001my phone because it's on. We're go ahead and call the meeting order. Let's stand up for the pledge, please. >> 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. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> here. >> Mrs. Codderman, >> here. >> Mr. Moer, >> here. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> here. >> Mr. Wigton, >> here. >> And entertain a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Four. >> Mr. Wigton. >> Four. >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Conterman. >> Four. >> Mr. Moer. >> Four. I entertain a motion to approve previous board meeting minutes November 19th, 2025 work session
002and the regular meeting. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Stevens, >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Cotman, >> four. >> Mr. Wigton, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. >> And presentation of certificates. >> Yeah. Um, Mr. Wigton and uh Miss Walker, would you please meet me out front, please? You didn't think you were going to sneak off in your last meeting that easily, did you? Um, we just like to recognize Mr. Wigton um for his service on the board. This is his last meeting. Uh, he did not run again in November. So, um, this will be his last meeting on the board. And, uh, we'll start with uh, Miss Walker has a few comments that she'd like to share about Mr.
003Wigton. You don't know. It's not me. Anyway, when I was first elected onto the Madison School Board back in 2013, before Tim was on and before these wonderful board members were on, this district was heading in a direction that was not good. Uh, I was forced into a role that required me to scream into the microphone for years alone in an attempt to end the madness. And then in 2017, I was exhausted, ready to hang up my hat. And then Mr. Wigden came along in 2018 and said, "Let me help you." He was elected. When he was elected, the district benefited immediately from his deep knowledge of education and just as importantly, his bravery and speaking up for what was right. And Tim, I know you know how much your leadership helped get Madison back
004on track. You set a new tone for how this board is supposed to work together. in the best interest of students and staff and you have been vocal in making sure the right people were put in place to lead this district. >> Yeah. >> Because of that work, Madison is finally in good hands. It is going to be incredibly difficult not seeing you at this table during the next term. Your inside experience and steady voice will be missed, but this is your time to fully retire from all things in education, which I just learned has been 50 years. Yeah, 50 years this year. >> So, thank you for your service, your leadership, and your dedication to Madison. This district is better because of you. >> Drink more. And uh we have a plaque for Mr.
005Wigton as just a small token of our appreciation for his years of service. And I'd like to read that. Um, it says, "Eight years of service. Mr. Wigton was elected to the Madison Board of Education in November of 2017 and began his service to the district on January 1st, 2018. Over the past eight years, he has been a dedicated member of the board, including serving as board president from 2020 to 2023. His service to the district will conclude on December 31st, 2025. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Wigson has remained committed to leaving the district stronger than he found it. He has been a steadfast advocate for students, staff, and community members, giving consistent consideration to each decision and its impact on those he serves. We are deeply grateful for the time, energy, and leadership Mr. Wigton
006has devoted to the Madison local schools and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Go Rams. >> Do you want to say anything? I want to thank the mass and communist community for voting me in for eight years. Um, I graduated in 1975 from Mansfield OSU and started teaching and I've been an administrator, a teacher, as well as now a board member. So, it's been awesome, but I'm ready to hang it up and do what I'd like to do for a while. And I do feel like I've left the district in a better place than we found it. So Amy's right about that. It was great. And uh thank you. >> Don't trip and fall. >> Okay. We have a couple other um presentations this evening. Um, first I'll start with um
007we have our RAM pride award uh winners for our teacher and staff uh for the month of December and uh Miss Stacy Foot is the recipient uh as a staff member this month. Unfortunately, she could not be here tonight. Um she is a uh one of our cooks here at the middle school. So I do want to read uh Mr. Blankenship's comments that uh he shared with me uh regarding her. Uh Miss Foot brings a consistently positive attitude that uplifts everyone around her the moment she walks through the door. Whether she's greeting colleagues with a warm smile, tackling challenges with optimism, or going the extra mile to support the team, her energy helps create a welcoming and productive environment. Her positivity isn't just contagious, it's effective. She remains calm, cheerful, and solutionoriented. Even under pressure,
008setting a powerful example of professionalism and grace. Her presence truly strengthens our team. Stacy connects wonderfully with students, knowing many by name and greeting each one with genuine warmth. The students respond to her kindness and enjoy her being part of their day. Although Stacy works a short schedule at the middle school, her impact is farreaching. She even signs up to work throughout the summer to support our operations team, demonstrating her commitment and flexibility for her positivity, dedication, and lasting influence on both staff and students. I wholeheartedly believe Stacy is extremely deserving of this recognition. So, our staff member of the month for December, Miss Stacy Foot. And then on the teacher side, um, Mrs. North, if you would please come forward along with, uh, Mr. Grove, our career tech director. And I'll read um, Mr.
