001Good evening. This is the the meeting. The regular board meeting of the Amanda Clearcreek Call to order, please. Roll call. Um Let's see. Dr. Buckley. Here. Mrs. Saum. Here. Mrs. Young. Here. Pledge of allegiance. 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. >> [clears throat] >> First item is uh to approve the agenda as presented. Do I have a motion? I move. Robin moved. Second. Dr. Buckley second. Roll call, please. Mrs. Saum. Yeah. Dr. Buckley. >> Yes. Mrs. Young. Yes. Um next item is um a motion to I have a motion to appoint Kyle Sharp to the vacancy seat number one of the Amanda Clearcreek Board of Education. I move. I'll second.
002Dr. Buckley then Robin. Um Roll call, please. Dr. Buckley. Yes. Mrs. Saum. Yes. Mrs. Young. Yes. And next item is to swear in Mr. Sharp as a Board of Education member. Okay. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Ohio and that you will faithfully and impartially discharge your duties as a member of the Board of Education of the Amanda Clearcreek Local School District, Fairfield County, Ohio to the best of your ability and in accordance with the laws now in effect and hereafter to be enacted during your continuance in said office and until your successor is chosen and qualified. I do. You can sign right here. Sign right here. Flip the page over. I'll give you a copy. Thank you, sir. Congratulations.
003Welcome to the board. >> [laughter] >> Appreciate it. Next item um do I have a motion to appoint Greg Heron to the vacancy seat number two of the Amanda Clearcreek Board of Education? I move. Robin moves. Second. Roll call, please. Mrs. Saum. Yes. Dr. Buckley. Yes. Mr. Sharp. Yes. Mrs. Young. Yes. Now swearing Greg Heron. Board of Education. Okay. You probably have this memorized by now. I'm quite familiar. [clears throat] Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Ohio and that you will faithfully and impartially discharge your duties as a member of the Board of Education of the Amanda Clearcreek Local School District, Fairfield County, Ohio to the best of your ability and in accordance with the laws now in effect and
004hereafter to be enacted during your continuance in said office and until your successor is chosen and qualified. I will. Okay. Sign there and the name of the street. I'll give you a copy. Congratulations. Thank you. Welcome to the board. Thank you. We now have five sitting board members. The next item is under communications. Um board appreciation. Yeah. So, um just very quickly, um January is Board Appreciation Month um in in the state of Ohio. So, um the theme this year is "Scaling New Heights in Public Education." Uh Board of Education Appreciation Month is organized and and put out by OSBA, but at definitely um at each individual level we see the effects and the impact that you all make um to our students and to our district. And and it's taking a moment one more
005time um you know, to make sure that we thank you and and really show our appreciation of of the work that you put in. A lot of times it's behind the scenes or phone calls or things like that um that maybe not isn't always out here um you know, at a meeting. There's there's a lot more that goes into being a board member than than just that. So, anyway, uh want to thank you for that. And first up, Dr. Buckley. Congratulations. Thank you. And Mr. Heron. Welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mrs. Saum. >> [laughter] >> Mrs. Saum, thank you for your efforts. And Mr. Sharp. Thank you, Mr. Sharp. And Mrs. Young. Thank you. Um in addition there, there's a small thank you there at your spots. Um just again, appreciate everything that
006you do for ultimately the students uh and the benefit that that they receive. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Uh we have no public participation tonight. Um due to the weather, we have no student student liaison report. The building and grounds committee was postponed. Um Anything on legislative liaison? Uh Not much. Uh Divine as part of the online property um tax uh relief uh that the legislature is putting on through. Uh signed that bill detailing the county budget commission role uh essentially showing some of most of the tax property tax review back to the county level. Uh and that ultimately that commission can look at taxes, whether it be schools or the library or you know, whatever it may be and could theoretically roll back um funding if they feel that it is in excess of
007what is needed for that set entity, whether it's the fire department or the library or whatever the case may be. Um there's some um safe harbor carve outs in that for school districts. Uh but you don't have some protection in regards to what is and is not needed, but sounds like the treasurer will be updating that commission. Correct? I mean you already do, right? To some extent. Actually, Fairfield County has waived all this hearing. Um however, I did talk to Carrie Winegardner, our auditor, a couple of days ago. It was Friday morning, I think. Um and I'm going to get a meeting on the 2nd. They actually suggested meeting today and obviously the county office was very closed. Um but I'm going to get a meeting and speak on the 2nd and provide them a
008testimony statement just I don't think any other treasurers do that, but I just want to tell them where Amanda is and what we're doing. Um Talk a little I don't have any Carrie has no indication that the budget commission would ever do anything radical with Fairfield County. They're very supportive of public schools. They understand what's going on. They're not really in agreement of everything, but there are some more statutory things that will have to happen. Um She Carrie put out a good document on the four house bills that passed. Um I am in the process of taking those and then I would like to put it up on our website kind of how each one of them affects us. Um the um For example, we're remaining on the 20 mil floor. We'll go over this
