001the uh Fairfield City School District Board of Education meeting for a August 21st, 2025. Uh Mr. Phillips, call the order. >> Mr. Begley, >> here. Mr. Bing Miller, >> present. >> Mr. Clark, >> present. >> Miss Gundram >> here. >> Mr. Napier, >> here. >> Uh pledge of allegiance. Mr. Clark, will you lead us? >> Yes, sir. >> 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. Clark. We will get right into presentations and resolutions. Mr. Smith. >> Yes, Mr. Begley. Members of the board, we have one presentation this evening, and that is a student health center update. At this time, I'll turn it over to Mr. Crapo. >>
002All right. Good evening, uh, Mr. Mr. Begley, members of the board, uh I'm happy today to present uh Primary Health Solutions uh which is our um partnership for uh medical, dental, behavioral services in the community. Um this is one of the my favorite presentations, one of them because uh it directly impacts the students we serve and the families themselves. It gives them resources that they may not have had if it wasn't for the Fairfield City School District. So starting out um PHS vision at PHS Primary Health Solutions is to improve community wellness through access to quality and affordable health care, increase utilization of primary care to decrease utilization of emergency services and ensure the students of Fairfield City Schools are unhealthy and ready to learn and provide access. Um so primary health is a building,
003a standalone building next to Crossroads. uh middle school right next to the uh the stadium and um we bring kids throughout the day throughout the school year to them for services. The uh the place itself, and we'll get into this later on, but is open to the community. It's open to kids outside of school hours, but we also go above and beyond to provide the service of transporting them to the clinic for their services during the SC school day to eliminate the barrier of um parents having to take off work. it just just not possible. Um we take we eliminate the barriers so that the kids can be seen. Um some of the benefits again access to care, the transportation is provided, all the insuranceances that they take. Sometimes if your kid has a dentist
004appointment, which we all know can take an hour or two, the kid would maybe miss the entire day of school. In this case, the kid only misses the the time of the appointment and then they'll go right back to the school day. Um, and then the teachers and nurses can work with parents as they see see needs uh arise throughout the school year. So if a teacher notices the kid is squinting, they're asking to be front of the room, the nurse or the teacher then notifies the nurse, the nurse notifies the parents in primary care and we can make an appointment that day. Uh we also have emergency dental appointments where if something were to happen at recess or at lunch and they need a like a teeth something with their tooth um done, they
005can get that done that day. They don't have to wait. And so it provides that access medical uh they have a nurse practitioner on site, a medical assistant on site, collaborating physicians, three exam rooms and it uh plain and simple it operates as your family doctor. Dental is again they've got a dentist on site, an assistant and a hygienist and three dental chairs. And you'll see later by the numbers, the dental uh facility is is uh used quite well. New um I think it was last year uh they they uh went out and they invested in a new mobile dental unit. And this is huge because what they'll do is they'll park the dental bus in a school parking lot for a week and they can see I think Compass was close to 200 kids
006in a week. um and down to maybe 100 in another building, but somewhere between 100 and 200 kids in a week will get their their uh dental visits. >> I'm sorry to interrupt, but when you say they went out and invested in this, you're talking about primary health, right? So, this is to no cost to the district. >> No cost to the district, but we benefit greatly because of the partnership. So, this you'll see this parked throughout the city. You'll see it parked in Hamilton, Middletown, but they're giving us access to this year. It's new to four elementary buildings. They're going to park it in the elementary buildings for a week. The nurses are collaborating with the parents and PHS to just get kids in there to get their dental visits done. And if anything
007comes up, then they schedule a a further dentist appointment at Primary Health if they need further appointments. >> Great. Thank you. >> Uh and we're going to be doing it in the fall so that we can also do it in the spring because of the six-month window with insurance. So to time it right, doing this in the wintertime would provide a benefit, but to get the best benefit out, um, luckily we have a great partnership with PHS and they're giving us the fall and the spring appointments so that we can hit those six-month windows. So this is going to be huge for our families. Uh, vision, they have an optometrist on site, a tech on site, optitian on site, and two exam rooms. Um, this is another big one. They go through a lot. Elementary
008kids go through a lot of glasses. So, uh, just because they're identified, that that's the first step. And then getting them to get their glasses, that may be a second step. And then you have all the daily occurrences including recess, chasing people, tag, and every other sport they want to play where they break their glasses. They have the ability to be transported uh within the day to go get their glasses renewed. So, uh, this is a big deal for us. behavioral health. They have a licensed behavioralist on site. They help identify students and family members with uh mental health needs uh resulting in referrals for ongoing care and then uh screening. Again, they're open year round. Um like I said, they're open to not only the Fairfield students, but also the community. They do leave
009slots uh like they prioritize Fairfield students so they make sure that the community gets served but their priority is our students during the school year. 8:30 to 5:00 we got their phone number up there to make appointments. They are amazing with their bilingual approach. It's not just Spanish and English. Um they go above and beyond. If somebody comes with a different need, they are working hard to ident to to find a translator for that uh service. Um students and families complete consent paperwork. Oftent times that's going on right now in the buildings um for the services. They can they can consent for services. They can consent for services and transport transportation because again we have the ability to just pick them up at the school, take them to the doctor's office and they can get
