001Okay. Good evening. Welcome to the October 6, 2025 West Claremont School Board meeting. Mr. Romano, please take role. Mr. Patton, present. Mr. Rudy, present. Mr. Chumley, present. Miss Abort, present. And Mrs. Spencer, let us know that she would be absent this evening. Thank you. At this point, please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. [Applause] So, just to go out of line just a little bit here, the uh the children did a great job with the pledge of allegiance. You guys did a great job. Um, next up, we have the motion to adopt the agenda. Would someone like to make a motion? I'll move.
002Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second, Mr. Chumley. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Mr. Chumley, yes. Miss Sandler, yes. Mr. Pat, yes. four. Yes. Moving on, it's West Claremont School District recognizes our resource officers. Turn over to Josh. Good evening, Board of Education. At this time, I would like to call forth our West Claremont School resource officers at the front of the room. Come on. So October has been designated as the school, sorry, has been designated as Ohio school safety month with the goal of increasing awareness of school safety programs and encouraging every Ohioan to recognize their role in keeping schools safe places for students to learn and grow. School safety balances both physical protection and psychological well-being and engages staff, students, and families and the
003community partners at in the work. We are proud to recognize our school resource officers for the essential role they play in bringing this framework to life here in West Claremont. Each day, our SRO's contribute to the safe and supportive environment through proactive safety measures, strong partnerships with school staff, and meaningful relationships with our students. Their presence reflects the best practices of collaboration between education and law enforcement, and their commitment ensures that our schools remain welcoming places for students to thrive. On behalf of the West Claremont Board of Education, we thank our school resource officers for their dedication, professionalism, and commitment to safety and well-being of our entire school community. The West Claremont uh school resource officer team includes Steve Cypert, Nia. Nia doesn't look too excited right now. Get an award, Chad Ludson, Chris Godsy,
004and Eric Gregory. [Applause] catch. Wait for me. Congratulations. Thank you. Take a couple. [Applause] Next up, it looks like our presentation from the Kluff Pike Elementary. Um, Mr. Mason, I got one fan. Um, good evening. All right, those of you that are going to speak out, I want you guys to come line up next here. Okay, just if you're if you have if you're voicing your if you're voicing tonight, come on up. over here and we're going to face this way. Huh? No. All right. Good evening, guys. Uh good evening members of the board. Thank you um for having Pluff Pike Elementary here tonight. I'm Curtis Mason, very proud principal. Uh thank you to the parents and guardians and teachers. Um this was a big deal for us. Um we really wanted to to pack
005the house and I think we were successful. So, um, I just want to take a moment to celebrate some of our outstanding leaders in our building at Kluff, our reading ambassadors. Um, having older students work with younger students is not a novel or some kind of new special concept. Uh, but what's what makes it special is the way these students have absolutely embraced this effort um and have found some new confidence in themselves and are building confidence in our younger students in kindergarten and first grade. Um what is also so special it is one thing in education to have an idea uh but it's completely another thing to actually put it into action. Um and for that I give all the credit to one of our reading specialists uh Miss Hannah Okconor. Uh this initiative
006was done completely organically. I didn't ask her to do it. She just saw an opportunity to instill leadership qualities into our kiddos and she ran with it. Um at Kluff change and improvement starts with everyone. Every every morning for the first 15 minutes or so of school, our reading ambassadors gather the resources they're going to use uh with guidance from Miss Okconor. Um they go pick up the students, uh take them to the library or to the hallway where they work on their heart words, letter recognition, and letter sounds. They help make sure their homework is complete. Uh they report back to the teacher afterwards um and have even been graphing their progress. Um this will continue to evolve as we adjust to what the students are learning and what they're comfortable with guiding the
007students with. Um is really great examples of promoting leadership and opportunity um for our students. So I'd like uh take a few minutes for for them to share now so you can hear their voice um on what it means to them. And we'll just go down the row here. You ready? My name is Paige and I love being a reading ambassador. I love being I love tutoring because I love helping them and watching them grow. I hope they learn more and more throughout the year. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Adley and I love being a reading ambassador because I love helping kids learn. I love watching them have fun learning. I love reading myself. I also think they learn at least something new each and every week. Hi, my name's Ella and I
008have been a reading ambassador to a first grader and a kindergartener. One of my reasons I love being a reading ambassador is because they're the sweetest. My second reason is that I want to improve on their vocabulary. My last reason is that I want I want them to be respectful, responsible, and safe. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, I am Violet. It is so much fun being a reading ambassador and watching the kids grow each day. It does not take much time out of your day to teach them new words. I like to practice their word fluency with them. [Applause] Hi, my name is Zariah. Reading starts with site words. Small words that lead to big success. Sometimes kids might feel like giving up, but I want them to know they can do it. Every word they
