great like boxing story where they had one set of boxing gloves and they shared the big kids got the right hand. He was all the time getting beat up, but he kept going. As he got older, he realized that people weren't cheering his butt kicked. But it was because he had that that will, that passion, that drive to just keep going. He's been very successful in the show. >> Mr. also highlighted another section here that kind of speaks to the whole mantra of row
034your boat, right? So, row your boat is a never give up mantra, an approach to life and work that anyone can adapt and implement. It's a standard that says your life will not be defined by circumstances or events. When adversity hits, and I guarantee it will, you will not allow a situation or a person to discourage you or affect the way you live. Rather with enthusiasm, inspiration, optimism, you will create your way of life. The boat is about being proactive, not reactive or perfect. Regardless of what happens, you have already decided that you are going to move forward in a positive way. The beginning drive You success, you uncertainty, you struggle, you stormy weather, you rocking the boat, you just don't give up. And again, he's pretty much shown that his whole story. tear down.
035So they didn't know his name, but they knew his passion. >> Yeah. The whole boat of what I tell myself now, which is just keep swimming. >> Just keep swimming. Now I can say your boat and I won't sound like the Disney nerd that I am. Um but I I really appreciated on page 44 where he was talking about he wanted they were in the middle of an intense game and he wanted to have a really inspirational locker room speech at halftime and he ended up just walking in the locker room and proclaimed when you are tired of being average you're not and then walked out and that spoke to me I feel like how many times do we all just kind of need a little kick in the rear end something simple that makes
036you go oh you know, I I can do this. It's hard, but I can do it. And then something simple like that turned their game around and they ended up going out and winning. Um, another thing spoke to me is when when he talked about losing his son shortly after birth, that was that was so hard to to read. And I've mentioned before that there are two kids in my family that were born congenital heart warriors. They're both thriving. Thank God. Um, but that really spoke to me and how how he talked about that and it kind of as successful as he is, it really shows you that everybody is fighting some sort of battle. And that theme sort of carried on with me when he talked about the history of the golf ball and
037how he presented that to his players when he was saying the first golf balls were smooth all the way around, but they took on golfers hit them hard. At the time, the dents were considered a bad thing. However, as golfers learned that the ball traveled further with more dimples, it changed people's perspectives. As the design evolved, golf balls were given more and more dimples. Nowadays, golf balls have anywhere from 300 to 500. It's like, well, yeah, we all take our dimples in life and hopefully get better and learn and move on. So, stuck with me. Just keep one of the overarching um messages throughout this book is talking about sacrifice and serving others. Um and as elected officials, we do a lot of that. We sacrifice time with our family so that we can serve
038our community and do stuff like that. And on page 33, it says we don't have a lot uh we don't have to let our energy way and then give up. We can always sacrifice and do more for others and ourselves. We can all learn from our past and move forward to create our future. He makes a reference to that sacrificing in um the last chapter that we've read which is on page and on page 55 talking about the boat and how to grow your boat. Um the more you serve others, the bigger your boat gets and the larger your team becomes. Your expand your impact expands and more people decide to row with you. It doesn't happen overnight but But as your vote and your impact grows, your life becomes more rewarding. Um, and I
039I feel that all the time as I um go to these school functions, go to the schools and see um the everyday impact these students are having on stuff that um you know we discuss here but don't see every day. You know, it so it's just it's very rewarding to the impact that we're making in the schools just by um giving that servitude to the community um by our students u benefiting from the great programs that you know we help steer towards I guess what I would add is we were talking about his warrior attitude never give up approach and yet he talked about almost giving up He was at Western Michigan and started out poorly and continued to to lose and vultures were circling and he was having personal struggles. He almost gave up
040and so he credits his wife, right? I think it does take more than just hearing your own voice. I'll take off on that because wife Heather was ready to quit criticized everything. She would not allow me to give up on the boat. She made me realize that the platform I had was given to me by God and that could be used for more to bring more good into the world than just winning football. She taught me that the hard part was about being about being is that you are respect. at the bottom of page 31 in the end of chapter 4. Learn from your past, grow in the present, prepare for whatever comes your way. The most important thing is to keep on rowing, right? Never give up attitude, right? Interesting story. It's an easy
