001Good evening and welcome to the Thursday, March 12th, 2026 Marlington School District Board of Education meeting. Please rise for the pledge of >> 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. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Call the role, please. >> Josh Hagen, >> here. >> Karen Humphre >> here. >> Kathy Krepco, >> here. >> Mark Ryan >> here. Jonathan Swift here. >> Thank you. Reading of the mission statement. Mrs. Krepco. In collaboration with staff, community, parents, and students, the Marlington local school district will develop lifelong learners who understand and apply knowledge and demonstrate excellence in pursuing the highest standards with effective intervention to challenge every student. Thank you. Are there any additions or corrections
002to this meeting agenda? >> There are none. There are none. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda for tonight's meeting? >> So move. Second. >> Oops. Right. Hold on. >> Okay. Call the RO, please. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Special presentations. >> Okay. Good evening. Uh we do start off our meetings every month with our special presentations which is our high school Elks students of the month or our teens of the month. So we're going to go ahead and have Mr. Travis, our assistant principal uh this month prepare uh or bring up the students of our month. Good evening. Uh, I have the privilege of introducing two of our high
003school students as the Elks Teen of the Month. When I call your name, she's already up here. Uh, please stand up here while I read a short bio about you, Miss Natalie Price. Natalie is the daughter of David and Deborah Price. She is secretary of National Honor Society, secretary of Spanish honor society, member of Spanish club, and a tutor at Washington Elementary. In her free time, Natalie enjoys volunteering in her community reading and drawing. Following graduation, Natalie plans to continue her education in college to pursue a career as a pediatric neurologist. Our staff says that Natalie is a remarkably disciplined and compassionate leader who balances high level of academic responsibilities with a genuine heart for service. Her peers and faculty alike admire her organizational skills and her dual secretary roles, her dedication to mentoring younger
004students as a tutor. With her blend of intellectual curiosity in reading and the empathetic focus she brings to her community work, we have no doubt she possesses the resiliency and character necessary to excel in the demanding field of pediatric neurology. Congratulations. [applause] Our [clears throat] second student is not able to be here tonight, but we still wanted to recognize the achievements. Um, we wanted to recognize Mr. Andrew Hartzler. Andrew is the son of Matt and Jen Hartsler. He is a member of the varsity soccer team. Andrew is a member of the engineering career tech program at Marlington National Honor Society, Duke Street Select Vocal Ensemble, and Character Counts Club. In his free time, he enjoys volunteering in the community with his church youth group, cooking, and playing sports. Following graduation, Andrew plans to continue his
005education in college, studying aviation to pursue a career as a professional pilot. Staff members say Andrew is a student who seamlessly bridges the gap between technical precision and creative expression. They would highlight his exceptional ability to balance the rigor of the engineering program with the disciplines of varsity athletics and the artistry of the Duke Street Vocal Ensemble. Known for his integrity and community-minded spirit, he demonstrates the steady leadership and multi-dimensional focus essential for a career in aviation. Andrew Hartzler >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Travis. At this time, we're about to start the formal part of the meeting. So, if you do not wish to be part of the formal part of the meeting, this would be your time that gives you a chance to exit uh the DLZ. Okay. invocation. Pastor Doug Begs. >>
006First of all, I'm thankful that we are able to come and open up with prayer. I know, as you know, a lot of schools shut that down. And so, this excites me that we can do this. Lord God, I am so thankful that as we gather in the school that as we are here at this board meeting, we know, Father, that there's about a third left of of the year. And so I pray that you would continue to be with the board and the school as they have celebrated victories in the last several months. And I pray that you be with them tonight as they discuss and talk over ways to continue to thrive, whether ways to continue in the Duke Pride and all ways from the kindergarten to the adults out into the community.
007We are thankful, Lord, for this school district. We are thankful, Lord, for all that we accomplish. And we know, Father, that your presence is here. And we pray that that presence continue in [clears throat] in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. >> Thank you. >> Protect the signage sheet. >> Thank you, pastor. [clears throat] >> Okay. Good evening. Uh this is uh March 12th, 2026, and this is the superintendent update for March. Again, I'll stick with uh obviously my theme and it's our district theme was every minute, every moment, every memory. We are in March of 2026. Uh the weather is great, so we are thankful to be here. We'll talk about some reasons to celebrate. So, first off, we're going to talk about we had the math tournament this past weekend in Masson. So, we have
008our current uh fifth, sixth, seventh graders that get an opportunity based on uh their math set to be chosen for to be able to participate in our math tournament. They practice for about four to six weeks after school on their own time to participate in the math tournament. So, uh we had a great showing that Saturday at Masslin High School. Those kids got to get up early. They get bust over at 7:15 in the morning. They wrap up their day around 12:30, 1:00. Uh so that's kind of gives you an idea. So if you take a look at the board behind you or right there, we have uh obviously there's five different or four sets and then there's a group set. So we have our algebra, data, and probability group. So those are the kids
009there between fifth, sixth, and seventh grade that place they place one through 8th, just so you know. So you have a geometry and measurement group, our mental computation group, our number sense group, and then we have team scoring for our problem solving. As you can see there, our grade seven, we were first place in the county with uh in problem solving with that group right there. So it was uh I do want to thank our staff and our administrators. They do our elementary and middle school principles do get over for that tournament. We have staff that volunteer. Uh it varies in every district because it's all volunteer driven, you know, from a county's perspective. So we are very well represented from a Marlington as a contingent. We had roughly 10 to 12 people there either