009learn is a step forward. As a reading ambassador, I'm here to remind everyone to keep going because every great author or reader starts with just one word. Every tiny word is a key to victory. [Music] [Applause] Hi, my name is Anvie and I became a reading ambassador because I like helping younger students grow each and every day. I also want to be more responsible and to teach them helps me in my future. I'm so glad I get to be continuing to becoming a reading ambassador cuz it's so nice to see them grow. [Applause] Hello, my name is Sana and being a reading ambassador gives me the opportunity to help younger students learn and build confidence in themselves. I want to continue as a reading ambassador because uh helping others learn is important and makes a
010difference. Hi, my name is Olivia and I love being an ambassador. I help first graders and kindergartens to improve their reading. I teach them how to be more respectful and responsible. Hi, my Hi, my name is Aiden and as a reading ambassador, I'm really proud really proud because I get to uh teach a kindergartenner how to read, to be kind. But my favorite thing is that as an ambassador, I get a challenge and a privilege. [Applause] Thank you guys. Um, Becky, can I get like a picture of all of them real quick? All right, I want everybody to stand up. Why don't Why don't we put them up here? So, the board's behind them. We can get a whole You can get a picture from facing this way. So, yeah. Yes. Line up this way.
011Facing that way. Yes. Does my hair look nice? Get your comb out. Scoot the little guy up. Yeah. You need to get over here. I'm going take a couple here. Parents, before you guys leave, you can come up. Come up and take pictures, guys. If you Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Please come up and take pictures. Yes. Make sure you smile big, guys. Where are my Did everyone get a picture? I wanted one. Great job, GUYS. [Music] As they're making their way back to their chairs, I just want to take a moment to parents that sit the whole morning. Yeah. Well, before the parents go, I just want to say parents, thank you. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, thank you for being there. Thank you for raising them such well. So, well, thank you guys. Thank you. [Applause] Excuse
012me. is ready. He's double checking for me. That guy must play on my fantasy football team. Cuz his leg is broken. Which one? Crutches. Oh, I said he must play on my fantasy football team. Cuz he's got crutches. Yeah. So, as they're as we're clearing out, next up would be our public speaking. It does not look like we have any cards. We will move on to the consent agenda, starting with Josh. Good evening. That's a that's a tough act to follow right there. Good evening. In front of you uh is the personnel agenda for October 6th, 2025. On the agenda today, we have the acceptance of resignations for one teacher who's retiring, one health clinic assistant, and four pair professionals. We'd like to highlight our retiree, Amy Sweeney, a second grade teacher at WT. Annie
013has served the West Claremont district for 34 years. The agenda recommends the hiring of new personnel, including one custodian and one cafeteria worker. Also presented for approval are the proposed supplemental contracts for multiple positions. Uh this includes coaches, club directors, and various other positions that serve beyond the school day. We have unpaid leave for multiple staff members for your approval. The agenda also proposes hiring substitute personnel for two cafeteria workers. The approval of multiple school volunteers across the district are presented with their associated buildings. This concludes the review of the personnel agenda submission for your consideration. Thank you. Thank you, Josh. Yes, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. I said thank you. I apologize. Next up, looks like Mrs. Preston, the settlement agreement, I think. So, good evening. This evening, we have a settlement agreement for your
014approval. This really just um reflects the mutual and um amicable. This is not like a um you know, anything anyone's done like wrong. This is really just codifying um a relationship and arrangement that we've made with the family. Okay. Thank you. Next up is Mr. D. Ericy out there. Good evening. Good evening. Before you is a memorandum of understanding u between the Claremont County Mental Health and Recovery Board and Child Focus. Um this agreement or memorandum um allows us to have placed with West Claremont a qualified mental health specialist for three days a week. um as well as some additional support for some systemic problem solving um specifically around um being able to provide supports for students who are exhibiting suicidal ideiation at the middle school. So this person will do some risk assessment as
015well as some prevention services uh due to the you know volume of students that have needs at the middle school specifically. So no cost to the district. This is funds flowing from the mental health board to child focus to be able to provide this service. So we don't have enough psychologists in our buildings now to cover the necessary needs that we need to be filled. Well, not quite. We have a wide range of services available. Um this is a specific niche of service that um we have traditionally found at the middle school. We have a large volume of students who because of various reasons are exhibiting um risk behaviors and this is an additional support for us as we try to intervene with that um not supplanting any of the other services that we have
