10 19 21 Regular Board Meeting

001All right, we're going to get started here. Thank you. Um, I'd like to call uh the meeting to order. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Iikolds >> here. >> Dr. Hooker, >> here. >> Mrs. Johnston, >> Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Singh, >> here. >> Um, I'd like to I would entertain a motion to adopt the regular meeting agenda. >> Some moved. >> Second. Thank you. We don't have a addendum, do we? >> Okay. Thank you. Just want to make sure. Um, I would entertain a motion to go into executive session. Nancy, if I could ask you to do that, but I need you to read it exactly word for word, and I need you to add this one on to it, please. Okay. I move that we go into executive session, OC121.22G, 22G in accordance with

002Ohio Revised Code 121.22G5 matters required to be kept confidential by state statute Ohio Revised Code section 2317.02 attorney client privileged communications in order to obtain legal advice. Ohio Revised Code 121.22 22 G3 conferences with an attorney for the public body concerning disputes involving the public body that are the subject of pending or imminent court action and Ohio advice code 121.22G1 to consider the employment and compensation of a public employee or official superintendent OC121.22 22 G4. Preparing for, conducting, or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. >> Could I have a second? >> Second. >> I don't think Do we vote on that or just >> I'll take roll. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Ikez. Hi. >> Mrs. Singh. Hi. >> Mrs. Johnston. Hi. >>

003Dr. Hooker. >> I will be back. All right, we're coming back from executive session and we have the pledge of allegiance. Where is our flag? There we go. >> Mr. Davis, would you take care of leading us? To the flag of the United States. >> All right. Uh, Mr. Kcki, would you like to do recognitions, correspondents, and announcements? >> Good evening, everyone. First up tonight, we have some great news. The 2022 niche rankings are out. Indian Hill School District was ranked number one school district in Ohio out of 608 districts based on a rigorous analysis of key statistics reviews for students and parents and data from the US Department of Education. So congratulations to all uh on that honor our families I hope are proud of that. Uh we have a great school community and

004that was once again reaffirmed. Indian Hill High School congratulates 15 students who were recognized as part of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their outstanding performance last year on the preliminary SAT National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. Six students from Indian Hill High School have qualified for National Merit semi- finalist competition. Julianne Alspock and Joy Nquille Nyak Ryan Ramacher Hannah Tran and Kathy Xiao. In addition, we had eight Indian Hill High School students who were recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars. Julano Almarova, Isaac Fiori, Hunter Gillan, Tacy Hutton, Gwyneth Jooshi, Sophia Louu Tahha Pizzati, and Ethan Simons. Indian Hill High School also had one student, Katherine Yain Deal, recognized as our national Hispanic scholar. Congratulations to all of our Braves. out of nearly 90 students from around the world. >> That seems like a higher number

005than a previous year. Is that higher? That just seems like a lot more than I remember. Uh when you add up the semi-finals and the commended students, we always uh tend to have a large number together. So yes, it is a large number. Every year we're typically in the teens, and that's wonderful. For a school district this size, it's a large number. Out of nearly 90 students from around the world, one Indian high school, Indian Hill High School student came out on top. Junior Connor Bandon Boom was accepted to the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Science Summer Camp, hosted an innovation challenge, tasked students with designing technology inventions to solve real world problems. And Connor with his team, Cascading Change, took first place after designing a water filtration system called the squirrel. I

006love to see these types of steam projects being done by our students. It's a wonderful honor for Connor. Indian Hill High School sophomore Ishan Gandhi has had music education as a part of his learning experience the past six years and he was recently selected to play trombone for the 2122 Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble Symphonic Band. Uh they'll have concerts in December and May. Congratulations to Ashan. Learning did not pause for another Indian Hill High School student during the summer. Senior Claire Hardik, who's one of the stars of Little Women by the way, is working to set up shop after winning the new startup competition called Entrepreneurs Change the World Pitch, sponsored by Centrafuse. Claire spent eight weeks participating in a virtual educational program and pitch competition for aspiring entrepreneurs. Very proud of Claire. That's our

007our student recognition for tonight. Now, what I would like to do next is turn it over to Dr. Stewart and we would like to give a strategic plan update. >> Thank you Mr. Kcki. I appreciate it. So I am really excited to share that we are underway with our strategic planning process and really at the very beginning the process is all about engaging as many stakeholders as we can. So that started in September with a group of about 30 people who came together as part of the steering committee. And the steering committee's first task was just to think about like what what do we want this committee to do and what what are we hoping to come out of this at the end and how do we stay engaged in the process and set up

008some meeting times for the rest of this semester. And I'm happy to say that that steering committee is a diverse group of people and it includes parents and community members of graduates as well as teachers and administrators. So, it's worthy of a lot of really great conversation. The second area of communication was in the deployment of surveys. So, lots of surveys went out and I'm happy to say that we were able to gather 2,159 total responses, which is really impressive in only a week's worth of time. Those responses included staff members, community members, students, and recent alumni. Though over 2,000 survey responses is something to celebrate, at the same time, we want to spend time looking through those survey responses, which is what we did in the next steering committee to say, what evidence do

009we have that shows that it's coming up on all the groups, as well as is there any data that's missing? So for example, we would like to see if we could get more responses from our recent alumni. That was one of the determinations we made. So so far we've communicated through a steering committee and through a survey. And the next step will be to have another group of stakeholders come together, which again will be a diverse group of people. And that will be the adviserss. And so we want to have more than one group of people who come together in a face-to-face way to share information and look through results to make sure that it's not just one group of people who are making all the decisions. So we are well on our way and

010it's really exciting work that's happening. There's one more group that I want to tell you about that's probably going to be your favorite of all and that is groups of students. So we're meeting with focus groups in K through 12 all this week and small groups of eight students at a time to ask them their opinion about what's happening in the district so that we can make sure that their voices are highly included as well. So all of that's taking place and we started our first meeting together took place in on September 27th and so we just finished our third steering committee and focusing on um the next step of focus groups and then we'll be meeting with the adviserss on November 8th and November 9th. So, we look forward to continue to involve as

011many people as possible. And we're really getting close to the idea of trying to look through all of the survey data to come up with themes. What are the themes that seem to be resounding with everybody? I'm also happy to report that as we've looked at this data, people have really considered it all valuable information. So there are parts of it that really celebrate some of the work that's happening currently and there are other parts of it that we recognize are opportunities for growth for us and either way people have been really open to that and been able to say this is exactly we want to see like we want this to be an opportunity for growth for us as a school district. So all of that is really exciting news and we look forward

012to working with the next set of people in the advisor groups coming up. Thank you, Dr. Stewart. And again, we just want to thank everybody who's taken the time to respond and give us valuable input on all the surveys that have been out. It's been a really um robust response so far. Uh next up, Dr. Hooker, board members, we have a facilities and operations update and presentation, and I will turn it over at this time to Mr. Nichols and our project team members. I'll start here. I need you to must have been somebody taller than I. So, we're very excited. We've got our entire project team here today. Um MCS and Associates, our owners agent, uh Moes Engineering, MSA Architects, and Scansa Construction. And I think it speaks volumes about our team that they're here

013collaboratively to share um some important aspects of our project and give you an update on where we are right now. So, I'm going to turn it over to MCS. >> Good evening. I'm Holly McClean with MCS and Associates. I'm the new COO there. I've been with the company about a month and a half at this point. Little closer. Is that better? Sorry, masked up and well. Um, so working with this team, this is a checkpoint of where we are in design. Um it's a culmination of about probably six months of work from four months of design to two and a half months of collaboration on costing models uh scheduling and then also really looking at design with focus groups um cabinet committee and even our core team meeting with the construction process. Uh, I've been

014in school construction for about 20 years, and this is one of my favorite teams just because of the collaboration, the professionalism, and how they listen to your district, your staff, your students, and your community. So, without further ado, we're going to take a look at some of the schedule impacts over these five um larger projects that you're doing overall. Um we're going to look at budget and then we're going to look at some of the design um aspects that have come from these different meetings that we've had with all these different inputs from your operations committee um some of the focus groups with the community as well and um take a look at all this items. So, it's about 33% complete on design in most aspects overall. And um with that, I'm going to turn

015it over to Scansa so they can go through some of the schedule and budget items. I'm a gym height. Good evening. Uh my name is Pete Becker with Scansa USA Building. I'm your construction manager. And you know, real what I'm going to talk about real quick is where we are in the timeline and where we are in the budget. We have the schematic design uh resolution for later in the evening. So, back in our last board meeting and even prior to that with the working with MSA and Holly and her team and the districts, we've always kept this kind of simple bar chart schedule where we add graphics. You know, bottom lines, the the red month of October is where we are on the on the on the months. So, we're tracking right along on