010for scoring or there to help, you know, monitor our kids. So it was good. It was a it was a good showing. >> Celebrity readers. So every year we at Marbor we have celebrity readers. We have different it depends on the elementary. So this is like a readathon week at all three elementary buildings. Marorrow kind of takes it on does a celebrity reader. Lexington has readers that do uh video. So you video in like a green room and then they share it amongst their staff. So it varies. So I just kind of show. So up here some pictures. We got Mr. Hagen up there on the left. You know it's you could find him in there. It's like where's Waldo? But he's up there with the book. Uh you got Mrs. Kreco there in the
011middle. We got our our SRO Miss McGunovich over there. They they could have got a little closer, I think, on their pictures, you know, from that aspect. We have I'm just getting a few more. We had a group of them of Celebrity Readers. We had our own high school student there, Kaden Tucker, and we had other folks there for that. I actually requested that. And hold on one second. Oh my goodness. I want to make sure I don't I don't want to miss anybody. Um, we actually had Marvel police officers, not pictured there because they only sent me the one. We had two Marvel police officers there, uh, including our own deputy Collins. We had Deputy Chaplain Phil. We had Hal and Hank, which is his dog. So Hal's always there every year with his
012dog Hank. Um, we had Duke the dog, which was, and Mr. K, you know, Kaden Tucker was there with Josh uh and we had our own uh Meredith Joyce, our guidance counselor, and her dog Gibson. So, we had a we had quite a handful of people that actually made the rounds throughout there, but those are the pictures that were sent to me, but I didn't want to leave anybody out from that aspect of it. Again, we talked about our high school Elks uh students of the month. We have our elementary students of the month for March. So for our fifth grade Kuanas students of the month that actually come out and do that, we have three. We have Lexington there. We have uh Al Alexandria Thomas and then we have Eastston Miller and Karine Mel
013there from the three buildings, Lexington, Marble, and Washington. So we do want to congratulate them. Then for our middle school, we have two. We have Eliza Mcnut and Kayla Merald. So, just to give you guys a little bit of an update from a a district perspective, March is March, April, May just busy, you know, it just it's it's very busy in the office because we got a lot we're getting our retirements and our resignations in. We're getting and we're moving forward. So, as you know, when it comes to some of the larger ones like let's just talk about our transportation director. We know that Sherry Sickls gave us plenty of advanced notice that she's leaving. She's been with us for well over 30 plus years of service. Not all at the transportation in department, but
014has kind of worked her way where she's at. She's beloved, impossible to replace. Um, so I put inside your packets in front of you was basically just where we're at in the process of the update. All right. So, we had roughly about, and I didn't count them out. I want to say about 11. We did a first screen with those 11 uh those people which was basically a phone call or face to face. Let's let's talk about if they want to, you know, if they're the right person to move forward to a second round. U maybe they weren't aware of the complete job requirements of it. Maybe it was salary require, you know, expectations, you name it, across the board. So, we kind of went through those and that highlighted on there were potentially three
015that we felt that would move into the second uh the second screening process for that. So that second screen, you know, then came, you know, came in the board where that's where they it was a little bit quite a bit more formal. Uh so we did those this past week and then obviously we're looking into our third round right now of bringing one potential candidate back and I don't want to announce that candidate because I don't know if that candidates interested or not. This is basically a third round screening on that. Just so you know, we've had a very good interest in our transportation department. This is a big deal. You're talking about a fleet of 30 buses. You're talking about manpower of anywhere between 25 and 30 staff. When you're dealing with your bus
016drivers, you're dealing with your bus age. You're also dealing with your head mechanic. And that so there's one of those situations. This is not a, you know, when I reached out to the county that kind of leads the, you know, all the training that we got to deal with and people don't quite understand when it comes to busing, our funding is tied to it. There is reports that are tied. So you it is not as simple as just choosing Ralph and putting it on. The the intricacies behind it is very hard. There's not a lot of people out there that have that experience. So finding somebody with experience is huge. If not, we can coach them up. It just takes time. All right. So willing to entertain that, but I want to give you guys
017an outline of where how this process is taking place and what that looks like. But we will be able to hopefully in April present a transportation coordinator that that person he or she will be here available to you know you guys can be able to meet because that's going to be one that is a face of our transportation department and does deal with our parents and our community on a daily basis. So we want to make sure that that works out. So I will >> deal with >> more more update on >> that. Uh, as for retirements and resignations, I would hope to have for you, I want to say by May or June, a complete list that I can show in front of everybody what that looks like. All right? Because they're they're still
018coming in. You know, I mean, we get the teachers early because they have some deadlines to meet based on their collective bargaining agreement, but now we're starting to get in our classified and other and other folks like that. Um, I got a retirement today that I was hoping that I wouldn't get today. you know, that I didn't need to get. So, that's one that, you know, it's a it's a it's a big one that we're going to have to try to replace. Or maybe we don't. I don't know. But it's it's a conversation we got to look as an admin team when it comes to looking at our financial forecast of what it is. Uh so, like I said, from a classified side, they continue to come in. Uh for staffing, uh let me just
019tell you where we're at. We're in the process of interviewing. Obviously, we're looking for uh an instructional coach right now. We are looking at our finishing up our transportation. We are looking for grounds a grounds person. Our elementaryaries are going to start interviewing next week for our elementary openings. We're at bare minimums. So we're at two at every grade level. So as a teacher retires, that's where we're at. We can't put 60 kids in a classroom or 65 kids in a classroom right now. Even that way, you know, we try to stay that 25 or under. So that's, you know, our CLA, you know, our district's about that size. That's where we're at. So right now we're looking at there's multiple elementary positions that we're trying to fill and we have internals that are looking