016in place. Okay. All right. I understand now. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Eric. Good evening. Tonight we have our second reading of our policies. Just to review, uh, going through the policies, we started this a while back. We start with our policy committee that goes through it first. Then we do our first reading, which happened in our last meeting, and then tonight we go to vote for our second reading, and then it will then go um into NELA and will become active. So, I'll be asking you to approve policies 2266 through 9270 um as far as revisions new and language changes and then policies 1422 through 4362. Um those were replacements, some rescended and then some technical corrections throughout those and I'll be asking you to approve those tonight as well. I haven't had
017any questions throughout this monthly process that we've gone through. I will let note that I have run this through legal as well as I said in the last meeting. I would let them check some things as well and we have run those through legal. Um and we feel confident moving forward. This has been on the last 16 18 months there's been a lot of changes and there'll be a lot of changes forthcoming and uh we'll just keep meeting and and go through this. The next one that we would expect would probably be February. Um, and then we'll bring the committee together again for that. There's no questions there. Then now we'll be moving on to 7.05 through 7.07. This is in le of transportation. We do this once a year or throughout the year when
018it be when it becomes needed. Um, inl transportation allows the district to pay for transportation of students instead of adding bus routes. Um, this is co this is cost effective for us to do so. So the three schools that we are asking for inlue uh transportation tonight uh are the three schools as listed um up there and they are Cincinnati Christian Hills uh Cincinnati Classical um and St. G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G Gertude um Cincinnat School I looked that up as well and that's a liberal arts school, community school that's in Reading. Um and that's a standalone school that students go to as well and so I kind of want to see what that was and we do have students
019that go there. I will note that last year our ENL we had 37 students and you can see the names of those in your executive content. Um and this year we're at 26 and so the number is down this year. Uh but it does uh it is a cost savings to the district because uh we don't have to add routes for these particular and routes are very very expensive as you know. So we'll be asking to approve inlue transportation for the students presented for those three schools tonight. Thank you Randy. Moving on to Mr. Romano. Okay. Item 7.08 08 is the request for approval of minutes. That is for the meeting that was held on September 22nd. It was a regular business meeting. Item 7.09 is request for approval of donations as presented. I'll read
020them briefly. Uh first, as an anonymous donor donated $100 to Winville Sebasco lunch balance, Legion Post 484 donated a basket of coffee pods, flavored water packs, plates, creamer, bowls, etc. Fort Cloth Pike Elementary for the staff lounge. The VFW Ohio charities donated $5,000 to the following schools. That's to each of the schools. $5,000. West Claremont Middle School, West Claremont High School, Somerside Elementary, and Willville Elementary. Richard Spalding donated 60 Christian incarnation strand reds bobbleheads to Amelia Elementary. Item 7.10 are the request for approval of contracts basically authorization for the superintendent and treasur to negotiate and execute contracts. There are two of them being requested. Uh the first is the uh Greater Cincinnati Business Advisory Council, Hamilton County ESC, and that is for the BAC, which we we term it. And then the second one is
021for our architects, SAP, West Claremont uh or for West Claremont School District to do a facility assessment. So this is for the facility assessment that they've already done. No. So this is this is new. So what was previously done was for the OFCC u master plan that was put together. Um uh so some assessments were done at that time. But this is going to be for all nine of our schools. It'll be in two phases. The first phase, and Chuck and Randy, you guys correct me if I'm wrong, but the first phase is for the um three schools, the middle school, Berwin, and Holly Hill, which which are the oldest and have the the highest need. We anticipate that to be delivered to us by December 31st. Uh and then it's possible that the remaining
022six could be done by that time, too. But the second phase will be the remaining schools uh within the district to do that same facility assessment. Okay. Go forward. The intent of that is to help us put together a capital plan full well knowing that those three schools have the highest need and that way in January we can come back to the board and and present that capital plan with some of those activities starting uh the summer 26. I get that right? Yeah, that's correct. We'll probably do an update next board meeting. talk a little bit about what this is going to entail for December. Before you do the work then, okay, what it will entail before you start doing the work? I'm sorry. Is I said you're going to tell us what it will
023entail before you start doing the work. You will approve it before we start doing the work. So, yes, we'll we'll that capital plan will identify the needs for those buildings. It'll be prioritized. There'll be an estimate with it. We'll request a budget approval for it and then actually before the work is done because most of that is construction work that that would probably need to be bid. We'll have that presented to the board too. Okay. Thank you. Yes, good question. Item 7.11 is approval request for approval of purpose and budget statements as presented. Uh there are two of them there which are for the school um principal accounts. one for Holly Hill and one for Willible. And so the um consent agenda is item 7.01 through 7.11. Thank you, Mr. Romano. You've heard the recommendation.
