001[Music] All right, we'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. Uh before we start with the pledge, um we have a student like we normally do uh for our board meetings tonight. We have Jalice Anderson. She's a freshman at Fremont Ross. She's a daughter of Barry Anderson and our own Sarah Lewis. So don't hold anything against her. Feel nervous Sarah. So if we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance, at least lead us in the pledge. 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. All right. Uh, roll call, please. Mrs. Bloom here. Miss Layman here. Miss Lewis here. Mr. Ny here. Mr. Price here. Uh, could I have a motion
002to approve the minutes from our regular meeting from March 24th, 2025, please? Move. Motion by Mrs. Bloom. Could I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Layman. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mrs. Bloom. Yes. Miss Layman, yes. Miss Lewis, yes. Mr. Nally, yes. Mr. Price. Yes. Motion's approved. Moving on to legislative report. Uh yes. Um wanted to mention uh if if you go to the OSBA site uh there's a uh next Tuesday at noon there's an understanding HB96 house version of the bianial budget and that's a um a webinar and it's free for us to sign up. So I would if if you're available I would just highly recommend that so that we you know continue to keep you know keep awareness there. Um, also, uh, with that said, um, the I would encourage, and
003I'll probably say it again later, to not not hesitate to contact our legislators, uh, and I would invite the public um, that are watching and here um, to to make those contacts, to educate yourself on what's going on. Um, I think there's a very competitive time going on for all the dollars and I think there's, you know, obviously, as I mentioned at previous meetings, there's that how do we reduce taxes in a number of different areas and and I think doing that makes less money available And what's scary is, you know, it can throw it back to our local communities uh in the form of property taxes and uh and and whatever those options are. And right now, you know, there's there's that challenge of um everybody's kind of exhausted from all the things that
004are being thrown at them, whether it's uh state or federal. So would just encourage also for us as uh board members um I would just encourage on the OSBA site if you go to the advocacy section uh some of the the information that I share with you at meetings uh is is in there uh if you go to the advocacy section there's uh under legislative there's uh facts uh the facts that I uh share with to you. Uh, and also sometimes I think when I share that information, it'll say if you want to read more, well, because I'm forwarding it to you, it won't may may not allow you to make that direct connection. So, if you go to the OSBA site and go to fax or the legislative area, uh, you can read more
005about that particular area. um the information that I was going to send to you. Um um and and I'll I guess do it when I get home. Uh I I put the email together, but uh something just wasn't clicking on my computer, so I'll send that to you later. But uh what I did is put on there the legislative report. Um more more dealing with the Senate Education Committee bill. um the bills that are coming up, you know, there's some real concerns and that's where I think people need to share um the with the House passing their um version of the budget as they would like to see it. It now is going on to the Senate. They've received it. uh they're on a a break and I think they come back uh I believe
006it's the April 28th, the week of April 28th, they'll be having a lot of their hearings on different issues and uh so like I said, I I was highlighting the Senate section because that's kind of that next key step. However, don't hesitate to continue to talk to our um House Representative um uh Mr. Click. I I think um he needs to know where we're coming from and I think you know um our administration you know has shared with the uh various legislators um kind of some feelings from our district already. But uh with that said, um there's uh one Senate bill uh 7 that's being proposed uh talks about K through 12 students um providing annual instruction to K through 12 students on the effects of short-term chronic substance abuse. uh also dealing with um
007uh various illegal drugs and how to respond and then also a little bit of uh including in there the bullying and hazing curriculum. And um so that's one area. There's another area that talks and it's real interesting because um in some of the opening comments it it it talks about that we that the local power that we have to kind of determine um what is presented to the students and what is taught. But then we go into like this one Senate bill would require that districts develop mathematic improvement and monitoring plans. Well, you know, that all sounds good. Um, but then we're in a situation where if if it says the way they're proposing it, if a seventh grader was to be scored accomplished or advanced, they would be required to take algebra 1. and