009Grove's nomination comments for Mrs. North. Since 1994, few individuals have demonstrated a stronger commitment to career technical education at Madison than Mrs. Holly North. For more than three decades, Holly has shared her passion for business with hundreds, if not thousands of students. Throughout her tenure, she has mentored students who have gone on to compete and earn recognition among the best in the nation through her career tech student organization. Under her guidance, numerous students have qualified to participate at the regional, state, and national levels. Proudly representing not not only her business program, but more importantly representing Madison Comprehensive High School and the Madison community. The success of her students is no accident. It's a result of her compassion, hard work, expertise, and dedication each and every day. In addition to her contributions to career tech education,
010Mrs. North also demonstrates exceptional leadership as the adviser for the school yearbook. She works diligently to ensure that every student, club, and activity is thoughtfully documented, guiding her staff in the design and overall production of the Misonsonian each year. We deeply appreciate Mrs. North and the invaluable contributions she has made to the growth and success of her students over the last 31 years. Mrs. Holly North can All right, moving on. Uh, recognition of visitors. If a visitor like to come up and speak at this time, then come up in three minutes. Please identify yourself for the treasure and where you live. And I could probably do this later, but I'll do it now, too. Give you something to think about. So, my name is Brian McPeek. I live at 383 Apple Lane. Uh, I'm a
011homeowner, taxpayer in the district, parent to three Madison students, including a student athlete. Uh, I'm also a union representative and I fight for working families every day and I chair an apprentichip committee with responsibilities similar to your guys's. But before any of that, I'm a Madison kid. I was raised in this district. It educated me and I've been able to build a successful life because of the confidence and foundation I gained here in these classrooms and hallways. That's why I'm here tonight because I want every student in this district to have the same opportunities that I had or better. Uh, I want to say something that I believe with my whole heart. Uh, there's no higher return on public investment than what we put into our schools. I believe that big time. It buys educated
012neighbors, strengthens families, builds safer communities, and it shapes the district of the young people of our the young Gez, I can't talk. Shapes the future of the young people of our district. Um, but to make that investment possible, we got to have a levy that we can pass. A levy the entire community can support. The earned income levy failed already. Now we want to put it back on the ballot. Respectfully, we need a new plan. The levy didn't fail because the community doesn't care about education. It failed because it didn't bring the whole community with it. It placed its burden on only earned income, only on people who get up every day and go to work, leaving investment income, rental income, retirement income, and other sources of income untouched. And because of that, it didn't
013give the entire district a clear shared reason to vote yes. Retirees matter. Working families matter. Homeowners matter. Single parents matter. Young families just starting out matters. A levy that passes must reflect all of them. If we bring the same levy back unchanged, we should expect the same result. And with that result, we're going to have more cuts. None of us want to see that. And if nothing changes, nothing changes. So repeating the exact same plan and hoping for a different outcome. I mean, we all know the definition of insanity. I'm not here to oppose the schools, I'm here to support them. I believe in them and I'm a product of them. But that also means we got to be honest when something isn't working. The community wants to vote yes. I want to vote yes.
014But a successful levy has to be fair. It has to be balanced, transparent, capable of uniting everybody. Our kids deserve a plan that works. Our teachers deserve the stability and the community deserves a levy that we can pass. So, please bring us something we can vote for. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Is there any other visitors like to speak at this time? All right. Seeing none, uh, go to item G, administrative committee reports. Legislative, >> no report. >> Uh, athletic board, >> we meet tomorrow. >> Meet tomorrow. Student representative comment. >> She wasn't able to make >> you want to give a comment. >> Great. That'll work. Facilities there. Somebody's willing to come. >> Disappoint. So, I'm going to bring some good news. Not really good news, but we've have another set of boilers
015that have failed on us once again. Um the middle school we are the newest building we have. We're down to one boiler presently. So we have gone out and I've gotten a quote and this is an emergency services so we're not going to be able to have multiple quotes on this. Um we're looking at about a fivewe turnaround start to finish. So they are working on POS right now for this. Um we do have heat in the building. It is still running. Um it's limping along but it's not going to go out anytime. So I just want to let this >> because of age or water or >> so these these three we we started off in this building with three boilers and in the last seven years we've been down to two. They took
016one from our geo side of the the equation which we do not use. That was something that was dictated when this building was built that this had to be the equipment that was used. That one that we took from the geo side is the one that has failed us now. It's the newest, youngest one. So right now we are running on one 1.5 million BTU boiler when the building should be running under 3 million BTU. We have electric strip heat. We have different things that subside that. But we luckily we've got decent weather coming our way. 1.5 million BTU will heat the building to an acceptable level. We're not going to have to worry about it being cold in here. But my my fear is what happens when that one goes bad. Then we're really