016design. Um, obviously, we've started in July of this summer. I'll get into a little more detail for that, but at the end of the day, all the buildings are proceeding per the plan, and that's important. Um, tough market, tough reconciliation, but we're working together and moving forward. So bottom lines, uh, at the end of the day, the middle school, uh, early sight stuff will be back here in December for some approvals. Uh, structure approvals will come in February of 22. And really going into the first quarter of 22, towards the end of the first quarter of 22, we'll be bidding and GMP and the remaining uh, building packages for the renovations and the and all the renovations and additions in the middle school. Um, you can move Let's see here. Should be another one. That's

017all right. There you go. Real quick highlights on the project schedule without the bar chart. You know, middle school project. We did the make ready work this summer. We said we'd get it done in August. We got it done in August before school started. The bait demolition, we say we would start this summer in August. You know, we had our party out front. Start a demolition. That's going to go into November. Uh we're sort of, you know, proceeding cautiously. Uh early site work is going to start sometime in December, you know, in mid mid towards the end of December and go into the spring. That's just the major site work to get ready for the building. And then construction on the building will start with foundations and stuff in March. Um over at the high

018school, primary work is uh basically going to start in the summer of 22 um and continue through the summer of 23. We're still working through this phasing and how the logistics works with moving kids around, doing athletics, doing arts, doing that the the auditorium. there is a potential we'll do some work over there like we did last summer and the summer 22 elementary school and the primary school ultimately all the uh the the high school the elementary school and the primary school our goal is to bid those together you know start them all plan work to start in the summer of uh 22 take advantage when the kids are out get all the enabling work done and then um the elementary school will start coming out of the ground uh we work up through the

019end of the school year of 23, May of 23. So then we can rip the sawtooth down, finish all the parking lots and and pull that project off. Primary school pretty much is really we're looking at as like a two summer job. The auditorium, the front entrance, the core area out front, new admin, all the improvements in the lobby summer of 2022 and then the uh summer 23 just because the amount amount of work we got to get done in two summers would be the kitchen dining area kind of complex. And then we'll fit all the other stuff in. Little pieces like fall breaks. You take care of a couple classrooms here and there. Onto the next one. It's just some quick uh photographs. Um we have aerials done every month. So we're just now

020starting those, so you'll be able to get updates with those. Uh the red dash shows where the new middle school and the connector coming in front of the auditorium is as it relates to the demo site. So, um, we picked this picture, um, really just to show the progress that we've made since we started. Uh, the other the bottom picture on the right is looking down along the kitchen that we're going to keep and we're going to gut it, keep the structure. It's in pretty good shape. And then you can sort of see how that's going to be attached when we get done. And then the top right picture is just uh, I put that one in there because it had a pretty rainbow in it. But for what it's worth, you know, project budget

021is, you know, we know there's only so much money, 77 million, not a dime more. Um, so our initial estimates, we've probably gone through two or three exercises. We we vet out a bunch of assumptions. Um, we sit down with the team, we talk with the district, we go through, we we have a lot of meetings, we say, "Okay, maybe we made a wrong assumption." So, we trim that number down and then we start plucking away where we need to be. We came in at 79 million. In that 79 million, there's 6.4 million of contingency that's built within that number. Now, that 79 million includes our hard cost, all the soft cost, furnitureures, uh owner's construction contingency, soft cost contingency for dealing like permits, fees, testing, uh miscellaneous things. So, at the end of the

022day, historically in in the history of projects I've done in the K12, you know, 40% of that money in that 64 million can go back into the project. So, we created a plan with deferred scope enhancements and uh value engineering to come up with the savings of 2.5 million. Now, does that mean what does that mean? That means at the end of the day things like if we want to put enhanced graphics, let's take that 40% capture contingency, let's not deal with cut and scope to give the program we want and let's as we go through and take the risk out of the job, we put it back into the job. And we've had great success with that. Um, in that 79 million in this crazy world we're in with roofing, steel, a lot of

023there's 3.2 2 million in there worth of we call it market conditions. You know, roofing insulation. If I got a price on a job a year ago back in January, it's 30% higher now. Um we're just trying to like be cautious, but we want to be upfront and transparent with that number because at the end of the day, if we package it right, the commodities come down, things get better, that 3.2 can go right back into the scope of the job. Um, our next check-in is going to be at design phase um, and at design development and those are that's probably going to be towards the end of December, middle end of December. So really, we're touching all the buildings. Um, I feel like I'm going to let u Amy and her team go through

024the scope because that's the exciting part, but the bottom line's I feel like we're hitting everything was promised to the community. Um, we just wanted to show this breakdown so we could keep that going and not think 77 million is all in the middle school. But that's it. I'm going to turn it over to the fun stuff. >> Hi, I'm Amy Benetti with MSA Design, an associate principal. And Sarah, >> I'm Sarah Engel with MSA. >> So, we have met. We just want to spend just a little bit of time. We're going to go over the concept developments where we are today with all of the buildings. Um, but wanted to highlight all the amazing engagement. Um, as second Dr. Stewart's presentation, we have just had so much fun engaging with students. Uh, I think

025if we go up to the next slide, we've had over 250 stakeholders, over 30 discussions, and that's been students, faculty, community members, leadership, um, and repetitive conversations. We started with just kind of um what do you want to see and then we've had some developments throughout. So we've had some interactive exercises and it's been great for us to just sit back and listen um and then be a sounding board as we've developed some ideas. So moving forward here, these are just some snapshots of some of the these are actually the more recent sessions over the last few weeks. Um but there's plenty that date further back. And so we're just going to highlight here on each campus and we'll go through briefly. Um we're going to hit middle school, high school, elementary, primary, and then

026the transportation building. So there's key terms that we have kept in mind as we've developed concepts on each campus. Um welcome and inviting have been across the board and curiosity um and engaging the community, natural light are all just a a few of those key focus areas. Uh so I'll walk you through the middle school plan as it sits today. We've had a lot of engagement with um faculty and different focus groups to kind of arrive at this. Um, in the last few weeks, we've actually really dove into the interior design of some of the key spaces, walk through them with each different faculty member to make sure that we're now not just accounting for the adjacencies we need of spaces, but all the little things that go within the spaces. So, diving into some

027casework, some interior finishes, and the look and the feel of the school. Um, so you'll still notice the main middle school entry is on the south end of the plan in purple. Um, we've got the district office and community center entry that's um, kind of next to the auditorium. And then we've got the main um, performance entry into the connector that's right south of the existing auditorium. Um, you can see the the first floor plan. Um, we're keeping the existing gym and kitchen that's in blue and gray on the left hand side. And then everything from the the gym and the servery all the way up to the auditorium that you're seeing on the first floor plan is the new middle school. So, we've got one neighborhood of classrooms, core classrooms on the first floor,

028and then we've got two neighborhoods of core classrooms on the second floor that you see. That's the plan to the right. So, um, if you go to the next slide, we started to dive into what is the look and the feel of some of these community spaces. So, we reviewed these with a lot of different focus groups. This is looking at that main community common space. So this is the stair that leads from the ground floor up to the middle of the second floor. And it's kind of a seated stair. So you'll see there's an axon on the left. And so that's just basically if you cut the floors away and looked at that twostory volume of space and then some interior perspectives showing just the general like inviting characteristics of the wood tones of

029the space, nice durable flooring um and some of the nice bright natural light in there. So if you go to the next one, this is looking at those neighborhood common spaces. So I mentioned there was one neighborhood on the first floor and then two neighborhoods on the second floor. So this is a snapshot of just one neighborhood. So for instance, maybe sixth grade core classes. So you'll see on the axon on the left that the core classes kind of ring around this common space in the center. So that's common space for all of the different classrooms to come out and collaborate and use. And then you can see on the kind of upper left hand side that's um a project porch. So that's exterior patio space um that's showing with like three tables on it.

030Um and then that connects a lot of natural light then to the internal space and Amy are you running through? So looking at again this is a concept as Holly mentioned you know we're 33 or so percent into the project. Um these are preliminary exterior views where we stand today and we spent some time studying existing buildings on across the district's campuses. Um and so here at the middle school um the plan on the the right just kind of shows the arrows shows some of the views that you're looking at um from Drake Road. So the top view there is that's the new um main entrance to the middle school. And so here having this um celebratory glass monument for the main entry point, having a little bit of a what you see kind of

031a an inset to the right of those doors, an opportunity potentially for some signage or maybe each class or senior class has some branding opportunity. Um but that creates some really nice spaces on the interior. Um, and as Sarah mentioned, you know, this is a two-story building here at the middle school. Now, um, we've used the analogy of kind of thinking of your front, the front of your house versus the back of your house. The front's a little bit more formal, and then the back of the house is, you know, kind of your backyard where it's a little more playful. And so, here you've got some amazing views on the back side of the building with the nature and the connections. So those project porches that um were highlighted in the last slide, that's what

032you're seeing on that bottom view there. So that's at the back kind of in your backyard of this building. Um and that's where there can be some of those outdoor learning opportunities and collaboration zones to really connect the indoors and the outdoors. So moving ahead here and then this is um what we're deeming the connector. So what you're seeing here in the center that is out in front of the um open air connector right now into the auditorium. So this is a new addition and that's where the board office kind of um entrance would be um over kind of in the middle of that space to the left of the IH there. So on this is the um the high school plan and so this in this building as Peta mentioned you know a lot

