Board of Education Meeting 1.12.26

001episode library. Oh my gosh. I think you know passes down, >> right? Call the Tescross Valley Local School Board organization meeting to order. Please call the role. I mean first do the oath of office. I called it to order. >> Oath of office. You states the state of Ohio faithfully and partially discharge your duties of education district after your successor is elected and qualified. I do. >> I do. >> Now, can I have roll call, please? >> Present. You please stand for the pledge of allegiance, followed by Mr. Overton with the invocation. 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. >> Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for just another opportunity

002to come together and do the business of Tusky Valley. Lord, we just ask that you continue to protect our teachers and our staff and our faculty and our students. And uh Lord, we just uh give this next year to you as we begin a another exciting year at Tusky Valley in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> Dr. Ransky, is there any additions or corrections to the agenda? >> Uh there are not. >> Okay. Being this is the first meeting of the year, I'd like to read the mission statement of the Tuscross Valley Local Sto School District. will focus on high achievement for all students by providing a challenging curriculum in a positive learning environment. There are five board of board of education goals. One, provide a safe and positive environment for our students and staff

003focused on students educational success. Provide quality provide quality educational and learning opportunities for all students. demonstrate financial responsibility and integrity by maximizing resources spending conservatively and operating efficiently. Number four, maintain credibility and open communications with students, parents, staff, employers, and the community. And five, strive for educational equality. Equality so that all students have access to relevant and challenging academic experiences and educational resources necessary for success across race, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, family background, andor income. At this time, we'd like to do election of officers. Is there a nomination for president? I nominate Amy Burer for the office of 2026 president for the for the Tuscar Valley local school district. >> Is there any other nominations? >> We need a second for Amy Burrier. >> I'll second for Amy. >> Um, is there any other nominations

004at this time? Is there an Is there a motion to close nominations and cast an unanimous ballot? >> I will close the nominations. >> I'll second. >> Roll call for Amy Burer as president. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Next we'll do nominations for vice president. Is there a nomination for vice president? I will nominate Sally Green. Is there a second? Second. >> Any other nominations? Hearing? None. A motion to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. Call the role for Sally Green. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Green, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yes. >> Mr. Ber, >> yes. On to organ organizational new business. Is there uh we need to set dates and times for

005our regular meetings? I make a motion that we continue Mondays the the second Monday at 6 PM. >> Any ch any disagree? >> Beach off the table. Hm. >> Yes. Um >> and the location will be here. >> Yes. In the community room. >> I think six is a good time. >> Is everybody okay with six still? >> Does that is that >> okay? >> Five. >> We can do earlier if people want it, but >> what's best? You're a business owner. >> Better. Six. Good. >> Okay. Um, >> one or two still. >> Okay. I need a motion to approve the second 6:00 here in the Tusky Valley Community Gr. >> Make a motion. >> Second. >> Call roll. >> Mr. Totti. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Green. >> Yes.

006>> Mr. Overton. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burer. >> Yes. Item number B. Establish a service fund recommended by the treasurer as provided by by the OC 3315.15 in the amount of $5,000 to pay expenses actually acrewed by board of education members and their official representatives in the performance of their duties. Do I have a motion to approve? >> I make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Call Rule. >> Mrs. Green? >> Yes. >> Mr. Riverton? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Totty? >> Yes. >> Mr. Brier? >> Yes. Item C, acknowledge board of education meetings compensation for all board members at a dollar $125 per meeting, no more than 12 meetings per year. Do I have a motion? >> I make the motion. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Call roll. >>

007Mrs. Green. >> Yes. >> Mr. Overton? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Delotti? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burer? >> Yes. Item D. Establish board member compensation at the rate of $60 a day for trainings up to three hours, $125 a day for training more than three hours per day for attendance at the Ohio School Boards Association conferences and other conferences related to member board member duties. Do I have a motion? >> I make the motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Green? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Overton? >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> M. Ber. >> Yes. Item E, approve Jason Phillips as a superintendent's designate responsible for temporary fulfilling district leadership and operational responsibilities in the absence of the superintendent due due to the superintendent's

008absence, unavailability, incap incap >> incapacitation. I thought that's what it said, but it kind of makes me nervous. Or other extentuating circumstances. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Green, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mr. Delotty, >> yes. >> Mr. Bur, >> yes. I was like, okay. Item F, designate the official newspaper for the school district. Uh, I make the motion we continue to use the bargain hunter. >> I will make that. Did you make the >> motion? Is Bargain Hunter sound good to everybody? >> Yeah. I just have a question, Barb. Now that the bargain hunter is consolidating, will they still um keep our information in the paper? >> They promised me that it all be the same. It's just

009all three of those papers are gone together. >> Okay. Thank you for that. >> All right. I make >> it still be called the bargain hunter. >> Yeah. Tesla. Okay. Tuscalis period. Not north. Yeah. South middle. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. All right. I make that motion. And I also think we should just note that bargain hunter being the paper is great and but also our uh agendas, notices and anything like that are always on the district website and social media. So look at those two things and the bargain. >> Okay. Um call the role. >> Oh, second. >> I'll second. >> Call the role, please. >> Mr. Green, >> yes. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mr. Gotti, yes. >> Mr. Brier, >> yes. Item G. I'm

010not going to read through all this. This is the annual bi business business resolutions. Uh do I have a motion for items A or items G1 through 21 for these? >> I make a motion. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Call the role, please. >> Can I just have a question? Yeah. >> Answer. Derek, we don't have any new ones, right? I look through these and I think these are all standard that we do every year to do these business of the district. Correct. Y. >> Okay. Just one to verify. Thank you. And I believe those are available if somebody wants to go through those on our on our on it'll be on the uh what's it called? Minutes. Um make a motion. Please >> call the roll. >> Call the role. >> Mr. Fischer.

011>> Yes. >> Mr. Totti. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Green. >> Yes. >> Mr. Overton? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burrier. >> All right. Item. Next item. Administrative appointments. Um just to review with everybody. Personal and personnel and benefits is Sally Miss Sally Green and myself. Fine arts will be Sally Green and Morgan Totti. Athletic is Amy Burrier and Ben Overton. Builds and grounds is Ben Overton, Sally Green with Adam Fischer as an alternate alternate. Policy is Adam Fischer and Morgan Totti. Um safety and security is Amy Burer and Adam Fiser. Legislative Lison is Sally Green. Student achievement is Adam Fischer. Capital conference delegate is Ben Overton. and I am the alternate delegate for public conference. >> Okay. Do I just say this by my end? Now we're going into the regular meeting. >> Okay. Now we

012will be going into the regular meeting as our agenda stated item number six. Dr. Bransky, I do not believe we have any public participation at this time. >> Not tonight. >> Okay. And with that, with no public participation, we'll move on to item number seven, which is our superintendent report. >> All right. Well, thank you, Mrs. Burer. Uh, item A under my report is going to be the public hearing of the 2026 2027 proposed district calendar. So, if you picked up an agenda packet when you came in, it is the last page. Uh, so let me scroll to that. Besides, it's not on my digital copy. So, hopefully you have a paper one in front of you. um calendar is very similar to what we had this year. Uh this calendar is put together by

013the superintendent's advisory council which is a group of staff uh and students that meet with me quarterly. Um and so we look through what makes the most sense for professional development days. Uh what makes most sense for breaks uh we try to even uh make sure the nine weeks are even. Uh and so it has us starting back with staff on August 14th. That is a Friday. Uh and then two inservice days the following week with all students coming on August 19th which is a Wednesday. Uh it is it seems to work out when we have a shorter week that first week with students. Uh we are taking an inservice day on September 25th that is coincides with the Tuscross County Fair. Uh that is the family day. So we try to give everybody that

014day off so they can get to the fair if they choose to. Uh and uh another PD day at the end of the first nine weeks at the end of October. Uh we are continuing with the the Thanksgiving break with the additional Wednesday off there. That seemed to work this year. Two weeks at Christmas. uh we will end the second semester, end of the second nine weeks once we come back on January 8th. Uh another uh teacher inservice day in February. Uh and then in March, we go into the end of the third nine weeks and then a week-l long spring break uh at the end of March. Uh April then is uh full steam ahead as we get through state testing and wrap the year up. Uh and this concludes on the 26th with

015students, uh May 27th with staff, so everybody is out before Memorial Day. uh it maintains 175 student days, the same as we have this year, and the contract at 184 days uh for teachers. Uh we far exceed the number of hours expected by the state. Um so we're good there. And and like I said, we try to make the grading periods that you'll notice that the first and fourth are a little bit longer um just to take advants early. Uh so our AP teachers, CCP teachers want to make sure that we have enough days uh to cover their content before they're done. Um-wise, I think it's a pretty good calendar. Any questions from the board on this? >> No, this will be our first year of a full week of actual full week. >> This

016is the first the current school year is with for the spring break, you mean? >> Yeah. So, we are now starting to go full week instead of the half week. >> And then what about snow days? Does this um allot that we will not have to add to the calendar? >> Makeup days may occur pending additional board approval. So, that would require your board action on that. >> Okay. Uh we have changed with uh with with at least the classified union that after 5 days all of those staff report so we we've made those changes and so the making up the snow days isn't as big of a factor anymore. So >> okay. >> All right. That will come to you in February for your uh official approval then. >> Get back to where I