008and I'm not sure that that that's good for all of our students, even if they're good with math, you know, in terms of making those choices, uh, working with the parents, working with our administration. Um, you know, I um I I won't digress into my uh experiences. And then the the one that really um concerns me is and it and it kind of goes back to uh kind of throwing some of the uh religion into our schools. And that is um talking about the founding uh documents. Uh, for example, they're encouraging that we have visible in our buildings and they don't they don't say specifically how uh, you know, we have a nice presentation of um, our constitution and some of those things on the wall just down the hall. And it's a nice it's
009a nice presentation and I think it's important but they also try to include in here in in those founding documents the Mayflower compact the um Declaration of Independence uh the Ten Commandments which you know that was a big issue. I think that uh the the big push happened down in Louisiana um where they now have the Ten Commandments um posted in a lot of the schools. And I'm not sure exactly how that bill is laid out, but I think Ohio's kind of picking up from that. Uh the Magna Carta Bill of Rights, the US Constitution, and the Articles of Confederation. And you know, so I I'm hoping that between the Senate having discussions on this and and then when they go to reconciliation with the House that that they pair this down if if it's
010going to pass to uh really what um I want to say this, it's called a founding documents. ments. But in the founding documents, they talk about the mods of the United States and Ohio being posted. That's fine, but those weren't founding documents. Those were I read where both of those um were really developed back in the 1950s. and you know so that so I I'm just a little bit concerned in terms of uh kind of the push there from the Senate. It's really interesting what what we want to put on display versus what we don't want to talk about. Um I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is hot button ignited. Um just it's just very interesting what um what parts of history because these are all historic documents. What parts of history we want to
011highlight which maybe should be highlighted but also what portions of history we want to um eliminate. Mhm. Um I just think that's very interesting. Um, we dare not tell the story of Ruby Bridges, but let us put the Mayflower compact on the right. Yeah. It's interesting steps down. No. No. And I think that's kind of what concerned me was one what was included, but also what is not included. Yeah. And so I, you know, I I think if you have input, you know, please share that u with um our state senator Reini. Um I think he's on that uh on one of those committees and uh you know so so you know please make those contacts. Um, and I think that's all I had. I don't know if anybody had any other comments about that.
012But that's that's all I had. Tom, thank you. Sorry. I was just working the lights. Call me the 10% other, right? Yeah. I get a pay raise for that. You guys didn't know that. So, all right. Thanks, Don. Um, moving on. No walk- on items. No, no walk. All right. Um, next is the community portion. If anyone would like to address the board, they can come up to the podium. So, okay. Um, moving on to the superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Price. Good evening, everyone. Um, just a couple of highlights this evening. Um, one thing that I'm very thankful for, um, on behalf of, uh, our entire community and previous board approval and action, um, on Friday, I believe it was, we had our four new buses um, arrive in the district and they spent
013most of Friday getting through inspections and making sure everything was ready to go. And there were a lot of hands on deck to pull that off and make that happen. Um but those four beautiful buses uh were ready to go at the end of the the school day for that first dismissal and um just fabulous beautiful additions to our fleet. Um if you remember correctly those replaced buses in order to utilize those grant funds and be able to move in that direction. We had to eliminate um some buses from our fleet that were no longer in in strong working condition. So this definitely moves us forward. Um, but I just wanted to update you and the entire community to let you know that they're here and so you'll see some shiny new buses in our
014community. It's a wonderful addition. We have memorial services for the old rickety ones. Floorboards rusting out and everything else is kind of light and match. And moving on. I don't think people realize the buses that are being um set aside. What type of miles are on those? I I'm looking back at Tom. Do you I mean there's hund hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousand hundreds of thousands and miles. And the age is some of the buses two of the buses were up upwards of 20 years old. So, and honestly, two of them wouldn't even run to the scrapard. They were towed to the scrapard. So, yeah, I did see that picture. I didn't realize that's probably what it was. Was Yep. Beautiful. Yes. Yeah. Well, I mean, just just being able to maintain those and