009next month when we approve the forecast. Um a lot of districts are coming off the floor because there are more levies going to be included in that calculation. Um to get to the 20 mil floor, we only have continuing um tax levies and those aren't affected. So, we'll stay at the 20 mil floor, but any increase that we will see from being at the 20 mil floor through revaluation will be capped at um inflation. If inflation is 3%, you can only get 3%. Um this does have a pretty dramatic impact on the revenue that we will forecasting um because of what's going on in our area. Um the other is the inside millage is also capped at inflation. Um we have 4 and 1/2 mils inside. So, that used to not have any reduction to
010it. It was just a straight 4 and 1/2 mils we got previously, but now it's going to be capped at inflation as well. Um the other one is the expansion of the um the other bill is the expansion of the authority of the budget commission. Um it's not it's technically in some eyes it really wasn't an expansion. They've always had that authority, but there was some confusion. So, it's really clarifying language. Carrie has put in the budget commission has not reviewed the documents yet. So, they'll do that on the 2nd um after the meeting. She's put some kind of guardrails in place with their county, as well, and somehow the calculations will be made, and at no point will the budget commission do anything without a public hearing, without all these notifications, because um, she
011very strongly believes that there is not a school here for county that doesn't need the money that they have. Um, but that everybody needs to use those funds and/or are spending inappropriately. So, um, I don't anticipate issues right now with the chronic, um, office holders. So, um, but we're going to stay I and I told her because she got She was like, "You wouldn't come to the meeting?" And I'm like, "I do because, you know, we're Amanda, we're outside of Lancaster. You know, I I I just want to stay in front of them so they always have a face to go with the district that they feel they can talk to us and be like, 'Hey, what's going here? What's going there?'" So, um, she did ask me to prepare, like, whatever I do is
012in writing so she can include it with the minutes. Um, I do plan to talk about the fact that the the board really was looking for ways to reduce the, um, income tax. Um, if we could, and with these new bills there's no way that's happening because they basically have reduced our and revenues over the next 5 years by more than 4 and 1/2 million dollars. So, um, what we could have possibly rolled back that income tax, that's not going to be possible because of this. Um, so, Do you think you're going to go over that in more detail next time? Yeah, we'll have the forecast They moved the forecast The legislators moved the forecast up to February. So, at the next meeting I have the forecast on my phone, so I'll go into detail
013because it'll be drastically different than what we've had in the past. And Kim Yoakum is one of the um, positions on that commission. I don't It's the treasurer. Treasurer auditor. Prosecutor. Okay. Prosecutor's one of them, and Okay. I'll have to look that up again because they were going back and back and more confused because they were going back and forth with who actually sits on the budget commission because they were trying to I think they were trying to put a commissioner on there. Um, that was one of the only bills or something. They were trying to change that makeup. I'm not really sure. Right. But, um, there are some other things Um, the Senate's coming back. Um, I want to say next week. We just got something. So, they're coming back in session. The House
014has not announced when they'll be back in session. And there are several bills that the Senate's expected to And it's No, I did It doesn't look like it is overriding the governor's vetoes. It's more of new legislation that And addresses Some of it, yeah, addresses some of it, same One of the things coming back is, um, Senator Brenner is introducing a bill about unused, um, school properties should be made available to um, charter schools and and private schools. So, which doesn't really affect us in any way, but it is coming back, no matter. Um, so, some of the stuff like that that we saw in the budget bill that is coming back is actually new legislation, versus the money I didn't need to have from the government. And we will keep you updated. Okay. That
015was it for legislative. Um, building principals, um, were given, um, a brief due to the weather. Superintendent's report. Um, the one thing that I was going to know was we've been working through the strategic change agenda. Um, I've talked about that a few times at recent meetings. Um, I was going to present all of it in a little more detail tonight, but what I'll do is, um, share out like a video for you guys to kind of recap where we've been, where we're going, and where we're going, and where we're at in that process. So, um, that's all I have tonight. The next item is the consent agenda, number one, um, to accept the minutes from the previous meeting, regular meeting on December 17th, and to accept minutes from the organizational meeting, which was held