020to move into some of those positions which is going to open up other positions all related in the elementary. Our middle school is fairly staffed. I don't think there's anything missing in our middle school currently and our high school is fully staffed. We have nobody leaving from our high school currently. So this is really most of this is elementary driven. Um I put a food service followup. Um, I know that we had board members down at the uh the conference down at OASBO for the board conference. They did meet with some different people and asked me to follow up. There was a company that uh they wanted me to follow up that could maybe better look take a look at our food service program and make sure that we are running efficiently and tightly. So,
021I did speak with them for about an hour. Um, they basically step in and get involved under four reasons is what they said. They said you have a food service director that is retiring. You have zero replacement, which is not our case. Um, you are have a multitude of parents and community members complaining about the food. Also not our case. Uh, looking at the bigger picture to the community. I didn't know what that meant, but I didn't think that was our case. And four would be financially struggle struggling borrowing consistent consistently from your operating fund. So I'm going to say well that might fall into us because we did borrow from our operating fund and made a transfer over to to to to put us to write our ship on on for x amount of
022dollars. So we talked through that. She felt, you know, the gentleman that we that was down there that spoke to us no longer works for the company and she has taken over on that end and she felt that based on where we are currently at unless we lose our transportation or food service director and don't really find some money or there seems to be a consistent year after year major pull from your operating fund for the food side. They don't see how they could better us at this present time. They said basically they're a food service management company. So there's really two options that they run on. One, they come in and you pay them to operate your current protocol >> or they come in and take over everything and they just completely take you
023off the books, meaning payroll included. You know, they're going to run everything. Um, so I I don't have enough background to go any more than that except for that's where they were at. But in her professional opinion, meaning this is one of the first times we've ever had to do that, it would not be one. She said they're not one that takes jobs away. They're not anything like that. That's not what they do. It's just they look at what you how your operational protocols are and they and then but they basically it is still a cost to it. They said typically it's when you lose that food service director. That's where maybe there's some in, you know, a cost that offsets that. They may be able to do it better. And then they might get
024a bigger discount on some of the foods they get in versus what we get in. You know, we might get a 5 to 8% discount on a co-op. They might get a bigger co-op cost of 15 or 20. No guarantees depending on the location in the state. >> What's what's the name of the company? >> Chartwells. Chartwells. So, and it was just there's different groups down there in a board conference that give different ideas. It was one of those where their all job is to to set to give a good pitch to what it is. And a lot of times it is useful for districts depending on the districts depending on the district situation. Um I give you know it was one of those where we knew we had some financial you know to you
025know usually we don't our our kitchens are self-sufficient. Bob had some transfers there. Was it worth entertaining listening to right now? If they had a better suggestion or they said, "No, we can really help you out here at a very minimal cost or no cost." That's great, but that's not the way I took the conversation and they understood that and they were good. So, I wanted to make sure that I was followed up since that was asked. Appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Uh, let's talk about esports. So, we t I I brought this up last month. Uh, Bob has been setting aside money from some of the uh lawsuits that we've done from like the Jewel settlement. social media settlements. We've gotten in some some income. So, when you're talking about esports, most of
026our EV schools have them. Most of our area county schools have esports. Um, we've been kind of uh we looked into it with Mr. Hagen. I looked into it about two years ago. It was, we didn't know if it was quite the, you know, when we're still talking about the cuts we were making and looking at what we were doing. We just didn't want to directly pull. If we could start setting aside money that was had minimal effect on the district, that'd be worthwhile. I think that's the time. Um, so I, you know, we've obviously had we've gravitated towards girls flag football, made that an OSAA sport. Um, it'll be one of those things within the next couple months I'll be bringing esports in to have the board do a resolution to, you know, basically
027make that a sport for Marlington. Uh, we will bring in a coach. Um, it's not a spectator sport. So, this will be housed at the high school. It'll be in a room. Um, I'm meeting with Ben and a group. We spoke to Mr. Digby at Mount Union, a former employee at Marlington. He sent us basically him and I spoke on the phone at length like what we would need to set up plus what the company that they use that has warranties. So, we're going to meet with the company that the University of Mount Union uses and we're going to discuss through what we would need for a minimal startup and then kind of gauge that with the amount of money we have. I will be following up again next month with what that cost will
028be before we make any purchase. It will all go through the board uh up front so you'll have everything seen in front of you. I just want to give you an update of where we're at. So, I hope to have all that to you for next month. >> Thank you. Uh legislative update. It It's a neverending fun. So, I figured I would put into like a little packet for you in your thing that major bills that could impact Ohio schools. And that's as of today. And I'm missing some bills in there. And I'm not saying they have major impact or minimal impact. Um, I'll be completely transparent. I actually took the bills and everything that I had written down for you. I inserted it into a AI and I said give me an idea based
029on you if it would be like moderate or high impact. So this is their their guessment but I it it kind of took everything that I've kind of noted and put in there and kind of made it a little bit easier. So it's at your leisure to glance. I kind of wanted to make it, you know, you take the bill by it is. I wanted things that directly relate to the schools because there's so many bills in the legislature. They're not all directly related to schools. So, I don't want to sit there and I and I know I send you updates with this, but I kind of want to see things that were kind of more directly related to how it possibly could affect our district. So, I'm not going to go through them because