015keep those on the road, you know, is definitely a chore and absolutely looking and finding that replacement for Mr. Warren is going to be critical. Yes, very much so. And we have we have excellent people in there. Um and and like Mr. Anway just commented that we some of our buses are that old. Um and you're right, Mr. Nelly, the fact that we have individuals on our staff that are able to continue to tweak and and keep them afloat and keep us running that that's fantastic. Um but they do meet their limit and so we're very fortunate to be able to to have utilized some of those dollars earlier this year um and be able to make those purchases. So, I just wanted to our entire community to know that they have to draw straws
016for who gets to who gets to drive the new buses. I'm sure that's a big part of the conversation. Sure. Um I also just wanted to give a little shout out um and make sure that our community knows that um we are working on a summer feeding plan. Um we're pulling together all of those details, but it is our intention on behalf of the district to be able to provide um a weekly meal distribution again this summer. Um it will run very similar to what we've had in the past. It will be on a Monday. It'll be a drive-thru option um back behind the middle school high school area. Um and once again, that will be five breakfast, five lunches, um produce as well as a gallon of milk. um for each of our families
017that qualify and drive come through that area. So um that is a community-based that um anyone has the option to participate in that and our staff just really pulls that together and make sure that that's um a wonderful offering for our families and our community. So we will be getting more information out um as we finalize those details. And but I I do know that um we are starting to hear a little bit of buzz about summer and spring and all of these things that are coming. So I know families will start to wonder. I wanted to give them um and then lastly just uh an FYI that I will be in Columbus tomorrow with some of our art students um that I Mr. Norris and I are taking six of our high school art
018students who have been invited to present their artwork um in the atrium of the state house um to individuals across the entire state will be in their audience. So this is a fantastic opportunity for our students to use their voice to communicate with others um in with their anti- vaping message. Um and just a wonderful uh cong collaborative collaborative um opportunity between Fremont City Schools and Seness County Health Department. Um so there there will be an article in the paper um that has come up and we will be off tomorrow to represent Fremont City Schools very proudly in Columbus. Awesome. Very nice. I remember seeing that art exhibit. It was at the Y for their event. Y um really cool. And then Jamie Belchure from the health department saw me and said, "Hey, someone on
019the panel asked if our students could come down for this thing and they're actually so they're actually going to be on the panel." So they'll be part of the discussion of this whole thing. So it it's pretty cool that our students get to go do that and and show what they've done. So absolutely. We practiced last week. They have a a full slideshow presentation um that they will be giving um in the atrium and then they will be able to also step back and be part of that panel and um individuals from the audience will be able to go past and engage our kids and talk to them about their art and where they got their inspiration and really really just a wonderful opportunity for for our high school students. So I'm very proud and
020happy to be able to accompany them to Columbus tomorrow. Nice. Yes. All right. And that is all I have for you this evening. If I could continue, Mr. Price. Yep. Wonderful. Thank you. Um, item number one, I would ask that you consider the approval of donations. And one that I would, we have several and we have very generous community as always. One that I would really just like to point out. Um, it is the Janite comp company that is about midway on that list. Um that $500 donation comes from the company that was part of our tennis courts project that we had um back the end of last year. Um finished up over the summer. We were ready to go for fall season. Um the company did very well and they were very appreciative of
021our opportunity for them to work within our community and in our district and gave back and I just think that that's worth a shout out. Yes. Oh. So with that, if you would please uh approve those items. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve item one, please? So move. Motion by Mr. Nally. Could I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Lewis. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Nally? Yes. Miss Lewis? Yes. Mrs. Bloom? Yes. Miss Layman? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Motion's approved. Sorry. You did all over it. Um then item number two is a an agreement with AMNG Educational Services. Um this is a renewal agreement. This is not new. Um this is for our students that attend our LEAP program. Um LEAP provides some alternative education programming for some of our students.