016on January 7th, um, approve the substitute list as presented by Pickaway County ESCs, and to accept donations from, uh, Mr. McMahon, Shoemakers, and St. John Church, and Tom Whiteside CDJR. I'm not sure what that is, but donated coats, and we very much appreciate all the donations that are received. Mr. Dodge, did you Oh, okay. There you go. Thank you. Do I have a motion? To approve the minutes. Robin moves. I second. Who is that from? The dude. I second. >> Okay. Sorry. I I just didn't hear and that was a man's voice. I didn't know whether to bracket. Okay. Uh, roll call. Mrs. Song. Yes. Mr. Sharp. Yes. Dr. Buckler. Yes. Mr. Herron. Yes. Mrs. Young. Yes. Next item is the treasurer recommendations. We will have the financial status reports from the treasurer. We, um,
017financial report for December starts on page 14 of your packet. Um, as I said last month, um, January is by far our lowest revenue, um, and cash position for the year. Um, our general fund revenues were 944,000. Um, we only get foundation during the month of May. We get our last investment earnings. Um, our investment earnings for the month were 63,495. Um, and we received 4,922 dollars with the money that we still have invested, um, for the construction budget. The construction project is coming to a close. Um, I do have the last pay-offs in my possession, so that will be um, kind of finished here soon. We will have a surplus in Star Ohio, um, from the, um, We We left the interest from that in that Star Ohio account. I will be moving that
018into the general fund. Hopefully by next month, um, I'll get that cleaned up and done, and then all of the accounts for construction should be closed after that. Um, Is there no restriction on that that you have to spend that interest on future construction or anything? No, we, um, so, when we did the financing, um, we did them in two issuances to hit '12 and '13 and '14, essentially. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> And by doing that, um, we have a 15 million dollar cap. Um, the IRS said if we're under 15 million dollars, um, we could keep the interest. Otherwise, we would have had to surrender the interest for arbitrage. So, um, the interest is ours, unrestricted. Um, we have So, the what is in Star Ohio is only the interest that we got off
019of Star Ohio. We had other, um, investments we did, um, some with Gray Tree, which were a little bit longer term, more like municipal Do you still have some of the bonds and stuff like that. Yeah, everything's been dissolved at this point except for the Star Ohio. Um, the, um, most of the Well, not most, all of the interests, um, was recognized in the general fund. So, accounting-wise, it was all put in the general fund. Um, for a while we were transferring it into the, um, when we were probably at our highest, we were putting some of that into our 070 account. Um, but as we come through, we've just left that consistent in general General fund. If that makes sense. Yes. Um, to date we have received, um, 1.375 million in interest, um, I
020don't remember what the title is. And, um, I wanted to point out, um, we had an EMIS error at the beginning of the year, and so our career tech funds, um, if you look on your report, are negative. Um, the way EMIS works is they pull data for the foundation payment, um, and I want to say in October. Not everything gets updated at once in the state, um, starts in August and starts updating numbers of certain things in certain months. It actually updated to current. When we updated to current for career tech, um, it appeared that we had zero kids in career tech. Um, so, the money they had already given us from July 1st through October, they were recalling back to the state, which is I put that in the notes. Um, so, it
021was negative, so they took the money back. We did, in the meantime, get that corrected. Um, we will be made whole with that, so they will be giving us the money. It was just they took it back, and now they'll give it back to us. We still have, um, some cleanup to do without having Having, um, Dr. Edwards and I have been interviewing coordinators. We're hoping to get that position hired this spring because that's kind of one of the reasons we really don't have that person overlooking everything. So, we've been trying Dr. Edwards has been doing a very good job staying up front. So, I wanted to point that out just so if anybody had questions why we had negative amounts, and that's because they had called those funds back to the state. Well, we
022get Well, this was for you. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's what That is how funding EMS works. We have this happen with special ed a lot. We try to not have it happen, but data is constantly being updated through our um SIS, which is our student information system, which is finance software. Um and as that If there's an error if it throws an error, then we'll see the effect in in the validation payment. That's why with an EMS coordinator, they're usually going on top of that, and they see that so they can get this corrected before the validation payment is calculated. So. Um Anyway, um the other thing was I want to point out the science of reading reimbursement. So, for fiscal year '25, the governor did the science of reading and the legislator approved
023that everybody had to get through the science of reading training, and then they provided us the funds to pay our staff for that PD. Um they basically over appropriated, and so then they had to recall those some of those funds, and so they took that out of the December payment, and it was $8,000 um $481. So, about halfway down your report by your report, you can see a negative number in there. That is what that's from. Overall, we received I can't remember how much we received. It was about $1,200 per teacher depending on what grade level. They either got $1,200 or $400 depending on if they were in a tested area or not and what how much PD they actually had to do. Um So, that's how much we ended up having to pay back.