010they can get seen and then we take them back to the building. Um, a lot of donations are going into this project um to help support it. It is a it is a nice looking facility when you walk inside. They keep it up. It is it is attractive for their customers. Um, they do have they do take all insurance and a sliding uh scale fee based on income level to help the families out as well. We are lucky enough to have a uh van. And if you are around during the daytime in Fairfield, I'm sure you have seen this van driving around because that's what he does all day long is drive through Fairfield picking up kids. But I want to uh say special thanks to the uh Primary Health Solutions, the Linuan Kuanas Club,
011and the Fairfield Community Foundation because all three of them and then us, we went in on this van to help support this need within the district. This is the exciting piece right here. This just gets my heart pumping. You can see back in 16 when we started it was 378 transports. That's not number of visits because a kid could go for two or three visits. They could go for vision, behavioral, dental. They could do three visits in a at a time, but this is actual transport. So, we're moving kids from the building to the clinic. And you can see the progression as you go down. We're up to 1147 last year. like that is >> that's incredible >> huge and there were some days where I had to cut it off we're at 32 uh
01233 numbers in a day physically I don't know if that's possible to transport 30 some students to go get seen and back so we had to say that was enough but there's a need um and we are filling that need up as as high as we possibly can and so um if you look at these numbers you can see the progression as it goes down 1147 is a just an outstanding number and I was able to get from primary healthc care this year um number of visits and I limited just to our clinic. They do have data that said some of our students that live in the community may not use our transportation, but they'll go to a Hamilton or Middletown branch. And so I excluded those numbers, but this is just at our clinic
013next to Crossroads. Grand total almost 3,000. So 2,911 visits um for students in our community. And that is huge. Uh so in in just that little that that space. And so, um, this decision was made years ago by the board and the school district to come together with primary health. It is making a huge impact. And if you think of all these visits, those are at least full days out. If a kid is going to a doctor's appointment out of town, they're going to miss that school day. In this case, they're missing a couple hours. So, they come back, they get fed, and they get to go home uh to their house. And so it's just a huge impact going on. For more information obviously you can go to the web page or primary health
014solutions itself. And that wraps up the presentation but it's a it's a big deal. It makes an impact. A lot of kids are being seen. Emergencies are being taken care of as well as just basic preventative care that keeps kids healthy. So >> thank you Mr. Craig. Do we have any questions of Mr. Do other districts do this or >> yes >> most of them >> Hamilton Middletown us >> Ross I think use it >> I believe that we were the first to do it >> and maybe even in the country >> we were one of the first in the country >> correct yeah >> and we have a very good working relationship with primary health >> it's just an incredible program um thanks for presenting I mean that that's worth getting exciting to talk
015about the dentist. That's really really amazing. So, you know, thank you Primary Health Solutions for partnering and and uh that's just incredible. >> Yep. >> I'd like to make a comment, too. I know there was a lot of information shared, but um you know, at the end, Mr. Crapo was talking about the fact that students instead of missing an entire day of school may only they may only miss just a few hours. But on the other side of that, um, they are getting services that they might not otherwise get. >> Right. Because their parents may not be able to take off work. Uh, they may lose their jobs if they don't go to work. Um, this that's that's something to consider. We we talk about meeting kids and families where they are. And I think
016this is yet again another perfect example of us doing that for our kids and and our families. >> Yeah. For sure. >> Yeah. Um maybe maybe you mentioned this and I just missed it, but what is do you know what the average wait time is? Like if if a kid has an issue, maybe a dental issue, but it's not urgent and they want to make an appointment, will they be seen like that week or >> Yeah. It's not long. >> It's not long. Okay, good. Good. And that's that's really convenient, too, cuz I know sometimes when I'm trying to make an appointment, you know, with just my eye doctor or whatever, they're like, "Oh, well, we can book you for November." And I'm like, "It's August. We don't." So, um, but, uh, that that's really
017great for the kids and and for the parents, you're right, who who don't maybe can't take off work or they don't get paid if they take off work to take their kids to um, appointments and whatnot. >> Yeah, in a perfect world, 10, 12, something like that, visits per day for the transporter. So, that leaves room for the emergencies that come up. So, when we get up to 30, that's making a lot of people nervous because you got to catch that bus by the end of the day. But um there's there's always that gap that window. H >> how do you promote this to the schools and the parents? How do the parents know about all this? >> So they come to back to school bash. That's a big one. They are involved in a
018few of our events uh the mental health night throughout the year. They have flyers in the uh clinic. The nurses all promote it. So the idea So this comes back to relationships. So the more the teachers and the nurses know their students, they know what the needs are and then they're able to make the referrals. So some some students have their family doctors and their family dentists and they don't need the service, but other students are that's a gap, right? And so the more that the the teachers and the nurse know the the students, they're able to fill this gap just by building the relationship. >> So it sounds like this is something that we need to promote a lot uh for the parents out there to know what the school is doing for them
019>> and it's part of the final forms packet when they enroll. Um so yeah. >> Okay. and they're given the somewhere along the way the decision was made to give them the consent forms up front and I think you referenced that tonight so that if the need comes up later they've already cited consent form and we can move forward with the services needed and I think that's another great way >> to get that in front of everyone to start the school year as a reminder this is really the health center is probably uh one of the greatest accomplishments ments of the district during my tenure as a school board member and really when I came on the board in 2015 it was already in its infasy right it was already the district and primary health