017was here. Um item B under my report, community maker space. Uh we just want to make the public and the board know uh we have done some work in room 119 here in the administrative building. Uh it is one of the old biology labs. So using door 4, it's the last hallway down on the right. Um we've been we do maker space every month through the 21st century grant. It's one of our most popular classes that people sign up for. Um and so we are giving community maker space a permanent home, a place for our 3D printers, um the Cricut machines, a bunch of other devices, and so that there's a home for that. So those classes will now happen in that room. uh family paint nights through the 21st century will happen in that

018room. Uh so just a central place on campus for all of that. Uh that room will be open during the day to adults. Uh so if you're interested in using that uh you'll be able to stop in the main office and sign out the key uh and then use that room. So um I'll be around at the end of tonight if any of the board members would like to check that space out um you can do so. We do have a maker space scheduled for the end of this month. Um and that will be the first night that that that those that class takes place in that room. So we're excited to have that that space come online here. Uh and then item C under my report, January is schoolboard appreciation month and we really

019do appreciate each board member. Uh each uh each of these members spends an incredible amount of time, a lot of it is just reviewing documentation, reviewing updates, um staying in tune with legislative updates, attending meetings. Uh so we appreciate the the incredible amount of time that each one devotes to the school district. Uh to recognize all of our members tonight, I have asked the 21st century afterchool program uh and Mrs. Clemens and Mrs. Veransky to give a highlight not only of their program uh but they will they also have a a present for you. >> Are they going to face us or do we need to go? >> Yeah, they'll present. They'll face you. >> What grade are they in? We are currently in our third year of the afterchool program funded um as part

020of a five-year grant. And this is just a small selection of students that are here tonight to recognize our photography program. That's one of 96 different courses that we offer throughout the school year. Um this program actually has started clear back when we had the middle school high school grant. Mrs. Veransky was able to lead that photography program. And we actually have some high schoolers here that kind of benefited from that program when that was in place. But these are our current photography students, just a small selection of them. And they worked on a project this last session that they wanted to share with you. But just a little bit of a note on the program. Mrs. Ransky leads sessions up from between 10 to 20 students uh teaching concepts such as light, color, pattern,

021and focus. Students apply these concepts through projects designed by Mrs. Veransky. And on photography nights, you'll see groups of these students kind of wandering around the building and working collaboratively to complete those projects and apply those skills. They then come back as a whole group. They discuss and review their work and edit their work so that they come out with pristine pictures. The program emphasizes individ individuality and creative thinking, requiring students to explore various locations within the buildings and grounds. But when you have 20 students wandering around the building, we sometimes will need an extra hand. So, we also have enlisted some extra high school mentors for the program. And Addy Brown's one of our mentors that helps with our our um photography program and they're very used to Addie being around and helping them

022with the cameras and the technology that they're utilizing. But tonight was really about you, our board. We wanted to thank you just a little bit about our program or tell you a little bit about our program, but thank you for the impact that the program has made and your support um to our students through the program. But the kids wanted to share just a few little things. Marcela, what's one thing that you've learned from photography class? >> That there are certain parts of the camera that need taken care of. >> That's right. So, we have technology that we have to take care of. Lizzy, did you want to add to any anything to that? Tell the board what you've learned. >> I learned how to use the camera a lot and how to zoom in

023and zoom out. >> Ah, zooming very important when you get to see the projects that they created for you. Kirby and Meline, what are some of the best parts of photography class? >> Um, probably getting to be with your friends and um take pictures, >> exploring new things, and like learning. >> Excellent. Zeke Malachi, what do you love most about the after school program in general? >> Um, that you get to discover new things in it. >> You get to but also learn new things. >> Excellent. Lastly, we wanted to thank you for your ongoing support. >> Thank you for your >> uh dedication >> dedication to our district. Mrs. Ransky, can you help Lizzy and Maddie? >> Serving as unpaid volunteers, you balance community values with district needs. Your dedication involves critical listening, continuous

024learning, strategic policymaking, ensuring accountability, and acting as citizen leaders for our district's future. service to our students and staff. Zeke, can you see Mrs. Rowan? And Zeke, can you see Mrs. Ransky? You act as the public's voice to create policy, ensuring financial health and hold the district accountable for student success. You focus on big picture goals, advocate for children, build community trust, and make decisions in the best interest of our students. Thank you for your constant >> commitment to our community and school by dedicating significant personal time and effort to benefit the educational welfare of our entire community. You can >> Thank you for your >> leadership >> for our future. As our board of education, you drive our district's vision and ensure accountability for student success. success acting as the community servant leader. >>

025Thank you so much. I've always wanted one of these. I am so excited. >> And lastly, thank you for your >> passion for student success and lifelong learning. You champion student successes, engaging the community and make tough decisions for the district's future. Thank you for your for always supporting teachers, administrators, and staff to create equitable, high-erforming schools. This is just one example that you have in front of you of our students talents and gifts that would not have been discovered without our afterchool program. So, thank you for your ongoing support. >> Can we ask some questions now before you sit down? >> And a picture. >> Did they take these pictures? >> These are all you guys found all of this stuff. every single one and they're all different. >> Yeah, I know. >> Those

026are over eight years. So, actually, Algra has two of those photos. Broy Wolf has some photos. Addie's has some. >> Well, thank you so much. >> A little bit of mix from >> Okay. Can we get a picture with the board with the with the students? >> And our and our beautiful pictures of them. You want me to take it for you? >> I know it's going to be a little tough. >> Oh, hey, just hold them up way high or go up the kids and holding a couple of them facing. >> Here, I'm gonna have you hold. Don't drop down just a little bit. Hold this one. >> We're all going to smile. >> One second. >> Could you imagine if you're in the background like this? You and Dink, the leader of photography

027class. Excellent. Kids, >> thank you. >> We're just going to keep one. Lizzy and Maddie, why don't you keep yours for just a second? We'll have the rest of the kids kind of surround. >> They want just a picture of the kids. Yeah, >> we go back >> to hang it up when I get >> I do not know. >> I love that. I mean, they're all so unique. I know. >> Just going to take them all home. >> Heidi, thank you so much. >> The best gift ever. It's so cute. smile. >> No, I told Derek that next board meeting like we're having a board meeting. I'd like him to use that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> We got it. Okay. Stay right there, kids. >> We're gonna do one more with

028Mrs. Veransky and and Addie. Ready? >> Excellent. >> Thank you so much and every one of you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Let's give them a big round of applause. VERY COOL. UH, thank you and again, thank you to our board of education. Uh, Mrs. Burer, that concludes my report. >> Okay, >> I lost track of that. Item number eight is our leadership team reports. We'll start with Mrs. Clemens. >> Yeah, the only thing I need to add is just a reminder that we are in the middle of our benchmarking assessments. Next board meeting, I'll give you the update from our growth from fall to winter. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Phillips with high school, middle school. I'll start with the >> student of the month. I'll start with Sydney Miller. >> Oh, this. >>

029Okay. Sydney is our student of the month for leadership this month. Um, she's a senior. She's a daughter of Jeff and Jennifer Miller. Her school activities include playing basketball. She played volleyball. She's also a member of Hope Squad. Um, in her free time, she enjoys playing a variet a variety of sports, especially pickle ball, and hanging out with her family and friends. And after graduation, Sydney plans to attend Walsh University to major in exercise science while also being involved in her church. So, congratulations And next is Allegra McMillan. Um, Allegra McMillan is our fine artist of the month and she's also a senior, the daughter of Siobhan and Casey McMillan. And her school activities include being in the band, pep club, drama productions, pep band, and speech. And her nomination had something to do with

030leading as a student director for um >> Oh my goodness. Charlotte's Web. >> Thank you. Charlotte's Web >> and which was great. Um in her free time she participates in Girl Scouts, bakes, reads books, and plays video games. And after graduation, she plans to attend college to become an architect. CONGRATULATIONS. OH, SORRY. >> Thank you. >> Um, I'll as they come back down, um, our athlete of the month was Tori Wilson. I imagine she has wrestling tonight and so she was not able to be here. Um, she has done wrestling all four years. She is a senior and she, uh, two weeks ago, I believe, hit the 100 career win mark. So, that was quite an accomplishment. So, wanted to mention her. >> It's right here. We're going to try this again. >> Ready? >>

031Thank you. >> Congratulations. Um I would also like to add like to highlight um on so the last day before Christmas break we did our second social mo social social emotional learning session and that one was gratitude and I would say it was probably one of the coolest ones we've done. Um at the high school we took the day and Mrs. Shaw actually led and organized which was uh her and a couple other teachers a day of gratitude. So the students, all the high school and middle school students, um made ornaments and cards and then later in the afternoon, um they each took part of their lunch periods and then walked to the elementary and every elementary kid then was given an ornament and a a card that they had written something on. So it

032was pretty cool seeing the obviously you see the little kids, they think it's awesome having the big kids, but it was pretty cool seeing the the older kids interact with the younger kids and see watching their facial expressions, stuff. So, that was pretty cool. Um, and on the 23rd of this month, so a couple Fridays away, we have our third one, which is Mind Matters. Um, and that one's a couple hours in the afternoon. So, if you want to come see what we do um for our social emotional learning sessions, you're welcome on the 23rd. That's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Uh, Mr. street. >> Hello. Um, January is an exciting time to be at the elementary school. Uh, today we had our PBIS winter reboot. So, every student in the elementary school