024So, we were just out that money. So, everybody across the state had the same type of Yes. deduction. What's the percentage? Okay. And I I I did put that in the notes. That was the auditing. They two were the auditing for this month. So, then um our expenditures for the month of December were $1,959,000. Total checks written were $3,004,538. Um again, checks written are from all funds, not just the general fund. What we reported on so far is really just the general fund. Um As it's statutorily, you have to be given a check report so you guys see every single check that's written through the month. That's why the disbursement report is for all funds. So, no matter what check we write, you have to have access to that. Um Most of our expenses align
025to 2024. If you look to the column to the right of December 25, um we we were up about $69,548, but that's just salaries, raises for the most part. Um Overall, our expenses exceeded our revenues by about a million dollars. Um salaries and benefits were 87% of our total this month. Um and you'll see that number we we talk about that so you can get a percentage wise. We really at the year about 75 76% is where we'll stay for salaries and benefits. Um We don't We're usually under 80. 80 is where you can't turn the ship if cuz the last thing you want to do adjusting if you have to adjust expenses is to go looking at salaries and doing more cutting. Um so, we try to stay under that, and we are well
026under that. Because a lot of our expenses are paid earlier in the year, that number goes up and down a lot because if there's no other expenses, it's salaries and benefits as you can imagine, it's a larger percentage then. >> [clears throat] >> Um So, like for example, curriculum and things that are the most expensive, they would be earlier in the year. So, then throughout the rest of the year, we don't have electricity or gas and things like that. Um our balance in the 070 capital fund um is $8,750,000. We do have 1.13 million in encumbrances, leaving us with an unencumbered balance of $7,628,000. Um if you look at our cash policy, we are about 29% right now um of our total expenditures for fiscal year '26. Um Which is below the threshold, but we
027will be getting um income tax on the 31st. 31st. I always forget how many days are in a month. And then so, at the end of this month, we'll get the income tax, and then we also will get real deposits for property tax in February. So, our cash balance will be probably at its highest or not or it's almost close to its highest coming March. So. Um so, you'll see that number go up drastically. Um are there any questions about the financial reports? About that page? So, what? Fourth. It's about the financial expenditure summary. Sorry. Uh And then next time it says the the board submits an update to the ODEW on the last day of February. And then that's Okay. So, the next meeting that we're going to have is going to review that
028what we're going to submit. That's the forecast. Yes. Okay. That'll be the forecast, and then whatever other documents that get used in the forecasting our report encompasses everything so you won't submit any separate reports. Okay. It has all of it in there. They've been asking for um Is it three year or five year? Budget. We will still do a five year. Three year is what we'll submit. So, you'll get to see five years. Um We're going to continue that process because I don't ever want less information. Years four and five are Excuse me. Are you good? >> Yeah, but they still give us if we're going to do anything, it still gives us an idea of how things are affected. Um But Yeah, we won't know inflation anything, but five year picture is much better
029than a three year picture. Um I have a feeling that we should have moved back to the five year soon. It's all these property tax. There are many many many school districts that are going into actually fiscal year '27 to start in June in in the negative, um which will put them in fiscal caution. Because of the property tax issues. So, there is a a lot of money that will be on the ballot across the state. We are very fortunate that that's not our story. So. Okay. No. I have a motion to approve the financial report. Second. Dr. Mathers, yes. Mr. Harris, Dr. Mathers, Did you say Okay, sorry. Yeah. Roll call this. Dr. Mathers, Yes. Mrs. Jones, Yes. Mr. Harris, Yes. Mr. Sharp, Yes. Mrs. Jones, Yes. I don't foresee approval of an and
030now purchase order to approve the following expenditures, declaring that the time of the contract, the obligation is lawfully appropriated and was in the treasury of the appropriate fund free from previous encumbrances in for pilot for $96,185. Do I have a motion? I'll move. I'll second. I'll move and I'll second. Roll call this. But I Yeah, I wanted to discuss it. Sorry. I apologize. I'm I'm sorry. This is my year This is our insurance for property, liability, and fleet, which we did back in July. Um I don't even know how a PO So, what happened is a PO didn't get entered in the system. So, we did the um bidding and request for proposals. Um Liberty had come back in at $100 or like $15,000 or in that range. Um and then a higher school came
031in, and then which is Islands really in the drivers. Um so, this is for our high school policy, and we did not get the invoice until December, which is odd to me cuz typically it comes in July. Um so, there wasn't a PO invoice for when when the bill came. Um I don't have any really good excuses except I think we guys were so excited that we got insurance for 15% less than the year before, which is really good renewal. So, I don't know why I was so excited I just didn't get the PO. This is for property and liability? And yes, and fleet. So, for the buses and all that. So, [clears throat] is the actual insurance and benefits in the board administration? Or is it purchase some consultant where they picked the best
032policy for us? Is it the actual underwriting that's it? Yes. Okay. This is the actual. Um Which as you can imagine, we've been with Liberty for the last probably four or five years, and we were on high school plan before then, and we were really in she got and then suddenly this year um according to Liberty they had a lot of claims not by us but nationally across the US so that really touched tremendously so I was I was very happy that high school playing came in all of the limits and deductibles are the same as we have so we didn't have to pay any of those to to get Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Sharp? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Dr. Buckley? Yes. Mr. Hearn? Yes. Mrs. Young? Yes. Next item is agenda item
033number two, personnel, to accept the resignation and or retirements of Mr. Jeff Tilly for the purpose of retirement effective June 30th, 2019-2020 school year. Mr. Tilly was hired with the Menifee County School District in 1993 and he's retiring with 33 years of service. Um item B is approve the supplemental employment for Mr. Wade Johnson as head football coach and item C education experience and modification of hours update for um Ms. Kristen Fleckert. Um and all the approved volunteers for 25.6 as listed on attachment five. Do I have a motion? I have a motion. I second. I have a second. Any discussion? I think we have to talk about Mr. Tilly. With that is he is a huge influence in the in the school and the ag program. He and Mr. Sharp work very well together.