022Um this allows them to best meet their needs, whether those be some emotional needs or some behavioral needs, um as well as their educational needs. So, it's an awesome opportunity um and just extends their um their education a little bit farther than the doors of Fremont City Schools. Can I get a motion to approve item two, please? So, moved. Motion by Miss Lewis. Could I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Layman. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Lewis, yes. Miss Layman, yes. Mrs. Bloom. Yes. Mr. N? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Motion's approved. Thank you. Item number three, I would ask that you grant a high school diploma to Miss Christina McCoy. She has met all of her requirements. I have a motion to approve item three, please. Motion by Mrs. Bloom. Could I have
023a second? Second. Second by Miss Layman. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mrs. Bloom. Yes. Miss Layman, yes. Miss Lewis, yes. Mr. Nelly, yes. Mr. price. Yes. Motion's approved. Thank you. Um item number four begins some personnel issues. We do have some um resignations there. Uh all for a variety of reasons, but a couple of those individuals are leaving Fremont City Schools to for new options for themselves. Um sometimes closer to home, sometimes um an advancement. So, we wish all of our staff members that will be resigning the best. Um item number five uh is a termination notice that we would like to move forward on. Item number six, we have some appointments. We have some certified staff substitutes and um Mr. Anstead will be joining us at Ross High School. Um we also have some
024support staff substitutes. We're happy with that. Item number seven brings us some uh fill positions for next year. So very excited. Actually, all three of those will be at Ross High School for next year. We have two science teachers and a high school counselor. So, we're very happy to um be early in the spring and be able to start filling some of those. Um and this will end with item number eight. Um we just have some supplemental contracts and those two academic advisors. Just a reminder that that is um what we have you have previously approved for the idea that we support our student athletes and our students that are involved in some of our extracurriculars and might need a little extra academic assistance. Those two had that up for us. Can I have a
025motion to approve items four through eight, please? So moved. Motion by Miss Layman. Could I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Nally. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Layman, yes. Mr. Nally, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Miss Lewis, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Motion's approved. Thank you. Item number nine, um we have Robin Moore who is coming back again next year for us to run the concession stand as the manager and for all of that. Um so that is fall, winter, and spring for next school year. We also have an number 10 um a bus chaperon. U Mr. Finley is willing to assist us and travel with us. And I have a motion to approve items nine and 10, please. So move motion by Miss Lewis. Could I have a second? Second. Second by Mrs. Bloom.
026Any discussion? Robin Moore. What would we do without Robin Moore, you can never retire. We are so happy. Putting you on notice as of right now. Uh, roll call, please. Miss Lewis, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Miss Layman, yes. Mr. Nelly, yes. Mr. Yes. Motion's approved. Thank you. All right, moving on to report of the treasur. Good evening. Um, last week I had the um fun time of going down to Columbus for the annual OASBO conference um and school business officials. Uh, it's a very concentrated in the treasures department side of things. It's such a great learning experience for the treasures and of you will all be so proud to hear. I even talked to some people that I didn't know. I know that's my favorite thing to do. Um it was it was a great
027time for that learning, but also it was one of those where there was so many really good sessions down there. There's just so much going on in school finance between the legislation coming up, school funding changes. It everybody was just there were sessions you couldn't even fit into just because it was overwhelming. Luckily, this organization also does um different professional development throughout the year and some of those patter um items will be presented on a little bit later. Um the school funding right now is just really with that budget bill coming up a very hot topic. They will continue to report on that. I get weekly emails updating what's going on with it. As you've heard, there's changes every time we turn around. So what actually gets signed into place could be very vastly different
028than what we're hearing right now. So there's also some audit changes going on. and they updated our universal accounting system manual. Um, so that was fun to hear and you're going to all be shocked there was inconsistencies to what the new state funding is talking about versus what the auditor of state would like to go on. So, it's going to be fun. Confusion in Columbus. No. Right. Who would think? I don't believe it. I know. So, those will be some fun um issues to get to see worked out over the coming months. So, I'm sure my staff just missed me oh so much while I was gone for those couple of days. Um no dire 911 phone calls, thank goodness. So, they must have behaved themselves. I put very capable Mrs. Hurt in charge. Um,
029but no, they we're back here working like busy little bees trying to get ready for, as weird as this is going to sound, fiscal year end is just around the corner. End of the school year. So, we are getting ready like that happens every year and it seems to happen quicker and quicker like oh my goodness. So, um, and with that, if we can move on to the items for approval tonight. Um, item 11, we have some appropriations to our different clubs at the middle school. Um, this is just they had dur due to their fundraising that they did throughout the year, they had some extra cash on hand and they would like to spend that down before the end of the school year. I get a motion to approve item 11, please. So moved.
