001When called to order this meeting of the Kent City Schools Board of Education at 6:00 p.m. on March 16th. Mr. Ludley? Yes. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Mr. Hansel? Yes. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Pledge of Allegiance. Colt may have had to steal the flag. For what was it, Colt? It's in the Performing Arts Center. Very patriotic. All right, we'll face that direction then. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Someone else in the library. I don't know what he had to steal that for, but [clears throat] Okay, um item three is approval and or correction of the minutes of the regular meeting of February 9th. Hansel. Mr. Styer. Heidinger. Mr. Wingfield. And
002that's it for me. Oh, we'll have to call roll. Before we call roll for that, just stating this verbally on item 11J, we're changing the effective date for Slave Nufer to March 18th. Thanks, Jill. Yep. Um Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hansel? Yes. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Mr. Ludley? Yes. All right, item number five or item number four. That's all they gave you though. We do [clears throat] have a couple additions due to change of well, scrimmages and basketball program and whatnot. So, more the merrier. Um the thing I just want to start with is kind of get the speak to the board and let you guys know where we're at and how we got here. So, a couple years ago we had a teacher leave for the private sector about mid-year. I had
003talked to Mr. Thrush and Jody Needles about um we had to replace that position, but I encouraged them and asked if we could start a business program and they were on board and that's where we were able to hire Zach Goldsmith here to start that program. Um which is better connected to the BPA and that's kind of how we got here and his program's growing along with his brother Wes here. Um so, I thought it'd be beneficial to have that program because if you think about it, if you get those foundations, a lot of jobs relate to the business sector and getting those foundation and those skills will only benefit these kids as they graduate and go out in the real world. So, with that being said, I'm going to hand it over to the
004our teachers here. My name is Wes Goldsmith. Me and bro- me and Zach are brothers. Um I'm just going to tell you a little bit about how I got here. Um I was hired in as the makerspace guy and I was doing some stuff with middle school art and things like that and then I decided that I wanted to become a career tech teacher. So, I started on that path and I knew one day I was going to be working with Joe Funkhouser and I was watching him do all this stuff and I got moved over to the high school and he was always working on BPA stuff and always talking about BPA stuff and when when Mr. Thrush was the principal over there, I mean we were talking about BPA stuff all the time
005and I'm like, oh goodness, when I take when I when I start my career tech teacher uh um uh when I actually get hired in as a teacher, I don't know if I want to do BPA. Come to find out through classes and getting my license through BGSU, um you have to have a career tech student organization. But before all that, I went we uh go to um the BPA regional um event at Ohio Northern University and we go, the kids compete in these business competitions. It's it's a it's a pretty long day and I'm still not sure if I really love BPA. Then we go up and we're at the awards ceremony and you see these kids getting called up to the stage and it it started to change my mind. Okay, well then
006you see the kids getting first and third and you know, they're getting on stage and they're they're accomplishing things and I was like, okay, I love BPA. This is my new sport. So, I've bec- I've adopted it as almost like I'm the coach and I I made sure I got my brother involved cuz I know he's a good coach. So, I'm going to turn it over to Zach, but that's how we got here. Yeah, just to touch on BPA, um what's really neat about it is in Ohio has the largest BPA chapter um in the nation and um so, it's the most competitive and so, we have students that excel at the national stage and at the state stage, which is is really awesome. Um I think when I I was checking some of the
007numbers today and there's over just over 2,500 students that go to compete at the state level um from their regions. Um we took s- 18 or 19 students this year um to compete and then we have five going on to compete at the national level, which is is insane to think that out of those 10,000 plus students in Ohio, we have some of the top um that get to go and compete. So, um I'm going to let them talk about BPA cuz we're here to listen to them. We added a couple because of the scrimmage, so we added CJ and Emery, but we have Jake, Garridan, and Anden here um all to share about their BPA experience, kind of let you know what's going on and um so, I'll let them take it away. Does
008this click like the next slide over? Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be going to watch the projector. Um Aw. What's that touchscreen? Is that touchscreen? While while he's doing that, I do want to say something about this group. Um for our BPA program, [clears throat] these group this group of students has really taken the ball and advanced our program. Um you're going to hear from Jake who's our president. Um he's founded our sponsorship program to allow us to be able to do a lot of things with our students and I know they're going to talk about it, but the students behind me have done everything they can to make sure younger students are being um kind of brought up into the program and I'll brag on CJ a little bit here. Um she had a