041concept. You talk about several sayings on page five. find a way was less even on the days when you don't feel like it workil. But we we often talk about that's what we do here is we find a way we find a way for kids for kids who um come to school every day with barriers and we and every every student is unique in his or her own way. There are a lot of barriers, but and it can be challenging and frustrating and exhausting, but we we keep growing and our staff finds way. >> All right, our next item for discussion, organizational meeting in January. This time I'll turn it over to Mr. Phillips. >> Yes. I just wanted to confirm with uh everybody on the board who will be returning that Thursday, January 8th
042will work for you for our organizational organizational business meeting. Uh we have to have that within the first 15 days of January. Um just want to confirm that that works with Abby Scott and Kevin in the back. >> Yes, Kevin. So that'll be Thursday, January 8th. >> 6:30. Yeah. >> All right. Up next, resolution on administrator contracts. This time I'll turn it over to Miss and actually keep it with her. She'll be talking about some more policies after. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Beckley, members of the board, my first item for discussion this evening is a resolution on contract. This resolution is in response to a possible state law that would impact the ministry of compensation and is recommended to ensure the law. So, any questions or concerns that you may have, the board will
043be asked to take action resolutions. policy. So my second item for discussion is policy revisions due to house bill 96. Fair warning, as I just said, we will be policy tonight and at our next board meeting to ensure our policies are up to date and competition that I shared with you for you to review in advance. Letter policy BF board policy development is updated to reflect being able to approve a policy revision at the first discuss due to the increase of legislative changes with effectiven It als requirements. Mr. McKin and the tech department are actively working to ensure implementation of these these requirements will be ready for compiance checks that we told will begin July 2026. Letter policy use of electronic communications equipment by students also our cell phone policy is updated to reflect changes
044in revised code for student use during the instructional day unless otherwise specified by law basically more clear and concise language that als changes to law addressing use of cellular devices during an active threat or emergency. basically allowing students to be able to use cell phones as appropriate to communicate during letter policy budget planning is updated to reflect new deadlines with current subst policy D revenues from tax sources and letter G policy FD is both legal procedural requirements request letter H follows the school ceremonies patriotic exercises to clarify requirements for children. Letter I policy HA district records commission retention and disposal updated record and letter J polic GCI professional staff assignments and transfers updated to reflect code requ letter in our district 208 changes removing open enrollment application deadlines if the student's parent is an active
045duty member of the armed forces policy and reading skills assessments and intervention is updated to reflect changes in law assment options, exemption status, and requirements for high dosage ting policy, graduation requirements updated to reflect a provision peritting to a student from the financial literacy graduation requirement. If the student while in high school participates in a financial literacy program offer student that program policy special education model policies and procedures there are absolutely no changes to this policy from the last adoption but there is a new there's an annual verification of approval of that by November 30th each year. So that's why I bring that to any questions or concerns you may have. >> I just have one question back to E which is DBD budget plan and the shift from a fiveyear forecast to a threeyear
046forecast. what the state is recommending or requiring. I guess in these times of financial uncertainty, why are we short question to our treasur? >> Yeah, that's a great question. And actually, what we'll say is it's a fouryear forecast because it's the current year plus three. So, it's really a fouryear forecast. But if you want opinion of why we're shortening. Not only are we shortening the forecast, but we're requiring the initial forecast to be done earlier. Okay? So, it used to be November, now it will be October, which means it has to be approved and and and delivered in September. But the real reason I think is because you know school districts you can look at ours you look at our reserve fund right now you know you're sitting around $40 million but when you start
047defic spending and our budget's over 120 million but when you start deficit spending that cash balance is eat away very quickly. Okay so you get to years three four five of the forecast you see that the school district is out of money. However, if you shorten that forecast up, it looks like looks like a school district is more secure than what they really are. So then the argument can be, well, why are you coming and talking to us about more money now? You have $40 million in the bank 30, but they don't see years when when you're out of money. And so also they're scooting it up. They're moving moving the initial up because your your current year's expendure all the new pays for teachers and administrators, you know, if there's a raise going into,