020solutions working to make this happen and uh shortly after there it got underway and we've just grown and added to it transportation was a problem we solved it right uh you the dental services the numbers are huge right and and as you said I'm sure those are services that wouldn't be rendered otherwise. It would lead to even more problems and and they're being addressed. Uh I early on I had a chance to go and and and uh myself as a dental patient and and experience the dental clinic and it was wonderful. They did a wonderful job, right? I wanted to see it firsthand and they did do a great job. and uh you know we talk about mental health and we're in the forefront of that and we have a behavioral uh services portion here
021which is just huge right so uh kudos and I'm glad to see it continues to grow and we continue to invest in it and our families benefit from Thank you. >> Do they take Medicare? >> Yes. >> So I could go. >> Yeah, you could. Community resident >> I don't know if we could drive you but you could go. Well, I think this is an absolutely amazing project and I'm so thankful that you were here to present for this because it is a need in our community. You know, just talking about, you know, taking the day off, parents might not even have transportation to be able to take kids to the facility. So, the fact that a we're providing the the services to our students and then also providing them transportation um is a huge
022huge bone for our community and our students. And so I'm super thankful um for all of the work that was put into this because it was way before my time, but I know how excited it was when it first came on and I'm excited to see how much it's grown and continue to grow and I'm excited to see it's a lot of excitement. I'm I'm excited to see where this goes in the future. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thanks, guys. >> Uh next up would be communication. We have no one who's currently signed up. So we will move forward with superintendent recommendations and reports. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Begley. At this time, Mr. Hustle will be covering the items listed under personnel professional and personnel support.
023Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Begley, members of the board, I have three items for your consideration this evening under personnel professional. Number one, resignation, letter A. Number two, unpaid leave of absence, letter A. Number three, employment letters A through K. That concludes all the items I have for under your consideration. Personnel professional. >> Thank you, Mr. Hustle. I entertain a motion to accept these recommendations. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Mr. Napier. Mrs. Bing Miller. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Phillips, please call the role. >> Mr. Napier, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bing Miller, >> yes. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Miss Gundram, >> yes. >> Mr. Begley, >> yes. >> Mr. Begley, members of the board, I have five items for your consideration this evening under personnel support. Number one, resignation letters
024A through G. Number two, employment letters A through F. Number three, support substitutes 25 2026. Number four, promotions letters A and B. And number five, correction, letter A. That concludes all the items I have for you for your consideration under personnel support. Thank you, Mr. Hustle. Uh, a motion to accept these recommendations. >> So move. >> Second, >> Mr. Clark, Mrs. Gundram. Any further discussion? Mr. Phyllis, call the role. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gundram, >> yes. >> Mr. Napier, >> yes. >> Mrs. Burden Miller, >> yes. >> Mr. Begley, >> yes. >> Mr. Begley, members of the board, we do have three items for board discussion this evening. Our first item is in regard to the recent Ohio budget bill and the impact on the Fairfield City School District. This time, I'll
025turn it over to Mr. Phillips. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith, Mr. Begley, members of the board. Um, tonight I want to talk a little bit about House Bill 96, which was approved and signed by the governor back on June 30th. Um, and I'm really going to specifically there there's a lot of items under House Bill 96, but I'm really going to drill down into the financial items and how it impacts us here in Fairfield City Schools. Um, first and foremost, I think several of the the items that were approved by the House and Senate were actually vetoed by the governor. I want to talk about those first. Um so one of the items that went through that was a provision of the bill was a 40% cap on carryover uh for school districts
026meaning um they were going to look at your prior year's expenditures and that you were only going to be able to carry over 40% of your prior year's expenditures. So the governor uh did veto that um and then there were three bills or three provisions that were part of the bill um and I'm going to talk a little bit about those. they were aimed at reforming property taxes, which you know I I I don't think anybody would disagree with that. Um but I think we would all disagree with uh reforming property taxes at uh a nonbenefit to the schools, right? Um but those provisions included property tax restrictions which would have allowed the county budget commissions to reduce voter approved school district levies under certain circumstances. um would have required the 20 mil floor calculation
027to include emergency substitute and other fixed sum levies. And I I want to talk I want to address that for a second too. Uh you might have seen an article in the Hamilton Journal. I think that's a newspaper. Is that what it's called? Uh the Hamilton J. So I'm getting getting familiarized with Butler County and the newspapers around here. But they put out an article, I think it was early this week or late last week talking about property values in Butler County going up again. Um, you know, they did show a slight increase for uh very slight for Fairfield City Schools, but it's important to note that we are not at the 20 mil floor. So that slight increase, I think it was approximately 2% is because of inside millillage. Uh the other school districts
028within Butler County were seeing significant increases and particularly the ones that are at the 20 mil floor currently. Um, so this really wouldn't have impacted us too much, but it was vetoed by the governor. And then, uh, finally, uh, fixed some emergency levies. I'm sorry. The last provision would have eliminated fixed some levies such as replacement levies, fixed some emergency levies, substitute emergency levies, and then combined school district income tax, and fixed some property values. So, you would think when the governor vetoed it, that's kind of the end of the road, but it's not. Um the House was called back into session at the end of July and their goal was to override uh these vetos in particular. Um they were successful in overriding the provision that eliminated fixed sum levies by a vote of