033of renovations going on completely redone athletic spaces within music spaces within um the auditorium that connector is going to be enhanced and made larger. So there's some features there that are going to be going on throughout and that's just these two plans are highlighting some of those projects on campus. hitting into the elementary school. So, this project is the um the new addition, the unified arts edition, and really creating, you know, the focus here was creating this gym, this really nice feature to highlight all the amazing work that's going on at the elementary school that will take the place of the sawtooth and then also to um provide some security enhancements at the main entrance. So, if we hit on this next plan here, so a little bit of um orientation for you. the top

034of this screen here is Drake Road and then um you see that kind of gray box there, that's the existing multi-purpose room. So, if that helps you kind of orient yourself. So, the new additions going to be further to the back of the site and the parking will be up front. Um so, this unified arts edition is where that kind of yellow color is and the new performance space um with the new enhanced stage gymnasium is in that blue box there. So, you've got art studios, you've got a large eyab space. You've got Spanish classrooms, and you've got music and choir and band spaces within the new addition. So, here you're seeing um just kind of a view of what the uh where we are with the interior concept development of this area of the

035addition. Um you're seeing, as you can see, the the basketball court, the performance space there, if that just kind of helps you orient yourself. To the right of that is the what we're calling kind of the secondary entrance. So this will be a new entrance into this addition. And then the the images on the right are showing what this addition is really creating these zones for some larger collaboration, larger corridor spaces. So there's a little bit more to encourage activity in those in between spaces outside the eyab to have a space to spill out to be able to um kind of when you're doing the big activities to have that area. So the view at the bottom shows this natural light and how how might that look out in front of the eyab and then

036the the view on the top is looking down a corridor there. So you're seeing a common thread between all the campuses from the material usage, a lot of natural warm tones and at the primary school you're kind of going to see a little more literal interpretation and we get a little more refined as the campuses as you get up to the middle and high school campus. So, moving ahead here again, this is the exterior views at the elementary school. Um, these are larger, taller volumes naturally. So, you're seeing a gymnasium space here. And I will say these are, you know, concept developments. They're being refined. We've received feedback. So, what we've we're really focusing on natural light here and getting a lot of glass in so that it'll enhance the interior spaces of an eyab

037or an art studio. and then connecting to some outdoor learning areas. So in the center of on the top view off to the left you're kind of looking at the parking lot coming in off of Drake Road. And to the left is the existing elementary school that the classroom wing between that and this new addition is this outdoor learning courtyard that will have some direct connections from the ILAB and the arts studios. Um at the end of it at the kind of on the right side of that view is that secondary entrance. So that's kind of a glass tower. So it's looking at trying to unify all these campuses with kind of an entry element at the middle school and elementary and primary. So then within the primary school, you know, something that stuck with

038us from very early on in the discussions with focus groups is that this is the front door to the district. And so really making this an impactful addition because this is the part of the project is really kind of revamping that front door image. So really creating a welcoming and inviting environment and connection to nature and the outdoors. So you'll see that throughout. So what you're seeing in this kind of concept development here is that the creation of and it's kind of in the bottom um corner of it, but that's kind of that purple area there is what is now kind of expanding out. The existing open air canopy that's there now will be removed and have this nice glass open entrance that will have um a new addition. So the receptionist so you can

039have this security connection from where people working the reception can see who's coming into the building. Um and then to also get all the administration consolidated in one general zone and then be able to have student service areas consolidated but then to create what we're showing in this kind of green color here much like what's shown at the middle school. creating these areas that um you can have kind of these pause points or a teacher can take a student out or they're just kind of collaboration zones or maybe it's a legacy wall. Um but it's something that kind of invigorates these corridor spaces. So you'll see a reimagination of that. Um and then here in these next slides with the views. So what you're seeing again kind of going back to that um comment earlier

040about how we're trying to we're taking a little bit more literal approach here at the primary school. So you see some trees in that bottom image there. That's as you walk into the as you make it past security and you make it past the receptionist. Now you're in this space that's kind of outside of where we are right now outside the auditorium. and to have some like some playful steps and ramps and just areas for the students to interact and some sensory walls and then you know maybe have some tree canopy elements in there but then also have areas and opportunities to celebrate the um the legacy of Indian Hill and some of the culture here. So that's and then the top image is just showing what the um the entrance may look like where

041how it's much more open and glass and lit from the outside. and here. So, this exterior view, again, going back to how we looked at and studied the campuses, this existing building here, the primary school building, is a little bit different than the high school and the elementary school. It's um the materials are a little more simplistic. The uh the structure is a little more an it's, you know, very descriptive. You see um columns and you see beams and you see some concrete here. So this the approach to this exterior is taking a little bit of what's here existing and then also finding some common threads amongst the other campuses. So again creating this glass entry element creating a lot of windows but then having some playful elements because it is the primary school. So

042surrounding the corner of this building to have some nice landscaping where maybe it's something that's kind of fun for the students to walk along a path out and around. So, and creating a little bit of a canopy element out inside. So, we heard some people say it kind of feels like a cabin or something a little more smaller scale, a little more warm and inviting to the more primary school students. So, then the transportation building, we have had several great conversations with Diane and her team about some of the needs they have over at their support building and some opportunities. So within this, we're highlighting things like really enhancing and renovating their existing support spaces, the restrooms, the kitchen space, the open commons area that they need for training and just some of their collaboration

043sessions. So some of that's what you're seeing over there on the right to just really open that up and then also to create a a more defined visitor entrance versus staff entry. So, there's some things just with how the doors work and then some of the behind the scenes things that we can help provide. Um, some HVAC, some generators, some backup things, some elements that, um, will all be part of this project here. And something I forgot to mention across all these campuses that's ongoing, um, is just the continuation of some of the furniture replacements. you're not seeing any of that on the plans, but that is just something that's just an ongoing task that will be, you know, this summer moving forward. So, that's going across the board. Um so when we look ahead

044our next steps for the design team specifically and construction team um additional focus group meetings and we're getting into a little more specifics the safety and the security the technology the sustainability initiatives um having some outdoor learning and play because across the board both the primary and elementary schools specifically are having reimagined playgrounds and outdoor learning opportunities on those campuses. So, uh, we've talked about potentially engaging with students and having some interactive fun with them to see what they would like. Um, and then continue the developing design. So, that's kind of that check-in that's going to happen in December. Um, and then as Pete had mentioned, the middle school early site work is ongoing. So, with that, uh, we are going to turn it over to the Moes team to talk about the energy initiative.

045Thanks very much uh Amy and Sarah. Appreciate it. Uh Kirk, if you want to go to the second slide. I'm just going to give a brief recap about the energy project as a refresher probably more for the folks in the audience. This was a project that you all approved uh last October and it began in earnest in November. The first uh objective was to install the bipolar needle point ionization equipment um at the high school, the elementary school and at the primary school in the air handling units. And uh as a reminder that helps to fight airborne bacteria and viruses including CO 19, SARS, EC coli, volatile organic compounds, etc. And so that was completed over the Christmas break. And so you've benefited from having those systems in operation at those schools uh since that

046time. Uh LED lighting has been about a third of the contract and that is uh probably 99% complete now throughout the district. Uh lowflow plumbing fixtures uh have either been installed or retrofitted. Enhancements to kitchen equipment and vending uh machines have been done and the high school auditorium. uh some temporary equipment was put in so that it was air conditioned at the beginning of the school year and the permanent equipment which we just received within the last couple of weeks is being installed right now hoping to be operational by the end of the month. Um, new equipment that we have gotten besides the three air handling units for the commons include a new hot water boiler to serve the high school middle school campus as well as a high efficiency uh aircooled chiller replacement at

047the elementary school. Um, little financial recap there off to the right side. About $3.5 million has been allocated to this project of which about two a little over 2.4 million has been spent. A lot remaining to be spent has to do with that work at the commons uh that's underway and and some controls work. Uh the estimated savings annually is about $152,000 and and another benefit of this project was that a fair amount of kind of out of life equipment was replaced. And I just want to congratulate the board on making that decision with what Pete shared with you about some of the supply chain issues and cost issues. The fact that you got out ahead of some of this work is is phenomenal. So these air handling units and the chiller for the elementary

048school um it's it's truly a big advantage. Um in terms of next steps, we are going to be working on monitoring uh for the first year these savings. So, uh, given that last year was a strange year from an energy usage standpoint, um, uh, we're going to go back a year before that, we've already been gotten with energy optimizers in terms of what we want to see in terms of of of cataloging what the energy savings is both on gas, electric, and water because the plumbing fixtures uh, should be saving a a fair amount of water as well uh, which also translates to your sewer bill. So the next steps will be um finalizing uh the commissioning of these various systems and and we're expecting that work to be done by December the 1st. The