017in an in an issue. So, we have quotes for two new boilers to be put in, which is more than substantial to to run this building. They will be the newest pieces of equipment out there. Um, there is a little bit of reworking that needs to be done to our piping systems. nothing substantial. Um, so they they're expecting there's one boiler that's available which we're going to put in first, keeping the other one running in in that time frame. Then we'll be switching out the second one. Um, the second one they're expecting though it's about a six week, five to six week turnaround on getting that second boiler, but we will have two operating boilers at that point. So that's about all I have right now. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Uh, board
018policy, >> no report. uh super or student achievement. >> Um so Madison South with the help of Mary Madison and local churches were able to service 31 families with Christmas gifts and 40 families being given food boxes for winter break at Mifflin. First and third grade students had their winter music program celebrating the season on December 6th. Students also finished reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and will begin their second schoolwide book, The Water Horse, after winter break, culminating in Mifflin's annual literacy night that will be held in March, celebrating both books. Kindergarten students also were able to visit the Little Buckeye Museum where the students were able to engage in learning through play sponsored by a local bank. December has been a busy and exciting month at Eastview. Their first and third grade students
019did a wonderful job during their music concerts under the direction of Mrs. Walker. The East View Student Council members raised almost $400 through their friendly styrofoam snowball challenge and also hosted the Penguin Patch Gift Shop and Spirit Week. Because of their hard work and generosity of our community, they were able to help five more East View families make their holidays a little brighter. They were also lucky to welcome Rosie the elf back to their school again this year, keeping everyone on their toes with a mouthful of her with a monthful of her festive shenanigans. Uh students at the middle school are gearing up to take their I Ready Diagnostic for ELA and math. They're looking forward to seeing their growth and efforts on the diagnostic. As they're getting ready to end the second nine weeks,
020they still have 35 students who have perfect attendance. The breakfast with Santa was a huge success with about 150 people coming to the event and then about 20 students and eight teachers volunteering their time to make the morning magical and fun for those in attendance. At the high school, they would like to thank all the student organizations, community partners, and staff members that have contributed to Merry Madison Christmas. In total, 12 families, including 35 children, were sponsored and will receive a very special Christmas. Courtney Cyrus will be Madison's nominee for the Franklin B. Walter scholarship. Courtney along with other area scholars will be celebrated at a banquet at the Mid Ohio ESC on March 10th. We are very proud of her and all of her accomplishments. And lastly, at the career center, they're proud to
021announce their recent graduation and certification successes. Our successes are directly related to our dedicated instructors and student support staff team. They had 88% C certification passage, 93% graduation. Welding technology, nine out of nine welding certifications passed and three out of three recent adult diploma students graduated. And certified nursing aid, 25 out of 25 or 25 out of 27 students graduated and 22 out of 26 earn their certifications. >> All right. Thank you. Uh superintendent update. >> Yeah, just a few things here quickly. Um we are um approaching winter break. Um we have uh two days of school left uh tomorrow and Friday. Uh hopefully we'll be able to have school Friday. I understand there's some some weather coming in. Um uh Merry Madison Christmas um is well underway. Probably just finishing things up. Uh just
022want to give a little report on that. Um this year we had um 12 families who we provided uh uh Christmas gifts and so many people pitched in different things. I know cosmetology had some hair products for people and cookies were made and um just all kinds of different things that different groups did to to support our our Madison families. And um of those 12 families, 35 children were provided um with with gifts. Um and I was I was fortunate enough to be able to go out to a home uh yesterday and uh share the the gifts with the family and uh it was a a mother and um she was in tears when we left. so appreciative of um what what the Madison community did for her. And um I think that's just a
023a microcosm of of our Madison schools and um how generous our students, our staff, our families are um trying to help those who are struggling um at Christmas time currently, but um really anytime. Um, so, uh, that that's kind of the finishing touches of of Merry Madison Christmas are taking place. Um, and then, uh, we have the senior citizen lunchons tomorrow. Um, and I just wanted to, um, briefly share with you kind of where we're at with the um, a couple things. one with um planning for the move at the end of the year. We'll have obviously all of the teachers at Mifflin um will be moving into new buildings. Um on top of that, there will be um several teachers at both South and East View that um will be changing buildings as well.
024So that that move is is going to be a very monumental um piece of of trying to get that accomplished. And um it'll be a very tall task. Um if if you're not familiar with elementary teachers, they have a lot of stuff. uh being on the high school side of it for my entire career, um I that's hard for me to comprehend, but um they definitely do have a lot of stuff. And so moving will be a very big uh that'll be a very important piece in in that puzzle at the end of the year. And uh just wanted to make you aware that um I'm going to be recommending um at the elementary level to um end our student calendar early. Um uh the the recommendation I'll be making at next month's meeting would
025be for the students to continue to attend through the Friday prior to Memorial Day and then um not attend the three days that they're scheduled to attend um that following week. That will give the teachers ample time to pack their stuff up and have it ready to be moved. and then um throughout the summer we'll get it moved to their um the new classroom that they'll be in. Um the the other um piece that I'll be bringing to you at some point um one of the our highest priorities in this move is to make all students and all staff feel comfortable and welcomed in their new uh building um or if they're staying at their building. We want everybody to feel welcome. And um as part of that um I'll be recommending name changes for