033should be able to tell you our three core values. I didn't tell them ahead of time. Can all of our elementary kids, we say Trojans are >> safe, respectful, and responsible. >> That was everybody. That was a somebody required. But yeah, safe, respectful, responsible, and we preach that over and over and over again. And so we try to tie all of our expectations and our behavior back to those three things. Um, we had fun, games, activities on the stage. And, uh, Mrs. Mackey and our counselors do a great job leading that. So, we had that today. And we also, again, I've talked about before, have a fantastic PTO. We have penny wars going on right now. Um, they're digital. There's class competitions. We have announcements at the end of the day who who's brought in

034the most. And again, this is all going to the PTO that um pours a lot back into our students and our teachers. And the thing I always talk about is SAT we have coming up at the end of the year where we will talk about every single one of our 700 kids um how they're doing socially, um emotionally, academically. Um and we'll take four whole days where we're in meetings going over that. And then based off of that data and what Mrs. Clemens had shared with benchmarking, we will then redo um their intervention groups. And so every child during that time, regardless of where they're at, it's no new instruction. They're either receiving enrichment or we're trying to plug gaps. So that will happen at the end of the month. Thank you. >> And thank

035you for the individual care for each student. We appreciate that. >> Mr. panel. >> In the next coming weeks and months, you're going to see um some of our school buses participating down at a a Blue Wave car wash. We're going to have we're going to start washing our buses down there. Little safer, a little nicer place for them to wash and and should be. So, if the community sees buses down there, that's why they're down there. Um and as we are finishing up our next phases here in the um wellness center, we got final inspections this week on electric electrical for the golf simulator room. So things are moving quite well and the heat's finally on. So >> So it's going good. So encourage anybody if they want to go down and look at

036afterward, we can show you. >> Thank you. >> Item number nine, Mrs. Green, do you have a board member update? Um actually the uh legislature has been out because of the holidays and stuff. They're coming back in. So probably next month will be um more to report. Um the president of the OSBA was installed this weekend. So I I have now finally turned over the last of my duties as an executive officer and I just am now a trustee. So just a trustee. >> So I look forward to more time back in my school district. >> We look forward to that too. All right. Um, next on the agenda is the state of district address. And, um, I know you guys have little ones that moving forward, this is a little bit longer meeting that

037if you need to take your kids and and you guys want to go, you're more than welcome. We're going to have a little presentation here, but those that want to hear what's going on in our school district, >> um, we are going to continue that. You're welcome to leave if you need to. >> Thank you guys for coming. We're going to turn it over to Dr. Veransky for the state of the district. >> Do we need >> We can watch it from up there, right? >> Yes, you can watch it from up there. Yeah. >> I didn't even see it till just >> All right. Yeah. For our board members, you can look at the screen in front of us and uh those in the audience can see uh behind me. And I believe we

038we're trying to get it so that those watching the live stream can see the the presentation as well. So, uh thank you for being here tonight. Uh it's been a few years since we did a true state of the district. Uh last time we had one, we were announcing we were starting to close some of the elementarymentaries and start that transition plan. Uh so we just thought it was appropriate. Uh we revealed a new three-year plan uh this past fall. Uh just a little bit of an update where we're at in that plan, where we're going. Uh and so we want to be completely transparent with our community um and stakeholders and so that we're all on the same page. Um so I'm going to try to make all of this technology work at the

039same time here and not lose my space. Uh so I mentioned the district master plan. Uh if you would like a copy of that, there are some on the table up here. Um but this is our second uh district master plan that we've put out. Uh it is a three-year plan that uh that really drives what we do as a district. Where do we want to be? Uh so it starts with a brainstorming session with u with some of our students and staff and then we bring in our board of education. Uh but really in three years, what do we hope to accomplish? And then how are we going to get there? Uh so this plan, like I said, just came out this past fall. Three overarching goals. teaching and learning, which is our primary

040responsibility of what we do, well-rounded opportunities, and community engagement. Uh first of all, we just want to start with what makes this all happen. Uh and it's three-fold. Uh visionary leadership. We appreciate our uh not only our board of education, but our district administrative team uh for all of the work they do behind the scenes. Um the advocating they do for our local community uh to make things happen. So, we're we're fortunate that we have people that are forward thinking, uh, looking ahead, um, and just not interested in being stagnant and staying the same. So, I appreciate that. Uh, we have a great, caring team of educators. Um, our teaching staff, I I believe, is top-notch. Uh, some of our administrative administrative team members uh, serve not only Tusky Valley, but several other districts. Um,

041and so we're always kind of picking their brains like what's happening in other districts. Um, and we kind of gauge how we're doing. So, I appreciate our team here. And then finally, loving and supportive parents and community. We could not be successful and do what we do if we didn't have the support of our local community. Uh, and we have great support and we appreciate that. >> Uh, everything is driven by our core values. So, these came out probably in about 2017 and I know it's hard to read on these screens, but it's all of the buckets of what we stand for, who we are when we say we are Tusky Valley. And underneath each one of those is a bolded question. And it's questions that our team is constantly asking of ourselves to make

042sure that we're doing our very, very best. anytime I hire a new staff member, these are what we spend our time doing. If somebody's not uh living up to the bar that we've set, these are the questions that we're asking. So, these are located throughout the building uh or each of our buildings. If you're at the middle high school, they're plastered on the giant wall when you walk in. Uh so, that's what those are and and what we use them for. Goal one, teaching and learning. deliver high quality and innovative instruction that empowers every student to reach their full academic potential and prepare them for success in college, career, and life. Uh so no matter where our students are leaving or going when they leave our doors, um that's what we're hoping for. We're hoping

043that we have prepared them for whatever is next in their journey. Uh and so our small categories that we focus on is growth, not assessments. So we don't really care what the test score is on that state test when it comes back. Uh, but we do care that our kids are growing and we want our kids to continue to grow and making sure that we're giving them all of the opportunities to do so. Evidence-based practices, that means that what are our teachers doing in the classroom? Uh, we want to make sure that we're doing things that have evidence behind them, that we know that they're going to yield results. Research-based curriculum. U, Mrs. Clemens does a great job of researching things. We don't purchase anything and we don't implement it unless we know that there

044there are scientific studies that there is research out there that shows that that this is going to get us good results. Progress monitoring. Uh that's a little bit what Mr. Street was talking about. Those SAT meetings, student assistant teams, uh we are constantly checking in and making sure how is every single student doing and if they're struggling, how can we intervene? If they're doing really, really well, how can we enrich? How can we take them even further? Uh for our teachers and staff, job embedded professional development. How do we build things right into our schedule, into our professional development days, into our day-to-day practices to make sure that our staff continues to grow, that we as leaders continue to grow? And then finally, extended learning opportunities. Sometimes learning can't happen in just the four classroom

045walls. So, how do we extend that? Uh we we measure a lot of this through two assessments that we give and you've heard us talk about these probably if you follow along on the board agendas and the minutes. Um one is NWEA MAP and the other is web. Uh so in the fall we gave a little bit of an insight into what we are seeing. Uh those tests as Mrs. Clemens mentioned are happening right now. So at the February board meeting we're going to be giving the board an update. Here's where we are midyear. Here is what we're seeing. Here's what we're noticing. And we use those results to change intervention groups uh to talk about core instruction. If we're noticing a whole grade level isn't quite progressing the way we think they should be.

046Okay, let's start asking some questions. What does that look like? What do we maybe need to change? Uh what do we need to provide our teachers more with? Uh so so we're constantly measuring for that growth piece. Uh we're thrilled that we have a 4.5 star rating on our latest district report card. Uh if you're interested in the report card, we gave a whole presentation at the October board meeting. So you can go back and watch that in on our YouTube channel. Uh but but I'm thrilled with our staff and our students on on what we're accomplishing here. Uh again, most of this is based on a single test on a single day. Uh but overall, it highlights that our kids are doing an incredible job. Uh so I won't spend a lot of time

047on that but but we are we are performing exceptionally well as a district. Value added that is part of the report card and value added it's it's very complex to understand. It's a lot of numbers um but basically what it what it tells us is how are students performing from one year to the next based on state calculations. So what they do is if you're in an ELA test ELA kids take ELA every year. So it's just how do you do in third grade and then how do you do in fourth grade and they project that value add it. um if if you're in high school, it's a little different because you don't take a test every year. Uh so they use some math formulas uh to project where a student should be based on

048how they're performing and then they measure us and they rate us on whether we're meeting those calculations. Uh so in 2022 when that value added report came out and I'm just showing the difference in three years, we had four areas below one-year growth marks. So four areas, four content areas um not not quite where they should be. nine at they're they're performing at what the state expectation and five areas above um exceeding above what the state expects our students to do. On our latest report card down to two areas below the one-year growth mark, eight areas at the one-year growth mark. So, eight areas doing exactly what the state says we should be doing and eight areas above. So, you can see the trajectory is changing. Uh we are we are taking our kids and