030there's I think there's in my thing there's six pages and and I none of these have passed yet, you know, and some will, some will not, you know, and these are this is the striking thing when you talk about policies or you talk about Ed Ed Holland when I give you these, they're fast moving and quick and they pass things quick and then the law comes quicker. And we'll talk about one of those tonight when we get into the policy side, you know, of a of a bill that just kind of came out. It's law. It actually becomes law March 20th and they just got it. You know, it's very it's it's quick. Um, so these are things for you to peruse. If you got questions, feel free to reach out to me. Uh, I
031do speak with our legislators now uh almost weekly. Um, at least you know, Matt Kishman, I do try to talk to O Scott quite a bit. Timkin, not so much. I mean, she's a little harder. She's a little harder to get to to get a hold of from that aspect, but they're pretty responsive if you get through them. And then obviously just, you know, we things are going to change in November when that happens, which is great. It just gives us another advocate to talk to. Any questions on that? Okay. Uh, moving forward, uh, I usually like to have Rick here tonight. Rick couldn't make it tonight. Rick said 100% he'll be here in April to give you an update on what's going on in the city of Alliance and how it affects Marlington local
032schools. Uh I know there's a lot of talk about data centers. There's a lot of talk about what's going on with land and everything else. He can kind of give you a blowby-blow what's going on around us or in the county uh from there. Um I think we've never had it. I think it might be good since we've been talking about food service. So, I asked Jackie, our food service director, to actually come and give a quick update on maybe the amount of uh meals that we fed this year per building, how that's working out, prices that we're at, just so you guys can ask any questions. I thought it might be good just to have her come. It's we've never had that. It might be good for her to give a quick update. She
033was more than happy to do that. And then obviously, we're open up Oopsy negotiations. The official open through SERB. I had to, you know, um, they're they have a new state person, so they're very official. So, we'll be open up March 23rd. I got that letter from Serb the other day. So, that's when I'll be meeting with with them on an official capacity, and I have about 60 days to try to negotiate a contract. Um, so I'm not anticipating anything out of the too crazy there, but I'll be working through that here in the next 30 days or so on that with Mr. Fost. Mr. Fost, I'll be doing. Any questions for me? That's all I got for this month. >> Next question. [clears throat] You want me to do it? Okay. Next up is
034uh we have a right before public participation, same thing. They're both public participation. Uh by law, we have to have a public meeting uh uh on the issue of remployment of Shawn Dylan or Kurt Hamilton during their service retirement. Basically, if they're going to intent is to rehire re there is two there's two teachers there that plan to retire and they would like to be rehired. Um the public has a right if they have any comments to make. Is there anybody signed up for that, Bob? >> No. Okay, >> that's it. >> Public participation. Did anyone sign up for that? >> No. >> Old business. There is none. Correct. >> Okay. >> New business. [clears throat] >> Okay. We have four items of new business tonight. The first item is not one to vote on.
035This is a recommend the board to review the policies volume 44 no number two January 2026 special update March 2026 as listed. >> Is there a first or second? >> First reading. >> Oh, that's first. >> You need a motion? >> No, you do not need a motion. So this is a first reading. So >> let me give you like this is our normal spring. Ed came and met. Um I did reach out to our board rep, Mr. Jonathan Swift. Um he was unavailable at that time. Um I did make sure that I wrote down notes. So most of these are law. All right. So if you're looking at policy, look look on here. policy 2431.06. It's on there. That is going to be a reject. All right. That is name, name, image, and likeness.
036We don't it doesn't need to be anything. It's the legislators have yet to decide on it. There's no reason for us to have a board policy on it when the legislators can't even make up their mind if we can or can't. >> So, it's not even worth a any situation on there. Uh the most of the rest of these were law related. Uh there is an artificial intelligence that's 7540 that we need to review with with Ben and Bob and Renee about what we can do from an AI purpose. We need to have that by law by July you have every board has to have an AI policy with artificial intelligence. So we need to be very careful with what >> policy mean not to use it? >> No. So we have to embrace it.
037>> Why not? >> Because we need to embrace AI. There is closed AI and open AI. What we want to stay away from is open AI. We don't want open AI >> from all AI. >> Open AI pretty much allows anything that you input in from a general sense. It learns from that, but it's also open to anybody. It's learning from a large public. A closed AI is basically censored directly on your own closed network. It's not shared to it's not learning from the worldwide. That's I guess a very layman's terms on that our colleges and universities are all for AI and embracing it in in the appropriate manner. You know, obviously it's not to do work for you, but it's actually supposed to, you know, >> I think that's the goal though. >> That's
038the goal of AI. >> In what manner, Dan, does the school currently use AI? So currently right now I don't I don't want to say I know 100% how the school uses AI. I know at the high school le the elementary level I do not think if anything if AI is used it's used at the teacher level for lesson planning. It could being used for engagement for differentiation for students um at different reading levels, math levels. It also could be used for kids with individual education plans. they can use AI to basically give them a different option when it comes to trying to come up with specific goals or whatever. I can say that from an educator level. Now, if you're getting more in the middle school, high school level, how kids may or may
039not be using AI, I know that at least at the high school level, there are some teachers that following maybe the CCP guidelines from the university or there that they're promoted to use it based on their terms. And it's like um you know let's take a writing assignment or an American lit or something they're reading they have to have a discussion or uh write down their thoughts or premises on it. So they take your your own thoughts, your premises and you say that and then you take all of that written word or typed word because we type everything now on a computer and or in a word document and you submit that and you put that in AI and say hey can you make this clean this like you know it could be grammatical it
040could be that it could just make a little bit more sense. So basically the bulk of what the statement is coming out is is yours, but it's coming in a much cleaner version. And I don't think they're shying away from that. >> So they don't have to perforate anymore. >> It's like the future spell check. >> Well, it's no different than the spell check we've had on Word when I was in in school or that where they it comes up and you hit spellch check, you know, and you have a four or 500 different correct. It's just more >> spell check. >> It's a little bit more advanced, but it's that >> version. going that way. Uh that's an example. He asked for an example. Now if if you honestly want me to say, hey,