034Like we have had recent conversations about how they compliment each other and really they pull the strengths of each other out and really our students benefit from that. So um again just you know thank you to Mr. Tilly for everything that he's done and everything that he will continue to help on the side that he's he said that he will continue after his retirement days are up. Um with half of it set out to them but again just just a blessing really to overall staff. I've had great conversations with him and and the students definitely benefit from that. So he'll be missed. The second thing there is just a congratulations to Mr. Johnson, Coach Johnson, coming in as our head football coach and he is excited to hit the ground running and get things moving
035so congratulations to to him. Is it just a supplemental employment? Is that any different than a normal employment? Yes. So there are two types of contracts to pay coaches or club leaders or whatever. Um that's people activity so they're not a teacher and then supplemental if they are a teacher which is Okay. They're the same thing except one is if you are a teacher one is if not. Yeah. Um So the probation period doesn't mean anything other than just the designation of pay. It's just an addition to their salary they get a supplemental. Okay, so they get Yeah. And they can be like at the beginning of the year you'll see student council advisor or anything. Yeah. Two year limits. Yeah. Yeah. They follow up. Apologize in advance for my numerous questions. No this is
036what we all have before. >> [clears throat] >> Roll call, please. Um Dr. Buckley? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Mr. Hearn? Yes. Mr. Sharp? Yes. Mrs. Young? Yes. On the old business um the board student achievement liaison appointment. And this is something that we tabled at our organization meeting. Um Yeah. Do I have a motion, please? So I think we talked about if if the board we could either make a motion and it dies if if we didn't want to make an appointment or we could go through the process and and actually make the appointment. So we talked about whether we wanted to make that this year. We were trying to decide the value of it. Yeah it was the value of having it and I think I guess from my perspective it felt like we
037were always the update was never available at the time of the board meeting. You know what I mean? And so there was no value to be had. Um Yeah. We already got an update. No if there was one to give but that things don't apply to my topic. I mean probably out of the 12 months of the year we see how they do. Achievement return and see if anything at all that makes sense to us about that. Um it's a pretty minimal. Dr. Hearn just so you know we feel like kind of outline it but the reason we go over it just it doesn't feel like we get enough information. It didn't seem like it was worthwhile to have an actual appointment. I didn't think we had a problem we got we get more information
038really. Numerous lines about student achievement I was saying a conference study. Yeah. Yeah. No I agree and I Yeah. To your point I feel like we get a lot more from curriculum council than Yeah. And that's hyper local I guess you know it doesn't really go over what's going on. You go three for you know equal schools. That's true. But I think for my purposes curriculum council is much more value added than student liaison. Or excuse me um student achievement liaison. Yeah. I I guess from my perspective I'd be comfortable um leaving it vacant for the year and we could re-evaluate you know keep going the course. Nothing would be gained in the email that would be worthwhile to bring back but I guess from my perspective I'm comfortable with leaving it vacant. I don't
039think you guys Yeah I think that's a good idea. You need an appointment I mean there's a negative connotation to the email that you get because because I know what I used to get and then they get some of them this year and I wasn't even getting them. I never got them. I yeah I don't recall so I think it's just the actual person who was appointed who was getting that email. I don't know what you're talking about. So I to we have a there has to be something and we can't save the roles in OSBA to update things unless there's a name in there. So make sure that we get the emails so that we don't necessarily have that as a part of the it's an automatic board report. Board report. Um I was
040getting them as the president and They were yeah. And then that's basically what Misty was doing then. Well you could make an Yeah you could actually make an argument to the board if you wanted to but to check the box you know to check the box. And then just distribute it but not make it a routine part of our board meeting. I'm good with that. I'm good with that. Yeah. That's what we In order to get other things updated we we put a name in there. Yeah. Okay. So So does do the emails typically come to the president then and then you forward it to Misty when she was No she got them also. She would get them because she was This says that So you have the emails as the president automatically gets them.