049we are stretching them higher. Um and so we're going to keep pushing that. We're going to keep working hard to make sure that continues to happen. Uh you may hear science of reading. Uh so science of reading, our district was a little bit ahead of that because we applied uh for a grant probably back in about 2018 um which allowed us to get started on the whole science of reading idea before um really before it became known and before it became popular. Uh and so I'm I'm proud to say that a 100% of all of our staff and administration have completed the state required trainings in those. um a good chunk of our staff was already had that training completed before the state even said we had to have it done. Uh not only do

050we meet that minimum, but we have several staff members that are trained above and beyond um that can screen for dyslexia um that have more the more of the intense uh college level uh trainings that go with it. So, uh we have we have a good team monitoring what's happening with literacy across the district. Uh we have embedded those practices. Basically, science of reading is just good teaching. Um it's it's heavily focused on phonics and phmic awareness and vocabulary acquisition. um all of those building blocks. And if we teach those skills young, when students get older, they're able to break words apart. We're able to understand roots. We're able to understand, we're able to break down difficult vocabulary. Um and so, so all of that is embedded what we do um in everything that we

051purchase, everything, all intergening groups that we put our kids into. Uh we got rid of practices that we know don't make any sense. So most of us in the room remember being in class and being assigned vocabulary words. And what did we do? We wrote them down. And then we flipped to the glossery and we we wrote down the definition. Uh that's that's a terrible practice. Uh it's a waste of time. Uh so we abandoned that a while ago. Um probably clear back in 2020. We told our staff, we don't want anybody doing that. We don't want to see it. Um it yields no results. That's not how kids learn vocabulary for life. Um so we we started teaching differently. Um roundroin reading. Many of us can remember in the room and or we knew

052teachers were drawing or we're going down the line. What do we do? We skip ahead and we figure out which paragraph we're going to have to read or what sentence. and we're not listening to anything else happening. Again, just a bad practice. So, the more we learn, uh, then we're replacing those things that don't make a lot of sense once we stop and think about it, uh, and we do things better. Uh, we did, we're happy to, uh, to announce that we did apply for the governor's science of reading, uh, champions recognition. Uh, that is a yearly award that's put out uh, for schools that have implemented all of these practices um, and and put it into practice. So, we're we're waiting to see what happens with that. Uh next, uh if you're following along

053with the Department of Education, you'll hear a lot about Ohio's plan for mathematics and our response here is that we we've been working on that. We've been following along. Uh but chances are, just like literacy, we're going to be expected to adopt a curriculum. Uh we have a curriculum in place that that is most likely going to fall on the list, but we have an older version of that. Uh so Mrs. Clemens has been leading a team of math teachers from elementary all the way up to high school um for the last couple months um looking at different curriculums looking to see how that matches Ohio's plan. And again, a lot of it goes back to the research. We want to make sure if we're purchasing and asking the board to spend money on something,

054we know we're buying something that's going to get us good results. Um so we are hopeful uh for a possible adoption for the 2026 2027 school year. Um, again, a part part of that is making sure we're choosing the right thing, but also making sure that whatever we're going to purchase is on the state's approved list. Uh, Mrs. Clemens talked about 21st century after school program. So, we're in year three of five. Um, this is our third grant cycle that we've had. Each grant cycle is five years. So, what how this works is you apply. Uh, the grant application process is pretty extensive. And when they award you, they award you for five years. It's $850,000 over those five years. However, each year you have to reapply. Uh so the for the first three years

055the state gives you 200,000 each year. Year four, which next year for us is 150,000. The final fifth year is 100,000. So the the amount gradually goes down. Um and and the expectation from the state is that we start to figure out how to put on these programs um by asking businesses for support or going after grant funding. Um our area, we don't have a lot of opportunities for that. Um and we've invited legislators, we've invited people from the 21st century office to come to our community. Um and and we've asked them, "How do we do that?" Um we're not inner city. We don't have as many many different pots to go pull money from. Um our businesses are already asked for too much, so we're hesitant to go ask them for more. Um but

056this is a year-by-year thing. I will tell you, 21st century funding is almost every year on the federal chopping block. Um so we advocate to our state who our state then advocates to the federal government um to keep that funded. Um last summer we weren't quite sure. It seemed to disappear for a while. um and and then it came back again. Uh we had over 275 different individual students served by that group. As I shared earlier, we will have offered 96 different courses by the end of the year and a whole slew of activities. Uh and so the way those are designed is we get feedback from parents, we get feedback from students, and we get feedbacks from staff. What I really like seeing is staff, you find out what they're really interested in, and

057they will often teach classes based on their interest. Uh so it's a little bit of a reprief for our staff, too. So you'll find a lot of our teachers staying after school. Um, and back in the day we thought that was going to be a burden and who would want to stay longer. Um, but they really enjoy. It's something that they look forward to. Um, and it it builds some cool relationships between students and staff, especially when we have teachers of older grades teaching the younger grades and they're already forming those relationships. Um, and those kids know who those teachers are by the time they get up there. Uh we're one hour each night though is still committed to achievement club and that's where we're working on literacy and math whether that's homework help uh

058intervention enrichment um but math and math and reading is is embedded inside that program. Uh and then one of our largest programs is our elementary program or elementary school will put on soule junior uh March 27th through the 29th. So they're very much looking forward to that. uh at the high school level, courses of study. Uh one of the things that that became a little bit apparent to us last year during scheduling is we did not have enough semester electives. Um so our kids were uh classes were full or based based on their scheduling. Um they just there wasn't anything for them to take. So um that initiated some good conversations with our middle high school about what could we be offering differently. Um and so last month when we approved the course registration guide,

059Mr. Phillips talked about some of those classes that we're going to be offering for next school year. Uh but some of that includes career technical education down into the seventh and eighth grade classes. Um FFA programming. Um kids have been asking for FFA courses for a number of years. Uh so we are um starting to uh uh dip our feet into the water there and we're going to offer some of those classes uh next year and we'll see how it goes. Um we have some community partners that are that are really wanting to partner with us down the road. Uh so we're hoping those t those courses take off. Um electives. Um, we asked our teachers, "If you could teach an elective, what would you like to teach um that's related to your content area

060and that you're licensed for?" Uh, and they came back with a lot of different ideas. So, our kids are are choosing those at the moment. Um, and I'm excited to see what that master schedule at the middle high school looks like. And then finally, internships. Uh, we want to put a much larger focus on our internships. Um, next year we will initiate our first career tech internship program from our computer science class. Um and so right now kids are taking a training and they're getting um credentialed uh to be able to fix Chromebooks. Uh so our goal is is that that is a complete that's an internship. They get credit for it. Um that we can fix our Chromebooks in-house and not only can we do ours but we're also already having some initial conversations.

061How can we do this for our ESC? How can we do this for our county instead of Chromebooks and computers being sent away to other places? Could we do it right here? And what a cool learning opportunity for our kids. Uh so I'm excited to see how that grows. Uh >> Dr. Ry just sent can you just say what FFA is because some people don't know those initials. >> What does it officially stand for? >> Farmers of America. >> I just wanted to make sure people knew like it's agriculture >> and some of the classes that we're going to be offering next year. Uh there's a actually drone falls into that. So there there's some drone classes, horiculture, floral arrangement and event planning. Um and so when they put out the interest survey for those

062classes, um there was tons of kids that signed up for those. So we'll see. Explain that. Yeah. Uh our goal and really it's the middle high school that's driving this right now is they want every student to leave that building either enrolled in college, enlisted in the military or employed. Uh so we have we've had lots of conversations specifically with businesses in our own industrial park here and there's a need for workers but there's a breakdown in communication. How do we get how do we let our kids know what's available? How can we get our kids into those environments uh so they even know what exists in our local community? Um college is great but it's not for every kid. Um there's vocational training. There's there's a lot of options. Even if you want to

063go to college, there's many businesses that are willing if you get your foot in the door, they're willing to help pay for that. Um so there's a lot of opportunities. Uh that is a lot of where our director of workforce development position that later the board will discuss. That's where that's coming from is somebody that that is working closely with our local businesses and agencies and we can start connecting our kids. We we know if these kids are interested in this industry, how do we get them to those industries to start making connections? Uh so we're excited. So, this is one of the next big things for our middle high school uh coaching opportunities. I talked about job embedded professional development. Um, I will tell you as a classroom teacher, I did not really care

064for some expert to come into my room and tell me what I was doing wrong or I should do this and then they're there for a few minutes and then they leave. Um, and our our current teaching staff is no different. Uh, and so what we're doing right now is we are training four of our own staff members to be internal coaches for grade level bands. So those are for experts in the area specifically uh specifically in literacy. Uh but it's just good instruction in general. Um but that is a that is a um a colleague that our teachers can trust to ask questions to come in and observe, give me some feedback. Um so we think that's a much better use of our our our time and our energy than to hire people in

065to consult with us. Uh so I think I know they had a training today because I saw some of them when I went to the ESC. Uh but that that training is being done down there and our goal is is that as as there's a need they can help lead that professional development that they are helping um our teachers uh to to to improve in the classroom. Uh so that's goal one. That's all of our mo that is our instructional focus. Uh goal two well-rounded opportunities. And this goal reads, "Provide all students with access to a well-rounded education that fosters academic excellence, creativity, physical wellness, social emotional development, and real world readiness through curricular and extracurricular opportunities. And I'll break these I'm going to break these categories down, so I'm not going to read them