041can we not use AI? I will happily go back to Mr. Holland and we can and you can too. You can say, hey, we would like to say, can we just dismiss this policy completely? And we don't allow our teachers or our students to use AI. But that's >> is >> we have to have something in place by July 1. If I could round out one thing that I think that Dan was trying to express >> is that about the open and closed systems is, you know, relating to our our policy and what you decide. >> Um, the open versus the closed, it's really about what we upload and the security of that information that we put out there as far as what's of concern with making a good policy. Um, we don't want to
042upload something that's sensitive that these companies would share or have their models learn or put in their databases that could be uh shared somehow and not protected like we would protect our normal data. >> Is is AI being used for grading at all? >> I do not I wouldn't say yes or no because I don't know. I've never been asked that question. I can give you an answer, but I I wouldn't know off. It's not one that's ever anybody's ever asked. I wouldn't I'm gonna I guess I don't know that answer. Josh, how about that? >> I mean, yeah. I mean, it's a legitimate concern because, you know, are the students then really going to be learning? Are they just going to ask >> they're learning how to use AI? >> It's >> they're not
043learning English, how to use a comma. >> Yeah. It's a question mark or a colon or a semicolon or an apostrophe. >> Cursive >> or cursive. already did away with, >> which is good. Which is why I like this banter because what I'll do with this, I'll just make a note here to a get it get a maybe a better clarification that I'll send you early. I'll send it in an email to you guys and then I will actually we have a um we have a superintendent meeting I think next Thursday. So I will I will bring it up as a whole because every district's in the same boat. Everybody has to [clears throat] based on the the due has to have a policy adopted by July. >> Yeah. Why why even have an English
044class anymore? >> So, >> we can just take my random thoughts out of my head, plug them into the AI, and tell them to give me a perfectly formed paragraph or a thesis statement that we're I mean, literally, we're taking English out of English, the parts that we have to learn, the shrunken white, the, you know, the the pieces that make us human and not that make us a robot. I mean, Morgan Stanley just replaced 2500 people with AI. I mean, at what point in time do we just replace all the teachers with AI? >> Well, to a degree, I guess you could make the same argument with calculators and computers in general. >> Yeah, but the calculators and computers are tools. >> They're not think they're not think AI is thinking for you. >>
045That's fine. I will get a I guess a better clarification for for everybody. No, you're good. >> Good. You're passionate. >> You're good. I love it. That's good. >> I saw Terminator to know what happens. [laughter] >> Terminator. >> Well, you you know from a from a practical standpoint in the business community, it's being used just to help like you're saying, you don't need a secretary. >> It's helping make stupid people >> type letter or I put >> I'll give you marketing material together. It's it's assisting in that way. I I don't >> Yeah. So, you don't need marketing people anymore. You totally did away. >> I don't think I don't think you at the same time. I don't think you can ignore it. people. I'm just saying ignore it and say it's it's >>
046what's the balance? >> I'll give you a great example and then if this if Kath's got it in, it's in this is I the Alliance Development Foundation did a nice board panel on AI about a month and a half ago. It had Mark Fedor, the the owner and president of Morgan Engineering, which is a global place. You had Mac Trailer there. You had Scott Robertson there and oh, I I want to say Winkle. Uh Steve Young. Am I saying that right? Maybe >> sounds right. >> And you got somebody from Mark Fedor that says, you know, you need a closed AI, which was in his in his business is Microsoft from an engineering perspective. He said typically it would take him upwards of five to eight years to hire an engineer in his company to
047get them coached up and trained to be able to do what they need to do in his company. Now with AI and his current engineering, he gets the same engineer coached up in a year. >> And how do we know AI? >> He said he said that for his company, you got to then you got a Scott Robertson on another end that says I don't I live in he called it our eye. He calls it real inventory. He goes, I deal in things that people poop in. He used it different. and I have this inventory that I sell and he doesn't use AI. He goes, "I'm gonna let you guys figure out the AI, then we'll bring it over." And then you got the other two in between, a Mac trailer and that depending on
048what type of work is needed based on their company. So, I don't know if there's a I I don't want to make a clear policy that cuts it out of our district because there are portions of our district that I think are going to need and be able to use AI in an efficient manner. At the same time, I think we need to be restrictive enough that they don't use it. So, I just want to give you those answers before we make a judgment on the policy. >> Then I think we probably need stop gaps in place as far as how our teachers use it and give them monitoring tools because how do you know that the AI is not just plagiarizing something that it wrote a different time? You know, we have 10 students
049using AI, you know, Google AI and all of a sudden they all have the same 10 papers. Are we watching for that? That's where we would use AI to check and see if they're doing that. >> No, he's messed up. >> All right, I will get more I will get more answers on that. I missed [laughter] I'm just going down the list here of some of the things. So, you still have something to say. >> You have to fight with I apologize. >> I have a good friend who works pretty high up in technology and she is she uses it and it makes her job go smoother. It has not taken a job away from one person in her company. My concern educationally is what are they going to do about our third grade tests
050and all these tests where we're forcing kids to think this through on their own and you have to write all this out in full sentences. What's the point if they don't have to do it later on? >> And I don't know if they're using AI at all at that level. You know, if you want them to think critically at the younger level, but they're not thinking critically at the older level. I get your point. Like you're asking the same thing with >> calculators. Wait a minute. It's the same thing with calculators. You have to understand the basics behind it >> before you give them a calculator so they understand the math. >> Correct. >> I I had an accountant that I hated because he made me do all payroll by hand for six months and