02961 to 28. They have to have 2/3. Then the Senate also has to have 2/3. Uh the Senate has not reconvened to vote on this. Um not sure if they will uh or if they were if they will wait until they come back in the session. Um but as I said before I think people recognize you know property property taxes in particular property values have gone skyh high. Property taxes uh in most cases has followed suit. Um and so the governor had talked about when he vetoed these provisions that he was going to put together a a property tax reform committee and he has done that. Um this includes legislators, agency officials, some school officials are actually on the on the committee, community members, and then property tax experts uh to ensure that this critical
030topic is given attention given the attention it deserves. So far, they have reached a consensus on requiring tax jurisdictions to justify to the county budget commission any cash carryover amounts exceeding 100% of their budgets. Just so you just for your information, last year our cash carryover was just below 40%. So even if that law would have went into effect, it wouldn't have impacted us, but we're right there on the border and it impacts a lot of school districts across the state. Um going up to 100% and having to justify that, I think that is completely fair. Uh and you know, I I don't know how many school districts would have more than 100% carryover. Now, you know, I always I think about uh just, you know, everybody's familiar with Dave Ramsey, right? And he always
031has he always says have six months of of funds in your emergency fund. And and so really what what we're talking about with 100% is having a year. I think that's fair. Even 50% which would have been 6 months would have been more fair than some of the things that they had proposed. But uh fortunately that that is not law and um it's not going to impact us. But for the things that actually are going to impact us, the fair school funding plan, which I know you are all familiar with, that was that was uh voted to continue. However, not in the way that we had hoped. Uh we had hoped that they would continue not just the phase in funding that we were expecting, but also the base cost increases. So what they essentially
032did is they approved years five and six of of the funding phas in but they held the base costs at the FY22 level. So the school year 2122. So essentially what that means is you guys everybody realizes how much things have went up in cost since the 21-22 school year. Okay. Uh basically what the state says is we are only going to fund you at the same levels we were funding you in 2122. So the cost educated kid obviously has gone up significantly since then. So what they're saying is local taxpayers you're going to have to float the rest of that bill. Okay. Now the the problem is is that increases property taxes, right? that's going to send more school districts to the ballot to ask for increases because you still have to pay to
033educate kids, you have to pay teachers, you have to pay for supplies. Um so that's that's a problem that we're battling right now um here here in Fairfield. Uh it's going to cost us roughly $3.5 million in state revenue, lost state revenue because they're only funding at that FY22 level. So that's a big deal for us. Um it's about a million in year one and about two and a half million in year two of the bianium budget is what it's going to cost us. Uh so that's a big deal. Um that's probably the biggest deal. Before I go on to the last piece, does anybody have any questions about that? The last piece is actually I think it's good news. Uh there was another provision in the budget bill that and and this did actually
034go through that establishes a 15% cap on administrative expenses for school districts. So the Ohio Revised Code actually now prohibits any school district board of education from expending more than 15% of its annual operating budget on administrative salaries and benefits and other costs associated with the district administrative offices. So obviously when when I saw that first thing I did was dig in to say okay where is Fairfield at on this list. Um just so the board of education our community is aware. Uh in Butler County we are the second lowest of all school districts in administrative costs. But when you combine Hamilton and Butler County the 32 districts we are the third lowest of of both districts combined. So I I think we're sitting >> both counties combined. We are the third lowest out of
03532 total districts. So the state average is about 7.6%. We're sitting at about 5.2%. So I I think that, you know, shows pretty fiscal spending here in Fairfield for the la at least last uh fiscal year which they which they calculated on. So I thought that was good to see. That is it for my report. >> Okay. Thank you. Any any questions, concerns? Well, just comments. Uh, let's start with the last one first. You're right. That is that is amazing. And that is all because of Mr. Smith and the admin team being very diligent in being uh in front of, you know, segueing into this years ago. Um, you referenced 2022 with the the that that year for the the um the number that they're referring to, right? I mean, that was >> long time
036ago. inflation travel so fast as Mr. Perry uh just the buses and we've bought less and service more and and just keep continuing to do things over and over and over again in years past to put us at that lower level but still function at the level that we are which is very very good and this you know PHS is a great uh product of that that we're still servicing physically mentally and and uh the education wise of what we're doing and then that 30 40% rate back movement or denial, I guess, is a better word. That that's that's great news. >> Yeah. >> Because that was going to be very hurtful for for many. >> Yeah. >> So, thank you for that information. >> You're welcome. And, you know, talking about prices, how they've
037gone up since we know since 21-22. The consumer price index, which which mirrors inflation since 2020, has went up about approximately 21%. >> And we're being flatfunded from the state of Ohio. So, you know, you think about 0% to 21.4% there. That's a big discrepancy there. >> It just shows those in in the upper uh capital don't see what's going on, aren't really in the real world. >> And that's sad. >> Mhm. >> Thank you, Mr. Phillips. >> You're welcome. >> I um am happy to see that they have a some educators on the tax reform board that it's not just um as he stated, higherups. You know, there are people that should hopefully understand our situation a little bit better. Um, I'm also uh ecstatic, not excited, ecstatic to hear about um how low
