001I know my brothers are going to be watching. Watch. So obviously, you know Are your children here? Yeah, my my dermatologist, she's Well, one's in Strongsville, one's down one's in Aurora. So one's down the valley. My youngest son bought my parents a house. Oh, nice. Yeah, so yeah, they're they're Yeah, but they have have very nice job. Basically like you say they value Which is wonderful. It is. It is. Yeah. My brother's kids are all in Yeah. Good evening. Well, I thought I could call the meeting for the uh Springfield local school board's meeting for special meeting for Wednesday, May 6th, 2026. Is Mr. Adams Mrs. Farola Yes. Mr. Lance Here. Mr. Hofer Here. Mrs. Warner Yes, here. Mr. Mason Here. They are present. Would you please stand for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to
002the 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 you. Okay, our next item is board members informal, and we just had a meeting, and I haven't been to anything since then, so I don't have anything to add. Does anyone here We had the top 25 formal. Uh we had the top 25. >> Oh, duh. >> Yeah, we did have that. I have been somewhere. All right, I'm sorry. Uh yeah, the top 25 as usual. And this is year 29. Yes. I think. You started it, didn't you? Well, but I don't remember how long. Okay, thanks, 29. Well, I didn't start it. Michelle Hannah did. It was my first year at the high school as an administrator,
003and I walked into Mr. Curry, Dr. Curry's office. He was the uh principal at that time, and I heard them talking about this program that one of our teachers had seen. Uh and she wanted to know could she do it, and um well, let's give it a try. And so, 29 years later, I think she has it all down, and it it really does. And for the community that might be watching and don't know, we um the top, according to grade point average, 29 students in the class of 2026 were honored, and they were given the opportunity to honor a significant educator in their life, and it could be anyone that education-wise impacted their life. It was a really nice evening. It was. And then, I thought what was pretty cool was that some of
004them even picked their elementary teachers. Yeah. Which was pretty neat. Coaches, teachers, >> Yeah. PLCC instructors, yeah. And coaches. Yeah, so it was pretty cool. We added that probably about 10 years ago, cuz they are teachers, whether they're on staff or not. So, Mr. Hover? Well, just add to that. What was amazing to me cuz I always write down where they're going and cuz I take it home and let my wife see it. And every one of them, I believe, was had college credit plus courses. So, that was very impressive. Yeah. It's a vibrant program in our our district. Yeah, good night. Just wonderful to see them. It It's fun to listen to the the students speak and honor their teachers and coaches or or staff and then also hear the teachers, you know, uh
005couple of those were kind of entertaining, uh to say the least, but uh it really nice to hear, just a nice event to see and hear them honor their teachers that that maybe molded them or helped them or or got them through something. So, uh Mother Nature's really not cooperating very well this spring for baseball, softball. Um I There is a track meet tonight, which they uh they go pretty much unless there's lightning, but baseball baseball, softball just it hasn't been a great uh spring weather-wise for that. So, we're still We're still fighting through that, but uh the baseball team senior night is Friday night, so I'm sure they would appreciate, you know, anybody coming out having a nice crowd there for that against Mogadore, which in 2 years will be probably our newest rival,
006uh being next town over. So, I think that's it. Okay. Parker? I Yeah, this time of year is the best part. I mean, it's the busiest, but it's the best to be able to see them graduate and, you know, for them to get to go to prom and the top 25 and all the things that they get to do towards the end to wrap it up. It's really a great time, and I think what really adds to the greatness is we got a break this year. We had no nothing on the ballot this time. We got to just breathe and um but other districts do their thing and handle their ballots, but we got to relax and we just get to enjoy the end of our year. So, I'm pleased for that. So. Mhm. Thank
007you. This looks like Kelly. Yeah. I I I just like to um you know, I I really enjoyed it. That was probably my first top 25. Maybe I've been to one previous, um it was nice. I think that um it's nice for our teachers and it's nice for the students. Um Miss Knight does a great job with that and uh it was great to see them being recognized and the teacher also um you know, being recognized as well. So, it was it was great. I enjoyed it. And it [snorts] was good night. They appropriately had nice thing the students had an opportunity to thank their parents and with Mhm. you know, they were that was their evening, too. So, uh I'm glad that they did. Okay. >> great. >> I didn't add anything. No, I
008was just going to say that, you know, when you were talking about the teachers, um this and I know you did it back in your day, but then they got away with it with um the teachers knew who their top 25 person was. This time they didn't until they got there. So, what they were saying was off the cuff. Oh, really? Or yeah, or it would have been another 2 hours. Um >> [laughter] >> and because they they usually write like these long speeches and bring books and pictures and everything, but they didn't know, so what they were saying about the student was really off the cuff. I mean, because they didn't know that um who who their person was. Okay, that's interesting. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's how it originally started.