024Would someone like to make a motion? Thank you, Mr. Rudy. Is there a second? Second with a statement. It's uh Edwin Incarnio Strand. Okay. You should have practiced that one. All right, Mr. Rudy made a first, Mr. Chum second. Is there any other discussion? The the only comment that I'll make and we we see the donations every time we do this and um you know, I really do appreciate the donations. I'm sure that each of the buildings appreciate the donations. Um it really does take the community to uh to help move us along as well. And so I really do appreciate that. So roll call, please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Mr. Chumley, yes. Miss Sambort. Yes. Mr. Patton. Yes. Four. Yes. Looks like we're moving on. Good evening. While Mr. Romano cues up the presentation here.
025Um I I want to I shared some of this information at our education committee meeting. Um and so I just want to emphasize kind of three key points. If you hear nothing else that I say tonight, there are three things that I really want you to kind of cue into as as the biggest Thank you. as the biggest takeaways tonight. Um number one, well maybe four things. Number one, we are still a district on the rise. the still remains true. We are proud of the progress that we've made and that we continue to make and we will continue to make um that that progress and that being a district on the rise is really measured by three key metrics that have been our metrics now for um five plus years. Those three key metrics. The
026first one is our district's performance index score. And so that is um that score is comprised of points that we are given for um the performance level of every student across every tested subject area and every grade. Um and the the the better that students do um the higher the points is essentially without getting too technical and too mathy um but it really does reflect the achievement of all students across our system. um beginning in third grade and beyond. And so our district's performance index score is yet again um higher than it's been before. We are almost back to precoid um times. And we all know just how different things are than they were dur during COVID. And so um so that's one metric that again we've been using consistently that really reflects um kind
027of the overall health of our system. And so our district's performance index score continues to be higher than it's been. Our second metric that we look at is our growth measure. Um that shows the progress that students are making. And so if you think about achievement as being like what they actually achieved and growth me uh really representing the gains that they've made um over time. Our district's progress um score continues to um to to you know be higher each year. um so much so that our district's progress component ranks us in the top 13% across the entire state of Ohio. And so again, that's an indicator of the health of our system that not only are we helping students achieve at higher and higher levels each year, but the growth that they're making well
028exceeds the expected growth of a student over the course of a school year. So we're really proud of of both achievement and progress. And then the third measure is our graduation rate. And so, um, you know, our goal is that every student graduate from West Claremont prepared for anything, not just something. And you can't do that if you're not graduating. And so, our graduation rate is the highest that it's ever been. And when we get into graduation rate, you'll remember that what's measured on a report card is the graduating class of 24. Um and so the graduating class of 25 is even higher that than what's uh being reported on the report card. And so we are really proud and and that reflects not only the significant efforts of our high school but also the
029efforts of our middle school and our elementary because as we know students who are more prepared to enter middle school and more prepared to leave middle school into high school um all of that um you know is factored into their ability to graduate on time with a plan prepared for what um is to come next. And so if you really the the presentation is meant to go a little bit more in the weeds as it relates to the various report card measures, but those are really the three key takeaways that I think are important for you as a board um and that you should be able to stand confident in our district, proud of um the efforts that really you have um helped spearhead that you've um supported financially um and and we're really proud
030to continue to see strong returns on those investments. So again, that's like the big like I'm starting with the punchline at the beginning, but um but I'll really continue to emphasize those points as we as we go go through. I could talk about this for like hours on end. So I'm going to try to be as brief as possible, but know that if you have questions as I'm going through these, please like stop. that's really meant to um be be an opportunity for you to really understand a bit more. Well, let's see here. Let's turn this sucker out maybe. There we go. Okay. So, point and click it. Clicking it at Dan. Okay. So, um so you know that report cards for a few years now have been measured with a star rating. I will
031say that one thing that is different about this year's report card that makes it difficult to compare last year's report card to this year's report card is that there is a new measure that has been included. And so last year um you know all of the the components that were um included did not have one that is included this year which is the college career workforce and military readiness. So, it's a little difficult when you're looking at our overall star ratings from last year to this year. If you were just looking at that at at face value, you might think like uh like some things um have like maybe gone sideways. It's because there's a new measure that's factored into the equation. And really, if you look across the state um that that new measure
032really impacted many districts in the same way that it did did us. Well, I'll talk more about that um as we move forward. And again, that's one of those measures that's kind of reported like two years um you know, ago. So, we already know that moving forward um we're already better than than what we were um at that time. So, again, I'll I'll talk a bit more about that. But those three those three measures, achievement, progress, and graduation rate, those really have been our um our key metrics all along. I don't know. Why don't you just be my banner, Dan? I don't know why. Okay. So, um, one of the things that's really important to us is that we are building systems of excellence, not just pockets of excellence. We really, um, aspire to be