026Madison South and East View um to to change their names to the Madison Madison Primary School and Madison Intermediate School. Um so that will will be coming um in the future as well. And then uh we'll have to notify the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce of that change. Um, as far as the, um, reduction in force, um, I still am working on the list of positions that will be, uh, reduced. Um, but it is my hope and goal that, um, shortly after we come back from Christmas break, we get that process started. Um, we know that teachers want to know where they're going to be next year as early as possible so they can begin making plans uh, for that. So, um that is where those processes are. Um we've been working very closely
027um with MLEA, the the teachers union. Uh they've been very good to work with and we've worked collaboratively very well together to um shore up the process. um because in the negotiated agreement it calls for a reduction in force and an emergency transfer and even potentially a voluntary transfer and involuntary transfer. So it's a a very um extensive process and we want to make sure we do it right and fairly for all involved. So um hopefully the goal would be in in early to midFebruary to have that process totally completed on the teachers side and uh hopefully soon thereafter on the uh uh classified staff side and that concludes my report. >> All right. Uh presentation Mr. Nelson, Mr. Keell, come on up, please. All right, good evening. Um, I'm Mr. Nelson. I'm the building
028principal. As you can see, the fifth graders have been buzzing up there from their cooking club. They made you guys all something tonight. Um, our cooking club is new this year and it's completely voluntary and Mrs. Fry and Mrs. Capton managed that a couple days after school. They had a really large turnout of kids. Um, so they all made you something and then also something for everybody in the audience. So, as you're listening, um, they're excited to bring you your stuff >> and let you try it. And it was very closely supervised by all the teachers. So, >> Thank you. Best presentation ever. >> Wow. >> Smells good. >> All right. So, we're very excited. From 2022 to 2023 school year, our attendance has improved. Um, and we're very happy with our this year first
029semester attendance rate is 92.0%. 0%. So that went up from last year to 72.2. We've seen a a gradual increase the last 3 years. Um this does not include chronic absenteeism. We're still finding that, you know, a battle that we'll face. But um a couple things that we're still doing is the home room pizza parties. Uh the attendance trophy, which you would be surprised how, um how much or how excited the kids get over the attendance and trophy and the teachers buy into it and make it a big deal. So, it's a lot of fun and a lot of class shout outs and you'll see on the TVs as as the screens go by, uh, we give each home room the recognition there. Okay, a couple of highlights from our school report card for the
030top picture there is from two years ago and then the bottom one is from last year. So, our overall rating went from a three from three stars to four stars. Our progress went from three stars to four stars and our gap closing went from two stars to three stars. So, that was a pretty significant difference for us that we were pretty proud of. Um, one other thing that I want to highlight was when I took over as a building principal, the following year, we changed our math um the way we did math and we went from 40-minute periods to 80-minute periods. And so, last year was our first year of getting getting the data from that to see what kind of where they went. And all of our math scores rose pretty significantly. Um, for
031example, sixth grade math, who was about 7 to nine points over the last four years below the state level, um, is now only one point underneath. Seventh grade moved above the state level, which was not the case for the previous years. And then next month when they do the recognition for, um, the teachers with value added, many of our math teachers were reached the way beyond the expected years worth of growth. So, we saw a really large increase in our math change from 80 minutes. Uh, extracurriculars are doing awesome. Uh, in the in the spring we host a track meet. That's a state qualifying track meet. Um, that's kind of a big deal to uh give students an opportunity to qualify to go to Columbus and uh, you know, go for a state championship and
032individually in track. In the in the fall, our football teams did very well. Um, had great attendance at football games. When we hosted senior high, it seemed like a varsity game. how many people were there. It really was full. Um cross country is doing great. My volleyball coaches do a great job. Hi, Coach Wiggins. Um uh also our eighth grade football team, we've done this two years in a row now. Uh Coach Faustst and I have organized uh them going to a college football game in Ohio Wesland. Uh and you know, attending the event for free. Uh um so they got to go down there to Delaware, Ohio and and see what college football on a small school level is all about. I gave them a tour of the campus. I went there. My son's
033attending there now. Uh so I gave him a tour of the campus, the athletic facilities, the academic facilities, and so forth. Um winter sports are well underway. Our basketball teams are doing great. Uh they've all uh won a couple of games so far. And uh but of course I want to highlight our wrestling team. Uh we hosted the middle school wrestling tournament this past weekend. There were uh 16 teams there and uh we not only won the tournament uh but I pointed out to coach Gilbert that we won by 80 points and he was quick to correct me. We won by 87 points. So we won by 87 points over second place. So uh coach Gilbert's doing a great job. We have uh what about 30 boys out for wrestling and seven girls out for
034wrestling. So, girls wrestling is a you very much growing sport. >> Uh, so this year we started the Big Brother program. Uh, we had 11 nominated sixth grade students that were paired with six senior football players as their mentors. Um, we wanted to do something that kind of uh bridged that gap between middle school and high school and kind of gave them something to look forward to, someone to look up to. Uh, so it's students that there was a wide variety of needs. uh social, emotional, just that little push give them some confidence. Uh we paired them with positive role models. Um as you can see there, they were recognized at a football game. Uh Mr. Argo in sixth grade had a good uh big role in that as well. Uh they made goodie bags