049only piece that will not be done by that is related to the DDC controls. And we're really working with Pete and his team in terms of how to best uh integrate the controls that we're doing to the controls that are going to be done as a part of the bond levy project. And I I think that uh Pete's group has been very helpful in terms of identifying ways that we can can maximize those dollars. And so rather than doing some patchwork, frankly, that was part of the initial thought with the energy project, we're hoping to dovetail that in with some replacements that will will help the bond levy project. So, and then um that's kind of where we are. So, thank you everybody. That was a thorough uh presentation and a lot of information to

050share. I appreciate all the project team members that helped prepare that for this evening. Elizabeth, did you have a question? >> I did. I had a question. >> Sorry, Brad, I had a question for you because over the last few years, for good many years, we've enjoyed very low uh natural gas prices and they've kind of spiked over the last little while. So, I'm wondering if you're revisiting some of this energy savings and looking at perhaps solar or something else that I mean, I don't know where it's heading and I'm sure you don't, but it's just a surprise because a number of years ago, we looked at geothermal. We investigated that and then the gas prices dropped to a point where the return on investment didn't make sense. But now we're kind of looking at

051a different phenomenon and I'm wondering are you looking at um Yes. Uh so first of all you're exactly right. Um when we looked at the central plant for the high school middle school campus years ago, in fact we even took a bid on a geothermal system um and you know laid out the wells and so forth and and as we have done the work there we have have set that up where that could be ge geothermal. There's still a parking spot for one additional chiller there in that plant. And the the thought is that when that happens, it may very well be what's called a you know a geothermal heat pump chiller. So it would generate chill water and hot water and use the wells as the condensing medium. So um we certainly are doing

052that. uh um Kirk and and Mick and and I believe Jim was at we did a with respect to solar we went to um look at um a presentation at Malink which is just down in Milford um in the end of July and so we are looking at solar opportunities on on all the campuses we're investigating with the village the idea of of having some canopies and parking lots and maybe behind the trans over by the where the buses park at the transportation area. Um the thought being um twofold. One, it would be great if if we you know and with to dubtail off of Kirk's first announcement. I mean, we've got the number one school district in the state of Ohio. Wouldn't it be neat if uh the new middle school was effectively net

053zero as a result of of of the solar and geothermal? and then to have components of that on every campus so that it it also serves as an education means for the the children in the district. So we're in the process of doing that looking at that. we've talked about is that a power purchase agreement. The the benefit to the school district for that is that a third party can take advantage of the tax structure to maximize things for them, but frankly to reduce your investment to the point where, you know, five or six down the years down the road when you purchase it, it's it's at a significant discount because they've had the tax benefits. uh Steve Malink who lives in the district has has been very uh interested in in such an arrangement

054but we're not far enough along and and I think the thought would be that it would be whatever's decided is structured so that um there's a a competitive nature of the photovoltaic array and uh who whoever has the best arrangement for the school district rather than particularly maybe sole sourcing but we we're just uh We're in the infancy of of looking at your utility bills and trying to figure out how best to uh integrate that into the project and with uh a construction manager that's trying to keep our hands on the out of the piggy bank too much. So, >> thank you. >> Anyway, thank you very much for that. Um yeah, that's what the zoo did and they now own those uh solars. So, um I just want to emphasize to those that are

055here, uh this the copy of what was presented is will be in the minutes and nothing is locked in stone. I can't overemphasize that. Our speakers mention that many times, but I think people start seeing a picture and they're like, "What do you mean? Why are you even asking us because everything's locked?" Nothing's locked. Okay? So, if you have something you see that's a real problem there, we need to hear about it. If you have something that you've seen at other schools that my gosh, why aren't you thinking about that? We need to hear about it. So, please encourage, please feel free yourself, those that are here, and th please encourage your friends to contact us, get involved. It ain't over even close. Okay, so thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you again to the

056project team. Uh if we can move on to the superintendent report. Uh board members, uh first up this evening, item 7A is the first reading of the 22 23 school calendar. I'm just going to uh provide a highle summary of what's in this calendar. Again, this is just the first reading tonight. We're not approving it. Uh it starts our school year uh on 8:18. Uh it allows us to complete school before Memorial Day and preserves a longer summer for 2023 final construction. uh finishes semester 1 prior to winter break. Uh having winter break start 12:23 makes this possible. Uh maintains a traditional breaks in October for college visits, uh things like that and and in February. Uh semesters are closely balanced and maintains professional learning time but maximizes student learning days and provides for a

057strong cushion of hours for possible calamity days. Uh very similar to a traditional counter that you've seen in the past. Um, and again, if we have any questions between now and next month, we can continue to review that. >> I just have one question. Because of the trying to lengthen the summer for the construction, um, what is the start date for the 23 24 school year in August of 23? >> We haven't determined it yet. Um, our goal is to maximize as much time as we can between Memorial Day and August so that hopefully we can stay on track for that that start of that school year. Um, we had a discussion with the project team about whether we would need to make an adjustment for this calendar and they felt that they could work

058with us so that we would not have to interrupt a traditional start and the hope is that we'll be able to stay on that timeline for the following year. Um, but it's still up in the air at this point. >> Kirk, I have a question um regarding the November break. I've had a few parents ask me why we don't uh h have the whole week of Thanksgiving off since many of them um like to get away and we've discussed that before having the Monday and Tuesday as professional development days so the students can take the whole week off. Um I think the if the question is have we reviewed that? Um what we did this year is we put together a calendar committee that included um some teachers and administrators that really kind of studied

059a bunch of those scenarios and ultimately this was the recommendation that they came up with at the time. Um and I think trying to look at how we fit in all of our hours and all of our days with the professional learning time we try to maximize with our professional staff uh makes this calendar very full. Um, and also trying to keep within those those kind of traditional guard rails of starting in August and finishing before Memorial Day. And so this this was the best option that we came up with. >> I guess I'm looking at October 6th and 7 where you have professional development days. Although I think it's good to have those earlier in the year than later. Um, is that something that you've considered and replacing those with 21st and 22nd of

060November? uh I think we went through several iterations of how professional learning time could look and this is this is what the group landed on is what they felt was the best model and it is similar to what they they've had consistently and I think feel the most comfortable with and and to your point we do want to maximize the impact of that professional learning and when it happens sooner in the year rather than later we get more value out of that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, the teachers that also when we met with them before really requested it earlier versus later. I see exactly what you're coming from though. >> We'll we'll share that feedback. >> If it were moved into um the Thanksgiving week, it would be in a different quarter. >> Can

061you say that again? >> Yeah. If we moved if we moved those professional development days to Thanksgiving, it would be in a different quarter than where it is now. And I think that could have an impact and especially when you um then have it another week out at the end of December. >> Yeah. Okay. So, we'll note that and we'll share some of this feedback with the committee as well. And I want to thank uh Jim and and Amy Campa and everyone who spent time on the committee. Moving on, um letter B, we have approval of overnight field trip for our Latin students uh for the future. Uh item C, uh personnel actions, tuition reimbursements, and professional meetings. Uh items one, item one is an approval of non-certified staff contracts and salaries. Uh item two

062is change of contract for several employees. Item three is a list of supplementals and personal service contracts A through KK. Uh item four, approval of classified subs for the 2122 school year. Uh item five, we have uh several retirement resation announcements. Item six, tuition reimbursements. Letter D. Uh we also have a resolution for impracticality of transportation and offering payment uh to parents in lie of transportation. Another one of those um situations to deal with for approval and also a resolution under letter E to approve the schematic design phase submission for the district's construction projects. Dr. Hooker. Uh, if there are no major questions, I would ask that you entertain a motion to approve uh, number seven, items B through E at this time. >> Someone like to make that motion. >> I have a second.

063>> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Johnston, >> I. >> Mrs. Iicults, >> I. >> Mrs. Singh, >> I. >> Dr. Hooker. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Davis, would you like to do the treasur's report? >> Certainly. Under my report for this evening, I have to approve the minutes of the September 14th, 2021 regular meeting. I have the approval of the financial reports for the month ending September 30th, 2021. Items C through E are some housekeeping items. Um any any um investment account or bank account that's open through the district uh has to be board approved. Um I opened two accounts to collect uh both the uh when the ban the the bond anticipation notes were sold they went into an account and then when the bonds were sold those went into

064a separate account. Um at the end of the bond sale we had to pay for the the bond anticipation notes. that account is now empty except for the remaining um um interest that is in that account. So I propose that we close that account, move the interest uh less the management fees over to the construction fund fund 004. Item F is the approval of contracts for the 2021 2022 school year. Uh these are education uh first one is for stepping stones uh step-up program for two of our students 14,800 a month uh MEO business group for an interpreter 48,000 per year. And then the third one is the Hamilton County ESC on behalf of Saint Vincent Fair. They're for their student services and intervention solutions $220,32210. Uh those funds do come out of uh the

