001Think about it. Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hill board of education meeting. I will now call the meeting to order. Mr. Davis, roll call. >> Mrs. Zikoltz, >> here. >> Mr. Marks, Mrs. Singh, >> here. >> Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Public commentary. Mr. Davis, do we have any public commentary this evening? >> There is none this evening. >> Great. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to recognition, correspondence, and announcements. >> Welcome everybody. Welcome uh to everybody in our audience this evening. We have a special monthly thank you video that we're going to start with. So, board members, if you want to adjust your seats for a moment, I'll get the lights. This event celebrates our cheerleaders, our basketball program coaches. Sit back who
002are in store for some greatness and most of all just to celebrate community. >> Tonight is Braves Madness and we are so excited. It's a free event. family, friends, for our whole community to come out and hype up our winter sport athletes. >> We want Indian Hill to be the place. Everybody should gather in Indian Hill. And that's the kind of culture we've created with our families, our parents, and our students. >> I never take it for granted how blessed we are to have a community that truly loves and supports their school. >> It's so important that we teach our kids their values to represent youth. um not not only that they're representing their families, but they're representing the entire community. And we think that's what this event is about. >> I'm just so thankful
003and grateful to be part of this community. The the opportunity we have to uh showcase our kids, to have fun, to be competitive. I I just don't know if there's a better place around them here at Indiana. [Applause] want to thank everybody who helped put that uh awesome video together and of course uh Brian and our coaches and all the students who participated. And you may have noticed our campus life coordinator uh Latif uh there and also the work that Julius King has done behind the scenes with the sports media students to make these kinds of things possible. So, Braves Madness is a great new tradition uh two years in the making and we'll keep that going. Tonight, we have some special guests. I'd like to call Amanda Sopco up at this time to the
004podium, please, along with our principal Whitney Buell. We want to congratulate Indian Hill Elementary School teacher Amanda Sapco for earning the 2023 mid-career STEM Educator Award recently at the Tri-State STEM Plus Conference on November 14th at Northern Kentucky University. Amanda was recognized as being a champion of science, technology, engineering, and math instruction, something we have all known for a long, long time. And uh now she is being recognized by her peers not just around the region, but the tri-state area. So Amanda, congratulations for all of your hard work. Whitney [Applause] >> Whitney, you want to tell us a little bit about Amanda? >> Um, Amanda is a true believer in STEM for all. Um, everyone knows she's our gifted intervention specialist, but when she is not meeting with our gifted students, she is planning ways
005so that all of our students can experience STEM in all of their classrooms. She partners with teachers, pushes into classrooms. Um, she plans our hour of code week and our engineering week and to make sure that the kids are being celebrated and we we couldn't do it without her. So, she is so deserving of this honor. [Applause] Thank you. Thanks. Congratulations, Amanda. >> Uh, next up we have Dr. Melissa Stewart. Uh, and she is going to provide an introduction. >> I'm going to I'm going to interject for a minute. We're going to go to item C. So, tonight we would like to to uh give some more recognition >> to probably more one of the more humble people in the room over here. So, we're going to recognize our CEO, Superintendent Kirk Ki for being
006named a finalist for the prestigious N National Association of School Superintendent 2023 Superintendent of the Year Award. It's a really big deal. Mr. Kaki has served five years as a visionary, student centered leader at Indian Hill, leading the the Braves through a historic bond levy, a global pandemic, a new strategic plan, and updates to our facilities that that will impact generations of Braves to come. We are extremely proud of not only the work he has done with our students, our parents, our staff, and our community, but also for this very welldeserved accomplishment. And I know he's been very humble. He likes to push the praise to others, but tonight he's going to get a few a few minutes of that. So, Kirk, congratulations for all you've done. We really thank you. You're a wonderful leader.
007[Applause] Now, you can go to the next letter. >> Hold on. And I'd like to echo that and embarrass Kirk a little bit too. Um to to follow up on Craig's last point, every time anybody even mentioned the word congratulations to Kirk, um it was met with a response of well it's not me, it's my team. Uh which to me is a sign of a true leader. And we've got the team here tonight and what a team it is. Um we couldn't this school wouldn't function without Kirk's leadership, without his day-to-day guidance, without his vision and desire to continually make it better. And we're lucky to have him. um they're crazy if they don't give him the award, but in my opinion, he's the superintendent of the year today. So, thank you. Congratulations. >> Thank
008you. You screwed up the agenda tonight, but thank you. Uh no, it truly uh these things are a reflection of uh amazing students and wonderful world-class faculty and an amazing leadership team and a supportive community and a board of education second to none. And you should all take that compliment. You you just proved my point by the way. >> I thank you. >> Moving on. Uh Dr. Stewart is going to introduce our guest in a little strategic plan update. >> Mr. Keki, we were all prepared for you to try to skip past that one. Did you see that? We all hit our buttons. Um so one of the things that drives much of the work that we do is our IH promise, which is what we like to call our strategic plan. And when we
009really think about learners as stewards, learners as individuals and learners as whole child, one of the initiatives that we are really concentrating on right now is the initiative of career pathways. And I am really happy to ask Jeff Damado, high school principal, to come up and share a little bit about that great work and what's happening throughout the district. So, I put together a presentation just to kind of share a little bit about uh what I'd like to call uh our brave future. Um we're going to see if this tech works. Mr. Sim just frozen. So, okay, >> this should be easy for me. So, uh, last spring I had the opportunity to, uh, travel to a conference called the ASU GSB Summit and it was an unbelievable experience. It really there were three main
010takeaways that I walked out of that space with. Number one, the world is betting and going allin on AI technology and the impact that is going to have in our lives. Number two, the world of work as we know it is ever changing and with that are the demands it is asking on all of us as adults, as educators and students. Um, it is very different the landscape of what is expected in 2023 than what it was in 2013, 2003 and uh when I graduated high school in 1996. Um, and so I walked out of that just um excited but also a little bit nervous of what does that mean as an educator? And lastly, and perhaps more excitingly towards some of the work that we're engaging right now, uh no longer do you have