038we are on not not that I'm excited for you guys, but uh I'm I'm happy to hear that we are uh financially responsible that we aren't um overspending on administration um salary because I know that there was a concern recently when we had to go on ballot last time that there were discussions that we were overpaying. But to see that we are the second lowest in our county and then the third lowest in across the two counties that are closest to us um is just validating for that fact that we are not overspending as they uh suspect we are that we are being diligent and uh super conscious with our uh budgeting for that kind of um it is sad to hear that they are not recognizing the uh hardship between now's expenditures versus 2022
039because it is very vast. 20% is a lot. Um so hopefully things will progress better going in the future. Um and we're just going to have to buckle down and do what we can now for what we have. But thank you so much for getting this together and putting it together to make sure that we as a board and as a district understand how it impacts us directly. >> You're welcome. And I remember too the b the medical benefits where they barely moved or didn't one year and then 17% the next. Yep. >> And then there was no additional help from the state. So that's a big jump in one year. 17% is huge. >> Totally outside of our control. >> Absolutely. >> And I think we went to 18 the next year or something
040like that. Like it was another big jump the following year. >> Double digits >> for everyone. For everyone, not just private sector, everyone. It's health insurance in general. >> Yeah. >> No, it is. Like you said, it's out of our control. >> It's out of our control. Right. You know, we we learned in the pandemic that teachers are an important part of the education system and education is labor intensive. >> And so those aren't fixed costs, >> right? >> And that's just the way it is. >> Yeah. >> And and costs will continue to rise. And you mentioned in there that we're just under 40%. But we are, we've been talking a lot about the budget because we're deficit spending now. And so that 40% will continue to go down very quickly. >> And because
041we're fiscally conservative and we talk about our administration, but also our cost per pupil is one of the lowest in the county and in the two counties you're talking about, right? That's how you stretch a levy. 12, >> eventually 13 years before you go back to the voters, >> right? But the perception in the public is that the property tax issue is a school problem, >> right? >> And so when property taxes go up, the answer is to affect the school system. And yet, and you correct me if I'm wrong, when when property taxes go up, because we're not at the floor, there is no financial benefit to the school district. There's a slight financial benefit uh inside Millage and what they call PUP, personal property, and utilities that helps school districts very little bit.
042It doesn't move the needle at all, but it does. So, I just want to be clear that it does go up slightly, but not being at the 20 mil floor, they do not go up. And as a matter of fact, what a lot of people don't know, >> um, you know, you hear from everyone, all property taxes are going up. Property taxes are going up. But if you look at Butler County specifically, okay, and you look at Butler County property taxes and what they went up the last re-evaluation because and specifically in Fairfield School District, because a school cannot collect more taxes than what it has levied against the community, >> right? >> When somebody's property taxes go up and essentially the ones that go up, if you look at the average increase, so let's
043just say it was 30% in Butler County. I don't know what it was. I don't have those statistics in front of me, but let's just say it was 30%. If your home value went up 30% or more, your property taxes went up. But if your home value went up less than 30%. Your property taxes actually went down to even out because the school district cannot collect more tax than when it voted against the community. And people don't realize that. And and you could go to the Butler County Auditors website and pick two random homes. And if you pick one home that the taxes went up below the average or I'm sorry, the property values went up below the average, their taxes actually went down. So people don't know that or understand that. And and I
044do want to reference one of you had mentioned uh unfunded mandates and schools are actually being required. There's a part of House Bill 96 is a cyber security uh provision and we're being asked to up update and upgrade all school districts are being asked to upgrade your cyber security to certain requirements which you know we I think most of us I know Fairfield does we have cyber security in place currently but that's another unfunded mandate because it's going to cost a lot of schools significant dollars to upgrade their infrastructure and their software their hardware everything that goes with that to comply to these cyber security mandates but there is no funding associated with that. So that's something I wanted to mention as well. >> It's a really good point. The city in Middletown just suffered
045a cyber attack, right? So it's >> it's a concern and exposure for everyone, public sector, private sector, but at what cost? >> Mhm. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> All right. Our next two items are in regard to some performance contracts that are needed at West Elementary. At this time, I'll turn it over to Mr. Hustle. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Begley, members of the board, the district is recommending the following performance contracts, and I'm going to speak about number two and number three together. Uh the performance contract for Jenny Thompson as substitute assistant principal at West Elementary. Uh Lindseay Ferguson, a current uh new assistant principal at West Elementary, had her baby last Wednesday, baby girl last Wednesday. Um Jenny Thompson, our current preschool supervisor, has agreed to fill in as assistant uh long-term
046assistant principal while Lindsay Ferguson is out on maternity leave. Jenny oversees the district's preschool program uh to currently two days a week. The remaining 3 days, Jenny will support at West Elementary. The district recommends put placing a performance contract in place for this duration. Pending your approval, Jenny Thompson's performance contract will run August 18th, 2025 through November 13, 2025. The second performance contract is for Morgan Gil as a guidance counselor on special assignment at West Elementary. If Jenny Thompson is fulfilling her duties as preschool supervisor and is unable to fill in as substitute assistant principal at West Guidance current guidance guidance counselor Morgan Gil has agreed to fill in to assist principal Missy Muller with extra duties as assigned. The district recommends putting a performance contract up to 15 days in place for Miss Gil.