065fund that is uh sent to by the state that we manage on behalf of St. Vincent Fair. Item G is to approve the following construction contracts. These are all change orders to GMP1 on behalf of Scansa. Uh the first one's 44,17596. The second is to an evaded additional fittings. Uh that's an increase of 169140. Item three is a deduct electrical duck bank enc casement $10,29547. Item four is the Duke cable pit enc casement. That is an increase of 10,49625. Item five is the central plant data back feed an increase of 10,95593. Item six is make ready building permit. That's a deduct of $9,86510. And the final change order on that is to add LED fixture in the MDF. Uh that was an increase of 60905. Item H is to approve the establishment of a student

066activity account for Society of Women in Engineering. Uh they plan to do some fundraising to uh get some funds for that new club. Item I is to approve the pay the now and then invoices for Power School. Uh this is for the Naviance essential solution 3,990. Um I did uh forward some educational material on our district's policy for um obtaining requisitions and purchase orders prior to um ordering any items. Um this is an item that's ordered every year and as part of the summer turnover, we just simply didn't get the requisition in on time. Item J is the acceptance of donations. Uh the first one is the IH Foundation on behalf of the Dorothy Cook family. Uh to the elementary school ELAB for fixtures and consumables, $4,512.50. Um we always appro appreciate the Dorothy Cook

067family foundation for that annual donation. Uh the second item is the IH Foundation on behalf of 10 wrestling um IH wrestling alumnist to the IH athletic department. This is graphics and fittings finishings for the new wrestling room. uh $12,635. This contains a fantastic story behind it. Uh Denny Dups, who has been a teacher here in the district for many, many years, was a wrestling coach back in the early 70s. He reached out to um some alumni and within a few hours, we had the donations to be able to finish our new wrestling room. Uh the new wrestling room is actually where the um the old high school football locker room and the old uh middle school football locker room. Uh we took down some walls. We made it one area. Um it's enlarged. We've taken

068out some uh some of the area the area up above so the the the flow of air is better through there now. And it's a wonderful beautiful area that's going to be there for a long time. I think great area for the rustlers. Uh, it was part of the middle school, so we we needed a new wrestling room. >> It be gone. >> Um, just to remind you, I wasn't here for the September 14 meeting, so I can't vote on that. >> I already have that split out. I was going to ask for the first item to vote on would be item A. That would be the minutes of the last meeting. I move >> we vote to approve item A of the treasures report. Second >> Mrs. Iicults >> I >> Mrs. Singh >>

069I >> Mrs. Johnston abstain >> thank you Dr. Hooker >> I. >> Then if I could, I would like to get a motion to approve items B through J of my report. >> So moved. >> Mrs. Iicults. >> I. >> Mrs. Johnston. >> I. >> Mrs. Singh. >> Hi. >> Dr. Hooker. >> I. >> Thank you very much. That concludes my report for this evening. >> Uh, Mr. notice my laptop battery died and I need it for the resolution that I need to read. Can I either borrow someone else's or >> Okay. Uh Mr. Kcki, uh under other business, I believe you have an item to add. Is that correct? >> Yes, Dr. Hooker. I'd like to ask the board at this time to uh entertain a resolution to accept the retirement of Mr. John

070Sloan for IHS. >> I would entertain that motion. Somebody like to >> so moved second. >> Mrs. Johnston >> I >> Mrs. Sing >> I >> Mrs. Iicults >> I >> Dr. Hooker >> I next up Dr. Dr. Hooker, we have operations committee report or anything from our operations committee members. Uh just the minutes. We had we held a meeting on October 13th. >> Uh operations committee, did you want to speak to anything or just as your minutes uh as written? >> Uh no, our operations meeting was very much what you just heard. >> Yeah, >> I I thought so. >> So, we got a nice preview. >> You got to watch it twice. >> We did. >> Even better the second time. >> It is. Z, do you want to have to do the

071CO 19 report? Are you ready? What do you think? >> Just give me a second. >> If we can just hang on one second. She's got a superintendent contract that we want to a motion on that. All the Um, >> and Mr. Davis, this can be given to you in a written form. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, uh, Indian I'm going to take this off for a minute. Indian Hill Exempted Village School District Board of Education amendment to the superintendent's contract of employment. And I will read this since the board members do not have this in front of them. So pardon the length. This amendment to the superintendent's contract of employment is made by the and between the Indian Hill Exempted Village School District Board of Education here and after called board and Kirk Kcki

072here and called here and after called superintendent pursuant pursuant to a resolution duly adopted by the board on this day. What is today? The 19th of October uh 2021. It was not written in here. Whereas the board has employed the superintendent under a superintendent's contract of employment which will expire on July 31st, 2022. And whereas both the board and superintendent desire to extend the current contract of employment for a full four years until July 31st, 2026. Now therefore, it is mutually agreed by and between the board and the superintendent that the superintendent's contract of employment attached here 2 shall be amended as follows. The superintendent's contract of employment shall be amended in item one and shall now expire on July 31st, 2026. In addition, the following shall be added to item three. The board and

073the superintendent hereby agree and acknowledge that the elective deferrals will be treated as wage compensation for the purposes of the calculations and contributions to STRS in determining total compensation. All remaining provisions of the attached superintendent's contract of employment shall remain in full force and effect unless otherwise modified in writing by the parties. The amendment shall constitute the full and complete understanding of the parties concerning this matter and any amendments or modifications shall be in writing and signed by the parties. The amendment shall be incorporated by reference herein to the superintendent's contract of employment and shall be made a part thereof. Um, and then there's the signing part. >> Um, so can we uh have a motion to accept what the the >> Resolution. Thank you, Nancy. A resolution as was just read. >> Still moved.

074>> So moved. >> We got a so move for >> second. >> Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Sing, >> hi. >> Mrs. Johnston, >> hi. >> Mrs. Eicultz, >> I. >> Dr. Hooker, >> I. >> Uh, Kirk, glad to have you and glad to have you for four more years beyond this contract. Okay. >> Thank you very much, members of the board. I am honored and humbled and grateful to serve this district. >> Thank you. >> Uh, can you give us a nice presentation on where we are with CO? Not that anybody is not done with COVID. Unfortunately, it's not done with us. >> Yes. If we could go back through our presentation. We've kind of gotten used to doing this. I think it's good to go through the overview again. Uh

075members again want to share with everyone. We are reviewing that our priority is in school learning for all students. Uh in-person learning has been very successful as we all know and we've had a successful start to the school year overall and want to maintain that as our priority in decision-m. We're going to continue to mitigate the likelihood of spread with cleaning and safety protocols. Uh we're going to continue to monitor, receive local, regional, state, and national data and input from area health partners and government officials to make informed decisions. We'll only offer inperson learning at this time. That's how we've been operating this year and all of our typical annual school calendaries calendar activities have been planned and implemented and going really smoothly so far this year. Uh the board face covering policy was last

076amended uh uh August 16th to run through uh October 19th and um currently as you know we require masks inside all school buildings uh K through 12 for all students, staff and visitors. We also have a federal transportation order we're still following that requires masks for all passengers through January of 22 um until that gets extended or amended. We've been doing uh some review periods that we share in reports to the board and of course during board meetings uh with our rationale for uh mask requirements uh as a part of not only our return to school but our continuing operations. Um obviously wanting to make sure that uh we're paying attention. Uh we still do not have a vaccine for children under 12. However, that is pending. We're expecting some news on that next Monday,

077October 26th. Hopefully we'll be able to share a timeline after that for children 5 to 11. Uh we're continuing to monitor the delta v case load trends which have now plateaued and in some cases are trending downwards. Um we're continuing to take input from pediatric stakeholders and of course everybody knows that with our facilities and operations we do not have six feet of social distancing across all of our campus facilities. Um however we we try to continue to practice safe physical distancing where necessary where feasible. Uh we have the proven ability to adapt our plans and change if necessary. And um you can now check out our daily co reporting. Uh we've had an enhanced data dashboard created by Mark Richardson, our technology staff. If you go to the link on our website under the

078students and parents page of our our main district website navigation, parents who are interested in seeing a by building by day breakdown can do so. So some data just to go through here. We again have asked our staff to share with us some information um so that we would have an idea uh those who are willing to share of their vaccine status. Uh specific to faculty uh this is where we are. Um some of our respondents uh who uh have now become vaccinated added to the list here. Um we've increased our percentage just a little bit but not not a significant change from last time we talked. Uh we do have a high rate of those who responded vaccinated. Student vaccine data. What we've done now is we've broken this up into into um grades

079K through uh seven. And as you can see here in the first uh four grade levels, we have no data whatsoever right now. Um and then grades five and six, very little data. That will change over time. So we'll continue to monitor this as we move forward. We'll add kindergarten in uh as well if necessary. And then we'll we'll show a look of um grades one through seven cumulative and then also 8 through 12 as we move forward. Grades 8 through 12. Again, this is updated based on the most recent uh data poll as of yesterday afternoon. And you can see the percent of respondents uh responders vaccinated. Um again, little change from last time. Uh we do appreciate everybody who takes the time to share updated information with us as we ask our parents.