009chance to go compete in something individual and she took three young students that were two freshmen with her as a group project so that she could bring them along to get the experience at state. Um which is really cool that we have students that care about the next group coming up. So, um I think they're ready. I'll let Jake take it now. All righty, so I'm going to talk about what BPA really is as a student. Um so, obviously uh probably the best part about BPA is you get a lot of days out of school to go and compete. Uh if you do well, I think it's like 9 to 10 days out of school every year between all the leadership conferences, everything we go to. Uh so, that's a huge upside, but more than
010that, there's a lot of just business uh skills, uh speaking, presenting. Um I know before I've had to make a resume. Um, you know, BPA itself has helped me get a job. It's helped me speak uh and develop a lot of these other skills. Uh so, it's a co-curricular. Um, when I came in as a freshman, we were focused a lot more on the technology side of things with uh Mr. Funkhouser. Uh so, that's kind of the pathway I went down. Uh I had a computer animation team. Uh we placed second in the nation last year. Um, but with that, uh now we've kind of switched over, like they said, a lot more to that business and media arts side of things, which has been really cool. Um, I think the thing I appreciate most
011about our business teachers is they have real experience. Uh I know Mr. Zach Goldsmith, he's come from Buckeye Machine. Uh they were one of our sponsors last year, and that's just a great business. And I know uh Mr. Wes Goldsmith has done a lot of uh just freelance work and a lot of work at different places. So, getting connected to uh real business professionals, you know, you kind of create a a special relationship because, yes, they are your teachers, but, you know, even more, they're your mentors, they're your your guidance. Um, and so, just BPA has done a lot for me um in the past just uh 4 years just teaching me confidence, speaking, um and I'm sure uh a lot of those guys back there can agree to that. Am I too short for
012this? Okay. So, we compete at three different levels. The first level is regional, and that one is over at the ONU campus. Um, it's smaller, obviously, compared to state and national, but when we go to state, it's a lot more fun. We get to go stay overnight. Um, and it's pretty crazy seeing the difference from you're in just our region, and then you go and see the state level, and you get to walk across the stage. It's a crazy different feeling. Um, and then this is actually going to be my first time going to nationals, but we get to go to Nashville this year. Um, almost like a free week-long vacation. Um, with all of the donations and sponsors that we have, uh students don't have to pay a dime for it other than, obviously,
013like souvenirs that you want. But, uh getting to compete at such a grand level is a really awesome thing to do. Um, and even just at regionals, it's such an accomplishment to even get a medal up there. So. Right. And then, kind of going back into discovering the classes again, uh discussing the classes again, uh it's a very unique curriculum. Um, so, like, for example, in modern-day AI has a lot of grasp on the uh you know, the graphic design field. Uh I don't know that's been a real challenge for Mr. Wes Goldsmith, but, you know, bringing creativity into his curriculum, you know, and really honing in on uh the students' skills of being able to speak, being able to brand themselves. And then, I know Mr. Zach Goldsmith cares a lot about getting his
014students out into the community, out talking to business leaders, uh and and having a curriculum that's not just, you know, about a test at the end of the year, but about all the skills that they can develop throughout the year. So, um I'm here to talk about the uh BPA events that um we offer. The first events that we have are things like professional development events, um such as the fall leadership conference. So, that's where we go to um Van Der Mark Farms, and that's a uh place I'm not quite sure what's that, but you just go to a basically giant farm with all of the people in our region, which is um just schools from around the county and around places um around here. And uh you just hang out with all of the
015um BPA members, and it's a great time. Um we also have uh service and fundraising events like a book drive, um Slice the Price gift cards, that's a big hit, and then also um a game night that we put on this year, and that was a huge success. And then, we also have um the competitions that we talked about already. Um there's business competitions, technical competitions, um medical competitions. I know Amarie competed in a medical competition and made it to nationals for that. So, that's awesome, but um there's a lot of different things that BPA has to offer, and um there's a whole bunch of different ways that you can punch your ticket to nationals, and this year it's in Nashville, and I think next year it's in Colorado. So, there's a lot of opportunities
016um just to go wherever you can on these um amazing trips. And then, finally, uh there's um college business courses. So, next year, Zach Goldsmith will be offering um a advanced business class, I think, and that's CCP, so you get college credit for that. And then also, um local business sponsorships. We had a bunch of different sponsorships from uh businesses all around uh Canton, and there are a bunch of different tiers, and I think we move into that in a little bit. Yeah, so, just like Annan said, um we have a really good community with us. They've supported us um a ton, and uh this last year we were able to start a scholarship that we were able to give to two different students, and due to that, I know they're um they're not having