066quite yet. Uh, first is safety. Safety is utmost top priority for us. Uh, and just as a reminder to everybody that we do have armed staff. Uh, the board authorizes that a numer numerous years ago. Um, most everything with that is confidential. is not part of public record, but we do have armed staff. Uh we work closely with the Ohio School Safety Center. Um the Ohio School Safety Center is um it was put together by the governor's office and they oversee all of the safety aspects of our schools. Um and we have grown to have a great relationship with them. Um and what we've been doing the last couple years, we don't really announce these. Um and it's not meant to scare kids, so our kids probably don't even know what's happening most of the

067time. Um but what I've authorized is some security checks. And these are folks from the state level, the state team that they have all of the training uh on what school safety should look like. And what we do is we have them come in um and I just ask them, can you break into our buildings? Can you get into our can you is there is where what is our weaknesses? What are our vulnerabilities? And that's what they do. Um they check doors. Are our doors locked the way we say they're supposed to be locked? Um what happens when you they come in the front office? How does the administrative assistant greet them? Are we just letting anybody in or are we asking the questions or why are you here? Uh we've done we've done trials

068where they don't use the right driver's license. Are our administrative catching or administrative assistants catching that? They are. They they know that this is not the driver's license of the person standing in front of me. You can't come in. Um and so our our buildings have done very very well with that. The last two drills we've had uh they could not breach our security. Um we did let them in because we know who they are then. Like okay now come in. We know you can't get in the building but come in walk around. We want to know how long it takes a staff member to stop you because you don't have a badge. Um they didn't they did not get very far. Um both buildings actually elementary the custodian still didn't believe who they were

069and escorted them right out of the building and closed the door on them. Uh so um our our staff has been doing a great job. This is not an area that we can become lax on. This is an area that we're constantly having conversations. Um what our what our principles and admin team hear from me all the time is I want you to walk through your building and I want you to look for things that we can improve on. What what what doesn't look quite right? What could we do better? I don't like custodial closets even being open. uh not that somebody not that that's a bad guy, but what happens if if a student comes in there and spills something on themselves? We don't want them to have access to chemicals. So, uh we're

070constantly having those conversations. Uh with the Ohio School Safety Center, um we do have task force representation. Uh so, they put together a team from across the state that weighs in on school safety and um ideas and talks about it. Um and we have two folks from our district that were asked to serve on that and be part of those conversations. Uh we have regular drills. Our principles do drills all the time, whether that's just a fire drill, tornado drill, um different things, and they also do scenarios. So, every month in our staff newsletter, um I give them a scenario. Um often Mr. Fischer is giving me some ideas. Um how if this happened, how would you respond to it? And then our teaching our teams can talk about that. Um I was just at

071an elementary staff meeting last week u and Mr. Street and Mrs. Macke gave them a scenario and they had to break into small groups. What would you do? Um how would you handle this? Um and so so we're always doing that. Uh, as a reminder to our community, there is a school safety tip line on our website. Uh, so if there is a school safety concern, it's a phone number that you can call. Um, there's a way to text uh text a concern um or do an online submission. What that does is it goes to whatever building it's at. Um, it goes to that administrator uh to let them know that there's a concern and then the state expects us to follow up on it. We do. We submit, we turn in what we did

072with that. if it is life-threatening um or if there is a threat against the school uh then that tip line picks it up and automatically calls uh the sheriff's department um and they take over and they notify us and there's action immediately. And then again um we I want to give a shout out to Sheriff Campbell and his office to Mr. Fischer. Uh we have a great close working relationship with our sheriff's office. It's not uncommon to see them to see a deputy just pull into the campus, walk through the buildings, um just stop in. Um, so we we appreciate their presence and and they their message to staff or to students is we're not scary. Um, we we're not scary people. Cops are not scary. Uh, but they want to be here um and

073be part of what's going on here. So, we appreciate their office and everything they do. Uh, MTSS framework, we've talked about this. So, MTSS framework, I'm not going to read everything on the screen, but basically it's two parts. One is response to intervention. That's the academic interventions. U, so as Mr. Street said, we have all of our kids in groups. And tier one means you're doing okay. you're meeting expectations. Um, and so we're going to enrich. Uh, tier two, you might need a little bit more additional support. Tier three, you need more intense support. So that we're having those meetings three times a year. Um, looking at all of the data, having conversations with classroom teachers and uh, support staff. Um, and we're making sure that our our kids academically are receiving the support that

074they need. The other side of the MTSS framework is PBIS, and you heard that mentioned tonight. Uh, so that's positive behavior intervention and support. So rather than just disciplining a student, we really have to get down to the root of what's going on. How do we intervene to stop that behavior from happening in the future? And so that's what that's all about. Uh so so both go together to create multi-tered systems of support. And it's basically making sure that we're providing all of the wraparound services to each student to make sure that they are set up to be successful. At the elementary, we have character lab in grades kindergarten through fourth grade. Uh so we used to have a a special called tech and what we found out is all the tech all the kids

075were coming to school with all the skills that they were learning in tech. Uh so it didn't make sense to have that class anymore. Uh so we changed it and and we added character lab. Uh and it is a special that they rotate through. Uh and it it focuses on executive functioning, life skills, social skills, um building friendships, expected behaviors, um emotional regulation, and our counselors oversee that. Uh so I think that's going well. Um and and so we continue to moni monitor that and adjust and and it used to be our counselors pushed into the classroom and we lost instructional time for these types of lessons. Now it's just happening on a regular basis and instructional time is protected. Uh at the high school level we have hope Squad. So that's grades 7 through

07612. So Hope Squad is our peer-to-peer suicide prevention group. Um it came from the board here attending Capital Conference a number of years ago um and bringing me and and Mrs. Wells I think was in that session and and came back with it. Uh and that continues to just be a great program. It's gone through a different couple different adviserss over the years, but it's still going strong. The picture there is the Hope Squad members for this current uh school year. So, we appreciate everything they do. They strengthen school pride. Um they build a culture of belonging. Um and they're the ones kind of driving those days that Mr. Phillips was talking about in his report. Elementary, again, we have Guys with Ties, Girls with Pearls. That's a fun group. We have over 60 kids

077um in third grade um signed up for that. Uh so, we appreciate that. They meet once a month. They give up recess and lunch. Um, and a lot of it is just leadership building. So, we appreciate that program. I think we partner with Beyond the Game is the name of the organization for that. And they look really cool when they're all dressed up on those things. Athletics and fine arts, um, our programs remain very, very competitive. Uh, so on the on the sport side, yes, some of our teams maybe don't perform as high as we'd like them to, but if you put all of our teams together, we are at the top of the IVC conference. We perform very, very well. We get a lot of wins. Um, same thing on the fine arts side.

078Um we are constantly sending kids to states nationals uh for the various different programs. So we're performing well. Uh we've continued to add new programs um just which just amazes me because as a as a small district uh when you add something you have the you one of the unintended consequences of that is kids will drop out of other events and we we're not experiencing that. Um kids are staying very very active and if you come each month and you listen to students of the month you will hear all of the activities that they're involved with. Um we it's been a little bit a while since we calculated it, but I think a year and a half ago we were at 80% of our students in the 7 through 12 were engaged in some sort

079of extracurricular activity. Um and so we want them to be engaged. We want them to find a place to belong uh in a place where they feel safe. Uh we have many we've over the last couple two two years specifically, we've had many new coaches um and some of those are teachers and they're just doing a phenomenal job. Uh and then we have a close relationship with our booster organization. So we we appreciate our athletic boosters and our our band and choir boosters who do a lot of fundraising, raise a lot of money to support our programs, pay for things, and so we really appreciate them. Attendance, uh we want kids here. If if we want to see good academic gains and we want to see everything else look great, we we got to have

080kids here. Uh so we started to notice a trend that um that we were dropping, our attendance rate was dropping. So um we we put some plans into place here. Um we started doing quarterly attendance rewards specifically at the elementary school. uh we put tier 2 interventions in place across the district uh and then attendance meetings with families. So as as kids are missing school um our principles are monitoring that and they're setting up those meetings and trying to be more proactive. And so you can see our attendance rate is improving. We're keeping more kids here. Um and that's important to us. So we're excited that that is on uh that is going in the right direction. Suspension rates and alternative disciplinary measures. So last year uh for the entire school year u we had

08124 suspensions. This year at the moment we've had five. So, knock on wood, that is a that is way way less. So, we are trending a lot lighter than what we have before. So, I love to see that. Uh, last year we had two recommendations for expulsion. Uh, we've had zero this year. So, I'm again, knock on wood, I'm hoping to to see that continue. And then vaping incidents. Last year was six. This year is zero. Now, I'm not naive to say that it's probably is it happening? Probably. Um, but what we've noticed is through not having cell phones in school, we've taken away a lot of that communication of which bathroom are we meeting in, where are we trading off at? Um, and so this year, honestly, it's people were upset. Kids were upset