030Motion by Miss Layman. I have a second. Second. Second by Mrs. Bloom. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Layman, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Miss Lewis, yes. Mr. Nally, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Motion's approved. Moving on to board member communications. Uh, Don, just had a couple things. I just wanted to share with the board and public that uh we have completed our uh performance evals on the uh superintendent and the treasurer. Um and I share that because I think the public needs to know that that is something that we as a board look at on an annual basis and uh one from our interactions and observations. But I think we also uh when we do that have that opportunity to hear the people we talk to in the community over the course of the year and
031use those comments. So if anybody ever you know has any positive or negative you know share that with us as board members so that it it allows us to uh put together uh a good quality performance eval and and both of both of our superintendent and treasurer both fared very well on those evaluations. So thank you. Um couple uh small money items that I wanted to mention. One, I'm wearing a pin tonight. This is um OSBA has the kids pack and they use those dollars as a pack to support different uh issues that are going on. Um uh it it helps when they're dealing with and working with uh our legislators. So, if anybody ever is inclined to make a a donation, whether it's 25, $50, $100, um, you know, please think about that. Uh,
032in particular, us as as board members. Um, also, uh, I was talking to Mrs. Bloom uh just before the meeting and uh one of the things after our presentations from Learning and Liberty o over the past couple months uh made me think about you know where what is their source of funding and that might be something um uh you know Mrs. Bloom or Denise if you guys have input on that. But my point with bringing this up is again it's it's an area that um if we as board members or uh community in general would like to make a contribution um you know please do so. And I think I think there's probably a link on the website on learning liberty as to where they can uh send any contributions. I think it's a very
033uh worthwhile organization and important to our school system. And the final comment and I try to look at something positive at each meeting. Uh just I have not been real good yet about getting around to a lot of the the sports activities, but uh the other day just driving. I happened to be driving through the backside of the high school and there was uh some track stuff going on, a baseball going on, tennis. It's just it just we we maintain and have such a nice wellthoughtout uh area for our sports teams. You know, obviously our football stadium is not attached, but the practice fields and all. Um I I just think uh pass board members have done a wonderful job other than Mr. price with um uh help helping give input into how those uh
034areas are developed and and again Mr. Price is very involved in uh the different sports and and helping our athletes and uh again using his input and hearing what other people in the community I think that helps filter down to those good positive decisions and and our administration and uh obviously Mr. and way um has been really good about um looking at all those possibilities for our for our athletics. So that's all I had. Sarah, um I we kind of touched on Mrs. Moore, but Mrs. Moore is definitely one of the unsung heroes of of our district, and we are super uh fortunate to have her. Um the Mr. Annway is here and I just wanted to publicly thank you um on behalf of a lot of very happy track moms um for the uh
035new concession stand um this season out there. Um they are just able to they're feeding a lot of kiddos out there. the the middle school track meets bring a lot of uh athletes as well as the high school. Um and to have a facility where they're not doing things that may may not have been the safest uh in years past. Um they are very appreciative. Um and so are the athletes and their families. A lot of these meets um you know like other sports start at 4:30. Um, and if you're coming from out of town or even you get off work locally and you got to go hang out at the track for three hours because drag meats are forever. Um, I mean they have burgers and hot dogs and hot chocolate, all kinds of