017to pay for their first year in college. So, that's really nice. And this year we will again have that scholarship for our BPA students. And then, next we have up just um I know we've thought about this. We think if a student wants to go and wants to start a bakery, and they ask us for $500 to get them started, we want to be able to have that money to help them get started, help them launch their uh small business. And due to that, we've went out and we've asked for sponsorships from businesses all around Canton, all around Hardin County, and they've been very supportive of us. We've went out and presented to them, and they've given us a ton of money. It's it's helped us a ton. So. Uh going along a little bit
018with those sponsorships, um I got the opportunity to go with Jacob and Gerden to go talk at Precision. And we presented to them about what BPA is, and it kind of just gave me a glimpse of what all BPA does. This is my first year in BPA. So, one of the things we do at those is our t-shirts. So, it's kind of like the never give up football camp t-shirts that we see people wearing all around town. We put all of our sponsors on the back of the shirt just kind of to show them off and show them or show everyone what they're doing for our county. Um, we are going to take these shirts to Nashville this year, kind of walk around, and kind of flaunt and brag about everything that Hardin County does
019for our BPA program. So. [clears throat] Um, just to wrap things up here after um the all the stuff that they've told you, we have a lot going on in BPA, as you can tell, with through our business courses and through the things that we do. Um, even as as much as this week, on Wednesday, we're taking a group of our BPA students to um Bellefontaine to look at the revitalization projects that they have going on, meet with a couple local entrepreneurs, and just let them ask questions and kind of learn about what the entrepreneurship um field looks like and how that they can be a part of of something that is different or um of their own interest. So, uh a lot of things that go on, and we have a ton of support
020from you guys, from the community. So, we're so thankful. Um I know they said about the trips, um it's an awesome experience for our students to get to go to these national events, be around like-minded students, and compete. But, on the other side of things, there are all kinds of certifications that we require our students to get while they're there. So, they're they're building those skills, um having a lot of fun, but they're seeing that there's a lot of opportunity that they can grasp knowledge from and bring back to Hardin County, which is something that we think is really important. So, thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. I wish I could speak as good as these guys. So, thank you. Jill, sorry for all the PO requests and everything. [laughter] We appreciate you. If
021you guys would stay put there, we're just going to get a picture real quick underneath the Kenton City Schools Inspiring All up there. [laughter] All right, that looks really good. All right, ready? 1 2 3. One more. 1 2 3. Perfect. Thank you guys very much. Great job. [applause] You guys are welcome to stay for the whole meeting, but you don't have to. Thank you. And the teenagers say no. All right. Yep, thank you. [clears throat] Okay, let's moving on to item number five, the public comment. Has anybody signed up for that? Nope. All right, item six, uh reports of the treasurer. Um, couple things. Our audit is wrapping up. They are sending that on for review. Um, they've been very nitpicky this year. All of us treasurers have kind of been discussing that. It's
022kind of unbelievable. I've actually had a one-on-one phone call with one of the auditors, and he just was basically telling me that they've been told that they need to come down a little bit harder on the districts. So, I'm like, okay. Not much I can say to that. Um, so, hopefully in the next month here, I'll be getting the report back because our bond rating company always asks for us where's our report so they can give us our rating, and hopefully we stay status quo. So, I've had to tell them we don't have it yet, it's in review. I've let the auditors know that that the bond rating company's looking for it, so it's it's all in process. Um, we did meet tonight for finance committee and we talked about the 070 fund the capital
023improvement fund where we moved the money from the general fund into the 070 fund and I kind of gave them a little bit of a breakdown. We've got some encumbrances against the fund at this point. Right now we've got this is all towards the soccer public restroom building. It's secure com for the fire alarm system the plumbing and the masonry work and then the Schubert tennis. So with all that we've got about a little over $600,000 in encumbrances which gives us about 4.1 million remaining after the 4.7 that we originally had transferred over. Tonight if the field source would be approved we went over what potentially would be encumbered against that fund. After all encumbrances even with contingencies at the worst we have about 2.7 million left in the fund. So just kind of give