082at first. Uh, but when I met with my, uh, superintendent advisory council, those kids said, uh, it's actually very freeing not having my cell phone with me and having to worry about that. So, uh, one of those is we're seeing we we've seen a significant decrease in behaviors because ultimately our principles will test a lot of it is social media, texting, uh, which spills into the school day. Then, uh, we have, uh, what we do is we have behavior intervention K through six. Uh, so we don't want kids to be out of school. We just mentioned that. we want our suspension or our attendance rates to improve. Um and so then when students get in trouble, we throw them out. Well, sometimes those kids, that's exactly what they want us to do. Uh so we

083spend a lot of time thinking about what could we do differently. Uh so behavior intervention K through six, again, it's focused on the intervening. This is the behavior that's being exhibited. What can we do? How can we intervene to stop that behavior? What can we do differently? Uh disciplinary intervention 7 through 12, same thing. Uh it's a place that okay, we messed up. What are we going to do about it? We're in there with with an trusted adult. counselors might pop in there, principles might pop in there, and and again, we're trying to curb those behaviors um and keep kids in school in class. Um if we do need to, if there's a behavior that warrants being out of school, one of our options is STAR alternative. Uh so we have the opportunity to send

084students there where they might need to be removed from the building for a few days or a day. Um however, they're not just sitting at home, which may be what they want. So we're we're putting them in an alternative placement to work on their schoolwork so they don't fall behind and to talk about the consequences and what we probably should do differently. And then finally counseling. So when we do catch kids if whether it's vaping or if they have marijuana um again sending them just home for three days to think about it or uh whatever it might be not really probably going to talk them out of doing it again. So it's more we we talk more now with parents about okay how can we get some drug counseling involved to talk about the effects

085of this and the road that they're on. uh which I think is much more beneficial. Uh a little bit uh just where we are and how we get kids here. Uh we have over 1300 students. Our district covers about 95 square miles, 11 zip codes. We cross two counties. Um and with that we have 15 bus routes. Uh so we have 855 regular daily riders on our buses being transported to or from school. Uh 13 13 of those routes are just regular amm routes. Uh just taking kids to and from their house. Uh we have one of those regular routes. Once they drop off here, they also go back out and pick up students um that have been placed elsewhere um and take them to an alternative school in Canton. Uh then we have our

08614th route is a handicap bus route. Those are our students with some uh some heavier uh disabilities. Um and that bus has a bus aid on it to assist with that. Uh so that bus is actually picking up bringing in here and then then going back out and picking up students to go to uh to Starlight uh which is an alternative setting. Uh and then we have our Buckeye Career Center route. So that bus is picking up group stops throughout the district getting kids down to Buckeye and then reverse in the afternoon. In addition, we are doing two alternative transportation routes in uh that we can't provide our own busing. We don't have buses or drivers to do it. Uh so one uh that we so these are these are transportation companies that we we

087have to do purchase services with and one takes a student to RD drag uh based on uh placement uh and one goes down to a school in Cambridge. Uh we are transferring to and from Tuscross County homeless shelter. There are state laws that if if a family is homeless or claims homeless um and they can choose which school district they want to go to and that school is responsible for making sure they have transportation to get there. Um so we do have a bus that goes there. Uh and we also for preschool we normally don't transport preschool. Uh but we do are doing two midday routes based on uh disabilities and we're required by law to do that. On average we're transporting about or we're traveling about 1,042 miles per day about 350 then extracurricular

088trips per year on average. uh which in fiscal year 2025 brought our total to about $1.4 million spent on transportation. Uh so transportation is big money. Uh we've condensed routes over the years. Um we are about down as as slim as possible based on the amount of time that that a student would be on the bus. Um and so we we don't think we can take those down anymore and and some of our our routes on the Baliver side are getting close to max capacity. So we have taken routes down to save funds and save money in years past. Um and and so we really have it down to as much as we can at the moment. Uh and then goal three, last goal that we have that I'll talk about tonight is just community

089engagement. We foster strong partnerships among schools, families, and the broader community to support student success, enhance trust, and build a shared responsibility for education. So I'll go through those quickly. U flagship of this is the TV connect program. So our family engagement. So this is listed on our website. Uh if you go to our district website and you choose the families and community tab, you can find everything that we have listed. We have 75 family events that have been posted for this school year uh to sign up for. Uh so lots of different things. Uh Mrs. Clemens oversees a lot of that for me. So I appreciate that. Uh but if you've not been on that website and check it out and see what's available to you. Capital improvement. Uh we are very fortunate that

090we have two brand new school facilities that sit behind us and we want to make sure that those last for a long long time. Uh so capital improvement is funds that the treasurer sets aside each year um for big projects, things that cost a little bit more money um that we want to make sure that we are keeping up to date. So it could be roofs, uh it could be parking lots, um bus purchases, uh and so that plan is um is presented uh we have department the departments come and bring their their wish list to us and we think through okay what can we afford, what can we do uh to be fiscally responsible. Uh part of that is just keeping our bus fleet up to date. uh buses. Uh when I became superintendent,

091they were running just a little less than 100,000 a bus. Uh today to purchase a new one off the lot, I even ordered one about 140,000. Uh so we're seeing a drastic increases in in costs. Um and so what we're doing is we're cycling those buses as much as we can to keep the mileage even. So the mineral city side drives a lot of miles each day. Biver not as many. So every now and then you'll see us flip bus numbers or flip buses from one side of the district to the other. And what we're trying to do is extend the bus life as long as possible. uh technology, infrastructure, technology continues uh to evolve and advance and so making sure that we have everything up to date there. Uh and then just building maintenance.

092We want to make sure that we're proactive uh so that we're not in a place where something's completely falling apart. Um then paving. Paving is one of our largest expenses. We have tons of asphalt around here now. Um and that's expensive to do. So uh we we kind of have a plan together on how do we keep that funded so that uh it's not a shock uh when we have to do that community center. This building has continued to take life. Um so on the screen is the different organizations that currently lease from us. So Alman the Alman Health Center across the hallway, Tusky Valley Senior Center, Phoenix Rising which is a clinical counseling agency. Nest Pediatrics which um they focus on early prevention uh speech pathology services. Cognitive Organics, another uh counseling agency, KP

093FitLife, which is more yoga and healthy living. And then the last two are district operated centers, family resource center and the affordable Christmas. Uh those are our spa our spaces. They do not pay any money for lease u but they house important resources for our families here. Um this building um costs about $80,000 to operate and that's utilities. Uh so that's to keep the lights on. It's about it's about an 80,000 foot facility. Uh the gym is used pretty much all day, seven days a week. Uh so that that's the amount of money to keep to keep the heat on, keep the lights on. Uh we are currently collecting about $40,000 in revenue from lease funding. So that's where we lease out spaces of the building. Our goal is to continue to lease out the

094space in this building. Um and so that becomes uh that that breaks even that it's not costing us any money to have our district offices here. It's not costing us money to have all of our athletic teams and youth sports and all of those programs in here. Um so so we're halfway there. Uh still to come is the wellness center. So you heard Mr. Penel talk about that. Um part of that is is complete now. Um but we're hoping in the next year to finish that space and that would generate funds for us and we do have three classrooms still available to lease. Uh so there is a little bit of room uh for other agencies to move in yet. Family resource center is here. Uh it's overseen by Mrs. Kaylee Hamilton, our student and

095family advocate. And basically that is families with whatever they need. If it's hygiene products, if if a student or if a family has been has lost their housing, we have what's called beds in a bag, which is basically everything you need, blankets, sheets, pillows, um that we can get to them. Um we have food resources, we have clothing resources. Uh so that's her stop on campus of where she houses all of that. Um there are times there's a high school kid needs a pair of shoes, then they meet her here. Um so the stigma is gone, it's private, and she can take them in there, show them what she has, um and then they can get something that they need. uh the information about what she offers and her phone number is on our website.

096Um she's doing an incredible job for us. Um parent guidance is free for all district parents. Um and that is if you just need help with parenting. If you just if you are struggling with something and you need a safe person to talk to, uh you can sign up for that service. We don't know that you've signed up for it. The only thing that we get is the number of people taking advantage of it. Um and that was grant funded for us and so we appreciate that. Um and we do have a number of families that are using that on a regular basis. Um, if you sign up, you are given a coach, a family coach that assists you. Um, and if if whatever your struggle might be, I'm really struggling with my child on

097this or this is happening. How do I talk to my child about this? Um, they can help you with that. So, take a look at that if if you're interested. There's a community resource guide on there. And then also we have military family resources clinic across the hallway. Uh, open in August. It operates Monday through Friday from 8 to 4. The three nurse practitioners are there on the screen. Um Allison Hup is the primary nurse practitioner. She's here four days a week. Um Jillian in the middle does most of the teleaalth that comes out of that office. And then Melissa is there on Fridays. Um they are that center has really taken off. Um every month they give us a chart. It just gives us an overview of how that center is operating mostly because

098it was state funded. So the the legislation wants to know is it doing what we thought it would do. Um, since opening, we've had 1,557 people take advantage of that clinic across the hallway. Um, and that's just opening in August. Uh, so it is it's doing a nice job. Uh, so those details are given to us and then we have conversations about um, what are we learning from this? We're thrilled that the turf project happened last year. Um, so about one year ago at the January board meeting, we were introducing that and talking about the need. Um, and in May, the board uh, took action to make that happen. Um we're thankful for the community sponsors uh that helped us to do that and the grants that have come in and we've we we've continued