048for example, into this school year into the 25 26 school year, that doesn't really hit our books until September, October. So, if the forecast has to be in, I think it's actually August 31st. You're not going to see that reflected in the forecast, the actual numbers reflected. You'll see the forecasted numbers, but you don't see the actual numbers. So, I think there is a method to the madness. conspiracy theorist, but I believe it's because they want to look better in the eyes of those that are looking. That's that's my explanation. It's unfortunate facts are facts and it goes coincides with everything we've been seeing coming out of the state house over the last couple of years. Correct. Members of the board, I do have several items for your consideration this evening under letter D items
049for action. recommend approval of agreement garage LLC for maintenance services of all motor vehicles and equipment as stated in exhibit B agreement effective July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028 district option to extend to additional years. Number two, recommend approval of the incentive review group IRG agreement. Number three, recommend approval of resolution on administrator contracts. And I'd ask permission to wave the reading of that resolution. And that concludes the items that I have for your consideration this evening under letter items action. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. I'll entertain a motion accept these recommendations. So, >> second further discussion. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ber, >> yes. >> Mr. Gund, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Yes. Committee reports. Do we have a legislative? >> I do. Um, Senate Bill 50 recently passed and is
050expected to head to Governor DeWine's desk. And that bill would allow 14 and 15 year olds to work at least up until 9 p.m. at night. Presently, they're allowed to work until 7 p.m. 16 17 year olds can work up till 11 p.m. Now I don't know what I don't know what changes it is really going to have practically. Um I know when I was 15 and half McDonald's that was my first job and I remember getting frustrated like I get there at like 4:45 or whatever and then I had to out by like why am I here you know for whatever but um you know so this would allow kids to work later but at the same time it doesn't change the number of hours they can work on a school night I think
051it's like three at the most and it also kind of conflicts with federal labs about how work so be interested in seeing how this plays out >> thank Thank you. Tech report. I do have a report tonight. So techy year celebration, right? Started in 1975 there in Fairfield Township with Russell Lee and is expanded to many different campuses. In January they will add the hub campus manufacturing hub what used to be uh tech. And uh and then in February the aviation uh campus will open in Middletown airport of course expansion of bioscience center somewhere in that time frame as well. Uh we had sort of a strategic plan that was a look forward as well as a look back and in the 2425 school year I guess is an interesting number um in terms of
052students on the different Butler Tech campuses adult learners on the Butler Tech campuses and then students taking Butler Tech classes at their home schools here in Fairfield. We have a number of Butler Tech classes that touched the life of 38,000 uh people in Butler County last school year. That is amazing. Along with that, uh how about number of hours in workbased learning? So public has started something called the fifth day learning, fifth day work experience. And in that experience, students actually go out to different uh locations and and and see what a real job in that field is like and work with those employers. And so since that program started, they have now logged over half a million hours of work to the students of Butler Tech. And then finally, a big part of Butler
053does after the education piece is the credential piece, right? It can be expensive and and for many careers is the last piece before you can actually apply for a job in that field. So, color tech works hard to ensure that students earn industry credentials. And so again, since they made that a focus, they've presented over 5,154 industry credentials, uh, allowing students to walk right in the profession they train for out of. So amazing things going on there and certainly more to follow. They talked about 50 years later, their 50th year may in fact been their most impactful. experience construction of course student achievement. >> Um I'm going to highlight a school instead of just students. Um so our west elementary student has spent uh the the student council worked with the food pantry and they
054collected over 2100 items to donate of nonp perishable items to the food pantry. So, uh I want to give a huge kudos to all of the West students um and the staff there that was able to collect that lunch. Um and that's just a small portion of what our district is doing as trying to work and continue to make sure that our students and community is fed. Uh so if you are interested in donating or have anything you can donate that's non perishable, you can take it to any of our schools during their hours and you can check and see that on our Facebook page to list what hours they're available. You can also go to the administration building um or you can donate directly to the food pantry at 78 Donald >> Parks and
055Recreation ML. >> Yes, sir. Friday, tomorrow is the last day that you can register. in the parade of lights. It's always amazing. If you never suggest you go and the weather's nice, it's even better. Blood drive by the Fairfield Fire Department. That is Monday, November 24th, 2 to 6 p.m. at the Mill Department there. stories with Santa that starts on Tuesday, December 2nd at 6 o' also at 7 and 7:30 that's at the CAC building arts building. Lastly, for any of the artists out there, you can put application in for your artwork to be hung on the wall as an exhibit in 2026. I don't know if you've ever saw some of the artwork that's there. A couple months ago, they had an artist that snowboards down to Mr. Smith. Planning Commission Planning Commission did