051then gave me a program and said here just push this button and but he wanted me to understand >> what you were doing >> what all these numbers were and where they were coming from and god forbid if everything shut down how to use it. >> I agree >> on my own. So, I want to know how the state's going to incorporate all of this in in the educational process. >> That's good. Yeah. >> I I guess we just dealt with this at home because in 8th grade, you have to write your first thesis and then then three paragraphs to uh to back it up. They were just doing that in the last couple weeks. And my daughter was like, "Why can't I just use AI to do this?" I'm like, "Because it's not it's
052thinking for >> Then you're not doing it. You're not putting the punctuation where the punctuation goes, learning how to put the punctuation where the punctuation goes, you know, learning what words to use. All of a sudden, you've got the word extrapolate in there, and you have no idea what the word extrapolate means. >> Well, to the same degree, they can use it to learn. Jonathan, I mean, >> I I think there's a fine line. I think there may be a fine line where it can be a learning tool, but not a replacement tool for kids to basically not have to think and not have to understand the English language as it's written. >> It's just this generation's cliff notes. >> Well, and that's where the teachers come into play when you you have tests or
053you have to do essays in class without without assistance. And you you're going to tell right away who's using AI to do their homework and others who aren't. >> Hopefully. on a different policy. >> Sorry. >> You've got 5223 and you have reject and what's the changes on that? >> We don't I put reject 5223 is probably my handwriting in there was just we already have a release time for religious instruction that this one was uh something established in House Bill 96. He said ours is fine. Our current policy this is for one. >> Okay. Say that again, Dan. >> It was it doesn't need to be. We already have a policy for >> uh release time for religious instruction. Uh class rank is law. Uh grading is just we need to look at our
054grading scale. So we had a meeting with Ed Holland with our guidance counselors and our curriculum just to make sure that now it's it's something new. I guess from the the state standpoint, they just want to be transparent. Like even though it's in our handbook, it doesn't mean that all their parents read our handbooks. They also want it in policy. So we're just basically transferring our handbook grading right into this is is what that is. >> Um budgets are it's just five-year forecast. It's a b review. Uh purchasing and bidding we already did in February. Uh the rest procurement of federal grant funds is law. Uh the district exempt certificate is really what it is. It's just about sales tax and how much you can use. It's a Bob thing AI. And then the last
055one which isn't on this page. It's on the It's on the main thing. It's 8,500. It was added yesterday. It's it's food service. It's called House Bill 10 and it deals with uh it they threw it in there. No one saw it. Even Ed said it caught him off guard. Caught me off guard and it it deals with what we got to basically state that we're not going to buy like certain types of food that deals with the type what goes into the meat. And I and I and it's all I know on I don't have like a great deal of >> Is that the Is that the uh lab grown meat bill? >> It might be. >> So we're not allowed to use lab grown meat. >> Oh man. It's But it >> Oh,
056darn. >> It was kind of >> something like that. >> Um see if I can Huh. >> I read about >> we weren't doing that already. >> Let me see if I I got >> between AI and lab grown meat. What are we What are we coming to? So if >> mystery meat >> Yeah. >> Possum, >> you're on fire. >> Sorry. >> So we reached out to the state specialist about this. All right. Um they basically said House Bill 10 is misbranded meat, egg, or cultivated protein food or products >> like soy burgers. >> All right. The office in nutrition, this is what the state said. This is from the educational program specialist from the Ohio Department of Education Workforce because I wanted to be able to answer you if you asked. They said
057the Ohio the Office of Nutrition is not providing any policy nor does it have the authority to oversee the compliance of this law. Ohio Vice Code 3313810 newly enacted under House Bill 10. The state is not governed by the federal USDA regulation, is not subject to the administrative review of the national school lunch program. Schools are advised to consult their district legal counsel and develop a local board policy. We heard that Niola would be putting something out soon, but is not subject to administrative review under the national school lunch standards. That is the answer I got uh at 2:36 today. Okay. >> But more importantly, are we going to have whole milk available? >> Sounds like whole milk's available. >> Whole milk is back on the table. >> I just The state has some interesting
058laws that come quick. Back to my example. That's what I was saying. They just kind of put them in place. This law technically goes into effect March 20th. Nobody has guidance and there is no oversight and there's nobody that's going to enforce it, but they have a law. on the uh >> okay >> the laboratory [clears throat] meets. >> So anyways, that is the policies. Please look over those on that piece of paper. I kind of jotted some notes. There's not a lot in there. We've been so good about keeping up with at Holland. It's it hopefully we'll our updates won't be you know that's a lot shorter than our normal large list. >> I'll follow up about AI though in the next week or Thank you. >> Perfect. No problem. >> All right. >>
059Item number two on new business. Been on new business a while. >> Yes. >> All right. Here we go. >> Let's go on. >> Recommend the motion to approve the acceptance of the following exchange student for 2026 27 school year as presented in exhibit A. >> So move. >> Second. >> Go ahead, Jo. >> What's the name? >> Uh I don't speak Italian. >> Okay. >> Lud Ludovico. You might be okay. >> You always get me. I'm like, nope. >> Okay. Uh, >> we just have one extension. I'm sure we get a few more. We always get a few, but that's what's >> from Italy. Call the RO, please. >> Mr. Swift. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ryan? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hagen? >> Yes. >> Miss Humphre? >> Yes. >> Miss Kco? >> Yes. >>
060Okay. [clears throat] Item number three. Recommend the board to approve the following resolution as shown in exhibit B. Second. >> Second. >> Jeez, what's up with you guys? >> Stop. >> This resolution is to terminate our membership in the Eastern Buckeye Athletic Conference in two years. >> Okay, >> we heard about this. Okay, call the role, please. [snorts] >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. Miss Krepo. [snorts] >> Yes. >> And the last and final item on new business tonight recommend the board to approve the following resolution as shown in exhibit C. >> Some of second. >> This is the resolution to authorize membership in the startup interscolastic athletic conference actually known as no longer the EBC be the northeast senate league.