035and uh stuff for the players before each game uh for Fridays and it went amazing for our first year. We're hoping to grow on that next year. Um we saw a lot of positive out of that. The kids loved it, parents loved it. Um, we're really excited about that and and see where it goes. >> Okay, just a couple quick things for our builder club and student council. So, this year our builder's club so far has done Stocktober uh breakfast with Santa, which was two weekends ago, which was a really large success. I don't know if any of you saw the pictures, but in here was like a winter wonderland. Um, we had blowups everywhere. People were really excited. The kids were dancing on the stage. Um, a lot of our middle schoolers were dressed
036up in inflatables and they were dancing with the kids and they it was a great time. So, that was awesome. Um, they did a fundraiser for Tat the teacher. Some of our teachers had tats everywhere. Um, good sports. And then they took care of our recycling. And then our student council moni or uh does our school dances. If you see up top there, all the library windows now have decal on them um that they paid for to with Mrs. Darnell to kind of make the library look a little bit nicer. Um, they set up all the building decorations in here. here. It's been a while since we've had a board meeting in here in the winter time. So, I was glad that the decorations were up and then they also are a big part of
037helping us with our winter and spring flower sales. All right. So, I have Mrs. Wiggins, our PTO president, here to talk a little bit just about PTO. Not too far away, apparently. >> Hi, I'm Sarah Wiggins. I'm the PTO president and I just wanted to share a little bit about what we're doing at the middle school. Um this year we've had a few new faces in our meetings which we considered was a success. Um we've started out the school year and held one fundraiser so far. Uh we provide volunteers for the Scholastic Bookf Fair. Uh we donate cookies and drinks for the honorable students for the first nine weeks. Uh we are able to help provide pizza um for the home room uh attendance incentives that they do. Uh we are planning another fundraiser to
038begin in February and we will continue to help provide financial support for the incentives of pizza and honor roll. Um and we are going to have a PTO event in February that we're planning currently. Um and we also help provide volunteers for the spring and winter flower sales. Um when that happens at the school in March, we are going to collect snack donations for state testing. Um and this year we are going to help to support grade level field trips uh financially through our fundraisers that we're doing. Um I also have a copy of our treasurer's report that I will give you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This is our second year with our PTO and we are all excited to be able to help out and support the
039middle school. >> Thank you. Very nice. >> Thank you. >> All right. Up next is Mrs. Fry with Cooking Club. She's excited. >> Okay. Ready? >> All right. Well, I was inspired by Mr. Foust who he has all his football players and all the different athletes come to his room and they have a real community. Excuse me. So I thought we wanted to do that in fifth grade and as you know fifth grade we don't have sports in fifth grade not for school. So we thought we have this wonderful life skills room that we no longer use that has these little kitchen areas. So we decided to start a cooking club which if you know me that's ironic because I don't like to cook. However, I helped organize and Mrs. Cberton is the she's the
040cook, so she decides what we're going to make. Um, and the kids have fun with it. Um, if you they picked out the best reindeer for you. Um, if you get a chance to look at the other reindeer, so other people, we made some for everybody. Um, the boys who made them got a little crazy and can I put extra eyes? And so, they had all they were interesting. So, the kids have fun with it. When we started it, we thought we would have maybe 20 kids sign up. We had 43 kids sign up and so we can't handle that many at one time in the kitchen. So, we made it two nights. Um, but the kids have had a lot of fun and they've learned a lot, not just about cooking, but about working
041together and taking turns. Um, when we had the excuse me, the veterans breakfast, they came in at 6:00 in the morning to get ready for it. So, they want to say something real quick. I don't know if you can I don't know. I don't want to do that. >> Hi, my name is Grace. And the reason I like cooking club is because it teaches you things you need to know when you're a grown-up. >> Hi, my name is Tegan. >> Hello, my name is Paige. We are thankful for Miss Fry and Miss Capton to teach us how to cook. Hi, my name is Natalie and I like cooking club because it helps me learn new things. It pushes me to try things that I might not like to do. >> Hi, my name is Malikica
042and I like cooking club because you get to have fun and you get to experiment and try new things. I like cooking because I can help together with other people and try new things. My name is Sawyer and I like be being in cooking club because I can spend times with my friend and cook things. I like it. >> Just Yeah, we do have stuff. Anybody wants to You can do that. >> So, she's saying that in the back for everyone that's out here that didn't get it personally served to them. There is stuff back there for you. So, please get stuff on the back on your way out. So, I do want to just give a kind of a shout out to Mrs. uh Fry and Mrs. Capertton. Um they volunteer their time twice
043a week for 2 hours after school. Um they keep a lot of kids. They stay after um they go and they pick up all the items that they need. So really I provide them with the space and I give them money to go buy what they need at Kroger. But they do a great job. Um the re one of the other reasons why she started this and Mrs. Fry is very modest when it comes to stuff like this. So I'm going to say it for her. She wanted to find another way to get kids involved that are not typically involved in other things that may not play the sports or may not do some of those things. she wanted to get those kids involved as well. So, she kind of set this up with Mrs.