080Um and we we've given them several surveys over the last couple months and they've been very flexible to give us this data. Here's our case load data in terms of cases overall. you can see um how it kind of changes week to week and what our totals look like not only across buildings uh to date but also the total for the entire district. Um again I would say based on a population of almost two you know two 2200 um we're looking pretty good overall and everybody knows we had some grade level issues there which are reflected in the numbers for IHES and and and the middle school quarantine data. This is a little bit of a different look. The top two uh rows show you grade 8 at Indian Hill Middle School and then grades

0819 through 12 at the high school. kind of separated those out again as we're having a discussion about what's going on at the secondary level. And um just want to point out that of the the quarantines we're dealing with and the case load data, really most of the data from the middle school is coming from the sixth grade and very little from seventh grade and very little from eighth grade. And then high school overall, you can see um some really positive numbers. The bottom three rows are students and staff overall and then uh uh the percentage impact overall for for campus to date. Uh again, that's the same same look there. We're going to continue looking of course at uh federal COVID vaccination rates and this data as reported by CDC. Um th this continues

082to trend upward. uh 68% of all adults 18 and over. Now, uh 78.5% of adults 18 and over across the country have had at least one dose um of vaccine. 66.2% of children 12 and over are fully vaccinated now, and 77% of children 12 and over have had at least one dose. Um again, that federal benchmark for all age groups is 70%. Ohio's vaccination rate is 60% fully vaccinated, 12 and over at this point. And in Hamilton County, we're looking at 55% fully vaccinated for all ages. And the positivity rate, which again a few weeks ago was around 13 and a half, has gone down to around 9%. You might remember from about a year or so ago, if it's under 5%, that's really in a safe kind of a much safer range. Right now,

083we're kind of trending downwards uh that way. And that our number we talk about has kind of gotten a little bit better. But positivity still indicates community spread. some of the decision factors we've looked at and talked about over time. What we did here with these slides this time, and we can duplicate these, is we just really changed some language here to focus on grades 8 through 12, knowing that we're really not having a discussion about K through 7 at this time. U based on some of the feedback we've heard from board members. Um, and so again, just talking about some of these data factors that we may look at in the future, knowing where we are in terms of overall uh percentage rates and what's going on with our quarantine and case load numbers,

084uh, we feel again like at least two of these three areas we're doing pretty well in. Um, something to consider for those grade levels only. And we did the same thing on the the succeeding slides is um looking at 8 through 12 only really um and thinking about these data points in the language we've heard from the CDC uh from Tri Health from Cincinnati's health collaborative and really none of the language has changed with regards to recommendations uh for universal masking indoors from either uh of the partners or the the government entities. Um, but we just kind of are giving you a little bit of a different look here as we're just looking at secondary students. We'll continue to also do this for K7 as we move forward. So again, we've talked a long time

085about different factors we're looking at for review and the campus numbers and percentage that are reported um weekly. uh that quarantine impact. As you all know, since the last time we were together, um we've we've dealt with some issues with grade level. Uh at uh grades three, four, five, and six, we were really trying to target grade level interventions or operation changes if necessary. Um we've been very fortunate that we've only had to go remote for a total of 5 days for those grade levels. Uh we're looking again at at the changes to vaccine uh numbers and percentages. Recently, uh there is a zip code breakout now that's available. We've been asking for um and you can look at that on the Hamilton County website and it will show you weekly by zip code which

086areas in our region have the best vaccination rates and I'm very proud to report that our school community and area has the highest in in the region. Um and that's a good thing. Um again, we're continuing to watch positivity not only in the city but also in the region and um hospitalizations as they're reported over time. Uh hospitalizations for children 18 and under have um uh decreased uh down there's been a downward trend and of course um that's a good thing uh for everybody when we see that across the board but also as we're focusing on children as factors uh for data. Couple of other considerations. Um the approval for Fizer is expected to come emergency authorized use as of next Monday. We're anticipating hearing that. Um we also are anticipating the FDA uh making

087a formal approval of an oral pill similar to a tamlu. Dr. Hooker, you could probably explain that a lot better than I could in the future, but the idea would be to mitigate hospitalization and major symptoms uh in the future. Um and boosters we know have been approved now for Fizer, Merna, J&J. Uh people who are watching the news today probably heard some things about that. Um we're continuing to monitor state legislation debates on mandates um and the ideas around mandates with vaccination in Columbus. Nothing has uh been passed as of today and we're continuing to work with uh Hamilton County health officials and governing bodies about quarantine uh language for the future. Uh but no changes as of today. Um, so that's kind of a quick um move through what we've talked about before.

088Just to reiterate about communication, I think our parents have been really flexible and and as they get questions, we try to answer them case by case, but we're going to continue to ask people who feel uh ill to stay home. Uh, that's a lot different for some people than they're used to, but we really need people who don't feel well to stay home. That helps our operations. Um, we encourage the use of pickup patrol and I want to thank all of our parents who do that faithfully every day for us. It really helps us with contact tracing to be efficient. Um, and again, we're going to continue to share weekly data with the board and weekly reports uh from our health partnerships. And uh we have to report COVID cases that are found in our

089buildings. We've had some questions from parents about why do we do this? It's again a class A reporting order from ODH which has the effect of law. we have to follow it and Hamilton County is also responsible for checking on us if we do not. So that's why we send out a release whenever there is a positive case. Um we'll continue to provide vaccine information for children 5 to 11 as soon as we get it. We're working with Tri Health now to set up a timeline and a schedule so that we can offer opportunities to anybody who's interested uh once we hear about that emergency authorized use approval. Um and we're hoping that in early November we will be able to offer those opportunities to families. So that's all of my uh report for now.

090Uh Dr. Hooker and if there's any questions I could try to answer, I'd be glad to. >> Uh Kirk, can you go back to the slide where you had the percentage of like, you know, the data that we had been trying to figure it out? >> If you go back, >> can you say that closer to the mic? >> Sorry. Can you go back to the slide where you have uh Oh, just one more before. Yeah, this one. So what is the vaccination percentage that you are hearing from other schools that they are considering? Is that something you have >> that they have or that their target is >> that they are considering into >> uh we've heard various we've heard various target percentages from all um I will I'm very happy to report that

091the commissioner of the county uh Mr. Kerman feels like we have one of the highest vaccine rates uh amongst school districts and we've also had the lowest reporting of cases since the opening of school. Um so again that's kudos to students and staff and parents for for keeping people well and safe. Um but that's all I know right now. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Is this chart for Indian Hill or for Hamilton County? What is this for? >> This would be us. This is just one of some of the decision factors we have talked about in the past uh when we have talked with the board about trying to establish future targets for quarantine or vaccination or case loads that would make us feel comfortable to consider some of these other items that are on

092the right hand side. What we tried to do is come up with some different scenarios for you all to be able to talk through in the future. Um and again this is just one of those pieces and then as we've talked about in the past these are the data local data that we can collect. Again, the vaccine percentage is never going to be a a complete data set because it's voluntary information. We do know quarantine and case load numbers because we track those. And then of course, we also have the government pieces, CDC, ODH, HCPH language. And then we have our partnerships on the right there, Tri Health, Cincinnati Health Collaborative, and AAP language looking at those uh those pieces as well. Those are things that all board members kind of asked for to review.

093And we've looked at some of these dis different decision factors over time. >> So can you and the known factors um are you saying that we currently have greater than 5% quarantine and greater than 1% case load >> less than what if you look at the yellow there? We we know that in terms of quarantine percentage when we are under 5% of our student population we feel like we're in a safe zone. That's known to us based on what we've dealt with over the last year and a half. That's kind of what our team came up with and that with regards to case loss percentages when we are at less than 1% overall uh student body staff included we we feel like we're in a safer area there in terms of the way we look

094at our data because we know that when we've gone over 2% we've started to really experience more problems in the past and and really throughout this entire last year and a half we've we've never really pushed much past 2% overall but that's why we kind of established those areas as known to us and the targets were there just for discussion and dialogue amongst you all and what you might feel comfortable with. >> Okay. So the known does not does not indicate current data. >> No. So under known if you look at quarantine percentage in the yellow we know that when we go over 5% of of student staff combined quarantined we start to have issues with attendance with staffing uh with operations. And that's kind of why we establish those as thresholds. But we're not

095over 5% right now. >> No, this is just what what we know and what we can do with oxy. >> Do you know what the current numbers are for the quarantine and the case load percentage wise? >> Do we know what they are? Uh as of last week um with the report that I shared with you on Friday. Um we literally had no quarantines last week and our case load uh numbers were four which is less than one half of 1%. >> Yeah, because 22 if you just do some simple math we 1%. So, uh, we certainly are below that. >> Did that answer your question, Nikki? >> And, uh, so, but in this, I think the quarantine would not work if you're looking into because if you're vaccinated, you don't need to quarantine, right?