041I guess so cuz I would get them also. I get them. Yeah. I So I assume they must have sent them to me as president and then Misty would get them also since she was the appointment liaison. So maybe you do it. Student appointment liaison. Yeah I mean Yeah that's it. Board and we fulfilled our duties as the appointment. Okay. So maybe we make a motion that student appointment liaison will be the president. Let's just let's just my suggestion my recommendation would be to go ahead and do that and then we just won't add it to the monthly agenda. Okay. Okay. Can I have a motion? I think you can appoint yourself because I couldn't appoint anybody else. No I have an appointment. Okay. Well I'll do it. I'll be the student achievement liaison. So
042you don't have to make any motions for that. I will not. I can make a motion for that. >> [laughter] >> So do we move on then? Yes. Okay. Item B on old business, policy updates. This is the second read for all of those items listed. Um Do I have a motion? I motion. I second. I have a second. Discussion. Roll call, please. Mr. Sharp? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Mr. Hearn? Yes. Dr. Buckley? Yes. This is Diana. Yes. New business. Item A is to approve 2026 Ohio Education Policy Institute membership. Uh it is $1,000 for this annual fee, correct? Do I have a motion? Dr. Bucklin? Yes. Second. Five seconds. Discussion. The in the you probably see a lot of the OEPI uh emails and these all come out. Howard Fleeter, he's part of the
043OEPI. Um so, they have done a tremendous amount of work with either evaluating, you know, upcoming tax reform or tax laws and impact on public school funding. Um so, there's there's a a tremendous amount of information that we benefit from either look not only just locally, but as school districts across the state with with that organization. And historically, we have been a member. Yeah. Um we do get a lot of data from them. Um they also give a lot of testimony at the state house. They advocate very strongly for schools. Um it's a good organization. And we benefit, I believe, a few years. Whenever I get a chance to listen to them, I sit in on the sessions. Conference and all those things that they do. Any other discussion? And roll call, please. Dr. Bucklin?
044Yes. Yes. Mr. Sharp? Yes. Mr. Ham? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Mrs. Young? Yes. Item B is to approve 26-27 academic calendar attachment number seven. Do I have a motion? I'll move. Dr. Bucklin? Yes. I'll second. Robin seconds. Discussion. So, a few things on this calendar. First, let us note that um based on feedback from various stakeholders, um we pushed the start date for students back uh approximately throwing us about a week um later. So, just wanted to note that at the beginning. Where is that? A 82. Well, we've gone back and forth with the number of hours our students are here at school. It kind of we had a lot when we went to hours. Then we kind of backed off during COVID when we went to the block schedule. And then the past couple
045years, we've kind of bumped up a little bit with 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. So, when we look at this school calendar, and the number of hours, where does that put us with the number of days that we can miss? Approximately 16 days. Okay. Uh we have my one of the first first year I figured there was a cushion now. There wasn't for a while >> Yeah. Whenever we were getting out at 2:00, we were at 4 1/2 days. Um so, as we've increased the number of time to only make it out of And it's 2:30 now. Um that has a specific impact on the number of days, which right now, as we're sitting in the middle of this, we would have to be able to make up if we didn't have the Okay.
046Okay. I'm glad you brought that up. Oh, that's a good question, cuz you never know Yes. I think you were asking about the rest of the It was kind of only we had the rest of the day. It's like the actual air temperature >> [laughter] >> 10 below one morning. Remember you only came >> [laughter] >> I'm hopeful we will be in sometime this week. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. That's very specific. Specific to the weather. >> [laughter] >> There you go. I hope we will be in by Is it like all staff PD or teacher PD or things like that? Professional development. So, you will note on there too, some say all staff and some say teacher. Um it's based on teachers have 184 work days that work. All staff is whenever parents come
047in and and all the other employees. Bus drivers, they have to come in they have to work on those those duty days or those all staff duty days. Um teacher in-service And then Um roll call, please. Dr. Bucklin? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Mr. Ham? Yes. Mr. Sharp? Yes. >> Mrs. Young? Yes. Item C, approve staff days without pay as uh listed. Do I have a motion? I'll move. Call me. I'll second. Robin seconds. Discussion. Roll call, please. Mr. Sharp? Yes. Mrs. Song? Yes. Dr. Bucklin? Yes. Mr. Ham? Yes. Mrs. Young? Yes. More more discussion? Anything else on this? Okay. Uh item A, OSBA legal assistance fund. So, you had asked last meeting about that. Um so, a little bit of information um that I was able to find in 2008, there were if they had
048noted, that was just one of the last ones they had up there. Uh 498 districts participated across the state in the legal assistance fund. Um they gave some information about how to request assistance. Um there's an application that you would submit to OSBA, and then you would have a board resolution, and then OSBA would review that. They didn't give any specifics on specific items that they have helped with districts with, but were you know, things at the state level, but those two things that they just Did you say that that was from 2008? I think it was 2008 was the last that they had. Uh cuz I had found some information on their website. A long time ago. Yeah. [laughter] I had reached out to them. >> like when our seniors were born, right? Yeah.