044Capton and they've kind of let it run. And again, they they made our entire Veterans Day breakfast. They did all of that stuff themselves. They came in at 6:00 in the morning and we're up there cooking, bringing it down, serving it. So, they're getting a lot of really great experiences for that. So, I just want to kind of give them both a shout out as well. Okay. So, for the middle school, we had some additional for Mary Madison. We were able to take on uh four additional families with 12 of our middle school student 12 students. Um we were able to do about we raised about $3,500 from our building from stall day which the kids love stall day. Anything that's going to stall the teachers from starting class. Um so we made we do
045it on our PBIS day. So it's one day of interruption but the kids really do a great job um of making those donations and coming in because we talk about on our announcements. This is bigger than just you. This is bigger than stalling class. this is something that you're making a difference for. Um, and then some of our teachers, they go to Walmart, we all go together and they kind of shop and they get all that stuff. Mrs. Fry took like seven and a half hours to shop for her family of five. Um, so we kind of let her go on her own and she puts that on layaway. But and then pajama pant day, any of those types of things that we kind of contribute so we can help with Mary Madison. Um, community
046involvement. So we've done a lot of different community involvement type things. Um my kind of position when I took this was I wanted to get become more actively involved in our community. So we've done coffee with the principles every month. Um every Saturday Mr. Gibson and I come in and we're here for two hours for people that want to come in. Um we've done donuts with dues, donuts with divas, trunk or treat. Um this year, you know, with the weather the way it was, we moved it inside on the fly and had like an assembly line. It was very organized and very nice. Lots of compliments from that even on the the fly. Our military appreciation breakfast that we did this year was new and that was exciting. And then breakfast with Santa. So we've
047done some stuff there trying to get the community involved in our building to see the great things that our kids do. And then outside services um we use Hazel Health Casey which is community action for capable youth and our catalyst life services. >> That's it. Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much on behalf of the board. I like the great presentation and thanks for the refreshments. >> Yeah, really appreciate that. Nice job all of you. Uh item I, donations. Entertain a motion for donations. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Just like to thank our donors. Um each month we have people who are businesses who um make donations that um help us to be able to do things that we wouldn't be able to do otherwise. And this month is no
048different with Major Metals and True North Energy. So we thank them. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Mr. Wigton, >> four. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Ctderman, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. >> Entertain a motion for treasures report business. >> So moved, Mr. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. >> Can we eat while you talk? >> You can eat while I Yeah, go for it. Go, go, go for it. Please do. Um so the first thing I'm going to start off with is the um November monthly financial report. So um we were down uh in November for in revenues from last November. We brought in $110,000 less in November 2025 than we did on November 2024. Um, however, the vast majority of that was
049expected. Uh, multiple years ago, Ohio did away with the um personal tangible property tax. And what they did is they to hold schools harmless, they gave them so many years to phase it out. the last year um 20 FY25 I'm sorry um which was yeah 2024 was the last year that we got the tangible personal property tax. So you know that was a 70 almost $72,000 reimbursement that we didn't get this year and we're never going to get. So that's why when it says local and other generated revenue it's down 85,000. Well, 72,000 of it was that tangible personal property tax reimbursement that had been done away with years ago. It just finally ran out. Um, the other thing, you know, the in November, the only thing we get other than, you know, those instant
050those things like fees and maybe some interest or that property tax re the tangible personal reimbursement. The only thing we get state foundation and you know that was down in November. We're less than 1% um above what we were in FY25 which I told you we were going to be just about flat which we are just about flat there. Um and I also told you uh that's not on this report. It'll be next month. It'll be the foundation will be down again because the state of Ohio took some of the science of reading reimbursements back in December that they gave us last year. So just so you guys all know if you taught state of Ohio um basically told us we had to do science of reading and told us that you know you've got
051to offer a stipen to the teachers that take it. We did. We submitted everything for reimbursement, did that on time, everything was up and in the clear, and when it was all said and done, um the state of Ohio finally discovered that, oh, we didn't appropriate enough money to pay for all the reimbursements. So, what do they do? They take it away from everybody. So, we just have to get $15,000 in of the reimbursements taken away. Now, the teachers already get it. We're not taking away from the teachers. So obviously it just it falls on the board's back of you know our carryover. So it's just another kind of unfunded mandate I'd call. So the next thing I want to talk about Oh and by the way last year we were at uh about 15
052days cash on hand. This year November we're about 13. So, even though we were down in uh revenues for the month, we were also down in expenses for the month. Um we were down almost $79,000 in November over last year. So, you know, we were down $31,000 more in revenue than we were down in expenditures, but we're still at least, you know, it's better than having expenditures increase while revenue decreases. uh if you look um November everything for the month of November with the exception of payroll and benefits decreased and if you look for the fiscal year to date um with the exception of other expenditures which ironically are the county auditor and treasurers fees and the fees we have to pay to be audited every year. Um, everything's down with the exception of salaries
053and benefits. And I've gone I' I've said it till I'm blew in the face. Health insurance is bankrupting us. It's killing us. And that's why the benefits are just exponentially higher than everything else. Um but you know as as negative as this news is um when you look at the where we are as compared to last year and as compared to where I forecasted we are on track you know we're 42% of revenues this year which is exactly where we were last year and we're right around 40 I think it's 42% um of the way through the fiscal year. uh 41.67%. So yeah, we're we're at 42% of the way through the fiscal year. So we're right on track as compared to what so what I forecasted. And the same way with the uh expenditures,
054we're staying right at 41%. So, if there is a light on this, the light is I'm not we're exactly where I said we're going to be and we're we're not like way off track. So, we knew what was going to happen. There's been little things like this science reading reimbursement and the county commissioners, you know, to doing that piggyback that have taken some of our revenues away. But that being said, we're I mean I mean, you know, it it I would be very alarmed if I sat could had to sit here and tell you that we were way off compared to what I said, but we're not way off. So, I just wish it was a better story. Uh the second thing um is it says recommendation of a petty cash for Jen Ekenweiler Preschool.