047Pending your approval, Morgan Gill's performance contract will run August 18th, 2025 through ne November 13, 2025. Both items are listed as items for board action tonight due to the time frame. Please let me know if there's any questions I can answer for you. >> So, Mr. Hustle, just to clarify that time frame from August to October or November. uh November, mid November, >> she'd have 15 days available to work in that time frame to assist it on average one day a week, >> right? >> Um just to help out with whatever duties uh the principal uh Missy Muller is in need of to assist with the building. >> Sure. >> And of course, she's in the building already, >> correct? >> Convenient. >> Makes good solution. Thank you. >> It definitely makes sense. And as
048always, thanks for sending that prematurely so we can look through it and put our welcome. I appreciate that. I think it's a good move. >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Begley and members of the board, I do have several items for your consideration this evening under letter D. Other items for board action. Number one, the board hereby appoints Mike Napier to serve as the delegate for the Ohio School Boards Association annual business meeting on Mon Monday, November 17th, 2025. In the event that the delegate is unable to serve, Abby Burden Miller has been appointed as alternate. Number two, recommend approval of courses of study for ELA and social studies. Three, recommend approval of bookworms for K5 ELA. Four, recommend approval of I Ready assessment and personalized learning for K12 reading
049intervention. Five, recommend approval of a performance contract for up to 15 days for guidance counselor on special assignment. Morgan Gil, effective August 18th, 2025 through November 13, 2025. Number six, recommend approval of a performance contract for long-term assistant principal at West Elementary, Jennifer Thompson, effective August 18th, 2025 through November 13th, 2025. That concludes the items that I have for your consideration this evening under letter D. Other items for board action. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. I'll entertain a motion to accept these recommendations. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Mr. Napier and Mrs. Gundram. Any further discussion? Mr. Phillips, call the role. >> Mr. Napier? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gundram? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Buring Miller? >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark? >> Yes. >> Mr. Begley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Phillips, treasures, recommendations, and
050reports. >> Yes. Do have several recommendations this evening. Uh, first, I would ask you to approve the minutes for the following meetings. July 10th, 2025 regular meeting, the August 7th, 2025 work session meeting. I ask for approval of the financial reports that were submitted for the months of June and July 2025. I'd ask you to approve the 2526 permit appropriations resolution. As submitted, I ask that you approve uh letter D, the resolution authorizing the retroactive waiver of student instructional fees for eligible students in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 3313.642. And then I recommend the approval of all the following fundtof fund advances. Uh in letter E, I I recommend that you uh approve letter F, the earned, I'm sorry, the income earned from commercial paper and banker acceptances. Letter G, recommend approval of the following
051donations. Uh $1,500 from the Fairfield Rotary Club to the Fairfield City School District's back to school bash. Donation of $100 from Wester Funeral Home to the Fairfield City School District's back to school bash. a donation of $4,000 from Fairfield Central PTC to Fairfield Central Elementary for various items including building use, gamma fund, and soccer. Uh total donations for 2025 uh were $10,969. Then I recommend the approval to dispose of the following fixed assets in letter H. I recommend letter I, the approval to authorize the treasur to pay the following invoice by issuing a then and now certificate in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code 5705.41. And that is my last recommendation. >> Thank you, Mr. Phillips. We'll entertain a motion to accept these recommendations. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mrs. Birding Miller and Mr.