011to wait to college to have an experiential learning and work-based learning experience and opportunity. Uh when you think about a shrinking workforce and the demands of the world in front of us, the world is waiting and tapping on potentials, the potential of high schoolers and even middle schoolers. So I sat in this space surrounded by just tremendous leaders from all around the the globe and thought to myself, what does that mean for us and how does it impact the education that we provide here in Indian Hill and what does that mean for the future and truly preparing um our students? Um this is a quote I love because one of the things I've said since I've come on board is Indian Hill allows us to dream and dream big and the standard here has always
012been excellence and so the dream that we will always have um is nothing short of excellent. And so, how do you embrace the future? Don't run away from it, but embrace it and start to put some things together to kind of amplify what it is for that we do and to truly prepare students for the next uh the next phase of their lives. And so, through the last uh since that time, I started to develop kind of a five-year plan really surrounded by two main goals. Number one, as you see, is to amplify what we do. Indian Hill is obviously will boast the number one high school in the state of Ohio and highly ranked nationally and statewide. But how do we continue to amplify that experience so students are truly prepared not just for
013one thing? Not for maybe a pathway that we started to craft or our parents crafted for us when we were younger, but how do we truly prepare them for anything and stay future driven? And secondly, how to create this and further implement our IH promise. As Dr. Steuart just said this is a commitment we've made to our community and to our kids now and in the future. And how do we do that through enhanced career pathway development, experiential learning, and leadership development? And so it always goes back to why. What are the points? Why would you do such a thing? And so thinking about some major parts of why career pathway development, experiential learning, and leadership development is so important. Number one, real world skill development. We'll talk in a couple seconds about what are
014the skills that the world of work is asking our students to come into their spaces with and how do we truly prepare them to do that. Secondly, how do you advance academic offerings that are already excellent and how do you just keep going? Third, as part of our strategic plan, we talk about the holistic development of our students from learners to doers, whole child and individual. And for for myself, this has also been a learning journey. And so I think of number four and I take that as my own personal journey and how do we educate and expose our staff, our students, our community, our educators to what is it that the world of work and the future actually looks like for students today and how do we bring that information connect with individuals beyond
015our walls to educate us and then how do we expose our students to that? In Indian Hill, we uh the the the standard is excellence. And so I think about how do we continue to produce or create competitive advantages for our students and how do I do that with the development of industry recognized credentials, increased CCP offerings, our expansive AP offering and the experience ships and work-based learning programs we are working with. And lastly, why? Because it aligns and is part of our Indian health promise to students. So this is something that I shared and it is also a special night for all of us for a particular board member and so I wanted to pull out just a an an experience um example of Mr. Clarin Wong who went and worked and did a
016data anal analytics experience with that's so sweet and you can see his quote of what what is the what was his takeaway from this work and as it says the the experienceship program is about connecting with real world it's about taking the skills that he you learn here in in the in the building and connecting to real world work and real world pro uh projects and how do we continually make that not just something that happens episodically here in the space but programmatically uh several years ago when I came on board there were students kind of engaged in this type of work but it was episodic here and there they were able to find some connections with outside partners we had to kind of mess and tweak their schedule to allow them to do it
017and we said you know to be honest Kirk challenged us back in 2019 of what is an idea that we need to amplify what we do and from that challenge came the experienceship idea and I'm also going to give a shout out to Miss Wendy Sylvius who's back there who has been the experience coordinator and a catalyst to this work and uh we're just getting started. So, we're super excited about that. And uh Mrs. Ice Colts, I'm just going to say thank you. You were one of the very first pilot partners to say yes and open our your door to our kids not really knowing what to expect and u I want to say thank you to that. So, we appreciate that. Thinking about the program in itself by the numbers uh currently you could
018read them. We have uh five students right now in the full cohort who are um involved in experience from the very beginning. first pilot group there has been a 410% growth of this model for our students the list of partners is ever increasing you see 36 active right there but when you look at who we've connected who have raised their hand and said I want to open my door or I want to open my expertise to our students there's over a hundred partners waiting in the wings and one of the challenges we have is how do we meet them because they too want to make connections and make an impact on our students uh we put together career connections which is the invitation of outside partners to come inside just share their story. It's not
019about recruiting, it's about sharing the story. So there's lessons to be learned for our students and how do they continue to connect with those professionals. And recently we hosted our very first partner breakfast. Um and it was at 7:30 in the morning. We asked about 25 partners to come. We had about 65 70 students at 7:30 in the morning. These are high schoolers by the way. Okay. At 7:30 in the morning, we did feed them. So there's definitely that enticement and they connected with over 65 students. All they did was talk. They shared stories. They asked questions. What are the hurdles you faced? What are the high school experiences beyond that you had that got you to where you were you were? And it was such a massive success. I know Wendy's back there. We
020cannot wait for the next one. We had 25 partners. The goal eventually is that the cafeteria is not big enough. And I think we'll hit that. um in thinking in terms of just some of the the needs and why is what is the why behind this work research shows us that the five C's that we've continued to implement from a K12 perspective from the primary to the elementary school these are skills that the world of work is continuously telling us they want collaboration creativity critical thinking communication and citizenship there's also towards the bottom those are the uh top growing skills here in the United States flexibility the ability to adapt to change in a world that is ever changing changing faster than sometimes we can even comprehend. Professional ethics, make no mistake, AI and data
021is part of the ability of can we find places to um engage in this new technology in this new world in a safe way. Social perceptiveness, which I do love, this is the idea of students understanding their surroundings and being able to navigate those spaces. And there's one that is not showing on the on the bottom of that, and that's self-management. The ability for young people and young adults to be in that space and be professional and the cultivation of those skills is something that we have to continue to do here and we're going to continue to work on. Last what last part of this I'll share in terms of skill development just because I think it is so key and a passion of mine and that's leadership. So the World Economic Forum just put