055The petty cash you're going to get the money. We as the district get the money back at the end. They just have to have petty cash. When somebody pays for fees or somebody pays for something, if they happen to pay in cash, they need to be able to reimburse them. You as a board have to approve the petty cash fund and then it gets returned at the end. So that's that's really nothing. Um the well nothing that is just something that we have to do because of a higher revised code and stuff. The treasur recommends that we accept a car for classroom grant for $269 um from directions credit union. I'd like to um thank Mike Anderson for applying for that and receiving it. And the next one is a resolution of necessity. Um I
056heard that gentleman loud and clear. Unfortunately, what happens in the state of Ohio, we have to declare a resolution of necessity like the month before we go out for bit go to the county auditor which has to be 100 days before the election. So, this had to be done it has to be done now and we had had discussions um in work sessions prior to. So number four is the resolution of necessity that the only difference between this one and the one that had been passed in July is this one has the dates updated the amounts are still the same. Um and number five is the same resolution that we had passed earlier too that says if if a income tax were to pass um we I you you are directing me to um tell
057the county auditor that we are not going to collect the on the 7.5 mil property tax um when the year that is that we would collect on starting the year we would collect on the income tax. Um number six is a recommendation for um the quotes that we received last month. You requested me to go out for quotes to try to find an auctioneer to auction off the Ashlin Road property. I went through the RFP process. We had three people submit. Um I sat with my Mr. Peterson and Mr. McFicker. We went through the bids and um there was a clear winner and that was res auction services and that leads me to number seven that recommends um the board recommends we award the contract to auction off the property to res. Now this obviously
058these aren't resolutions to actually sell the property that will come next month. This is just the resolution to hire a specific auctioneer to do it which that will you know that's what we'll discuss in the uh executive session. So are there any questions on the treasury report 1 through 7. >> Have you talked with the uh soccer committee? >> We have. Yeah. They're aware. >> Okay. >> Yep. So >> basically they were told they can use the property for as long as we own it. But once we don't own it anymore, then it'll be up to the new ownership to determine whether they would have access to it or not. >> Okay. >> Any other discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Won, >> four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Miss Amy Walker,
059>> four. >> Mrs. Cartman, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. Uh item K, strategic plan financial. >> Hey, that's that's me again. So um Mr. Peterson and myself are co-chairs of the um financial responsibility action plan and Mr. McVicker, Mr. Blankip, and Carolyn are are committee members. And the first part of that is the goal of um being transparent and having a a balanced and sustainable budget. Um allowing the district for full implementation of the plan. And the first thing we're going to we're going to do that by having an ex transparent practice of responsible spending, financial management, efficient operations. And how are we going to do that? Well, one closely monitoring the district's um target cash of 60 days on hand. We're going to seek cost saving measures on expenditures, maintain a level
060of staffing that meets needs, interview, maintain cyber security. So, I'll just go through these a little bit, explain. So, with the monitoring of the district's general fund, targeting cash days on hand, um I have given you uh cash on hand with every board report. Um, I've been as transparent as I could be with the board reports, our expenditures, our revenues. Whenever there's an anomaly, I tell you about the anomaly. Um, I have an open office open door policy. Anybody can come in, call, and um, Mr. Peterson and I meet very frequently on whether or not we're on target, where we're hot, where we're high on, where we're low on, and those sort of things. um like things for like seeing seeking cost-saving measures. Um I've talked about some of the things we've done with the
061consortiums for um our electric and our gas. We um just we are switching for our company that does the postage machine. I just got the renewal for the lease for a postage and the price went up. So, I actually asked um Mr. Peterson's executive assistant to find out if we can go cheaper, and we found somebody 20 bucks a month cheaper. So, we're switching that. Um Mr. McVicker and I are working on the changing some phones lines out. There's these things called POTS line. I don't know if POTS stands for plain old telephone service or not, but what it is, it's a hardwired line that you have for elevators, safety, fire, things like that. Um that's right now through Brightspeed. We're trying to work on ways to see if we can get it cheaper. Um
062other than Hard Line, he's been working on that for actually a couple months and it's starting to come to a head. Hopefully next month we'll have a a different company, different plan. Um uh Mr. Neon and I got a Zoom. I've been trying to there's this thing called demand response which has to do with our capacity of electric and when the grid is calling for more demand than what it has or what the capabilities of like Ohio Edison have there's a way that voluntarily we can you know see if we can turn the air conditioning up a little bit or down so it doesn't or you do some things. We've got a meeting tomorrow. I've already had one well one Zoom a couple phone calls with the company and I'm Mr. Neuron's kind of like
063I'm not going to do anything without him because he'll be the one who have to take care of it and implement it. So we're going to talk about that tomorrow. So those are just some examples of what we do for costsaving measures. Um maintain a level of staffing. Mr. Peterson talked quite a bit about move. We've talked about closing Mifflin. That's not a secret. Um, so we are working on maintaining staffing levels that are efficient and fiscally responsible and reviewing and maintaining the cyber security incident plan. Uh, the same people that were in this with the exception we need to add Luke Stum up there. Uh, we have gone through the plan. We continue to update it. Um, continue to look at different things. We just had a it it luckily it only it was