061We will be we would be considered including founding member in that league. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Excellent. >> Call the role, please. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Miss KCO, >> yes. >> Treasurer's agenda. like to recommend that the board approve the minutes from the forecast work session on February 5th and the regular meeting on February 12th. >> So moved. >> Second discussion. >> Call the roll please. >> Mr. Hagen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Swift. >> Yes. >> Miss Humphre. >> Yes. >> Miss Krepco. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ryan. >> Yes. I would like to recommend that the board approve the financial reports for February as presented. >> So move second and highlight. >> Okay. [clears throat] The district
062finished February with a total fund balance of 7,436,02061. >> Thank you. In the general fund, we had a cash balance of 5,200,351.36, a permanent improvement $223,599.82 82 cents and uh let's see 070 a balance uh that's the capital projects fund 1,281,9301 and then just to back up a little the food service fund that Dan mentioned briefly before right now that's got a negative cash balance of about $157,000. uh the a few meetings back when I asked of a likely transfer I think the amount was 175,000 for the whole year. So so bad in that it's you know we're overspending there in the sense of of having a deficit like Mr. Swisser mentioned but I think we're on track to what was expected at this point. We'll see how the final numbers come in. We'll let
063you know. Um but just overall just to let you know u like February is a pretty low time as far as cash balances go just with the timing of the um real estate advances and actually towards the end of February we started getting money back in but there was a low time there when you're kind of between the two semianual settlements. Um but we we're good now. >> Okay. Um, we call the role, please. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> I would like to recommend that the board approve the revenue and budget revisions as presented. >> So move. Second. very light this week >> this month. >> Okay. I'd like to share a couple of
064highlights from this. Um basically what we're asking for here is to increase the budgets in u several funds and the 022 fund. Small amount uh for additional donations that were received. So that's a good thing. about $8,300 to the my care family support specialist functions going on in the district. So that's very helpful. Let's see the 300 funds asking for 5,000 5500. Yeah, 5,000 additional for student activity group budget changes that I expect. We also had a network subsidy award in fund $451. It's about $5,300 that came in. And then in fund 584, we received a little bit more funding for our stronger connections grant. So those appropriation changes will enable me to budget so that we can spend those newly received monies. Call roll, please. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >>
065yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Next item is accepting the amounts and rates. I would like to recommend that the board approve uh actually accept the rates and amounts provided by the Stark County auditor as presented. >> So move second. This is yearly, correct, Bob? >> Yes. Once per year. Yep. >> Okay. Call the roll, please. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen? >> Yes. >> Miss Humphre? >> Yes. >> Miss Krepco? >> Yes. >> Mr. Swift? >> Yes. >> I would like to recommend that the board authorize the filing of an original complaint against the valuation of real property. >> So move. Second, >> Bob can chime in on this. This was an email that comes to Bob and I. This is
066typically from Bob Marorrow. We we have a right or the board has a right to typically from our aspect. We don't even come to the board. It comes to the superintendent, treasurer to if we choose to, they'll have property owners or business owners that will challenge their valuation. So when it comes to our property owners, Bob and I typically live in the theory that the board has kind of said, "We're not here to jam our taxpayers. If taxpayers want challenge and they get it, that's good. They can lower their taxes." Vice versa. When it comes to businesses, we take a good look at it. We typically file the challenge when it comes to a business. You know, when it comes to a business, this is kind of unique. Uh this one is the property sold
067for more, >> a lot more >> and we want to make sure that Marlington is getting their money for it. So, we're going to file to get our money. Is that correct, Bob? >> Yeah. Essentially, it's uh it's saying that this sold for I think, if I remember right, roughly twice what the value was on the books. >> Yeah. For which taxes are being collected. And so, this action would uh allow us to file a complaint um or have a complaint filed on our behalf to have that higher valuation used, the sale amount, be used as the true valuation for the property. Why isn't that automatic? >> We don't know >> at the county level. When you buy a home, isn't it taxed based on >> No, >> the recent most recent sale. >> Not
068on the most recent sale. It's on the the last time it was evaluated. >> Okay. So, the next evaluation, correct, will adjust for the >> we're basically fighting to get this changed immediately. >> Okay. >> It was brought to our attention. They want to know if we want to move forward with that. I we said yes. Unless the board feels different, that's fine. go get our money. >> I mean, it's a business. >> What What property do we think this is? >> Well, just googling the address, I think come up as Applebees or Sketchers property there, but I think it's Applebees. >> Oh, they're going to spend our food. >> Um, but just for perspective, I guess we could state >> uh what was the value here? >> It's right above that on the agenda.
