001[Music] for [Music] I pledge a wait just a second he'll tell you right when we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order uh before we start with our pledge um our student uh this time at our board meeting is lak and Cary he's a first grade student at ainson elementary um he's in Miss carrick's class and his parents are Joshua and Michelle Cary and his big brother Ryland is here also so um if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Laken will 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 and invisible with liberty and justice for all ni job and there's your gift for coming in and doing the
002pledge thanks for coming in tonight you can go back with your mom and dad now thank youate you was good all right um sorry I'm in the weeds here tonight already um roll call please Mrs Bloom here miss Layman here Mrs Miss Lewis here Mr Nelly and Mr Price here uh can I get a motion to approve um our minutes from our special meeting held February 6th 2025 and also our regular meeting held February 10th 2025 please so moved motion by Miss Lewis could I have a second second second by Mrs any discussion roll call please Miss Lewis yes Mrs Bloom yes Miss Layman yes Mr Nell Mr Price yes motion's approved um moving on let's see legislative report U Mr n isn't here this evening no walk- on items tonight none sir okay um
003Community there isn't anyone here to speak to the board except for some of our staff members so um we'll go on to the superintendent report fabulous thank you good evening board members um this evening I have with me this evening is Mr Brent Parker who is our lead communication liaison um for the district in one of the roles that he holds for our district he takes care of some of the um electronic display and communication components that the district utilizes so what I've work been working with him um and our district leadership team since January we've been going back and forth with our DLT and after our work session on February 6th where um the five of you worked very very hard and um began some of those big picture items for our district in
004the form of a new vision and a new mission statement um that will help lead us forward as we are finalizing our strategic plan of the last three years and moving forward into those next steps and what that will look like so now it is time for us to to begin some conversation with some of our stakeholders um and we have a variety of stakeholders in the district and we want to make sure that we are given voice um to all so Mr Parker um welcome this evening if you would like to walk us through what our um stakeholder survey would begin to look like and I would ask you to utilize the board behind you right first of all thank you for having me um what we've done is we've broken down a a
005a Google uh form which is the typical way we do surveys because uh it's easy it's free it's easy to share um we broke this down into uh four different categories um students we want to get their perspective obviously they're the ones that uh uh you know have their opinions on where they on their day-to-day operations within the district um we have our staff members um we have our parents and Guardians and then we have our community members that don't have any children enrolled in the district at this point so what happens is when they come in if you're a student um they will uh select the student option and that will take them to specific questions just for them some of these are the same that you'll you'll see um but these are these
006are how they they look there um I won't read them all for you but you could see there that uh the options they need to choose three of these what what's crucial for everyone to feel connected to FCS so just some these are kind of how we uh broadcast um news to the the the students the staff and the other stakeholders whether it's athletic events uh newsletters social media um alert messages like alert now for delays cancellations things like that um and then there's things uh like the building newsletter that go or I'm sorry the district newsletter that goes out to all of the uh uh all of the houses within Freemont City Schools district um and then these are some options that they can choose what brings them into our FCS buildings um or
007facilities and uh you know there we have all kinds of things from engaging instruction to nutritious meals um some of our students might come to school primarily for that nutritious meal they get once or twice a day um and then we also have things like Athletics and extracurricular activities that bring a lot of our students into our buildings as well a lot of our students come just because they want to par participate in a in their extracurricular and or one of their favorite classes um the remainder of these questions are going to be rated in some fashion from one to five so this one uh this section here is uh I'll read this to you successful school districts are made up of of a variety of featur features rate the following features based on priority
008so these are the priority base if um they think that that is something that's a high priority for them they'll click a number five which is the highest priority down to a number one which is lowest priority so uh we have uh you know like bullying a bully-free environment um Quality instruction carrying staff clean facilities uh nutritious meals and then the ability to participate in extracurricular um clubs um below that you'll see some very similar uh rating system but this one is these are things that they see frequently in our schools so when they come in the door um what do they see on a daily basis uh as a student so uh once again it's a bullying fruit bully-free environment quality instruction a caring staff clean facilities opportunities to compete in athletic events and
009the ability to participate in extracurricular clubs so um we're hoping that obviously all of these are 3 to five uh to get the positive feedback but what'll happen is as we as we get this information back we will be able to filter all the information down and it will all get uh compiled into a spreadsheet and once all that data is in the spreadsheet we can break that down and we can create charts and look at percentages and things like that so uh the remainder of the questions are literally ratings everybody sees ratings nowadays whether you know you go to a restaurant um you know you rate it out of five Stars so that's what we're having them do um on this section here and the first question is do they feel supported like I