036stuff. So, they really appreciate uh the the facility for them. How much should we spend on that concession stand to to build it? Well, it well, it was a it was a reverb, so we're able to again um and I'm glad you said that. Um take something that maybe didn't serve its purpose where it used to be and while it was not necessary at the height or at the football uh stadium anymore, at the track, it's like, ooh ah, we just built them a mansion. You know what I mean? Out there. and it really does help a lot of the kiddos. Um Michelle Kaiser is leading the charge for the um the concessions out there. She gets volunteers. She, you know, gets food and and all of those things uh with Mrs. Moore's guidance and
037help to make sure that we're doing every or she's doing everything um according to Hy uh and also Mr. Bates, coach Bates for um you know supporting that effort. Um the Ross Hall of Fame banquet is the athletic banquet is May 17th. Um this is a pretty exciting class as are all of them, but this is a a pretty exciting um class of inductees. Um I at least one of the inductees, she used to be my babysitter when I was younger and I always looked after her Pam Pitts as um a role model um just for how to how to carry yourself. Um so um this year's ceremony will be here or at the high school um and if you need assistance um you can contact the athletic office um to get tickets. And I
038hope everybody's enjoying their spring break. Laura, so that track stand you're talking about that moved over there, I believe that's the one that was the fried baloney sandwiches at the stadium. Oh yeah. Yes. It sat behind the visitor side. And uh yeah, maybe we can whip some of those up one of these. But let's see because I am volunteering tomorrow to help. And we're just going to I can't wait. I can't wait to be there and just visit with the community and see how much room is in there and see possibly what we can uh have coming up here in the future. So, we'll see. I didn't have much to say. I hope the staff is enjoying their week off and happy Easter and don't get into too much trouble out there. That's all I
039have to say. Okay, Lori. Well, we thank Jalia for the pledge of allegiance. She did really, really good. She's amazing. um the donations and the congratulations on the diploma. Um I wish I could I wish I was more prepared about the learning and liberty. I'd give you a lot more information. I have stuff at home. Maybe next time I can do that. But it's a really good program and it's they do a lot of good things. A lot of um scholarships. They hand those out. They do the awards for the kids. Um Sue Brickner and um Tracy Lidle. They're both very involved in it and it's just a really really good I really like the committee too. It's just a little nice little committee we have and it's long-standing. It's been in the district. It's
040been a long time. I was going to say I remember that when I was in elementary school. They used to get a lot of funding from I think Cro Colonial Bank. They were saying they don't get so much of that anymore. So any public donations is more than welcome. They could I mean they'd be more than happy. We're looking to do a fundraiser thing too. We're working on that now. So selling tickets soon. So but that's all I have to say. The Krogan participates a lot in our community in different activities and yeah they they don't give as much as they used to. I don't know. They just it's I don't know. But yeah, and I hope everybody's having a great time. I know my grandson's having a good time. He's off with his other
041grandma and they're on on their way to Tennessee. So, but that's it. Okay. Um well, good luck to spring sports. They're in full swing now. First home track meet for high school is tomorrow. Um if anybody wants to brave the cold to come on out. It's going to be a little chilly. Dress warm. It's going to be windy. It usually is anyway. So, but there will be hot chocolate at the concession. You got that right. warm up there. Um, congratulations again on our art students going down to Columbus. I got to give a shout out to Malaya Crow. She happens to be an employee of the Cookie Lady. So, she's one of the students that gets to go down. So, um, congratulations to them and and be strong advocates down there in Columbus for us.
042So, um, other than that, um, happy Easter to everybody. Hope everyone is having a good spring break. for those staff and students that are someplace warm, I envy you. Bring it back with us or with you for sure. So, um, so with that, um, before adjournment, I would like to make a motion to move into executive session under item N as a Nancy. Um, could I have a second, please? Second. Second by Miss Lewis. Any discussion? The only thing I would say to the public is there will be no uh action taken after our executive session. We will adjourn immediately. So there will be no business taken after the executive session. Um roll call, please. Mr. Price, yes. Miss Lewis, yes. Mrs. Bloom, yes. Miss Layman, yes. Mr. N. Yes. Motion's approved. We are in
043executive session. [Music]