024you a little overview of where we might be if we had to use all those funds as they showed us in the field source quote. And then in our permanent improvement fund which is our 003 fund that's the fund where we transfer any money that we want to use for permanent improvements from our general fund into our PI fund. Right now we've got a little over $1 million. We did approve the meta bus quotes and I talked with Brian today him and I met. He did get the quote back for a new flat nose bus about $145,000. So you did deduct that off the $1 million. We also talked about doing some secure com. We're trying to make to get everybody on the same company that monitors fire and security. We've gotten away from Johnson
025Controls. We're trying to incorporate everything we can with secure com. So we're looking at doing the old field house with their fire and security and then just security at the new field house. So all those taken into consideration plus the bus so a little over $1 million now if you deduct all that it's about 850,000. And again I use that fund all year for things that kind of come up. New PAC that we've got the PAC center. We've had to do some things with that because not everything is included in on the building project. So I have to kind of like give a bird's eye view of you know how all this less impact our general fund and I look at other funds. We have been doing some things with our elementary building in terms
026of heating and cooling and we're taking that those monies from the 034 fund which is the half mill maintenance fund that once you pass a bond for the new buildings there's money that you use for permanent improvement. Now that we've got the new middle school high school and the elementary building that fund can be used for both buildings. That's about it. Thanks Jill. Moving on to item seven. Wingfield Stair And then Mr. Wingfield Yes. Mr. Hansel Yes. Mrs. Heidinger Yes. Mr. Lovely Yes. Mr. Stout Yes. Item seven I see the All right. Main thing here is the Hall of Fame inductees. [clears throat] So we're very proud of to be able to induct three people and I have a press release for Tim when it's over that gives a lot more information than what I'm
027about to give but I thought it'd be good to at least give a little snapshot of each individual. Joe Cornley is the first one. He graduated from Kenton in 1974. He started his communication career here at WKTN moved to WRFD which should sound familiar. He developed a 90 minute farm program became the director of media relations for the Ohio Farm Bureau. Lois Lautenschlager many of you may know her. She graduated from Kenton in 1963. She started a career at a as a hairdresser but then went back to pursue an education degree. She ended up working for Bellefontaine City Schools until 2005 but a lot of people got to know her after that when she came back and did a lot of substitute teaching in our local schools for about 17 years. So it was nice
028to see her when she and she since she's passed but she was really good sub for us. I know when I was in the building as a principal I enjoyed having her as a sub. And then Stephanie Temple is our third inductee. She graduated from Kenton in 1975. She started her career Hardin Memorial Memorial Hospital but then in 1979 she was hired by Kenton City Schools and began working as at the treasurer's office and payroll and HR. Since she retired in 2009 she has um been or she is she helps to operate with her husband the Tons of Fun Travel company. So very good inductees this year. We're looking forward to hearing um either them or somebody maybe on their behalf speaking during graduation. So you'll hear more of that. And then one more thing
029I don't wanted to highlight just because it's coming up later. We do have a guest with us. Julia Lee is sitting over here. She's going to be our new high school science teacher next year. So she came to the board meeting obviously since we're approving her and I just wanted to thank her for coming and just let her know we're excited to have her. I know Mr. Jones was very excited. Finding a quality science teacher is not the easiest thing to do and he feels really good about um being able to have Julia accept and become our high school science teacher for next year. So thank you. [clears throat] [laughter] Yep. Item number eight is a committee reports. Yeah. So we met last week. Couple things to highlight out of there. The first things I
030want to go over is Isaac Blevins finishing third at the state meet. That's quite an achievement. That's the best finish we've had since 1993. So very impressive. He was also um you know WBL runner up sectional champ and district champ. So he's only a junior so love to see that he's still in our program chance to even improve that for next year. So very excited for that one. Staying with the sports side there. Swimming [snorts] they had a they finished fourth in WBL as the highest finish ever. One of the things that I heard several times was the athletes from last year and this year. There was no seniors that graduated impacted this but 11 eight of the 11 records were broken in the last two years for swim for the boys side. Boys bowling
031finished fourth in the league too. We had one WBL champ and a district qualifier there with Isaiah Monday. So that was awesome to see and there we had a couple different another Albert Evan Albert was also a district qualifier as well. And then back on the swim there I one more thing to add that we had 10 participants in the district swim meet for that. One more thing was on Sydney Payne was first team all district and second team all WBL which knowing her story of being injured for half the season that's that's quite the accomplishment for that there. Moving over to the the other side of of that is the music side that we went through. Couple of things coming up here. Um OSU men's and women's glee is coming April 19th. They're trying