010feel supported at free freeon City schools once again five is is the best one is the worst so hopefully you know they're they're choosing that three to five stars on these um second one uh staff in my school present a culture of belonging for all students let's hope that's you know a high rating and then uh rate your current instructional resources uh we listed in there just some examples of textbooks Chromebooks and classroom materials so once they fill this out they'll submit that to uh once they hit the submit button it will automatically compile that data into that spreadsheet automatically so what we'll be able to do is go in we can filter that out by the students and see what the students said on those particular questions um there's also the the staff member
011option they do have a couple less questions just because uh they don't necessarily they're they're in a different capacity in the schools than than a student is um and you'll see here that it says uh staff and Community survey so the staff and the community uh stakeholders will get the exact same question so uh you can see that they're the the first few are very similar not similar they are um the same as we saw in the last uh for the students um but we did put some information in here uh extra information down here for what regular regularly brings you into an FCS building or facility and a couple things we added were like coffee with giants they do that over at the high school um and that bring um senior citizens in to
012get help from our leadership students and uh and they they get help with technology um and then we also put the Performing Arts Center in there's there's a lot of things that happen in that Performing Art Center so that is going to bring a lot of people in to our our building and that might be the only reason they come in is just for whatever's happening at the pack um and then like I said these are going to be the same type of questions that they're going to rate uh you know one to five exact same questions that that were on the student survey and um finally the uh the teachers I'm sorry don't look it's gonna I'm scrolling quick um uh the the uh I'm sorry the uh the Community member is going to
013be a little bit different uh once again um based on those those uh people how they interact in our schools so a lot of them are are once again probably athletic events things at the Performing Arts Center um coffee with giants is in there again so we just try to uh give them specific questions to guide that that process for the uh strategic plan and get us the feedback that we we need and uh once that data comes in then it's all up to how we use it and and break it down and see what we need to improve on and what we might be doing well and and go from there a couple things that we we've chatted about um when Brent talks a little bit about being able to sort some of that
014data so some of the questions are the same so our administrative team as well as our district leadership team will be able to look at this data and be able to compare the similar question and is it viewed differently do we get a different response from community members versus parents versus students versus staff um and if so what does that tell us and what how can we use that information um so we'll be able to compare those things and look at that we'll also be able to look for similarities and Trends um which I think is a very positive component for us to be able to go forward when we're writing those action steps and those strategic objectives and figuring out what does our next plan look like um we hope that we get lots
015of people that take a few minutes um and give us some quality feedback so that we can use that information um it will be able to go live this week we will be able to email it out to staff and to students and to families um and then for our community members we are going to um have a link right on the district website um as well as we're going to incorporate it into um my video update after tonight's meeting um so that staff have can see it right there so a way that they're already connecting with us um now that we have that established this will be an opportunity for them to to grab that link um and be able to participate with that as well ask a question absolutely on that first page
016um when you're getting more of the demographic information um and forgive me it I didn't see does it separate like or identify I'm a middle schooler I'm a high schooler for the students and is there I asset is there any value value in that in any of the information that we're collecting to be separated by grade I don't want to grade level might be a little too granular but um yeah are we talking about elementary school students are we talking about middle school students are we talking about high school students we could easily add that especially for the student and the um the parent Guardian um it's as simple as adding a question in the nice thing about Google is it's it's a living document so whatever change is made um if someone had it
017up on their screen it would actually populate right in front of them so um we could add those questions yeah that's a great suggestion yeah um I I could see that being and because the staff member and the Community member have the same questions it really isn't that difficult to go add those those questions in for the parents or Guardians and the and the students for that matter might provide some worthwhile feedback for us super um and the other aspect if you noticed when Brent was showing that there's two big sections in the middle for for all four groups of stakeholders and they're in the same order on purpose and they are the same key items for both and our hope is then that the first piece that all of our stakeholders will tell us
018how important is is this in our school district how important is it that we have a bully-free environment is that a one or is that a five how important is it that we have quality instruction in our school system is that a one or is that a five and then the second time that you see that we are then asking you to reflect on what is that in your experience what does that look like in Freemont City Schools so would you classify Fremont City Schools as a bully free environment with a one or with a five MH and with the quality instruction that takes place every day in our buildings would you classify that as a one need some improvement or is that a five we are rocking it so that I think will also
019give us some really good takeaway information with this is what our community feels is important to have part of our district and then this is how we're doing with that so I hope that I am excited about the opportunity to get feedback from our stakeholders I hope that individuals um take a few minutes and and give us that how often have you guys done this in the past um it's been a bit I would say probably at the last time we did um a strategic plan at this level so it would have been three four years ago that we would have looked at something to this detail we survey all the time yes yeah I was gonna say I don't want sell sell yourself short on that we do solicit a lot of feedback that