022out their skills for 2027 and leadership came up as the number one durable skill that the world of work in the future is asking our students to come and develop. And so how do we do that for our students? Uh so what are some future opportunities? What is this going to look like here in Indian Hill? Well, experienceships is going to continue from a grades nine perspective. We're just getting started. Last year we introduced the big pitch. This is the idea. We asked students in the building, what is it that the high school needs or we should add to make this place even better? And through the design thinking process, we went from 90 students to the five finalist teams you see in that picture. And then they got a chance to pitch their ideas
023in front of a group of professionals like Shark Tank for actual money to seed their ideas. And Big Pitch 20 was coming in January. Um, one of the things that Dr. Stewart talked about though again is career pathway development. How do we continue to craft and create a focused future for Braves as they come into our space and the middle school space? So, beyond just a course offering, they also know as you see there, what are some of the things that are going to come out of that class that you can use to amplify your experience? Things like industry recognized credentials. This is something new for many folks, but really in a nutshell, what they are is they are certificates and credentials that showcase skills in a variety of fields in every area of work
024that high school students, even some middle school students, can start to obtain right now. So, whatever they plan in the next few years, they are more ready than ever before and they truly are ready for anything, not just one thing. And lastly, we are developing some leadership opportunity and programming for students. These are just a couple of examples of uh partners and outside partners we have connected with uh through the Franks Research Institute. We started to implement leadership excellence. Oftentimes we talk about leadership, we give titles for leadership, but how often do we cultivate and teach what does that actually mean? And one of the great things about uh these types of opportunities like leadership excellence which is the foundation of our current leadership class is not only are there the fringe benefits of of
025skill cultivation but also there's graduation credits. See the graduation pathways have changed for the class of 2023. And so one of those is credits that are associated with industry recognized credentials. And so while they're taking these classes that they would normally take, they're also acrewing these types of credentials which amplifies their resumes, their experience, and again I think about it from the father as well truly prepares them for whatever event they decide when they finish. Uh kind of another partner we're really excited about is Lean Six Sigma. The first staff group is going to go through this leadership training in January. What's really excited about Lean Six Sigma is that Lean Six Sigma is a leadership training type program for system analysis, problem solving that middle managers in Fortune 500 and 100 companies mandate for
026their employees. So the skills that our students and staff are going to gain are things that Fortune 100 companies are asking of their own employees. That's pretty spectacular. And so that's just kind of a brief overview of some of the things we're putting together. I wanted to share this because again when we talk about leadership development career pathways there's one thing to talk about it there's one thing to to cultivate it and there's another thing to put into action. So this picture is from one of our recent building leadership team meetings last May we asked our student leadership team which is a group of about 35 uh students from grades 10 through 12 to basically take our strategic plan and look through it through their lens and give us feedback. What's really cool about the
027student leadership team is Thursday morning, we're going to introduce 26 brand new freshmen to this team. And so, not only did we ask them to take our strategic plan and give us their perspective, what do these things mean from your eyes? What are the strengths? What does this look like? But what you see is they had the opportunity to share their feedback with our building leadership team. Our building leadership team had a chance to look at their feedback and then their homework, their summer homework was to create questions that if the student leadership team was in front of you in your space, what would you ask them? And so what you see there was day one of two of several series where we're going to continue to put them together and let our students lead
028us and alongside us into the future. So I wanted to share that story with them. And so that's just a little bit in a nutshell of kind of what some of the things that we're building from a career pathway development perspective, experiential learning, and a leadership development here at Indian Hill High School. Uh these are some future engagements. We're going to put together a speaker uh spring speaker series uh to really again educate and expose our staff, our students, and our community. We want to tell this story. And so those are three kind of uh speaker series and engagements we're going to put together this spring about career pathways and IRC's. What are these Indian Hill Experience? You know, you know, Wendy and I connect often about this. A lot of folks internally know it.
029Our kids are excited about it, but not as many adults as we want to think outside know about what is here and what we're building for their students. And lastly, like I said, what is the impact AI is going to have here in the future for education. Uh so again, I want to thank you for giving me just a few minutes to talk as almost as fast as possible and just give you as much information of what I like to call our brave future. Um before I walk off I'll take any questions and >> I will say something because in your brief nutshell you just gave me really like if you can see I was like you know I'm just so so excited and happy to see where this program has reached because when we
030initially started the strategic plan the main aim was how can it be created by the students who are actually going to benefit out of it and this program just makes me feel so so happy and I feel it's serving on this board. This is one thing that I have always thought that this is how a district should be like it should be what our students want. How do we prepare them not only to graduate from high school but wherever they go they represent Indian Hill and they are like more than ready to handle any challenge that comes in their way and this is such a great program. So congratulations to your team Wendy. You're doing an amazing job. We really love all the hard work that you put in and we really appreciate it. And
031all the partners who have joined in the team to you know give these experiences to our kids because if I go six years back or not even six I would say three or four years back when my kids were here >> we would struggle to find these kinds of experiences for them. Nobody would want high school kids. And look at this, like 36 people already and there are so many already waiting in the list to take our students in. That just speaks a lot about the great work that you guys are doing here. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I'll just add to that. I appreciate the update. Great update. Very, very exciting for what we're doing in the school district. You are absolutely the right person to lead this with your team.