009Yes. And then like I said, the teachers were feeling anxiety they're going up there, but then it came back, so. >> Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I thought it was I thought it was a nice evening or fun when they cuz the of course the teachers knew when they walked in and they saw Right, that's when they knew. Right. You'd hear them say, "Oh, I thought that's who it would be." So, it was nice. Okay, the next item of business is citizens' comments on agenda items are welcome at this time. Um are there any citizens' comments? Okay, seeing none, then we will move to personnel. It is recommended that the board accept or approve the following personnel hired items. Accept the retirement resignation of certified employee Melinda Weakland effective June 1, 2026. Employment employ the
010following as 100% intervention specialist teachers per the negotiated agreement pending proper licensure and pre-employment screening and this hiring is effective 2026-27 school year. And those new hires are Hannah Myers and Julia Weinstein. 6.3 employ Gianna Murphy as assistant treasurer at step three year three of the exempted employees benefit and salary agreement for a one-year contract. Pending proper licensure and pre-employment screening effective June 1, 2026. And tenure approve the tenure for the following certified employees that have met the Ohio revised code 3319.08D and or 3319.11B for a continuing contract effective the 26-27 school year. Those are uh names are Brittana Brit Brittany Brittany, sorry. Uh Glasgow, Claire Miller and Julia Repasky. [clears throat] So moved. Second. Okay. Um so just a couple that I'm going to talk about uh Melinda Weakland. So that's going to be
011a a hit for the school. Uh Melinda began her teaching career at Springfield as a sixth grade teacher for the 95-96 school year at Sawyerwood. And in 2000 and 2001, she became the counselor at Roosevelt and Schrop. And then she continued at Schrop until she moved to the high school in 2006-2007, and that's where she is ending her career at Springfield. So, she's somebody that's going to be definitely missed and somebody who's been a staple in in the high school. And as a counselor, 31 years? Is that right? years? 32 for her. >> 32 years? Okay. Yeah, she had it wouldn't be 32 specifically with Springfield because she did have a couple years at the previous district. Okay. And then I'm going to go I'm going to jump in and you guys for the 10-year.
012We did 10-year the last one for the three for Britney, Claire, and Julia. They just turned in their stuff to to be put on to three year. So, we have someone else here. Yeah, we did well that Okay, we're going to go with before he goes, I'm going to let her know. So, we are very fortunate and unfortunately, they're not here to be recognized tonight or introduced to the board, but we are welcoming Hannah Myers and Julia Weinstein to our staff here at Springfield. Hannah's coming to us after graduating Norton High School. She attended Ashland College and she spent the past 3 years in Barberton as an intervention specialist. Unfortunately for Barberton, but fortunately for us, they're going through the financial aspects, but we are going to get a fine teacher from this because she's
013coming over due to a riff. Julia is a graduate of Stow High School and then she attended Kent State University. She then moved to Findlay area. So, she taught at Findlay area schools and then Riverdale schools for over 3 years. She is moving back to the area to be with family and she just received her master's degree from WGU in January. So, she will be joining us also as an intervention specialist in the district. And you know, I just um before you go, um just very lucky for the amount of the quality of the teachers that are coming interviewing with us. I mean, it's it's I mean, we're getting hard. It's it's we're really lucky. I mean, we're getting a lot of um teachers wanting to teach here. And we're really getting our pick of
014what we want to do. Sounds like a lot of So, we're excited. Just as an example, we just had one one position posted and we had 42 applicants for one job. Wow. >> Wow. Something? Yeah. More work for Mary, but Um Mary's been very Mary's been very busy these last couple days. Okay. Dustin? All right. We do have here this evening Gia. She is the candidate for the assistant treasurer position. She's a graduate of Talmadge High School and has her bachelor's degree in business administration. She's worked for a few years as a um employee in the treasurer's office at another district. Um so, comes with us from experience and um you know, working expanding her knowledge. She I know she recently attended, I think, the last 2 years the Ohio School Business Officials Conference and
015learning sessions there and everything. So, I think she's got a lot of great ideas for uh what she can do to help the help the district and make things go well around here. Okay. I'd like to add in that she's also done some coursework in school law and school finance in order to move towards the treasurer's office area. What What university? I went to Kent State. Kent State? Yeah. And then my additional classes were through the University of Dayton. Okay. Very good. Congratulations. And And I was a principal. Oh. And And And Jeff was our superintendent. What [laughter] did you say, sorry? No, I did not. I I guess that's what I heard. That's what I heard. Is this the invasion of the Blue Devils? Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Blue Devils. Very good. Congratulations. Welcome