020way but to all stakeholders like this and I just sent a survey um in January to All Families new to Fremont City schools in the fall semester and just really wanted to gauge from them how do we do you brought your child here how how' we too um and we got great information back um so it was very positive and I plan on doing that again at the end of the school year for any families that joined us for second semester um just because I I'm thrilled that people trust us with their child's education um we're happy that they're here and and even if some of the information is maybe not where we want it to be it's um it's good to know and to be able to to do something um or make a
021plan to to address things if if that's how the information comes abely we we can't address what we don't are not aware of that's right so we we definitely want our stakeholders to give us some feedback would this be a link to this be on um the is Facebook too far out to put a link for the community to I don't know what challenges that brings only because um our site is sometimes viewed differently than a personal Facebook component sure um so I know that our website The District web page you know what I mean that that's that for sure we can do um but we can look at some other social media options if that's we can take a look at that or just social media directing them to the yeah I think that
022would probably be more appropriate we when you look at the analytics of our our Facebook um site or site Facebook page we're reaching people all over the country and the world we really want this to be stakeholders within Fremont so once we release that out to the wild like that it it there's no real restriction to say who's filling this out we can direct them to that website and that would probably be the best way that's why you have to be here that's why you have to be here to say the things so yeah yes thank you yeah there's a lot of people that that view our our our social media and it's it's hard to that down just to the free money area makes sense makes sense good all right well thank you thank
023you Mr Parker I appreciate you and I appreciate you being here this evening um have nothing else for my report if you are okay Mr Price I'll continue on yes right um item number one I would ask that you consider the approval of adopting the resolution for paper test Administration this is for our third grade only and this is for our English language arts third grade only right can I get a motion to approve item one please moved motion by Mrs Bloom could I have a second second second by Miss Layman any discussion roll call please Mrs blim yes Miss Layman yeah Miss Lewis yes Mr Nelly Mr Price yes motions approved thank you um item number two uh we have Carly deal joining us as both a certified staff substitute and a um support
024staff so we're very excited about that item number three we have some special event workers um item number four these are special event workers for winter tournament Athletics so that's the difference um and item number five we have just have a status change for one of our our current employees um she took a new position in the district um still within our Child Nutrition staff can I get a motion to approve items two through five please we move motion by Miss Layman could I have a second second second by Miss Lewis any discussion roll call please miss Layman yes Miss Lewis yes Mr Nelly Mr Price yes motions approved I get skip yep oh I'm so sorry let's let's try roll call again should we try that again see if I can not mess it
025up Miss lman yes Miss Lewis yes Mrs Bloom yes Mr n Mr Price yes motion approved all right thank you that was a short that I think that like all right short how long can I make this meeting last moving on to report of the treasure again oh come on it's me um how short can I make this is usually my ammo um sounds like Sarah ni's voices are on the same level today true story um really not too much to report on um overall the office is we just wrapped up getting all of our W2s finished at the end of January 1099s um we have the insurance notices for being a self-funded district that went out so all of that wonderful yearend activity should now be wrapped up um for the calendar year end
026um and it's already the end of February and I'm not quite sure how that happened um so we will be um wrapping up February now for the end of this week and getting all that done so that we can close out the month um so with that said I'll move into the financials for the month um let's we did get some simulations from the governor's version of the state budget of course there's no this is a long journey it will change 10 million times between now and July I believe is the cut off date when this rolls out I I so far it's looking somewhat favorable for our district but I'm not counting on that at all the we all know how this rolls it could change six different times and each time we could
027get more less when it flips from the governor's office to then the state and Senate they'll have their own budget versions and before it even gets to us so it's going to be a lot of meetings for me um hearing what each person comes up with and the final result will the Lord knows what so I'll report more on that when we get closer to that date um I have some legislation coming up that could also affect our Public Utilities um so there's where sometimes we see increases we now might see a decrease so it's just something we have to watch and see um what happens with House Bill 15 or Senate bill to um so that's just some things that we're going to be looking out for with our revenues we're doing good for
028this year but just never anything we can really count on every year so it's always changing with school district funding or government funding in general um mon expenses January was a three pay month so that is always and then to add on top of that we also have our supplemental payrolls for our hardworking um counselor or not counselors dear Lord um extracurricular activities and that kind of thing so that does increase our payroll for the month of January those expenses look a little higher than normal we will have a three pay month again coming up but um so we actually had four pays in the month of January but that four of one isn't quite as high um last year we had equipment was up a little higher than this year just because we did
029some security upgrades to the different buildings that we aren't doing this year um so no really other reason for that um larger difference from this year to last year it shows 68% that's just because of that upgrade um sorry being on a plane never goes well for minuses um but I'd say we're on a pretty good rooll for January and we'll see what hits with February well I'll be so excited to report on that next [Laughter] month moving on to your recommendations then yep item six is the financial report so can I get a motion to approve item six please moved motion by Mrs Bloom could I have a second second by Miss Layman any discussion roll call please Mrs Bloom yes Miss Layman yes Miss Lewis yes Mr Nelly Mr Price yes motions approved