032to hit all 88 counties and so they had not hit Hardin County for a while so they're going to try to do that one. Cabaret is May 15th to the 17th that'll be in the PAC. That's going to be pretty exciting. Top 20 is also doing the Guardians National Anthem. August 19th. So that's going there to Major League Baseball. It's pretty cool. Probably they'll save the best one here for last that in my opinion um my music opinion if people know me know how how um how good that opinion is right there. But it's a Mary Poppins. I actually am impressed by this idea that that's going to be April 10th through the 12th. Tickets will be on sale soon. But they're they have a company coming in that do rigging and they're going to
033have Mary Poppins fly in and out three different acts and then they have one of the other main characters a guy who's going to go upside down and tap dance upside down. So um in the new performing arts center. So again tickets will be on sale soon for that or be on sale soon but that'll be April 10th through the 12th. So that's pretty exciting for that. It's crazy. Item number nine opens in old business. So we'll skip. New business moving on to authorizations and resolutions. Item 10A is to approve the agreement with Brad was just mentioning there the musical between CFAC and Kenton City Schools for the Mary Poppins musical to do Defy Gravity. Item 10B is to approve the following donations from the Lake of Lights to the following individuals there. We see
034that list. JD and Dee Smith to Kenton High School vocal music. Charles and Megan Byers also to Kettering High School vocal music. And then Steven and Terry McCollough, also to uh, Kettering High School vocal music, all donations. Um, item 10C is to approve the following trips. And you see that list there as well. Um, item 10D is to approve the 2025 tax rates and the 2026 estimated revenue as submitted by the Hardin County Auditor. Um, item 10E is to approve the following amended appropriations. You can see those there. Um, item 10F is to approve the following certificate of estimated resources. And then item 10G is to approve the Middle Field Bank agreement that is effective November 1st of 2025 to November uh, through June 30th of 2030. Um, any discussion there with any of that?
035Heidinger. Okay, thanks Tasha. Yeah. Hensel. Thanks, Rodney. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Mr. Ledley? Yes. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hensel? Yes. Okay, item 10H is to approve the quotes from Field Source for work on the soccer, baseball, and football fields um, that Jill had had mentioned earlier as well. Um, a motion to accept that. Styer. Thanks, Mike. Wingfield. Thanks, Brad. Um, moving on to item 11. I'll approve that one. Okay, yeah, roll call. Mr. Ledley? I'm getting ahead of myself. Mr. Ledley? Yes. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hensel? Yes. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Okay, item 11, personnel items. Um, item 11A is to approve the following volunteers for the 2025-2026 school year. There's quite a few uh, quite a big list there for that. So, that's awesome. Um, item 11B is to approve
036the following substitutes for the uh, 2025-2026 school year. Item 11C is to approve the written resignation of Katherine Eisenberger, um, KES first grade teacher, effective June 30th. Item 11D is to approve Emily Collins, uh, early childhood teacher for a limited one-year contract. Item 11E is to approve Deborah Swartzlander, uh, English as a second language teacher for a limited one-year contract. Um, item 11F is to approve Julia Lee, science teacher for a a one-year contract. Um, item 11G is to approve Alexa Moore as KES first grade teacher. Um, item 11H is to approve Caitlyn Sturgeon, uh, for an intervention specialist. And then item 11I is to approve the following transfer, uh, GD Caylor from KMHS uh, central office second shift custodian to KMHS first shift custodian. Um, item 11J is to approve Slade Neufer, KES custodian
037second shift. Um, Jill had mentioned that earlier as well about the change in the date on that. Um, any discussion on any of that? [clears throat] Okay. Motion to accept. Heidinger. Thanks, Tasha. Hensel. Thanks, Rodney. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hensel? Yes. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Mr. Ledley? Yes. Okay, item 11K is to approve the following volunteer for the 25-26 school year. And you can see that there, an individual. Um, a motion. Wingfield. Thanks, Brad. Styer. Thanks, Mike. Item 11L is to Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hensel? Yes. Mrs. Heidinger? Abstain. Mr. Ledley? Yes. And Mr. Styer? Yes. Item 11L is to approve uh, Brad Purcell from KCS athletic director to KCS operations and facilities manager. Uh, motion. Ledley. Styer. Mike, thanks. Heidinger. Thanks, Tasha. Roll call. Mr. Hensel? No. Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Mr. Ledley?
038Yes. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Um, item number 12 is to approve a motion to go into executive session to prepare for collective bargaining strategy and to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official. Motion. Heidinger. Thanks, Tasha. Hensel. Thanks, Rodney. Time. All right, the time is 6:33. Mr. uh, Mrs. Heidinger? Yes. Mr. Ledley? Yes. Mr. Styer? Yes. Mr. Wingfield? Yes. Mr. Hensel? Yes. Okay, the next regular Board of Education meeting will be held on April 20th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Mhm.