032I love the enthusiasm and energy and it as Nikki alluded to, it's it's very exciting to see. So, we're looking forward to see what's coming in the future. Really appreciate it. Wonderful job. >> Thank you. >> I echo everything that was just said. >> Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Damad, before you sit down, I have a letter that I'm going to convey to the Indian Hill Foundation um that I think you'll want to hear. I've been asked to share and been allowed to share. says, "Dear Indian Hill Foundation, please accept the enclosed check for $5,000 to be towards the development of curriculum and programming, including guest speakers, menor, special events for the future Indian Hill High School Entrepreneurs Center. Best Nancy Eichels. Thank you, Jeff and Wendy. um and Susan Shaower who really was a
033part of starting all this as well with all that she does in her classroom. It's just been amazing to see what we're able to do with our students. >> Well, thank you very much. And and again, Nancy, thank you for all that you've done for for us, for myself, but more importantly for our kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you, Jeff. And I think I echo all of our leadership team members when I say thank you, Wendy. Um, for those of you who work in schools every day to imagine what it takes to manage over 35 corporate pon uh partners, organizations, nonprofits, and growing, uh, it's a lot of work. So, thank you very much. We truly appreciate it. And this is a brand that has become widely recognized. Good job, Mr. Damdale
034and team. Okay. Awesome. And thank you, Miss Nikoltz. Appreciate it. Next up, we have an operations update from Mr. Nichols and our project team. >> So, I'll go ahead and introduce our project team. We've got Chris Pay from MSA here, Pete Becker and Chris Sto from Skianska Construction, and Mike Menenhal from MCS. >> Board members, we got another slide presentation behind you. You may want to adjust again for a moment or two. You're going to want to see some of these images. >> All right. Thank you, Jim. Uh, like you say, we'll uh we'll keep it brief and there's a lot going on this evening. I think echo what Jeff was talking about and all the conversations to date. You know, really the the work that's going on over at the middle school and the
035other buildings is really just to support all the great work that's happening. So, it's going to be really exciting to see teachers and faculty and students in these spaces soon. Uh what they're going to be able to do. So, you can flip through. You know, some of this is just intro to we've been talking about all along for the middle school and the purpose of the work that we're doing there. U we just want to provide an update. Um as you drive by obviously the the front of the building, we're nearing completion. Uh it's getting close here. Uh Scansky and their team are working hard with their subs to have everything ready for faculty and students to come back after the first of the year. Um so you can see it's starting to look like
036a building and like a school out front. Uh on the back side, what many people can't see yet is um really one of the key I think unique features of this building that's going to be uh really impactful are these outdoor spaces. Uh the project porches and project patios as we've been calling them. Um directly connected to interior learning spaces. They're covered. They're protected. Um just the ability to come out and uh experience the great landscape that exists here is going to be really impactful. So those are starting to take shape as well in the back of the building. Uh as we go inside the middle school through the main entrance, uh that central hub, the village green we've been talking about all along. Grand stair that connects the two floors. There's some wood paneling
037that's going to be going on there and some glass railings. Um this is really going to be the hub of activities when we talk about experiential learning, all the things that that Jeff mentioned. Um, a lot of the innovative uh, impactful learning that's going to happen in the school is going to happen right here. There's a media center, project labs, learning labs, art studios, all those kind of things that surround this central hub is going to be really amazing. So, that's coming that's coming along as well. Um, another key feature in this building uh, are the uh, the neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a commons. It's really going to serve as kind of the family room for all the students, each grade. Um, these are the I think the seventh and the sixth grade commons. uh
038see some of the materials, the furniture that's that's being put together, the finishes. Um these are going to be a lot of flexible furniture and collaboration space opportunities for students, faculty again to engage in various ways. And it's really going to be exciting to see how these come to life and as they connect to the outside as well. And then surrounding the neighborhoods or the commons, if you go the next slide, uh a lot of the classrooms that are starting to come together, flexible furniture, science classrooms, flexible classrooms, marker boards, and technology that are going up in these spaces. A lot of the furniture you can see that's being placed. Um so again, those as well are starting to come to life. And these are the spaces that, you know, the teachers are and faculty
039are going to start to uh enter into here soon and get ready for students coming back in January. So that's really exciting to see as well. Ju just to clarify, right? These are real photos of >> these are real photos. Yeah. No more renderings. Yeah. >> And then uh just this past weekend, the opening of the sueder uh performance center, the main entrance. Uh again, just kind of a really amazing space that's going to have a lot of community interaction and engagement for those who were able to enter into that. Um that is open at this point. If you go inside the space, um, this new, again, community space, uh, right outside the theater, I think it really, I was talking to someone earlier, the theater's always been an amazing, um, place here at the
040Indian Hill School District, but now I think this actually gives it a really, uh, clean and new face. It connects to the athletic spaces or the high school, it's going to connect to the middle school and really become that central hub of activity for uh, people for generations to come. So, that's really um, finishing. There's still a few touches here and there, but that space is um completed and being occupied at this point. And so really at this point um moving toward again completing the project um as we get into January. Again, a lot there's still work to be done. I mentioned Scansky and their team are working hard to um to get all those loose ends cleaned up uh so students can be prepared and ready as they come back in January. Um, again,
041just really exciting to see the progress and as we say all for everyone should be really proud of the work that's been done, the board, uh, administrative team, the community, the faculty and staff that are here and I think it's really uh, been amazing to see it all come to light. So, we're excited to to welcome people in in January like we've done the other spaces and I think people will be really excited to see uh, the project complete. >> Thank you, Chris. Jim, can you add any other highle details for everybody while we're reviewing here? Yeah, I think um kind of the big uh things are that the furniture is is being built and installed right now into the classrooms. Um we're kind of moving across the building. If you start with the connector,
042that would be the first thing that we finish. But if you go across the building, you're going to start to see um you know, the offices and above that the seventh grade neighborhood that's up on the second floor that will kind of come online here in the next week or so. And then as you move towards the back of the building, the sixth grade and eighth grade will come on. The final spaces will be that village green. Um and everything's tracking uh on course for us to open and uh in on January uh 11th for students. Our staff will be back on the 8th um to be doing some final preparations, but we'll be doing a lot of work over break just getting all the items that we need in those classrooms so that we
043hit the ground running in January. Again, I want to thank the project team, uh, as you all know, thank you, Chris, for the presentation, the slide deck there. Uh, our project team members, um, so that everybody understands, have been around on the ground helping our team, uh, leading up to the opening of the Sue Harter Memorial Performing Arts Center last weekend. They were there on site calling us, helping clean, helping uh, finish up small details along with our leadership team members and staff who are volunteering. So, I appreciate our project team members that are here tonight and all the work that has gone on. Uh, and I think we had a wonderful opening of uh a huge part of this project on Saturday night and um I think I saw Mr. Harter back there somewhere.