052Clark. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Phillips, call the role. >> Mrs. Bing Miller? >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark? >> Yes. >> Miss Gundam? >> Yes. >> Mr. Napier? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Begley. Yes. Assistant superintendent recommendations. Mrs. Howard. >> Thank you, Mr. Begley. I have just one item for your consideration this evening under personnel professional number one employment letter A. >> Thank you. A motion to accept this recommendation. >> Make a motion. Second. Mr. Napier. Mr. Clark. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Phillips, call the role. >> Mr. Napier? >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gundram? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bernie Miller? >> Yes. >> Mr. Begley? >> Yes. committee reports, a legislative update. Mrs. Gundam, >> uh, well, I'd mostly been following um, you know, the the bill that Mr. Phillips
053talked about and the vetos and the going back and forth, so I think he covered things a lot better than I could. >> He did it for you, huh? >> Yeah. Otherwise, most of the news I've been seeing has been about redistricting. You know, the congressional maps, and >> I'm sure that all plays a role in how things change or don't change uh for everybody, including schools, >> but there's nothing specific to really report on that. >> Great. Thank you. Uh Butler Tech report. We did have a Butler Tech meeting on Tuesday and uh two new programs have been added to the list to take uh to take their total programs across all campuses that just uh to just at 50 total programs and that's the teacher academy and an electrician lab program. And these
054uh with all the programs are what they're seeing as immediate needs in the labor force. and they want to be as proactive and and uh nimble as they can to offer programs to students that would be applicable to uh immediate employment or uh secondary education uh in fields that uh that require workers. So, uh those are two new ads. Uh progress continues on the uh aviation building at the Middletown airport and of course the expansion of the bioscience center at uh at the Westchester campus there just off of uh Cincinnati Dayton Road and I75. You should see the metal framework going up into the sky there. So um like us, the new school year is underway and everything seems to be going well. Student achievement, Mrs. burning motor. >> I want to give a shout
055out to our girls tennis team. They clean sweeped Ben over the week. Um, which is super exciting, especially since it was the debate debut of our new coach. Um, so I want to give a shout out to uh the singles first, second, and third place respectively, which is Kiki Freeman, who is a freshman, won first place. Uh, second was Allison Kaine, a senior, and third place in singles was Mia Rice, junior. And then first in doubles was Rachel Grooms, a senior, and Maddie Pearlinski, which is a junior. And then second in doubles was Leah Peters and Julian Marquite, who's a sophomore. So, congratulations, Lady. What a great way to start the season. I'm excited to see where you guys go for the rest. Hopefully, we can continue this uh clean sweeping. >> Well, thank you
056for that. And I think it's mer worth mentioning Mrs. Lane's daughter, Maddie Lane, has come back to the district and is now a teacher here and is I think the assistant JB. >> Yeah. The JV coach for the tennis team. She played tennis when she was here and >> it's come full circle. So, congratulations to her as well. >> I got to meet her orientation day. >> Did you? >> Yeah. >> Nice lady. Just like her mom. >> Parks and Recreation. Mr. Yes. Um the splash pad is doing really well. Uh last day for that would be Labor Day weekend. They'll they'll shut it down and get it ready for next year. Um you know when that opened up it was obviously something brand new and everything has its little ups and downs and you
057know hiccups and bumps, but it's gone really really really well. There have been a couple others around the uh counties that may not have gone so well. So we're very thankful that ours did go well. and uh it's last thing all all season. Um open up next spring. Uh Mr. Hustle, you'll be glad to know that on on October um 6th, Goat Yoga's back at Village Green. I knew you'd be excited about that one cuz that is one of your favorites. >> Um >> put that in your calendar. >> I'll remind you as well. So, um farmers market still going on. Uh great way to get some good treats, snacks, crafts, all that kind of stuff. fresh produce. Um it's a it's a great uh it's a great time to or a great place to
058go to and time to buy some of those items and they're still out there. Um Marsh Lake, I'll close with two things. They have Friday night music at Marsh Lake and there's food trucks there. So there's usually an acoustic uh or a capella singing on Friday nights by the lake. It's pretty cool to see. >> Excuse me. Is it every Friday or >> Every Friday. Yeah. It's free. Um, you might see some uh some construction trucks coming up in through there here in the next couple weeks. They're going to start that first phase of the uh uh of the large implementation of of uh buildings, parking lots. It's going to be it's about a five-year project that the city approved, but they're going to widen not widen, but add more parking to that area. Um,
059if you've been there, it doesn't take long for it to get a little congested. And with all the activity going on, um it's going to get more. But the the parking lot is going to be the first phase. And there's uh I think four phases total if I recall, but it's going to take about 5 years to complete it. But there's going to be wider walkways. There's going to be a uh freestanding building that will have a restaurant in it and a place where you could rent for a banquet or hall or wedding reception, something like that. >> Eventually, the trail will be all the way around. >> Be all the way around. Yeah. So, big things to come, but the parking lot's first. And uh so if you see cars or construction there, that's
060what's uh underway. >> You guys are busy in parks and wreck. >> We are busy getting things done. >> That's right. >> Mr. Smith, anything from planning commission? >> Yeah. And before I get to that, just to add on, I think I believe that eventually the the trail will be connected so that folks can get from Marsh Lake to Village Green and then also up Pleasant Avenue. So that in theory you could go from Harden Park, the splash pad. >> Yep. >> Come on down the hill, go to Village Green, go to some goat yoga. After you're at the splash pad, >> go all the way to Marsh Park, enjoy concert. How about that? >> Your dog and go to Fairfield right across the street. >> That's pretty amazing. >> All linked up, Mr. Smith.
061You're right. >> And and and kidding aside, that was one of the outcomes of the Fairfield. >> Yes. >> Forward program to make it more walkable and >> and to create those things. So that's great to see them making progress. >> Yes. >> All right. Back on task. Planning commission. Uh I have a report for Mr. Robertson who serves as the board's designate for the planning commission. Uh they had a meeting Wednesday, August 13th. They reviewed the request for the approval of the planned unit development on the corner of Pleasant Avenue and John Gray Road. I mentioned this at a at a prior board meeting, 104 units. Um the concern most reviewed and discussed by the commission was all about traffic in that area. The vote on the motion to approve that development was 3
062to three as the representative of city council was not present. So the the item was tabled at the at that level with the planning commission until the next meeting at which time they will need the full seven members attending to review again. So, I know that I've seen some articles out there about that development and and the process and I know there have been several um public discussions. So, I'll just continue to keep you posted as I receive those updates. >> Thank you. Uh announcements. August 29th uh is our first or this is actually in service day number two. No students on August 29th and then of course on September 1st, Labor Day, no school. September 4th is our next board meeting right here in the Katherine D. Milligan room at 6:30. Board member comments.