099to take in some money for that, but we're thankful for our fields. Um football field, the stadium field allowed us to be able to have soccer up there. So, it was nice to watch those games under the lights in in a nice setting uh where everybody could see and not having to bring in chairs. Um the baseball multi-purpose field was used as home practices for our soccer program. So, it was nice that they had a space in the fall. Um and now we'll we're getting ready for baseball and softball season. Uh, so it's just really provided everybody on campus a place to be. Um, and that our our kids are very excited to be able to have those. So again, thank you to our board for helping make that happen. Wellness center um is the

100old shop area just really across the hallway and down down the hallway a little bit. Um, this was a million dollar renovation and so far we've received a half of that that has come in. Um, and that that basically the half million that we've received came from money that was left over from the schoolbased health center. um when we had some additional funds um we reached out to them um and we asked them if we could use that because we had more plans and it just made sense because we we needed to tear down that exterior wall. We needed new windows um and they granted us that request. So, um we we've replaced all of the exterior wall, all new windows that that entire area, the HVAC is done. Um and so really we need

101about 300,000 left for construction. That's mostly to build a for egress. We need to build a secure vestibule. Uh so that there's two ways to get out. Um we need to fix one of the walls um and do some drywall work and then we just need to do electrical, ceiling and flooring. Uh so that's estimated roughly 300,000 and then about 200,000 for the machines. Um we had that priced out just so we had an idea of what it would cost if we if we furnished the space then. Um and so it's about a half a million dollars that we still need. We have received a verbal commitment uh to fund that. um it's just verbal so it's not in writing and we've not received the money so we're not completely banking on that um but

102we're hopeful and we continue to have those convers or conversations with those stakeholders uh to continue to advocate and try to get that money here to Tusky Valley. Uh so we should know more in about May where we stand with that. Next project that's kind of in the works is our legacy patio. Um so this is off our elementary in between the elementary and the middle high school. Um right now the patio is already there. The tables are there. Um, but what we would like to do is build the wall um that highlights the the brick from our two elementary buildings that we took down. Uh, so we kept elements of both of those buildings. We kept brick from both of those buildings based on this design. Um, and so what we're hoping to do

103is construct that. Um, we have an idea of how we're going to fund it. We're just waiting on those funds to come in. Um, and that it just pays tribute to our past. Um, and so we we can showcase pieces of those buildings as you move into the new. Um, so I think that will look really cool uh once it's done. So we have all of the materials. We're just waiting on the funding to actually put it together. And then the final the new st the new proposal that is in our master plan that we've been working on. Again, no funding to make it happen at the moment, but there's a vision um is some new uh facilities out in our stadium to complete that space. Um and so for those of you in the

104room, if you look to the back wall there, uh you can actually see the the photos, you can see the blueprints, um you can kind of see how they would sit. Uh but what we're proposing is a 70 or a little shy of 8,000 square foot home facility. It would sit next to the home stands with public restrooms, concession stand, uh the booster barn, um football locker room, and also two additional locker rooms that would be used for boys and girls soccer in the fall, boys and girls track in the spring. Um on the opposite side where our concession stand currently is located, we are proposing a 4500 foot facility um that would include public restrooms for the visitor side. another ticket entrance. Um, it would include a visitor's locker room and actually our transportation

105office. Um, if you go back a few years and you look at the district master plan, the idea was to build a new bus garage and and transportation office across the street. We've kind of changed direction there, keeping the bus garage where it's at. Um, but creating using that space and embedding our transportation office into the back of that building. Uh, so it's all in one and we don't have something separate somewhere sitting out there. Uh, it is an estimated about a $5 million cost for that. Like I said, the the board has not allocated any funds for that. Uh but we will be working with um a committee to solicit funding. Um we've met with um the athletic booster board um and the band acquired booster board and to to share this with them.

106Um and to pitch the vision. Uh this is something that I hear this a lot when I'm out in the stadium. Be nice if the concession stand and the restrooms were on the home side. Yes, we know that. Uh but it does cost money to make that happen. So there is the vision. We know it can work. We know there's enough space. um it's just going after the funding to make it happen. So this is a few years down the road. Um but we're at least we have there there's a plan for that. Um so if you're interested, anybody listening is interested in being part of that, um please let us know and and and we'll get you in touch with the committee. Um so again, if you're in the room, take a look at

107that before you leave. It's it's exciting. Elementary upgrades. Uh Mr. Street could tell you all about his wishes for the playground. Um beautiful playground, but the way it sits um it doesn't get a lot of sun. Um and when it rains, the the the area does not dry up. So it becomes very very muddy. Uh so he's been working with the PTO about the possibility of adding turf to the playground um so that it it has the correct drainage and we don't have to worry about that. Um and that is about a $667,000 cost. Um about a h 100,000 of it has been pledged um that if we were to move forward with that um that money would come in for that. Uh so you'll see some PTO fundraisers in the next probably couple years

108uh gearing towards that. Uh Mr. Street has had some conversations with um some other state agencies and organizations who who have um some opportunities to write some larger grants and to solicit some funding. Um and so he's had good conversations with them on the district's behalf. So we'll continue to push for that. Um but up on the screen is sort of what that would look like um back on the playground. Um all of this is done by trying to be as fiscal responsible as we possibly can. So on the screen which is it's very hard to read but basically this slide illustrates that according to what the state gives us back we are spending less per student than the state average. We are in the bottom 20% of districts in the state of Ohio as

109far as how much we spend to educate a student. Yet we are in the top 20% of school districts and our performance and how we do. Um so we we are performing very very well and spending the least amount of money as possible. Uh on that page is a comparison to how much we spend per student compared to all of our local um school districts and you will find that we are at the bottom for spending there as well. Um the only schools that spend less per us per per student than us um is do and Philadelphia city schools. They have way more students. So when you divide the amount of money they spend by the number of students you're going to you're going to see that. Um so with that you can also see

110how we perform locally uh and how our star ratings our performance index uh relates to how much we spend. So again, we we are trying to do all of this uh but we we are cognizant that uh this is taxpayers money that allows us to operate and to live. Um and so we want to make sure that we are spending wisely um and that we are doing things that our community are happy with. Um and and our community expects that we perform well. Uh with that, we've talked about a lot of work and exciting things that have happened in this building. So this is how we've paid for a lot of it. So, the top line in 2025 and if you go back through all of the board agendas from January through December, we took

111in $443,4784 cents um in grants and donations that came to the district. Uh 21st century funding, that's a competitive grant. So, I've included that 200,000. We received and spent 2 actually we did not spend that much. We received 2.3 million. Actually, only about 1.8 million of that came to the district. The other part of it came to Altman to furnish the space and to um to operate for a year. Um, so we that money is in there and then we had about 400,000 left over in state funding for facilities. So a few years ago, Senator Landis helped us get 1.8 million when we were having issues with trying to figure out how we were going to abate and demo the elementaryaries. When those buildings came down, the price tag on those was about 1.4 million.

112So we had 400,000 left over. The way it was written, we could use it to renovate old spaces. And so we did. Uh, and so that's the funding that we took to put into this building um to update uh rooms like this. Um, all of our lights in this hallway are automatic. They're energy efficient. So that way if nobody's in that space, they're shutting off. Um, we put you'll see new new energy efficient doors around the district or around this building. Uh, key card readers for security. Um, so that's how we funded that. We didn't we we did did not use local dollars. Um, so yes, it was still tax dollars from the state. Um, but if it wasn't going to our community, it was going to go to somebody else. And so we're glad

113that we were able to get it uh because it offsets what our local community has to pay. Overall in in calendar year 2025, $3.3 million that we've that we've taken in that we've been able to do some crazy some crazy cool things with. Uh and so we're going to continue that. We're going to continue to advocate um go after funding sources um grants so we can continue to bring in money to do things that we want to do like the like the the the facilities at the stadium without asking our comm local community to fund all of that. Um so again if you have questions about that we're happy to answer that. Uh so overall that we are performing very very well and we're spending the least amount of money as possible. Going to turn

114it over to Mr. Phillips for his his last slide here to talk about finances. >> Thank you. Uh I know not everybody's a number junkie like me, so I'm going to try and talk about finances without actually talking about numbers. So I'm going to compare our finances to your personal budget. So you know to pay for rising costs in your personal life, your salary has to increase each year. And it works the same for the school. Our costs go up every year. So we need our income to go up every year as well. And that's been the case for the past several years, past basically the past decade, uh, for Tusky Valley. Each year, we've operated at a surplus. So, we've had more income than expenses, and we've actually been able to save money each

115year. And saving that money each year has paid for things like Dr. Veransky talked about, turf, uh, you know, renovating the stadium bleachers and a lot of those other, uh, items that Dr. Veransky talked about. So, the hope is that we continue to operate that way. It can make future improvements, but like all good things, it's eventually going to come to an end. And unfortunately, I think it's going to be sooner than we'd like it to because of recently passed legislation by the state. Uh, Mrs. Green has talked about that legislation at some of our board meetings. And again, it's going to severely slow down our revenue growth going forward, which is actually going to turn us from operating a surplus to operating at a deficit each year. So to compare it to somebody's specific