044I think he was pleased as well. Um and it was an amazing amazing evening and it's a spectacular facility. >> Yeah, if I could just I guess echo that comment. Um for those who were able to make it Saturday night to the opening of the Sue Harter Performing Arts Center, it was spectacular. Um the building looked great, the weather was terrible, it's probably Jeff's fault. Um but it was just one of those nights that that we'll remember for for quite a long time and appreciate the vision to put that all together. Um just one question on how we did on punch list items on the elementary school and primary school. >> Yeah, we're down below 10% on both those buildings. We're really down to singleton items. You know, something might be backordered and we're waiting
045for it to come in, but uh that that gap has gotten better. We were at about 30% towards the end of October. So, we've dropped that over 20%. We're really down to the last few items that we need to just touch up and and finish off. And we hope to do most of that uh by the end of winter break. >> Thank you. Thanks for the report. Thank you, Mr. Nichols. Uh moving on with the uh first part of the agenda there, board members, we have under letter F uh the first reading of our board of education meeting dates for uh next year. We will do a second reading at our January organizational meeting. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of those dates and you could let me know between now
046and January, that would be awesome. >> So, we can we can change these dates. >> Please call me. Yeah, we can look at those if there are any conflicts. >> If if not, we're having Sady's birthday party here in September. >> We'll we'll work on it. Uh, moving on to the superintendent report if that's okay, Mr. Summerl. Uh, seven. Uh, A, we have the approval of some overnight field trips. Letter B, we have another resolution declaring the impracticability of transportation offering payment to parents in lie of transportation. Letter C, we have the adoption of the Indian Hill Exempted Village School District online continuity plan. Letter D, we have some personnel actions tuition reimbursements professional meeting approvals that run through D3A. If there are no questions, I would ask you to entertain 7A through D3A at
047this time. May I have a motion to accept the superintendent's report? >> Motion to accept the superintendent's report item uh 7 A through D3. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Zikols. >> I. >> Mr. Tullus. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Singh. >> Yes. >> Mr. Summerall. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. We'll move to the treasures report. Mr. Davis. >> Under my report for this evening, the first item is to approve the minutes of the November 28th, 2023 regular meeting. And if we could, I would like to uh stop there and have a motion to approve those minutes since Mrs. Singh was uh absent from that meeting. Is that if that's okay with you, Mr. Simo? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Motion to approve the minutes. >> Second. >> Mrs. Iicults. I >> Mr. Tullus.
048>> Yes. >> Mrs. Singh. Abstain >> Mr. Summerall. >> Yes. >> Under my report for item B is to approve the financial reports for the month ending November 30th, 2023. There are two contracts for 2023 2024 school year. Uh the second item is for the Hamilton Claremont Cooperative. Um it's implementation and data migration to P school. um we're beginning to move um into a new school information system. We're beginning that work here in 24 for that to be ready in 2025. The first item is North Point Advisory Services LLC. Um this is ININD services for our athletic potential athletic fieldhouse facility project. Um this is a district uh parent who's willing to do services for us on this project for no cost. Um, it's a great service to the project and we're very appreciative of
049that uh that offer. Item D is the approval of 2024 OSBA membership including electronic subscription for school management news at a cost of $10,782. Item E is to pay a now and then invoice for train company for an emergency repair to the high school chiller. And then finally under my report is five change to the appropriations uh for school year 2024. Uh fund 08 were 30,000 of that is for grants that we received over the course of the first half of the year. Items uh three through five are additions to our grants uh federal grants that we received new allocations. and item 300. We've had some increases uh throughout the year for some items for our student manage activities. That concludes my report for the evening. I will entertain any questions. Seeing no questions, may
050I have a motion to accept the treasur's report. I move to accept the treasurer's report item um 8 B through E. E3 >> F. There's there's one on the next page. >> That's okay. >> May we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Eicultz, >> I. >> Mr. Tullus, >> yes. >> Mrs. Singh, >> yes. >> Mr. Summer. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Item nine, other business. Item A is election of a pre president prom to serve January 1 through the election of the calendar year 2024 president. >> So under this item, we're just looking for that person to serve until the first meeting of the year in 2024 as the president. Uh we'll ask for nominate Mr. Summerall will ask for nominations. Uh we do not need seconds. You just simply nominate
051uh a person you feel that you would like to run. Uh Mr. Summerall will then ask if there's any further nominations. And when we have no more further nominations, I will ask each board member for the person that they are voting for. Mr. Summer. >> Okay, >> we're looking for nominations. >> I'll make a nomination for Mr. Summerl to continue the role as president. Pro Tim. >> Okay. Any other nominations? Okay. As I announce your name, please announce the uh the board member that you wish to vote for President Prom. Mrs. Iicults. >> Mr. Summerl. >> Mrs. Singh. >> Mr. Simmon. >> Mr. Tullis. >> Uh Mr. Suml. >> Mr. Summer. >> Abstain. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Item B. Approval of a 5-year contract for our CFO treasurer Mick Davis effective August
0521st, 2024 through July 30th, 2029. And I'm going to need a motion on this. Anybody have any questions or comments? >> I I have some comments. That's okay. Board members. >> Absolutely. uh as you entertain this resolution, I would just like to point out that uh the CFO treasur position in the state of Ohio and nationally is an extremely difficult position. It's highly competitive, highly sought after. This district's been very fortunate to have Mr. Davis in this position for some time. He is a veteran CFO and treasur not only in the state of Ohio, but among his peers nationally. He serves and provides service to other treasurers with less experience in the region in the state of Ohio and helps mentor. He is an active member of his professional organizations. And I happen to think
053besides the fact that he's a great friend in Buckeye, he is also the best around. So I would highly recommend that you entertain this resolution. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> I think we all feel that way. I I was about to say that. I think it's a no-brainer. And uh I'm going to move it to a motion. May we have a first? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Third. >> Mrs. Iicults. >> I. >> Mrs. Singh. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tullus. >> Yes. >> Mr. Summerall. >> Yes. I want to thank the board very much for giving me the security of the five-year contract. I very much appreciate it. I love being a part of this community and a part of this family. Um especially for my children. Um it's a great place for
054them to go to school, the the best teachers, the best staff, best coaches. Um it's just it's just a wonderful place to be. It's it's the where I've been for the last eight years, and I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be. So, thank you very much. It's been very much appreciated. >> You do an amazing job. You're a great part of this leadership team and we're so proud to have you and to keep you and we want to keep keeping you. So, uh, we're going to do just that. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board members. >> Okay, we've got one item left. Item C. We saved the best for last. >> Yes. Uh, board members, at this time, we'd like to recognize the service of Board of Education member Nancy Ikez.