096So, I think we need to add another line and pick up. So if you go on to the next slide. So maybe how it has been uh which one is the next to the triath. It's I can't read it from here. Sorry. >> Cincinnati Health Collaborative. >> Yes. >> Their the goal policy there. Is that what you're looking at? >> Yes. >> What we put there >> our factor >> this was not decided by the board. Just let me clarify that for anybody who pays attention to the meeting and is streaming. That wasn't decided by the board. That was >> right >> the number that we look at and get in our reports from our health officials regionally every week about the R factor, the reproductive number in the region. When it is less than

097one, that is a safer environment according to our health uh partners. And so when it's over one, that that translates to more spread in the community, a higher level of of spread. Um, and so we had suggested that part of a goal policy would be we would want to see it under one. That means it's a better environment. We're doing better in this area. But that was not something that the board has set as a target. >> I think what would help us, Kirk, is if you had another line that actually showed where we are, that showed that we're under one, we're under five, whatever. because this is basically your goals but we don't have the numbers to show where we are. >> In the last report that I shared on Friday we were at

098089 for the R. >> Uh what so uh Tri Health uh CDC ODH none of them have changed their policy though. >> CDC ODH HCPH have not changed their current policy which is in yellow there. Yeah. and that language of recommending universal masking indoors. They have not changed their recommendations as of right now. That's why their current policy is there in yellow. What we put in green was what we thought would be the ideal policy we would see from them based on what we saw last spring as things eased up um so that we would feel like we could have that return to some of those those pieces of language and we were just literally copying those from what we saw in the past. What about Tri Health? Our our partners, our professional scientific partners

099with the current data, have they changed at all or what do they recommend? >> Currently recommend masking indoors for people who don't have vaccines. Uh currently remending masking indoors for schools. What they have talked to us about is what we put in the goal policy which again the board has not determined is a goal but what they've talked about is when you see the case rate of less than three per thousand um then then they would feel we're in a safer zone >> we're safe zone and then >> we're less than three per thousand >> you would see their language change their language hasn't changed but this is what the doctors have told us >> okay >> but their theirs is based on the entire community not our school >> correct >> all of the

100it's based on all of their um constituents. >> This is this isn't targeted at us. This is the >> Thank you. >> global community. >> That's where I was a disconnect on that. Thank you, >> Nancy. >> So, but that's something we can revisit because we are what per thousand right now in the community, you know. >> Um I'd have to look that one up. I don't want to give you the wrong number. >> All right. Thank you. I I like the idea. I think it was your idea to put a line of what what is the current data all on >> just so we can understand I mean it's nice to have goals but where do we stand within the framework >> so I think this is a really important point you're bringing up

101it's one thing to see the data and it's also important to know the trend and again the R number the Cincinnati Health Collaborative reports out to us every week has been under one now for the last three weeks and and so not only do we have a number each week we have trend that's important. >> Well, I think your data sheets show that um the case load data. I mean, you put the totals in, but that covers six weeks. What's really interesting is to look at October 15th, October 8th, October 1st. You know, we're basically back to where school started where we had two, now we have four on this sheet. Your case load data. I'd be glad to um just uh as a reference here while we have a moment to share that's that's

102what we're sharing in the board reports every Friday and again if if we need a more comprehensive look this is quarantine going back to the start of school um I think to your point cases back to the starter school and we have that tracking of quarantine and case load data with comparisons back to the starter school and if we need to see that in a slide presentation for the future. I can add some of that. >> Yeah, I mean trend the trend is important. >> And the tren what I would say Elizabeth is that the trends are positive in all the data questions that I've heard asked this evening. >> Uh so if we could do public commentary, Mr. Davis, will you run that for us like you have done magnificently up to this point?

103Thank you. >> So, we will begin the public commentary portion of the board meeting. Uh, as you uh give your public commentary, please remember that there's a fivem minute limit per speaker this evening. We have two speakers signed up. The first Blair Mcznney, if you could please come forward. If you have your statement written after you read it, if you could give it to Mr. Nichols and we'll put it in the board uh minutes just as it's read. And if you don't, if you don't mind, just again say your name and where you live. Thank you. >> All righty. Dear board members, my name is Blair Mcchesny and I attend Indian Hill Schools from K through 12. I'm the mother of three young children, including a first grader in the primary school. I'm speaking today

104as a concerned parent and troubled citizen. We are living in a time of heightened polarization and politicization that is tearing at the fabric of our country and also within our small community. Parents are going to be divided over many beliefs as it relates to our children's schooling and this includes mass mandates, vaccine requirements, school curriculum among many other topics. This will not go away anytime soon. But we can hope that ideological opponents can remain civil and debate policy and not each other's character. The school board is not going to be able to make everyone happy, nor is that your job. But we should be able to expect its total transparency, objectivity, and ability to make decisions without political and emotional influence. By adhering to these simple guidelines, parents will be better informed and a position

105to make decisions that they believe are in the best interests of their children. on the topic of mass. Specifically, all parents, regardless of their beliefs on this matter, deserve have an objective plan articulated by the board. We should understand what metrics determine the need for masking, what benchmarks must be met for the mandate to be removed. The board should explain in writing the scientific basis for masking, social distancing, quarantining healthy children, and providing the data being utilized to alter anything from normal course of business. The lack of transparency and even an open-ended plan creates an environment right for infighting and further polarization. Indian Hill school parents deserve a clear plan with limiting principles so we have the exact information with which we can make informed decisions for our children. I personally believe in individual freedom

106and most importantly parental rights. We must we must risk with our children in school the same way we do in all ways of life. While I'm not here to challenge the efficacy of cloth masks on small children, I believe we're making a huge mistake if we not consider the unintended consequences of certain risk mitigating measures. To ignore the negative consequences of masking and quarantining children is to be negligent about the risk of mental health, falling behind in learning, and stunted social skills. The school board must respect the rights of each parent to weigh the risk of their children as each family has their own unique circumstances and the parents are in the best position to make decisions for themselves. Teachers and administrators have every right to be vaccinated and or wear masks as they see

107fit. In that same vein, school children have that same right. For children who cannot yet be vaccinated, no one should ever tell them they cannot wear a mask or protect themselves as parents see fit. At the same time, the school board, administrators, and teachers should not have a right to tell our children that they must cover their faces or when a healthy student must stay home. Let me be perfectly clear about this. I absolutely respect those who prefer to wear masks and who want to take other precautions for their own situation. In return, I ask the school board and other parents to respect this decision of parents who may weigh risk differently and come to a different conclusion as to what's best for our children. No one should be telling anyone else what to do.

108Thank you. Next speaker is Brian Coffer. Please come forward. Good evening, Brian Coffer. I've got two children in the school district now. I've got a sophomore boy and a sixth grade boy. And I did not script anything out. That makes my wife really nervous when I get behind the microphone. So, um, I I spoke at the August 10th meeting, um, a little bit about balance in in this in this pandemic. And, you know, I I still I stated then and I'll state again. I I think we're very unbalanced as a school system, especially now with where the numbers are. And I think we need to get back on a path to some type of balance with this. The virus isn't going to completely go away. We have to learn how to live with it. We

109can no longer live in extreme land. We're living in extreme land. We can't live in extreme land anymore. We have to balance this out a little bit. We don't live our lives in extreme land. I could die in a car accident on the way home. That doesn't mean I'm going to walk home. I'm going to drive. I mean, there there are we we can't live our lives that way. And we can't live our lives that way with CO either. So, again, I I I work for a healthcare company. I have access to a lot of data. I could debate anybody and talk about, you know, COVID and masking, all that afterwards if you want for hours, but I'm kind of tired of that and I think we all are. I hope tonight somebody brings a

110motion to uh not require masks for high school students. I I hope that somebody does that tonight. And looking at this data, I mean, please somebody start the path back to to balance. Please. Okay. Again, I just think we're very unbalanced. Um and and and again, I I I I think I think starting with the high school will be a great first step, but we have to get out of extreme land. We can no longer live in extreme land. We have to get back on a path to being somewhat balanced about this. And my sophomore, I mean, last year was very different, obviously, but I mean, think about it. He hasn't been to a day of a high school without wearing a mask, okay? He's fully vaccinated. A lot of the high school students are

111vaccinated. Look at the numbers. It's not running through the high school. You can always claw it back if you like, but please, somebody please bring a motion in front of this board for a vote tonight to not require masks for our high school students. Thank you. [Applause] Um, we can still accept if there's anybody else that has public commentary they want to make. Uh, you you did I mean if you didn't sign up, I'm not trying to limit uh comment. I want to have comments from anybody that would like to make them. So, thank you. Come on up. >> And just say your name and where you live. >> Hi, I'm Jerry Wentz. Um, I live on Shauny Run and I wasn't planning on talking tonight, but to come to another meeting, first of all,

112this masking thing is so flipping important and you're not even having meetings often enough to discuss this. We knew that this Delta variant was going to hit a high at Labor Day and just fall off the tracks and that's what it's done. And you guys to say, oh, you know, hey, we'll talk about it in November. will tell. I mean, no, the high school kids, there's there's no hospitalizations in this whole district. It's not going through the high school. It's not going through the other schools anymore. And you guys need to get it together. I don't know where Kim Lewis is, but I don't even know if you guys have I I've been in this district for 24 years. I've been to more board meetings in the last three months than in 24 years because