030okay item seven that is the completion of our we had the tax budget hearing at the beginning of the January and we approved the tax budget this is that final step that completes this process for us to set for the um fiscal 26 so this is it'll be adopted in um July of 25 so this just affirms what we went over in January and then I send this to the county auditor so that we can have our collections for our bonds and our other levies can I get a motion to approve item seven please so Move 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 Finelli Mr Price yes motions approved all right moving on to
031board member Communications Sarah um just have seen on social media just the um number of mentoring opportunities that a lot of our high school students um and even some middle school students have been able to take throughout the district um I know there were a few high school students that went over to the Middle School to talk to the eighth graders um about what life like a freshman is like um I know that National Honor Society I think went to the grade schools and did some mentoring so really nice opportunities that have been taken for kids of varying ages to interact with each other each other which I think is a a great opportunity um I just wanted to give a a thank you to the Fremont Police Department um for their recent support um
032I I guess I should say additional support um they've been at a few of our um most recent sporting events that have taken place and their additional support um despite their Staffing um was certainly appreciated and for Sergeant Scully for coming to visit the math modeling class um to do like Mack car accident reconstruction how cool is that um so just thank you for that that support um our Middle School and High School orchestras went to um an Oma state competition on Friday and Saturday and all of our Orchestra groups either scored and excellent or Superior um which was wonderful to see and just shout out to Mrs Hamer she works super hard with all of our our Orchestra students and even though they might some of the students might have been um disappointed to
033get an excellent which is a two um she just sure did a nice job of you know supporting them and letting them know how how wonderful you know they they did um our band is hosting a large group event um here which is a big deal for our school district to host um an event as such and that'll be on March 14th I do believe they're looking for some more um volunteers so if that is your cup of tea uh you can certainly reach out to Mr Calhoun um who would be more than happy to help then lastly um many of our sports teams are headed into or already in um postseason play so uh um Good Luck to all of our um teams are um boys basketball boys and girls bowling boys and girls
034wrestling our swim team had some qualifiers so just a great time to be a a little giant all around okay Laur I don't have all the info that Sarah just handed out for all that Parker for all for the uh slideshow you put on for us and all the hard work you did behind that seems like you got that from every angle that's needed to forgot all the info that you guys need or we need um a thank you to Lincoln uh for coming up here and doing the pledge of allegiance for us with us and really all I had to do is I've enjoyed watching all the um 100 days of school pictures that have been on the Facebook page I mean from the kids looking like they're 100 years old to just the
035different activities they were doing they were fun it's fun to see people get involved like that and just look at something from a different view that's all I have to say Lor um yes thank you to Len he did a great job he was very boisterous he we could definitely hear him and Brent for his presentation and then I got to go to uh bingo night at Lutz on Friday that was fun that was a good time the kids had a great time they drew names my grandson got to go up and get his gift certificate for Taco Bell and they had baskets you could bid on and he's not very good at that I have to work on that but um but they had a good time and they had where the parents or
036the person that was with them the adults all got to do a card and then they would just do the kids and then it was it was a good time the kids got to pick out prizes they had a good time it's fun time lots of people lots of people yeah we were in the second group in the first group I guess it was pretty full too so oh yeah good it was it was fun the PTO did a great job with it that's it okay um I'll just reiterate a couple things um thank you Laken for coming in for the pledge it's always a good thing to have our students come in and it's nice to see the little kids come in and that's always fun so um thanks Brent for the information and
037all the stuff that you do for like ronic wise when it comes to social media all that fun stuff and and everything um and just to get all that information to everybody so we can make the best decisions possible it's more information for us so um like Sarah said winter sports ramping down a little bit here um big week this week with a lot of postseason stuff going on um basketball plays Tuesday not sure when bowling goes um not sure of that boys wrestling is at perisburg on Saturday for districts girls wrestling is at Finley on Sunday for districts um having a chance to get some kids to go to state wrestling so that would be good and spring Sports some of their practices started today I know there were baseball Tri outs today track
038started today I think softball tryouts were last week and they were practicing today so busy time of year so here we go hopefully nice weather is soon to follow so um bowling is the 26th at Port Clinton thank you ma'am Perfect all right um with that I would like to make a motion to move into executive session under Item B as in boy uh could I have a second please second second by Miss Lewis any discussion roll call please uh Mr Price yes and I'm sorry I missed two seconds second that I S like M Miss Lewis Miss okay that's why I thought it was I was like CR I don't want to say the wrong time did you do that twice no it was throw my voice very well Miss Lewis yes M bloom
039yes missman yes Mr no motions approved um just for informational purposes there will be no board action taken after executive session will adjourn immediately after the executive session so we are in executive session sorry to spring it on for this real quick and both of you guys just absolutely just informational things do want yeah no we can go right here in the classroom and it won't be long good Cory I [Music] p