069>> Oh, yeah. That's where I put it. >> Yeah. 1.3 million on record with the county auditor. It sold for almost 2.7. So, it's a pretty good uh difference. >> Yeah, that's a big deal. That's a lot. >> Really up. We want to bring that to the board's attention. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, call the role, please. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. Okay. Lastly on the treasur's agenda, I'd like to recommend the board approve the donations. >> So move. >> Second. >> And what we received, what was given to the district was from Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Humphre. $100 for the care team. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Karen. Call the
070role, please. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Okay. Moving on to personnel. Um, if you are good, I would like to consent personnel 2 through 11 only. We would do a separate vote on number one. Oh. >> Oh, just >> number one is administrative contracts. I always do those a separate vote as as a group. >> Okay. >> Are we good with that? >> We're good with that. >> Are we going to do one first or? >> Yeah, let's do one first. >> Yeah, one first. Yes, sir. You good with that, Josh? >> Yeah. All right. So, personnel number one, recommend the motion to approve the following administrative contracts. Kathleen Mort, Marboral principal, August 1st,
0712026 through July 1st, 2029. Ashley Weber, Lexington, principal, August 1st, 2026 through July 31st, 2029. And Greg Travis, junior, assistant high school principal, August 1st, 2026 through July 31st, 2029. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> I I told you from day one that the our strength is our administrative team. We're small but mighty. The fact that they stay together and don't leave is a is a tribute to this to this board and a tribute to our district. Uh these three have done a tremendous job. Obviously, like anybody else, just like you guys coach me up, everybody has to be coached up, but I have uh zero concerns in their ability to continue to lead in their perspective buildings as they're doing. >> Call the roll, please. >> Mr. Swift, yes. Miss Krepco, >>
072yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> 2 through 11. Uh, we have a classified resignation. We actually have two there. We have a custodian and an educational aid. We have one certified hire, which is an intervention specialist. That's from one that left which congratulations to her. She was actually been our aid parap I'm sorry she's been our parap profofessional for about 10 to 12 years. She went back to school on her own in night school got her education degree did her own studies did through her student teaching and was able to get a license to come over to the teaching side. It just kind of worked out. So she's just moving in the ranks there. So we have a classified staff uh hire here. We
073have a new We just have a our head cook at Lexington retired as we saw. She's a new head cook. She's actually internal. She was the I guess like assistant cook at Lexington. So, she just kind of she worked her way up to head. So, that's good. We have some subhires on the certified side because we need them classified. Same amount subs. Supplemental hires. We just have a few spring hires to wrap up as they're already moving. We have some tech help that we always use for summer. We're starting a little bit early with Ben and Max. We have extended days for our two counselors. They went over a couple days for some things they had to do. So, I I wanted to make sure that they were put on the board. We have one
074disability leave. I mean, last month we uh we did a leave of absence for our custodian, Mr. Cannon. He's now going to go on disability leave. >> And we have one medical leave request for a current custodian that is retiring in September, but he has to have some surgery. Okay. So, he's going to be out for a few months. >> Is there a motion? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Which which building are we lives on? >> All of the high school. >> All the high school. >> The one that resigned. >> Yes. Okay. Every custodian mentioned in this personnel is high school related. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> We are We are currently hiring custodians. >> Are we hiring custodians? I think we are. >> You need [laughter] that. >> Anybody
075wants a job? Okay. >> We got them. >> All right. >> Plenty. >> How How many? Honestly, how many is that? >> We're going to be looking at probably looking at hiring three custodians either through retirement because of disability or the retirement dragon. And we've been down one we haven't been able to find. So, it's or the one that just res uh turned in a resignation this past week. So, it's um we're looking for good people that that want to work, make a decent living, and have a a good great benefit program. That's where we're at. >> Nice. Okay. Call the RO, please. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. um upcoming events. Stick with our stick
076to our website. I mean, March is a pretty athletically slow month, okay? We're really things heat up in April. We got a lot of scrimmages and those types of things going on, but our kids are just getting trained up. April, May is when stuff's really going to get busy for there. Um obviously, we're heading into spring break here, March 3rd through April 6th. Um, so our kids and staff will be off during that time and then we will be heading into April May before we wrap up the school year. It's gonna come quick. >> Okay. Executive session. Is there a motion for the school board to recess into executive session pursuant to revise code 121.22 G1 to consider the employment compensation of a public employee? >> So move. >> Second. >> Call the role, please.
077Mr. Swift, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Will we be taking any action after the executive session? >> We will be not be taking any action. Correct. >> Not that I'm aware. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, let's just Should we We The next board meeting is uh April 9th. >> Oh, we need to talk about that. Yeah. >> Well, we'll have to come back and talk about it. >> Yeah. >> Because we just we just >> Okay. They were out at what time? Seven of you. Okay, we're back in at 7:53 p.m. >> Next board meeting. >> Okay, now the next board meeting. Um, April 9th is a conflict for >> Kathy and Bob. So, >> what do
078we want to look at here? >> You want to do it the same week or >> can we can we go April 8th? >> Wednesday night, >> Tuesday. I could do Tuesday. >> Wait, >> Monday or Tuesday? >> I could do those as well. >> Calendar mark, which means the meeting. >> It's not here. >> H >> I don't have my calendar, but >> it's usually >> uh Monday we don't have school. That's the day after Easter. We could do a meeting that day if you wanted to. Tuesday is also fine. >> Which Monday? April 6th or April 7th >> or April 7th. Which works best for everybody? >> April one best for me. >> April 7th. >> That's a Wednesday. Tuesday. >> Tuesday. >> Yeah. Tuesday, April 7th would be great with me. >>
079Out of all the services, the one I could probably skip. >> Okay. At 6 PM. >> Unless it's [clears throat] up to you. If you want to go the following Thursday, the 16th, you could do that, too, if you'd like to stay in that that that trend. I think. Didn't Bob say he was out that week? >> Oh, yeah. He's got a conference or something. >> That's when I'm in Columbus for my conference. >> Oh, okay. I apologize. >> Okay. Let's say April 7th at 6 p.m. then. >> Okay. Is there a motion to adjourn? >> So move. >> Second. >> All the role, please. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Mr. Hagen, >> yes. >> Miss Humphre, >> yes. >> Miss Krepco, >> yes. >> Mr. Swift, >> yes. All right. Thank you.