116finances to hopefully make it make a little more sense, I'm going to use the Burrier family is my example. The school district has two main sources of income. state foundation funding and property tax revenue. So the Burrier family has two main sources of income. Amy's salary, Trevor's salary. So we're going to compare Amy's salary to state foundation funding. For the past decade, Tusky Valley has received the same amount of state funding year after year. So imagine Amy's salary has been the same for 10 years in a row. hasn't increased a penny. That's that's how our state funding has been. Trevor's salary, compare that to property taxes. So each year Trevor's salary goes up, we receive additional property tax revenue every year. That's how it's been for the past 10 years. Those salary increases that Trevor

117receives allows the Burrier family to balance their budget. That's how we've balanced our budget with increasing property tax revenue year after year. Legislation is going to basically flatline property tax revenue going forward. So imagine the Burer family if you have Amy's salary which has been frozen for 10 years and continues to be frozen going forward and now Trevor's salary is frozen going forward. Income does not increase at all. Expenses continue to increase. That's what causes deficit spending >> and a lot of stress. >> A lot of stress. >> You're already stressing me out. >> Well, that's why every day. So, >> I mean, my burrier family just >> Well, hopefully Trevor continues to raise forward. But again, that that's just going to be our challenge going forward is trying to continually balance the budget if

118our revenues are flatlined. Luckily, again, we've over this past decade have saved money. So, we've got money set aside that we can use to dip into in those initial years of operating at a deficit to sort of fill that hole on the revenue side and carry us forward. But at a certain point, if if it stays like that going forward, just flatline revenues, something's going to have to change more than that, something bigger to get the b to get the budget to balance back out. If you're more information on finances, uh Miss Smith out of uh Mr. Phillips's office, um if you go to the district page and click treasurer, uh you can find the five-year forecast there. Um, and you can also start finding the monthly financial statement. So once the board approves uh

119the months, uh, then that information goes onto the website so you can you have an idea of how much we're spending each month and what our finances look like. But, uh, the finances is a conversation that we constantly have and that we're constantly monitoring. So that information is online for you. Um, that is the end of the state of the district. Ultimately, um, our district's doing very very well. I'm I'm very proud uh, of our district, of our staff, of our students, of our community. we've we've done a lot of good good things and we continue to do a lot of good things. Um so hopefully tonight just gave you a little bit of where where we've been, where we're at, and where we're going. So again, if you didn't get a chance to pick

120up the full master plan, please do so. Um this isn't a great forum for questions, but if you ever have any questions or anybody watching the live stream or watching the recording has questions, um our emails are up there. Uh feel free to reach out to Mr. Phillips or me or any of our board members. Um and we can fill you in. we can answer your your specific questions. So, uh we thank the community uh for your trust and your support. Um and we're going to continue to do great things for you. So, uh thanks for for listening. And that is the end of the state of the district for tonight. >> All right. Moving on to new business consent agenda. I'd like to open a motion to approve items 1 through 13 or a

1211 through 13. >> Second. Any discussion other than just want to recognize all the donations that came through around Christmas time to make our affordable Christmas a success in other um areas from our people. >> And we have someone from our community, Scott Tred, who always goes to the Buckeye Career Center. He was their president last year and he continues to update us on our students that are there and the success that they're doing and he keeps us well informed. I'd like to highlight item number four. Um, accepting the resignation of Dixie Chumney, a longtime teacher at Tusky Valley. So, we will miss her. I wish her the best. I tried to talk her out of it. Um, she was my sixth grade ELA teacher and there's only a few teachers that I had left

122here, but uh, we wish her we wish her well as she goes into retirement. Uh, and then also, just so you guys are aware, number 11 was designated in the clinic here as one of our sites uh, for our transportation department. Uh, so we were sending them off-site to be able to do their required TA physicals each year and required drug testing to renew their lensure and be able to drive for us. We'll be able to do that right here on campus um without them having to go anywhere. So that's what you're agree that's what that agreement is for. And I don't want to make this meeting any longer, but I do want to acknowledge um Ben Congden as he is um he has retired or retired he has uh he has graduated and we

123all have watched social media and wish him best of luck with his football adventure there. So roll call please. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Green, >> yes. >> Mr. Sorry. Yes. >> Yes. Um, can I get a motion to approve a three-year administered limited contract? I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry, Miss B. Um, can I get a motion to approve 2026 annual membership dues for Ohio School Board Association $6,000 participate in legal assistant funds at a cost of $250? >> Second. >> Discussion call roll, please. >> Mr. Fischer, >> yes. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mr. Green, >> abstain. Mrs. Delotti. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burer. >> Yes. Item number uh 12. Yes. Approve a three-year administered limited contract for Matt Ward, director of athletics and district activities.

124Step four, effective August 1st, 2026 for a three-year contract. Do I have a motion? >> I make a motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion on that other than we welcome Mr. award and as you see that his title is more than just athletics he will be also district activities we want to make sure that he's got that role call the role please >> Mr. Green >> yes >> Mr. Mr. Fischer >> yes >> Mr. Yes. >> Mr. Ber >> yes item number 13 approve a three-year administrator limited contract for Jason Phillips now as the director of operations step 9 effective August 1st 2026 three-year contract. Do I have a motion to approve? I make a motion. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Wish you well, Jason. >> Yeah, it just and just

125so it's clear what what is happening as as we've talked about this building taking on life and we want it to generate revenue for us. Uh Mr. Phillips, as part of that, we'll be overseeing this building as almost like a business manager. I'm also overseeing all of our facilities um and maintenance. Uh and then making sure that our overseeing the district's safety and the safety team. So, uh, that's what that's where that's coming from. >> Call roll, please. >> Mr. Fisher, >> yes. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. >> Mr. Green, >> yes. >> Mrs., >> yes. >> Mr. Brier, >> yes. Item number 14, approve a three-year administrator limited contract for Tiffany Shaw as the director of workforce development and accountability. Step two, effective August 2026. Three-year contract. >> I make the motion. >> Second.

126>> I'll second. >> I'd like to make a call. >> Discussion. Thank you. Um, first of all, Tiffany, thank you and congratulations to that and to the community. This this has been added because of education is no longer the 1950s or the 1970s like we think it is. It is a global economy, a global work, and it takes a lot of work to educate our kids, which I think you saw tonight as we we walked through the State of the Union. um and she's going to be working with all the students to make sure the students get what they need so that when they walk out the doors they are successful and that's what we want for our students. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Mr. Green. >> Yes. >> Matt. >>

127Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Overton. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ber. >> Yes. Approve a resolution authorizing the treasurer and board of education president to execute a certificate of project completion with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. Do I have a motion? >> Do I second? >> Second. >> And any discussion or explanation? >> So we you want to explain? >> Do you have a question? >> I do. So we are done with Is this just for the high school or is this for everybody? Both sides. >> This is for everything. >> It's for everything. the $53 million project closed up. >> Okay. And then if we still have problems like with the dishwasher or whatever, >> those are those are all warranty issues. So after the building is open for a one year,

128then it goes off done. But anything that we purchase that has a warranty with it, we we're using >> now we go through that. Okay. That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure. Okay. Now, back to you. >> So again, $53 million project. We've got it closed out and we've been talking all along about there being funds left over at the end. So there are some funds left at the end. We need to refund the state about 190,000 but we will retain about 840,000 which will be used to repay one of the funds that funded the second amendment to the project increasing the budget. So essentially going back to the general fund, we'll be able to use it for whatever we want to use it for. Mr. Phillips's email was on the screen.

129You're more than welcome to if you have any questions. I'm >> sorry I had to do that one with numbers. Um, >> roll call, please. >> Mr. Overton? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Green? >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Delott? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burer? >> Yes. Do I have a motion to approve an amendment to the operations agreement with the Tescross County Commissioners through the Tuscross County Metropolitan Sewer District to include supplemental sludge management and disposal services? the motion. >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> I'll second it. >> I have a question. Can >> someone make the question? >> Can you explain? >> Uh, so it's additional uh work. So they have to haul out sludge. I'm not really sure what sludge is. Um, but it's something that they did

130not have in our agreement. That that's not work that they are going to normally do. Um so in order for us to pay the invoice or have them to do that work and to it's it's part of the maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant um we would we had to amend this so that we had approval to pay them >> and this will be an annual thing. >> Uh it's when needed >> as needed as needed. >> So like when I like my sewer fills up and I have to go call the man to come pump it out. >> People calling the people. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> Call roll please. >> Mr. Green. >> Yes. Mrs. Totti, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, yes. >> Mr. Overton, >> yes. Mr. Bur, >>

131yes. >> Um, at this point, I don't see any public participation for non-genda items. >> And our announcements. The next regular board of education meeting will be held February 9th here, 2026 at 6 PM here in the community boardroom. And like to make a motion for adjournment. >> I make that motion. Second. >> Second. Any discussion on that? >> Thank you all for Thank you all for attending. We appreciate it. >> Sorry they don't normally run this long, but we appreciate you all being here. Call roll, please. >> Mr. Green. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Overton. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Okay. officially. >> The board president of the community center