063Mr. Navy. Yeah, I want to thank Mr. Ko for the update on the health solutions. Uh sounds like that's something that our school should be very proud of. Uh Mr. Phillips, you're getting your feet wet as treasurer. Sounds like you're doing a great job. >> Thanks. Yeah. Uh if if you're not busy Friday evening, Fairfield travels to Wayne for football, first football game of the year. So I hope hope to see everybody up there. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Gund. >> Um thank you, Mr. Krao, for the update. Um it sounds like it's a very beneficial program both for our students and for their parents. Um, and I'm I'm glad that we're part of it and um, you know, sort of leading the way in that in that respect. Um, and I wasn't at the
064last meeting, but I did see that we voted to implement I Ready assessments, and I I think that's a really great idea. I know I don't I don't want to like go way back in the way back machine to the last meeting, but since I wasn't here, I just want to have my input that I think that was a great idea. I've seen I ready reports before and they are very personalized especially you know for parents to be able to say hey here's the stuff your kids can work on you know need to work on and here's how you can do it so I was very happy to see that so that's all I have >> great thank you Bernie Miller >> uh I am also going to express thanks for you presenting tonight Mr.
065Crapo, I really appreciate you bringing uh information like that to the to the board in the community. Um because it doesn't just impact our students and staff and um our parents because like obviously that is a huge impact and that's really why we were involved, but it also does impact our community. Um and they're, you know, it shows where their money and and what we're doing with the funds is like we're preventing not or providing not just um access for students but the community as a whole. Um, so I think that's a really important point to kind of show them is like this isn't just for students. It is a community available that everybody can access from our city. Uh, thank you so much once again for uh, giving us a lowdown of how the
066bill works and how that affects us and really educating all of us on what that impact is for our district. Um, and although it's not the news that we wanted to hear on all the topics, um, you know, I'm I'm confident us as a district will continue on and being physically responsible and continue to do what we need to do for our students. >> Thank you. >> Um, everything's been said, but I'm going to say good job, Mr. Crapo. man. Um, I don't think we can really elevate that enough of how outstanding that program is. And adding the the the little minivan or whatever you call it to to pick people up, pick kids up. Um, that just takes it to a whole new level. And as Mr. Smith says, we we're here to serve
067the whole child and that's that's what that does, even one step further um to to go that extra mile. So, thank you so much for presenting that in a great great way. Appreciate it. And Mr. Phillips, great job. Appreciate the information. It's uh um it's tedious. It's hard. It's it's uh cumbersome. And I I don't think we can talk enough about the property tax implement implications and how it does or does not really affect cuz it's it's it's a weird calculation on all that. and uh to get into that 20 mil floor. I don't think we can talk enough about what you're talking about. So, um the topics the good news is um you know the the rake back was was um was moved so that's good. There was some good news as Miss Birding
068said. Um but we still got some work to do and it's it's we're not out of it. And you mentioned the 40% for um a carryover. that's not going to take us throughout the whole year. We're running in a deficit. So, >> again, not to say it to be a a downer, but it's reality. And uh again, Mr. Smith and the admin team does such a great job on good stewardship with the money and over the last many many years since I came on. Um it's I I saw it from day one and that's the kind of district we have. That's the kind of admin we have and that's who runs this this uh this district for the kids. So, great job. Appreciate Right, Mr. Clark, you're on something there that might be uh might
069be helpful and and I'm throwing it out in a meeting and uh we certainly haven't a chance to discuss it, but that educational process and maybe just a a moment during each meeting or once a month uh during our work session when when Mr. Phillips just kind of explains another piece of the puzzle. You know, does anyone understand what a male is? >> Right. On and on, right? >> There's so many of There's so many different factors, just some small little piece of the puzzle. Uh so it's something to think about. Again, Miss Crapo, wonderful job. Uh you know, I I think we have, but I want to formally thank Primary Health Solutions, right? They were visionaries 10 years ago when they brought this program to us and it was one of the very first,
070if not the first in the nation. And of course, Hamilton and Miltown have seen our success and have jumped on board as as other school districts are throughout the country because because you have all those children together at school every day and that's the place to reach them, right? uh and and it's worked out wonderfully here and and uh again, thank you to Primary Health Solutions and to everyone who's who's made it a success uh over the years and and and that's on our side of the table, too, right? So, thank you for what you're doing there. Um I don't think I have anything else. We are off to a great start, right? >> It's gone well and uh >> welcome back. Yeah, welcome back to the school year here. Keep up the hard work
071and uh uh it'll be Labor Day before you know it. Right. With that, we will uh we will recess to executive session to discuss the employment of public employees 121-22G1 court action 121-22G3 pending or imminent litigation. Do I have a motion to convene to executive session? >> Make a motion. >> Second. >> Mr. Napier and Mrs. Gundram. Uh Mr. Phillips, call the role. >> Mr. Mr. Navier, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gundram, >> yes. >> Mrs. Birding Miller, >> yes. >> Mr. Clark, >> yes. >> Mr. Begley, >> yes. We will convene to executive session at 7:26.