055Uh this is NY's last official meeting. Uh and we have some special guests who have joined us this evening and we're going to spend some time uh reflecting a at this time and um then we will also hear from Nancy. But at this time I'd like to start with uh Dr. Melissa Stewart who's going to make a few comments. >> All right, we'll see if we can get through this. When I look back on my career at Indian Hill, Nancy was one of the very first people that I met and at the very beginning she was an active member of PTO. For those of you who've been in the district for a while, you remember pioneer days and fifth grade celebration. And she was never hesitant to jump in and be part of any of
056those type of events. that continued all the way through middle school with Party in the Middle and then all the way to high school with the many different athletic events and the ways that parents support those teams. But I want to highlight her time as a board member. When we think about the strategic plan, we often think of the IH promise, but it actually starts with the gold plan. And the gold plan was the foundation that built the work towards a historic and successful bond and levy. That is the celebration of all of these beautiful facilities that we're talking about throughout the district. And when Nancy was involved in that, she was one of the first people who came to the table and said, "The answer is entrepreneurship and the leadership of our students." and
057she started to talk about what that would mean for our students and if our students had those opportunities, what would it mean for our community and our country. It is that type of visionary work that she's done with us that has allowed us to move forward and progress as a school district. Beyond that, she's been highly involved in making sure that we have a strong leadership team. So, if you're here in the audience and Nancy was one of the people that brought you in and voted for you to be here, please stand up. Kirk and I should be standing. >> I was just impressed looking at the whole the number of the group there. >> That's only a small percentage of it though. That's not everybody. And I think that she could wear her heart
058on her sleeve when it comes to this district and what it means because most of all, she entrusted us with her children. And if you've ever had a chance to work with any of those three children, you know how special they are. So Dawson is here. Dawson, will you stand up? So way way back, my very first meeting was about Dawson and where we should place you in school. Should would you be with your brother in the same classroom or not? twins all the way to now. And it's one of my favorite experiences to see Nancy and to say, "Tell me about the boys. How are they doing? What are they doing in this day?" And with every decision she has made, she's made it in the mind of I'm making a decision not only
059on behalf of the community, but as a former parent of students who went to the school. So, what an honor it is to have worked all these years. I'm I'm not going to tell them how many years. It's been a lot of years, Nancy, we've been together. um to see somebody, especially a woman who has been able to have this type of legacy and leadership. I'm so thankful for you. [Applause] Thank you, Melissa. Next, I'd like to invite uh Miss Libby Callen up to the podium, please. Thank you all. Uh as a current parent of the district, I have in the district I have one in the primary and one in the elementary. I want to take a moment to express some gratitude to Nancy upon her last meeting. So watching Nancy in this role
060over the years, I've learned and noted that the role requires mar wearing many different hats and there probably can never be one set job description or with specific outline duties. It seems like there are always many different and unexpected directions and duties of this role and I couldn't possibly address or maybe even know um all of them. However, again, today from the perspective of a current district parent, Nancy, I just want to thank you for a few of the characteristics that I've seen you exhibit over the years, though indeed I know that there may be many, many more in play. First, thank you for your commitment over the past eight years. Your commitment to serving our community, serving our school, and serving our kids. A role like this could easily fall to the bottom of
061a of a to-do list and an otherwise very, very busy schedule, but that's not your style. You've stayed fully committed and we thank you for that. Also, thank you for your big vision for the district and holding firm to it. When circumstances otherwise could have or would have tried to shrink that vision, pandemic, financial uncertainties, construction, constru construction, you've remained committed to to the details of the business and the operations at hand. And thank you for holding that line of excellence for us. Then finally, I want to thank you for your leadership, not just related to the buildings and the kids, but leadership to and with the families in the district. Of course, you yourself were originally an honorary district parent, a family, and thank you for remaining true to us, the families, taking care
062and attention to stay attuned to our concerns, our anxieties, our desires. Uh relationships are what truly makes a great district. And it's obviously that you obvious that you don't see this as a business alone, but as a partnership of people committed to the best together. So on behalf of many invested parents, we thank you for that. Your commitment, your vision, and your compassionate leadership have all been standouts over the years. We wish you the best in all of your upcoming endeavors and adventures, and especially those involving Gourmet Cookies and the Bengals, and we hope you just keep us involved in all of it. Thank you, Nancy. [Applause] Thank you, Libby. Uh, former board member Elizabeth Johnson could not be here this evening because she is not feeling well. However, she wanted to express her gratitude
063for working with you and alongside you, Nancy, for so many years and uh, passes her warmest regards along. Next, I'd like to invite Lori Klein, up to the podium, please. Oh, wow. Nancy, after uh I think I think we did this. Um Wow. So, after knowing you for 30 years, must have been starting in kindergarten when we worked together. Um, I'm not surprised you were honored at lunch today for your business acumen and this evening you're being honored for service to the community. As a board of education member, you respected, honored, and supported the volunteer and philanthropic partners of the school district. As a parent, you were an active volunteer and modeled excellent character for your children. And I know firsthand about that your wonderful children because one of them was the foundation's most effective
064and enthusiastic volunteer uh intern we ever had. So thank you Dawson. Um the Indian Hill School community is a better place because of your involvement and I look forward to watching your continued leadership both in business and in the greater Cincinnati community. Thank you for everything, Nancy. [Applause] Next up, we have Dawson Eichols. Dawson, would you come up to the podium, please? >> Hi there. It's uh it's nice to be back and uh this meeting has has made me wish I was graduating high school around now instead of six years ago. All the uh all the awesome things that are going on for these students. So uh well as uh I've learned with speeches I I'll try to make this short and sweet. Um but congrats mom. You've made it eight years and uh 1,000
065plus students and uh I was one of those students. So, thank you for the time that I had with you. Um, now everyone's kind of spoken about my mom's um different um styles and accomplishments and aspects about her during her schoolboard tenure. Um, but I've kind of had the unique experience of of seeing her with many different hats on as uh Dr. Stewart um referred to. I I first and and foremost know her as as a mother and um just what a blessing that uh Reed and Katie and I got to spend. Uh I mean I'm 25 and married now, but 25 years with you. Um uh again, also school board leadership uh nonprofit CEO, small business owner. So you've worn so many different hats. Um, but underneath of this plethora of hats, I've learned