016aboard. Welcome. We're glad to have you. Good. Did we motion that? Yeah, we did. >> We need to vote. Mr. Mason. Yes. Mrs. Warner. Yes. >> Mr. Holfert. Yes. Mr. Lyons. >> Yes. Mrs. Sproul. Yes. And congratulations. >> [applause] >> Number seven. Personnel two. It is recommended that the board approve the following personnel items. 7.1 is summer school credit recovery. Approve Steve Shafer as an online summer school credit recovery grades 9 through 12 instructor for summer 2026 at the approved rate of $28.25 per hour. This position is an online position with a maximum of 2 hours per day for 27 days for a total maximum of 54 hours. Uh resident educator mentors and facilitators. Approve the following teachers to serve as resident educator mentors facilitators for the 2026-2027 school year pending proper licensure and completion
017of the required training as on an as-needed basis. The training is an on and is at as needed. As yes. But the their use of it is and I will not go through the list. I think it's still as shown on the board agenda. The next is LPDC committee members. Approve the following certified staff members to serve as LPDC members for the 26-27 school year per the negotiated agreement and those members are Wendy Bluey, Tim Burns, Christie Hubert, Kelly Humananski, Mary Meadows, and Kim Starkey. So moved. Second. Mr. Adams, it's been moved and seconded. >> Okay. Now just quickly summer school credit recovery. So that Steve does that and the kids pay for that, right? >> They pay $100 per per course. So cuz what we do is we allow seniors, juniors second half of
018the year seniors to do it during the day. So we can get them to graduate, but if they're sophomore or freshman, they have to go to summer school for it. So Steve's been doing it now for for forever and ever and ever leadership. Resident educators, do you want to just real briefly >> Sure. With the influx of new teachers that we're having, it's required by law to provide resident educators mentors. So we're giving them someone who's in the district who teaches either a similar grade level or a similar subject the mentor in that area so they can create a go-to person in order to support their first couple years here at the district. Every year it does change. So if you have a if you have mentor A this year, it's not necessary that you
019would have mentor B or mentor A next year in year one and two. This used to be a four-year program, which is why the word facilitators is on there. It's now a two-year program because Ohio did trim down the program back to two years instead of four. And they took away what was used to be called the resident educator um exam. So, if they called it Res I, and they took away the Res I exam. So, teachers finish up their residency in two years, kind of like doctors do residency, and then they get to go and spread their wings all by themselves. But we never leave them all by themselves. >> And then LPDC? Um LPDC is local professional development committee. We talk in acronyms all the time around here. So, what the LPDC does
020is teachers will turn in their plan for the next five years. Once you renew your license, you just you develop a plan called an ippity-dippity. Like I said, we like our acronyms. So, the that plan is exactly the professional development that you want to do for the next five years in your next license renewal. So, you spend five years working on that plan. Um and you try to align your individual professional development to align with that plan in order to renew your license. In order to renew licenses, teachers need 180 seat hours, six credit hours, or 18 CEUs, or a mixture of all of those in to do the renewal, and LPDC verifies all those things and signs off with the state of Ohio that those were completed so that teachers can get their new
021license. And and they also make sure that with the classes that they're taking follow their follow their >> their plan. Cuz this happened about 20 years ago. Prior to that, if you wanted to take like basket weaving 101, Oh, look at your hand. Mhm. professional development that's going to help you teach English. Type thing. So, it's it's it's to help you >> I did. Okay, Cynthia. [laughter] Okay, we're going to pass. I'm going to go back and look at your transcripts and see what classes you [laughter] took cuz that's what I'm going to go do. >> I'll check this out later. Yeah. All right. Ready? >> Okay. Mr. Adams. [laughter] Mrs. Warner. Yes. Mr. Mason. Yes. Mr. Hofer. Yes. Mrs. Ferola. Yes. >> Mr. Hines? Yes. All right, motion passed. At this time, we have
022an opening for for citizens comments. Um Any citizen comments tonight? All right, seeing none then number eight nine, executive session, a motion please. So moved. Second. >> [clears throat] >> It's recommended that the board go into executive session at this time to consider personnel matters. I jumped the gun here. Mr. Mason? Yes. Mrs. Warner? Yes. Mrs. Frola? Yes. Mr. Hines? Yes. Mr. Hofer? Yes. Okay. Okay, motion passed. If this >> Thank you. You guys can go. We're done. Thank you and congratulations. Um June 1st? Nice to meet you. All right, we'll see you then. Enjoy your month off because you >> [laughter] >> All right. Um it's good to see you guys. There will be no board action following executive session. Hey Mary, we'll see you then. You guys can go. Okay. All right.