049Is it Is it $250 a year? Do you know if they dropped it or have they? Just so you know, it's the same thing like that too. No, and then there's 400 How many school districts are there in Ohio? 600 and 640 something. So, 430 I think joined in this? I don't know. I don't know how many there are in there. I don't know. We didn't get the last week. They didn't mention it to me. They would contribute to any kind of legal situation like this. Specific to that school, but it's an issue that would impact >> Right. Right. Right. So, so I imagine there's probably not too many of them throughout the eight days, I reckon. And so, that's probably why they don't have to work on them. And well, these are the probably
050all the really good Is 2008 the last time that they had it? There was They had given some examples in the email from last time. Oh, okay. Which I thought I thought they were all Okay. I thought in the discussion I made I thought we had discussed last time we had We agreed to put it on there. Do you remember if it was specifically the table building that they had? There was There was a couple of questions I think and then how many how many in Do we have to do we have to or we get them in the packet? I don't I could not find any reference that we had ever given I just got I had gotten an email. But maybe we got that from the board. I got it. email from OSBA
051legal person. About what was in the email. Yeah, how many were asking if we would have to Yeah. contribute to which I don't necessarily want to do because And so, that's why I And so, that's why I brought that. brought that. Because [laughter] Because I didn't know I didn't know you know, it's not a bad you know, it's not a bad Yeah, I don't see it as a bad thing necessarily thing necessarily because I don't have because Yeah, I don't see it as a bad have that kind of kind of money and that kind of kind of money and I don't if there is an issue that comes up that comes up that can cast one can cast one if there is an issue that Yeah, one district, but it's an issue district, but it's
052an issue that would that would impact all of us Yeah, one impact all of us based on the based on the decisions decisions And so, you know And so, you know Yeah. Yeah. We're trying to see if we can find the find the money money in We're trying to see if we can So, So, it's basically a it's basically a legal legal assistance. assistance. It's not something that you already get already get through OSBA and OSBA and through It's not something that you you just put in you just put in It's an OSBA It's an OSBA fund. fund. So, you So, you school districts pay into it, they collect that money. That's it, they collect that money. That's where they have it in some kind of money in that fund. school districts pay into in
053that fund. And then if they need And then if they need to state Yeah, if they need to they need to state this year in some state this year in to state Yeah, if other funds for some other funds for They have to look at it. They have to look at it. So, for example, So, for example, in 2015, the legal assistance fund was the legal assistance fund was active on active on eight matters of statewide eight matters of statewide significance, significance, including two cases that including two cases that were in the US were in the US Supreme Court. in 2015, Supreme Court. Um Um November 2014, Ohio versus Clark. November 2014, Ohio versus Clark. They were part of that. They were part of that. And August of 15, they joined the National School Boards
054Association and a couple of other national organizations and and they filed a brief they filed a brief with the US Supreme Court with the US Supreme Court on on four four charter schools charter schools in Cleveland. in Cleveland. I just got the email. I just got the email. So, in So, in 2025, the 2025, the fund provided support in several cases involving issues of statewide significance, including those involving vouchers, bonds and levies, and pupil levies, and pupil transportation. transportation. vouchers, bonds and Schools making a claim about different making a claim about different subjects subjects secured favorable Schools secured favorable judicial decisions that possibly impact judicial decisions that possibly impact the district in these the district in these cases. cases. So, they So, they The membership also The membership also And the information should also be
055a good description of the school also. publication all that stuff and there's a recent safety report. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. So, they contributed to I'm going to say that it's $250 a year. That's what I was told. I don't know if Well, that's a discussion. So, at this point it would be do you want to put it on the agenda? Yes. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. We can put it on the agenda where we We have about 5 minutes. Okay. Yeah. Looking through the email. The due date is January 31st. I'm guessing that's probably it. He probably >> [laughter] >> I'm guessing he probably did. I'm just saying. So, I'm sorry we can't take your money with I think we talked about 25. Yes. Okay. Very good. Okay, thank you. The next item, um, item B
056is um, to consider a discuss a board work session to review the strategic planning process. Um, as we went through that process, I just wanted to make sure that the board um, felt like they understood the process of where we've been or where we're going and what the next steps are um, and how that works. Again, our goal is to present to the board in March and then for the board to take action on the strategic plan in April. So, just wanted to kind of throw out to see if there's additional information. Like I said, I want to I'm going to put together a video that kind of recap um, some of it in a little more detail than what I've presented um, so far. If there was interest in having a specific work session
057around understanding that more deeply or um, once we present in March that you would be um, you know, comfortable with learning and asking questions and things like that after that one. Um, it's been a process. There's been numerous people um, involved in the process of collecting pieces of data and putting together going through it, then going back out, talking to more people, bringing back in, refining that um, I talked about on January 2nd where we um, actually had each strategic the strategic planning each building respond to some of the responses. So, just if there's interest in the board, if that was something you wanted to or you just wanted to wait until March to kind of get that recap. Um, Mrs. Young and Mr. Sharp are the two that are involved with the discovery team
058which will reconvene in February um, to digest and go back through what we've pulled together at this point to say, "Okay, is this where when we started this conversation, is this the where we we want want to go?" Um, that discovery team is made up of like I said, Mrs. Young and Mr. Sharp, made up of administrators. Um, there's some staff representation and then there's also student representation also. Okay, it's up to them. Are the community members there too? Yes, same community members for that. I think if you wanted to look at the details like the actual comments the questionnaire comments and stuff like that, that'd be something you could do in a work session. You know, since you won't I don't think you'll be able to get that in March. That makes sense. And
059I'm also happy if you want to just schedule time individual with me, I can I can kind of take you through it and if that is easier than a work session. I just wanted to make sure that to offer that and and have a conversation piece so that everyone feels comfortable with going through with that. So, this is going to be one good night. Since I'm new, I I've only heard the summary version before. So, if you could get caught up in hear that detail, yes, I would like to, but to not waste everybody else's time. I can do it on my own. Since you guys are actually on the committee itself, it would be we'd go over it soon. I think especially with what you're hearing. I guess some of us read that. We
060haven't read it like that, but I guess there's enough detail to get through the video. You said in terms of what you're going to include, is that what you're going to do? Yeah, the I had the unified summary. I forwarded the unified summary out to board members and it's forwarded down by each of the four different groups and they're kind of the the large headings um, that went through what the common themes were, I would say. So, um, yeah, I can put together you know, a little more recap summary again and then more detail in the video. I'll send that to you guys and and then by all means at that point if you want to sort of kind of have a question or comment too. So, I guess we since it's a discussion item.