064a very low incident. We just had a low incident. Was it last week? Um where something happened and there was a bot that was checking emails. Um just so happens it was on my computer. So I had to change all my passwords and do some things. But immediately when I found found it. So what had happened at like 2:00 on one day and by 8:00 the next morning I I well during that day I let Mr. McBicker know and then the next morning I let Luke know and that's when we kind of did a deep dive into my computer. Luckily nothing's happened. Um but it was just we are continually monitoring cyber security to make sure we are as protected as we can. Strategy two um target additional revenue sources to strengthen the district's ability
065to implement the strategic plan. Um, okay. And that the action steps there are generate additional local revenue, operating expenses through a passage of a new levy, aggressively pursue grants and other alternative sources, and addressing funding concepts with state legislators. Well, um, you know, the local revenue through operating, you just voted on two resolutions for a levy and we've had meetings about that. So, it's obvious we are trying to do get extra more generate money that way. Um, pursue grants, you know, I I just I just had a grant on here. We have a Mr. McBicker um was able to get a safety grant for $11,000 and so far we've applied for a a school bus safety grant for $64,000. We haven't heard on whether or not we've gotten that yet, but you know, we're we're
066continually going out for grants. Um and then other revenue, we talked about the sale of the land. That's another place we're trying to to generate revenue, sale of asset. And the last thing, um additional uh or address funding concerns with the state legislators. Um Mr. Peterson and I had our names in the paper where we were at the commissioner's meeting and, you know, strongly opposed their piggyback. Um, we've had meetings and sent letters to our state representatives. We're continuing to be as vocal as we can with respect to our state legislators, but we're we're making sure they're well aware of how their decisions are negatively impacting us. So, that's my strategic action plan or not mine, that's our I apologize, our strategic action plan. Um, are there any questions on that? You want to add
067anything, Mr. Peterson? >> Nope. You covered it. Thank you. >> All right. Um, entertain a motion matters relate to personnel, including the addendum. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Four. >> Mr. Wton. >> Four. >> Miss. Amy Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Cterman. >> Four. >> Mr. Moser. >> Four. And we go to superintendent business. Entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> I'll second >> discussion. >> None. >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Cterman. >> Four. >> Mr. Wton. >> Four. >> Mr. Moer. >> And four. And brings us to item in visitors comment. Does any other visitor like to make a comment this time? Here comes somebody. Just let us know who you are and where
068you live. And I'm Rob Kurtz. I'm the pastor of Mansville Baptist Temple. Our church has been uh situated in the Madison School District for almost 75 years now. We're going to celebrate our 75th anniversary in July. But I'm just here tonight just to say to the school board, thank you for the privilege our school has had to have a good news club at East View Elementary. And uh we started that last spring. And we just had a a little Christmas party with the kids that participated, 31 there today. And I just want to commend you for East View Elementary, their administration, their teachers, janitorial, uh, Lynette Kaiser, uh, just they they've been fantastic for us and I just want to commend them to you. Let you know that we appreciate that privilege that we've had
069and look forward to continuing. And then as a school board, thanks for what you do. If our church and walking forward can be a help to you guys in any way, it would be our privilege. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks. Any other visitor like to make comment? All right, go to president's business. Uh, next regular board of education meeting. Have we said anything yet, TBA or >> uh I I want to suggest um in the past we've always done the organizational meeting on a separate night from the regular meeting in January. And um it's my suggestion that we um pair those up and do them on the same night. Um, and we could do that on January 7th um, at the library at the high school if that works for everybody
070and and you're interested in doing so. Everybody good with January 7th? Adam, you good with that? >> All right, January 7th it is. We'll do them both. Uh, brings to number three, appointment of president prom for the organization meeting. Just to clarify, are they both like is the first one going to start at 6 PM and the second one to follow or >> I would think that's Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, comment, concern? >> All right. Item three, appointment of president term for organizational meeting. Any nominations? >> I'll nominate you. >> Me? Okay. And I'll >> second you. Okay. Would you say you Mr. Mo? >> She meant me. I think uh any other nominations for Pro Tim? All right. Can we have a motion to close these
071nominations? So move >> and second by. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any other discussion? vote, please. All right. So, that would be Mr. Wikton, >> four. >> Mrs. Cotman, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four, >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> And then we go to need a motion. Second to >> move. >> I'll second. Okay. Discussion. None. Boom. >> Okay. Tim W. Mr. Wikon. >> Four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Coderman. >> Four. >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four. >> Mr. Moer. >> Four. All right. Now we're uh >> And there will be no voting. >> No voting. Not necessary. Uh then we will entertain a motion to go to executive session to discuss item B. There will be no voting after the
072session. >> Uh need a motion. >> Can we just Oh, >> no. This is executive session. >> Oh, we already did that. >> No, we did the one to appoint >> Mr. Moer as I'll motion for executive session. >> I'm sorry, >> who seconded it? I'll second. >> All right, >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. Four, >> Mr. Won. >> Four, >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four, >> Mrs. Conterman. >> Four, >> Mr. Moer. >> Four. And just a reminder there. No, there'll be no voting afterwards. >> All right, we're in exe.