066is a heart. And um, in that heart, I I have seen as as your son that there is a a moral compass, a a north star, an objective truth that you stand on for everything you do. Um, and most I think most people think those things are a buzzword or um a slogan, but I've actually learned that this this uh for my mom is a person. Uh, this person was a servant leader who inspired my mom to view others as more important than herself. Um, this person's wisdom inspired my mom to seek what many can consider as foolish. Um and most importantly this person's love for my mom gave her a new purpose and destination in life. Um in fact um this person's love gave her uh right standing with God and eternal life. Um
067this person I'm referring to is known by various names all across the world. Um to my mom uh he's known as Jesus. Uh he is the one who has provided my mom with salvation and redemption through his life, his death on the cross and his resurrection. Um in closing, as my mom has walked with all these hats on her head at once, um it's just been such a blessing to get you uh to get to see you live out one of your favorite verses. Uh Micah 6:8 says, "He has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Uh so, Mom, I'm so excited to see you where you go from here and uh
068just thankful for the time to get to come back and and see all that y'all are doing. So, thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, Dawson. It's great to have Brave Alum back and obviously speaking with mom. Next up, I'd like to invite Monique Su to the podium. >> Well, I don't know how you follow that. That was aggressive. Dawson. Um, I'm going to go a little further back. Um, so indulge me, please. Um, if you look at NY's profile on the website for the board of education, you will see her definition of a brave, being the best that we can be, which defines as what she defines as our own personal best and the best for our district. Nancy and I met on a double date. Um, she was started dating Dave. Um, and Dave
069happened to be one of my husband's best friends. We too became fast friends and we spent the last 30 years continuing our careers, raising our children and trying to make the world a better place. And this came in many different forms for each of us over the last 30 years. When I met Nancy, she was in her 20s and she was conquering the marketing world as a consumer marketing manager overseeing North America for Chaita Brands whose headquarters was here in Cincinnati. Over the years, she used her professional talents to run fundraising campaigns for political leaders and nonforprofits. She took on the position of CEO of Bad Girl Ventures, supporting female entrepreneurs and rebranding the organization into Avhr accelerators, at which time she earned the business career second act award. And now as the proud owner
070of CEO of Nambbrands, she is building her next career success and has earned the women who mean business award. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Nancy has served on the boards of Stepping Stones, the Cincinnati Ballet, Fernside for Grieving Children, the Old Park Advisory Council, and sustaining member of Junior League. But the position that is very close to NY's heart is at home for her here and her role at Indian Hill Exempted School District for which she has served two four-year terms affecting thousands of children in our school district and their families. Her positions have included finance chair, vice president, and president. She led the board as president during one of the most difficult times in our history. As the pandemic changed education in the matter of a day, Nancy was there. She has been
071involved in the hiring of the majority of our current administrators. She has participated in the development of the strategic plan for our district. She was instrumental in the development of our facilities plan that we are building for our brave future for our students to come. And at the core of every decision, Nancy has had the best interest of the whole student at heart, mentally, socially, and physically to do their best personally and do the best for the district. Her love of this community, however, stems from her love for her family. For of course, that is what's most meaningful to Nancy. She and Dave have raised their three amazing children, Katie, Reed, and Dawson here tonight, who were involved in all aspects of the experience. And even after they graduated, Nancy has carried the lessons she
072learned as a parent and as a business professional to lead our school district to operational efficiency and effectiveness while not only maintaining high standards, but achieving the nich's number one rating for the best school in the state of Ohio. Our students are leaders in athletics, in academics, and in the arts. And anyone who was here this weekend to see the grand opening of the Suarter Performing Arts Center and got to witness Frozen just saw a small sliver of what has been achieved at the school. These students successes do not happen by chance. They are the result of having the best faculty, the best staff, and the best administration. and in the state and I think across the country and it is all led by our school board. It is an enormous responsibility and it is
073one that Nancy has handled through very difficult times and in very difficult circumstances. And as a parent of four children myself who have graduated from Indian Hill High School, I can say that I am extremely appreciative for the work that we see and we don't see that make this place special. Nancy, thank you for your leadership and your friendship over the years, and I wish you every success as you move forward and close this chapter. The best to you. [Applause] >> Thank you, Monnique. Uh board members, any other comments? >> I Yeah, I'll kick it off. Um, I think Mon'nique's comment about this all not happening by chance is is so true. Um, I guess I first really got to know Nancy, other than I grew up across the street from her house, um, as
074a kid, literally right across the street. >> Oh, well, still. Um, working through when we got involved in the facilities committee. Gosh, I don't know, predates Kirk and Dr. McMiles and started gaining an appreciation for just how much work goes into what this school is. Um, and getting to be a part of that process and now being on the board, I I've certainly learned firsthand that it takes a ton of effort and it takes a ton of time and it takes a lot of commitment. I can't imagine doing this during the COVID pandemic and just how hard that was. Um, you know, we we caught a little bit of the tail end of that. Um, but but having to live through that through the the pressures and the stress from community members, friends who felt
075different about different issues, it's not easy. Um, and you have handled that with with grace and with dignity throughout. And hearing Jeff's comments earlier tonight, that is, you know, I was thinking about what your legacy is going to be. And I think there's there's two. It's it's the building and the buildings that are being built. But more importantly, it's going to be the entrepreneurship and the experience center that is going to more so than the buildings change lives. And that's going to change how this school teaches its kids and how we educate our kids moving forward. And you're directly responsible for that. and my kids will benefit from that. So, on behalf of my family, thank you. On behalf of the entire community, thank you. Um, this is a lot of work. You know, showing
076up at these things is not always easy. Um, being present, doing all the work behind the scenes. It takes time and you've done it and we're all better for it. So, thank you for your service. No matter how much you prepare, but it's really hard to say goodbye. You know, I have probably known Nancy the longest among all the other board members. When I came on the board knowing not much what actually the board members do, you were there for me. You always supported me when I kind of get stuck to make some really difficult decisions that you know many times we have to make as a board members. You're always there to talk to me and you know share your opinions and never push me to make the decision the way you think it