056meet recently. However, they did not discuss any topics relevant to the board. Thank you. Announcements. November 20th. This is the next board meeting that will be offsite at Fairfield Central Elementary School Cafeteria. November 24th, country exchange day. No school. November 25th through the 28th is the Thanksgiving break and no school for our students. December 1st, school resumes after Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving break. Board member comments. Thank everybody for coming tonight. Thank our two board members in the back and look forward to working with you. >> Also want to say congratulations guys. Sure you're gonna do a great job. I'm excited to things from out there. I'll be out there watching. I want to thank Mrs. and your entire team for it. I always find it very interesting but kind of very overwhelming when looking at the
057report card data and I mean even just looking at the career readiness and whatnot different items that can contribute to that is just crazy. we have we have people that are keeping track of that for all of our students to make sure that that they're on track and we're on track. Um and uh so I appreciate everything you do on a daily basis and then also making this pres. >> Uh I also want to congratulate the gentlemen and u it was a rough couple weeks uh the last couple weeks we've had a lot of conversations and a lot of work together. Um, and I look forward to continuing that with you guys once we're on the board in meetings only. Um, uh, and uh, I want to thank everybody who went out and voted. You
058know, it is part of our civic duty to go out and vote. I met a lot of you at Creek Side in the afternoon and saw a lot of um people who were just interested in um our community and investing in our community. So, thank you everybody who went out. Um I'm so honored that you guys reelected me. I am so um excited and u emotional. Um I love to serve the community. Um it's been part of my growing up I've been volunteering at events throughout the community since I was real little. Uh my family does it. My dad serves as a trustee and got reelected. And it's just it's part of my blood. It's part of who I am. So I'm so excited and honored that you guys are allowing me to continue to
059serve you in this seat. Um thank you Miss O and the team, your whole team. The frustrations are always so good. So great to see the breakdown instead of just black and white paper that's telling me what the state thinks of us. to see the true numbers and the breakdown. Um and just show even where we learned how to grow and you know continue because um as the book shows like uh failure is giving up. Never give up. Continue to fail is to grow. Um and so I appreciate you guys to continue to educate and make sure that our students are continuing and that our um our report card continues to improve. U if we do miss it by third of a point or 100th of a point whatever. Um so thank you so much
060for the presentation. Um Miss Howard, I think that might be the record for a number of policies. We have an update. Um so thank you so much for your due diligence on that and making sure that we are continuing to update those and keeping the legislate. Um and keeping us informed and providing all that beforehand so that we can read through that and not spend reading through A through P right here in front of everybody. So, thank you so much. >> Yes. I want to recognize and welcome one of the high school students from Mayor Mes Coalition, Evan. Thank you for coming tonight. Appreciate you being here. Also, congratulations to you, Miss Bernie. Mr. Klein, Mr. McDonald, congratulations to you. Looking forward to January and you guys sitting up here for the community take care
061of students and their family. So, thank you coaches. It's a great pleasure for you to be up here. Um, this is all thank you and your team has already been said or not because you you and your team put so much into that, but you also put so much into that presentation. But every day, every hour in the summer, right? It's not a nine month job for any of the admin or any of the teachers. It's a all day, all night, all weekend. Thank you for watching. Thank you. That's monotonous. It's not a fun read. It's not fun to do, I'm sure, but they need to be done with it. Thank you. It's an important tool. We have to we have to use it. We have to measure it. So, let's let's do the best
062we can do. and let's see what we can accomplish moving forward next year, right? And the CC WMR is a new component and certainly there's room for improvement there. I'm sure we will three of a point at least, right? Over the top, I'm sure I think that constant feedback, right? We get the data the data and we work toward improvement is one of the strengths of this district. I appreciate your effort. Uh you know this is a large district of the city township and yet it's a wellconed intimate district right that I think has their finger on the pulse of the district right so I was well pleased with the results because Mr. Klein and Mr. attending these meetings for quite some time and uh we'll be able to step right into their roles based
063on the knowledge they retain the effort they put in this spring. So pleased to see you reelected. for this job that's clear. >> That's all I have for tonight. I'll accept a motion to convene to executive s. >> Mrs. Bing Miller, Mr. Nier, Mr. Phil, call the roll. >> Mrs. Bernie Miller, >> yes. >> Mr. Nier, >> yes. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. M. Yes, >> Mr. Begley. >> Yes.