033a five-star district across the board. And oftent times what you find in districts of our size, um, is a a fairly wide range of um, discrepancies between buildings. You might have some buildings that are, you know, ones or twos and others that are fours and fives. And while we're not quite yet where we want to be across the board, we we do not have any buildings that are not at least meeting um state expectations. And so that's something that really does show that our efforts to build those systems um of strength across our district. This is one of those ways that that you can see the evidence of that. Speaking of um sort of systemic differences, I also think it's really important to kind of unpack um some of the differences that we know exist
034in in districts. And I point this out not as an excuse um but just as a as a a lens through which to um to view not only our district's results but other districts results. And so this really shows that when you look at um some of those um differences that ex that exist across our system. For example, you know, the size of a district, our total enrollment across others in the county, clearly were the largest district um in the county. when you look at other districts like mobility of students and so that really um looks at students who move between schools or between districts. So students who come to us in the middle of a school year or who go from one elementary school to another elementary school within the same year that clearly
035isn't has is a factor that can impact student achievement and progress. And so when you look at you know the large numbers and percentages of students who have that um the mobility when you look at students who come from um a place of economic disadvantagement that's a factor when you look at um students with disabilities or English learners you know and you if you look at o over time our English learner numbers have grown and that's one that's really dramatically different when you look across the county. Many districts have, you know, fewer than 10 students who are English learners. And many of our English learners come to us um as newcomers, which means they really come with no prior um experience in school with very limited if any um English and and yet in sort
036of um with these systemic differences in place, we don't see these as excuses. We see these as opportunities to really be um many students last best hope to to really create a pathway um for their future. And um you know it it's an additional layer of pride that we have that in spite some of those differences or despite some of those differences we still really are um doing well. So again, this is really um just that performance index where I said to you it's the highest that it um has been since precoid. And I'll just highlight um for you our high school. Our high school alone increased their performance index by over five points. And that is in many ways unheard of. And it's such a a dramatic increase that really is a testament to
037the intentional um work of of teachers in course groups um together and it will earn them the momentum award for this past school year. You've if you remember um the district has earned the momentum award in the past. We've had the middle school earned the momentum award. Willville has earned the momentum award, Holly Hill, etc. Um and so now it's the high school's turn to um to achieve to have earned um that award. And so we're really really proud of the continued um accomplishments of our students. And this really goes to show we're setting high bars for all students and we're really working to to ensure and to help them achieve at those high levels. the the um purpose of this graph and I think it um it really helps to illustrate that if you
038look back to like the you know 1819 um school year where we our performance index was you know a bit higher than what it was on this past um report card. What you'll see is that the our blue leg diamond was really pretty close to that state um rect or that state square which really represented the average across the state. And so where we were was really almost about where the state was. If you look over our past, you know, four years, really actually past five years, what you notice is that we're breaking apart from that state average much more so than we previously had. And so it really is just an indication of the intentional efforts that we're that we're taking and the accelerated gains that we're making that ex that exceed any gains
039that um that other districts across the state, the average of those across the state would be making. And so the the wider that gap, um it it's just again another indication of um of of really the um the intentional and kind of the dramatic gains that we're seeing. Um and so that that's really exciting for us to see. Again, this is like another way of just illustrating seeing in a visual form. Um and this is our performance index by school year. And so if you look back to that 2021 year to where we were um in the 2425 school year again, you can just see the the steep and the sort of dramatic um you know increases that that we've been seeing when we look specifically at um by content area. So um math, third,
040fourth grade, algebra, geometry. Again, you can sort of see these um these gains over time. You can go to the next one, Dan. Um same thing as it relates to particular content areas or um you know, and of course assessments and again back to the efforts of the high school there. This really um reflects the investment that we've made not just at the high school but really across um across our system in being able to um find time for teachers to come together to really work as collaborative groups. Like being an educator is really hard work and it's even more difficult if you try to go it alone. And so this really reflects um the the efforts for teachers to really support one another to we always believe that the like room is smarter than