113I don't even know if you guys even attend meetings anymore. I know Kim's got stuff going on. We all have stuff going on. We have taken it easy on her because of what she's been going through. But let me tell you, when people say, "Oh, mask, oh, sorry, we're inconveniencing you." It is not that. We are seriously, seriously worried about mental illness and we're walking on eggshells because of Kim's situation. And this thing where you guys like there's four people at a meeting every freaking meeting. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Get it together. Vote tonight. At least the high school should not be wearing masks. We have football games. These are not super spreader events. It is not spreading anymore. Figure it out. >> Is there anyone else that has any public

114commentary? If you want to come down, feel free. again, just please state your name, where you live. >> Sure thing. Hi, I am Rachel Catz. I am a 13-year club graduate of uh Indian Hill 1995. I am the mother of three children that will be attending this district. And the first thing I'd like to say is thank you to the board members who have voted for universal masking to protect the children that cannot protect themselves. It is time we stop looking at this issue as a parental right andor a parental choice factor. This is a civil rights issue. This is a civil rights issue. Children with disabilities have the same right to the same education as every other child. And asking them to stay home so that they stay safe so that other parents can

115satisfy their children's selfish requests to not wear a mask is completely unacceptable. It's time to put empathy back at the front of what Indian Hill stands for because once you are a brave, you are always a brave. And how dare we only care about high schoolers and people from 9 through 12. That is ridiculous. And I am ashamed of you parents who feel that your children are worth more. >> I am ashamed of you parents. >> Miss Cats, excuse me, need to address. Miss Katz, you need to only address the board. Thank you. >> She has the right to say, >> I am ashamed of all Indian Hill parents that think that their children's rights and supposed mental health outweighs the actual risk of medical health issues from children with ADA 504s and IEPs. Stop.

116Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you, sir, for stopping. I I really don't I really do appreciate it. Thank you. >> You were you were very professional about stopping. Thank you. All right. Uh if we don't have any further commentary, I'd like to uh have us move to discuss this issue uh and uh just have the board members talk about it and see where we're at. this fine. You can she can do a motion hurst and then you can discuss it. It's it's just uh it's totally fine. That order is perfectly fine. >> Um >> ladies and gentlemen, excuse me. We're going to continue the business of the board. Um, I'd like I would like to make a motion that we um vote to make the high school, which is

117right now 8th through 12th, uh, mask optional, um, starting tomorrow if we can, as soon as possible. Is our second? >> U, I would agree with that, Nancy. The data shows that there's no reason for them to wear masks. >> Are you seconding it? >> I am seconding it. >> Okay. >> I thought you wanted a discussion. Sorry. >> We'll second and then we'll discuss before >> Oh, sure. I'm seconding it. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, um Nancy, I think in order since you proposed this, could you talk about why you propose this and what you what your reasoning is and then we'll kind of just go back and forth. So, um, at this point in time, we have no data that would support masking. Um, cases are non-existent basically in high school.

118Uh, we know that outside of school, they're not wearing masks. They're at sports, they're around each other, they're not getting cases. Therefore, we're not having quarantines. We also know that a huge percentage of our high school students and our staff are vaccinated. so that even if they were exposed, they would by the Hamilton County um guidelines or the ODH guidelines, they would not have to quarantine. And to your point about um the uh quarantining healthy kids, uh we all hate that, but that is out of our hands, unfortunately. That is an ODH guideline, uh not ours. So, um, but in the high school, we're not going to have that because there are so few that right now are not vaccinated anyway and we're not seeing the case load. I also think that, you know, these

119are these are young adult children, children that are becoming young adults and they need the opportunity to make some of these choices for themselves. Many of them may choose to wear a mask and that's great. Um, but we need to prepare them to make these decisions. they're going to be living with this for a while and as they move on to college they need to be able to make their own decisions with good data and you know good direction and I think that um you know it's time to let these young adult very responsible high school kids uh make their own choice. >> Um I guess Nikki would you or no okay you second it. Why don't you talk about why you seconded it and then Nikki you can speak. Well, I I agree with

120what you say, Nancy, and the data shows that there have been no cases um since the beginning of September, and I've sat outside the schools many times watching the kids come out and this minute they're out of the building, they take their masks off, they have no regard for social distancing, and they they're in each other's faces and we don't have any cases and I don't see the magic of walking through the school doors and all of a sudden they have to put masks on. Um I don't see what what difference it makes. So I'm seconding your your motion. So since this school started, our priority was always how to keep kids in this school, right? And so all the decisions that we made were based on what was important that time and how and

121where our numbers were, not what kids were doing after school, whether they were being close to each other or what they were doing. So the today I'm really happy that our numbers have been low and I think I would give all this credit to our students who have done an amazing job wearing the mask following the instruction being mindful of others and based on how many of our faculty and our students are vaccinated where our numbers are today I feel little comfortable saying that maybe it is time that we can give them a little uh breather and just watch where the numbers go. So you know if the numbers we see a little spike in numbers maybe we meet again and we go back on our mask and go from there. But for K to6,

122the kids who are still not vaccinated, I'm still not comfortable uh taking the mask out for them. >> Uh just correction. K7, you mean? >> Sorry. K to 7. Yes. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. Kids under 12 who are not vaccinated. I'm still not uh comfortable saying that we should take the mask out because we have already seen the number of cases that had happened in our districts with the mask. And I think if the mask was not there, the numbers would have been even higher. So I would not uh be comfortable doing that. But I think it is okay uh from my point of view to have mask optional for our high school kids. But I think anyone else visiting a building, we should still keep the mask on because the whole idea is to

123pre protect our kids. So yeah, >> um you know, I I'm hearing all of this and I'm very glad with our numbers. I'm very pleased with that. Um, I uh I personally would not change right now. Um, you know, based on the comments I'm hearing, my vote may not matter, but I just feel like our, uh, scientist uh, and some people have questioned our transparency of how we made the decisions. We made the decisions based on the experts recommendations. The CDC, the health department, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's, and they have not changed away from universal masking. So, that's just my only concern. Um, I can only vote the way I'm going to vote, but I I hear where y'all are coming from, and I certainly understand where you're coming from. I just

124not sure I'd be uh I can support any change until the scientists, the experts, uh, make the change. But that's just my two cents. I don't I don't I think we're rushing a little bit, but that's my opinion. >> Dr. I would just like to clarify that I agree with you at an extent that yes uh scientists have not changed but there are a lot of other data that we had been looking so based on how the numbers are in uh Cincinnati Children's right now how uh the numbers have not gone down but they have come to a plateau since we have I think from last two months they have certainly now they are stabilizing So that's where I came up with that you know numbers in the hospital is hospital has gone down children

125hospital is doing much better than before and our high school numbers have been really low and I really hope that you know kids would follow so it's mask optional but you don't have to take it out if you don't feel comfortable so we would strongly recommend kids wearing it continue wearing it so that you know we can keep this mask arsenal for a longer time. >> So I would say yes. >> Um being there is there any further comment? If there's not I'm going to call for the question. >> Could you take the vote please sir? >> Mrs. Iikoltz >> I. >> Mrs. Johnston >> I. >> Mrs. Sting >> I. >> Dr. Hooker. >> Nay. So, I would like to move that we uh go to mask optional K through 7. >> That's my

126You can vote it down. >> Can she repeat that? >> She made a motion to go mask optional K to 7. So if there's no second then someone else just needs to make another motion. >> There is no second the motion will fail and so we will continue with the K7 m >> point of order. Dr. Hooker, you need a resolution to rename a date on the K through 7. >> Okay. Uh, I would entertain a motion to continue the uh K through 7 until November the 23rd, which is our next scheduled meeting. Uh, should we have a meeting before that, we could change that date? >> Um, can we modify that? If we notice um a drastic drop, >> if you what? >> If we notice a drastic drop or in the trend, >>

127uh, >> we can always call a meeting. >> Can we? Yeah. >> Yeah, we can always call. >> Okay. So, if you would, are you going to second that then? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Would you repeat the motion, please? >> She already made a second. >> Oh, can you say >> or do you want me? >> No, I can't give a motion. I'm >> Oh, I thought you gave a motion. So I a motion that we continue with the for K to7 we continue the mass till our next board meeting which is November 23rd. >> Okay. >> Second >> Mrs. Singh >> I >> Mrs. Johnston >> I >> Mrs. Zyoltz. >> No. >> Dr. Hooker. >> I um I I just want to say thank you to everybody that spoke. I know the

128emotions are high. I know people are not happy. Uh I didn't get the vote I wanted and that's okay. Um, we all need to as as one of the speakers who was doesn't agree with me said, we really got to get civility back in this and we really do, okay? We all have got to respect each other and work through this because we are all braves and we all need to stick through this together. So, I appreciate the people that come to these meetings. Thank you for coming. Continue to come. Continue to agree and disagree as you feel appropriate. Okay. Um, I might entertain a motion to adjourn unless someone has any other business. >> Still moved. >> Second. >> All is in favor? >> I. >> Thank you everyone. >> Exclusive coverage on the

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