061Does anybody know that work session? I don't know if they're individual or if they're in Okay. We're going to join at the first meeting. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, item C is our policy updates. This These will be the first reading. Attachment eight. Um, this reading. Do we have any questions? Do we get all of these from the OSBA? Yes. Okay. So, approximate it depends on how um, active the legislature is. Um, typically we get four PD what they call PD 2 which is a policy update um, four times a year. So, OSBA, they have they will send out a model policy and they will update and they will designate like what language may be required because of law change um, and then how that reflects what our current policies are. Um, so what you
062receive whenever Carrie sends adds this in is a strike out of what our current policy says and then including the new language. Um, most of the time if there's a like uh, optional language, I will look at um, if one if we included it previously, then we'll go ahead and roll that option that permissive language over um, or I will bring it up whenever we're having a specific conversation. I'll say, you know, this was something that was permissive and or is permissive and I suggest that we include it on the board. On the policies where it says um, it's adopted as of when I'm looking at it, it says it's adopted September 1st, 2025. Does that mean that that's when the OSBA came out with the sample or that's when we actually put it in
063our policies? That is what it's in our policy. So, we have updated that and since like September 1st, 2025, >> [clears throat] >> um, and what has been happening over the last year and a half is because of specific law, there's a word here, a word there. So, we may have over the last two years looked at the same policy three times um, but it's just you know, a word. Um, they defined something differently somewhere else in law. So, that's where they carry over and and make sure that the same vocabulary is used in both places. I I had asked the question on the I D A E. It's a health education with some of the language um, Did you have a chance to look at that? >> I did. Um, and and on that
064particular one, that wordage is um, from law 3313066 or something like that. Um, the two things that we're required um, have instruction on, it will say what those are and that's one of the components that we're required to have instruction on, but um, there's the ability for parents if they would choose to opt out. So, that goes back to that parents bill of rights that if they would choose to opt out, then that would um, they could their child would not have to be part of that. Um, to meet those two requirements, we do have a prescribed curriculum that we work with um, agencies. So, it's it's not open much to um, have little to no education. Um, it's it's pretty um, dry. So, for example, um, the high school level we use Safe Dates
065as one of those and they that's how that meets that um, consider the curriculum and we partner with the um, what um, I had for a second. Uh, the curriculum. Well, we partner with a um, outside agency to come in and and provide that that specific curriculum um, because it is so specific that they there's specific way that you present the curriculum. And that's what the law has written in that way. Okay. That we have to include either one um, one period or one hour of instruction. Thanks. So, do you have anything else? The word here means that you already have it, right? And then it's just the items here in green means that's new or going to do the background check on red crossed out means that's been We're everybody who's changed. So, coming
066in you already have policies in your and helping with construction projects. We really need background checks on everybody who's in the chance of interacting with a kid. If they are in like a a supervisory role with their like a a classroom volunteer, if you're coming in, you're checking in, and you're helping Now, what if Valentine party, then those wouldn't necessarily those aren't background checked. Um those that they sign up for a Raptor system, um which again is a background check, but it's we're able to put specific flags in or it notifies us so certain information. It also does run through FBI. With the state >> It does have a background check, but it's not a means for that. Yeah, it's like a special program. So, it's like a camera. I have a question for you.
067Does not even volunteers have their own program section for background checks? Instead of bus drivers, have their own specific duty guidance that they have to follow with the department bus driver section? So, bus drivers are not any mandated policy through Ohio, but they also have to be they have to be Yes, the Department of Education They have they are base specific and special people. >> [laughter] >> So, yes, [clears throat] they are called out in usually almost everything. Because of their importance as well. But if any I'm trying to say what I'm thinking about. I have a motion to approve I second. Sherry Blue, I have a second. Discussion? Roll call. Time to vote. Mr. Brown. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Zark. Yes. Mrs. Young. Yes. We are adjourned. 15 minutes is what I said.
068I had a really nice time. >> [laughter] >> Yeah.