077should be. You're always there to help and answer any questions. So I really appreciate that. I really had this opportunity to work with you for last four years which I will always remember when you're not here. You'll you may not be on the board but you'll still be a you'll still be there when I'll call you. I know that and I will call you for your suggestions and for your advice. So this is not a last goodbye but you know I really admire you on many things. What I really admire you the most is the passion that you bring in to make a difference in every kid's life. That really is very important. The other thing that I really admire you about is how you feel. You being anor yourself, you believe in empowering the
078women. You know being a woman and coming from a country where women's were not given so much of a power I really understand that why it is important to encourage women to do the best to support them and you do that and since I knew you were doing those things you are helping these women who are just starting their business my admiration for you has gone skyrocketed high and I really admire you for doing that you have spent hours and hours to make difference for our children's life and this is when your own kids were not being impacted but you were still passionate to do those things for all the kids and we really appreciate you and we just going to miss you here Randy thank you for everything that you have done >> wow
079you get to go later and there's not much to say without repeating everyone Well, Nancy, you've made a mark, and what a mark it's been. And uh as it it was alluded to a few minutes ago, it's been tremendous. We thank you for your incredible stewardship over the last eight years. You have given an enormous amount of time, energy, guidance, and have made a monumental impact on this district. We appreciate your efforts, and we know your experience and wisdom will be sorely missed. So, thank you. It's been a pleasure working side by side with you, >> Nancy. I'd just like to say a thank you on behalf of the entire leadership team um and let you know and let everybody in the audience know from my perspective that I think as Bear mentioned your legacies
080uh in the dialogue and discussions we've had over the last five years since the moment we met about empowering students to be leaders and empowering students to have career experiences are going to live on. We are going to open an entrepreneur center in 2024 and I know that you'll be back and be proud and be a part of all of that and um I I think that that is something that will live on for such a long time. Also, you know, um it was hard, but you and I led the best school in the nation through a global pandemic and you were the president and no one's ever going to forget that. I won't ever forget that. Um thank you for all you've done for the children in Indian Hill and for us. Thank you.
081At this time, uh, Nikki, could you please help me? We'd like to present a gift to you, Nancy, if you would come up front here. Oh. Oh, would you like to talk first? Yeah. Let's let Nancy talk first. Okay. >> I'll keep it short because I know people came for cookies and we're keeping you waiting. Um, I get the bad mic on my last night here. That's better. Um, it has been the absolute honor of my life to serve this district. Um, not just the last eight years, uh, but the eight last eight years in particular, but I've been involved in this district for 20 years now. So, because when, um, we moved in to Indian Hill, Dawson and Reed were going into kindergarten, Katie was going into fourth grade. And um it's been an
082honor at every level and every turn, but to be able to be in this position for the last eight years where you really see how the sausage is made. Um and you really get to be a part of every child's life in a way and every single teacher and every single administrator, every single bus driver, every single person that walks through these doors. as a board member, we get an impact and that's just such an honor and it's such an honor that the community has trusted me with that. It wasn't always easy. Uh but as Kirk was saying, the tough times made us stronger and I am still just I will always just be so proud, Kirk, of how we got through the pandemic. Melissa, um lots of disagreements because nobody knew what was going
083on. But when I looked across the country at what else, even across our own city, our own community of the other schools and things that were going on, the way we were able to navigate that horrible time and keep our kids in school, what was it, 98% of the time, um was phenomenal. and the when you see other districts where kids had fallen just so far behind and some districts where I'm not sure they'll see ever see those kids again. Um to be able to be in school 98% of the time and know what was going on with every single child was just amazing. Um but just a huge shout out to you everyone who works in this organization you know from every angle. Um, and one of the things that I'm I'm really passionate
084about looking forward and I'm going to kind of hold everybody's feet to the fire on this. We are so fortunate to have IHO and the relationship that we have together. It's not two different sides. It's not different sides of the table. When I was doing the CBA um negotiations this last time, it did not feel like two separate entities trying to work and and tug a war. It was a group of people trying to come together to do the best for our students and the best for our taxpayers. And I'm telling you, for for those who aren't that close to that, that is so unusual. And I would really challenge you all and you all that are out here to please, please, please guard that relationship. Don't let anything happen to that relationship because the
085way we all work together as adults translates in such a beautiful way to our children. So, please guard that. Um, but the real heroes honestly are every single kiddo that's walked through these doors and that will continue to walk through these doors for the years to come. We've set a beautiful stage for them. Um, and to, you know, my cohort here and to all the teachers and staff, you know, it really isn't about these gorgeous buildings. It's not about the ACT scores. It's not about whether your kid gets to play, you know, football in college like it was for us. Um, it's not about if they make it to Broadway or they make it to the White House. It's about their emotional, intellectual, physical, and mental well-being and their happiness in life that matters. And
086if we get that right, we don't have to worry about all the other stuff. So, at the end of the day, let's focus on the overall well-being of every single child that comes through these doors. And um don't forget that. I think that it's a huge win if we can accomplish that. So, thank you to everyone in the room. I see Dan Peters back there. I can't believe you you took the time. appreciated all the other people, Bennetts that are here. Um, means so much to me that you would take your time, Jen, come and show up. Um, and as we say in the Icult House a lot, um, to God be the glory. Great things he has done and I know he will continue to bless this district greatly. So, thank you. Thank you.
087Thank you for allowing me to serve for the last eight years. [Applause] Nikki Mick, would you come forward here for a minute? And we're going to present Nancy with a gift now. Nancy, we know that you uh obviously are a professional business owner and you do a lot with a lot of things. you create and make a lot of things. And we also thought that this might be a little bit useful for you and have a little fun with this. It says, "Nancy IT, thank you for your investment in Indian Hill Schools Board of Education 2016 to 2023. Congratulations and thank you." [Applause] So, a tray for somebody that owns a bakery. How appropriate. >> Thank you so much. [Music] >> Can I can I adjourn the meeting? >> We just have one announcement before
088you adjourn, Nancy. Uh we do have a reception uh for Nancy and it's just down the hall here and to your right as soon as we adjourn the meeting. Again, congratulations. Motion to adjurnn. [Music] Second. All those in favor? >> I >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it. [Music]