041any one person that together we're able to to come to better solutions that we're able to support one another in seeking ways to support student needs. And so this really um really reflects the um the outcome of of those efforts. So um so going back to like our second way that we measure really the health of our system is related to that progress component the growth that students are making um relative to what would have been expected for them to to make. So the analogy that I was trying to like um give to the educa education committee was if you think about every student who took assessments who uh across the entire state based on their past performance they would be like lined up in a row and in order to make um be considered
042to have made your expected growth the next year you have to kind of maintain that place in line. If you fall back in line, you're going to have like negative um growth. And if you move up further in line than where you were the year before, your growth is going to be positive. That's like a real real basic simplified explanation for what's a pretty complicated metric. And so when you look at West Claremont, um our gain index was positive 7.31. And so as a group, all of our students across every tested subject area in every grade from fourth grade through our high school end of course exams, their gain index was over seven points, which places us in the top 13% across the entire state. And so when you look at um and and so
043they moved up to this place and then the next year they have to like maintain that place like they don't go back to like being judged against where they were the year before. And so as you continue to perform better and better, it gets even more challenging to maintain like those places, you know, in line. And so we're really um really proud to to see that this has been something that isn't just like a one-year fluke, but we've seen this kind of um progress over time um for multiple years in a row. So when you look at this um do you have a question? What? So that 7.31 what like what is that like what does that number kind of mean? So, so like a zero if it were zero that really would again in
044really simplified ways would mean that as a group everybody just kind of maintain their place in line like zero is considered is that out of like a like 7.3 out of something or well I mean it's out of um I mean I I don't know that there's like an infinite number that it could um could be but it's really if you go back to the previous slide um Mr. Romano. So when you look at it's like the actual growth that happened minus what was expected to happen divided by the standard error of measurement. So so it kind of depends on based on what they were supposed to do subtracted from what they actually well what they did minus what they were supposed to do divided by the standard error like how wide of a discrepancy
045it was. I'm like a negative five so well it took me it took me a second. Yeah, it it's um it is pretty complicated if you'll grow. Yeah, I mean yeah, it's a zero is really a year's represents like a year what would be expected to to happen. So if you'll move to the next slide. So one thing that I think is just really um you know relevant to you sorry this keeps coming off here. What I think is really relevant to you and your role as a board is, you know, it's it's sometimes easy to forget memory lane a little bit and remembering all of the things that you helped set in motion um you know, many years ago. And so if you look at these last three years, those last three years line
046up with your decision to invest in instructional materials, curriculum revision, professional development. All of what came from that really intentional effort um and the allocation of resources, human capital. this is like the most dramatic return on investment that that it that I would think a board could really hope for. And so we're really proud um we're really proud of that. And I think that um no one wants what we really are striving for as a district and we talk about this with our administrators a lot is we want to be a district that is considered a learning and leading district where we're able to really draw connections between the decisions that we're making, the intentional efforts that we're putting forth across the whole system and then the results that we're getting as a as a
047result of that. And that stands in contrast to being like a lucky district or like a losing district where um you know you might get lucky like like we did well but like we have no idea what conditions what contributed to us having gotten the results that we that we got. And so we're really working very closely with um with our teachers, with with our administrators to to be um you know, and nothing's ever a perfect science, but we want to be able to replicate success year after year after year. And that really only comes from having a deepened understanding of like what it took for you to get the results that you did get. And so this really um you know so to to consistently year-over-year um be able to have um those those
048results as a direct rel as a direct followup to um some of the decisions that we intentionally began making there. I think is one strong indication that investing in those um resources and professional learning and people really does u make a difference. And you can see that then when we look at results related to you know to math um again positive gain indexes um directly following years of curriculum implementation. Science you know science has always been um an outlier in a really positive way. Um and science is kind of measured a little differently because the science exam is not given every year. It's only in certain key um grade levels. But but our our science teachers really have always um gone above and beyond. And this is the one and I shared this with the
049education committee. This is probably the one we're most excited about right now is that for the first year and this is across the entire system. we've had pockets of certain grade levels or certain buildings where we've seen positive value added um gain indexes, but across the entire system, one year following our the first year of our ELA um you know, course of study implementation, we've for the first time seen um a gain index that um you know was was almost a two. And so this really um I think is just the beginning of what we'll be able to continue to see over time. So this is another way of looking at both achievement and progress and it's related to specific um to specific student subgroups. And so it's really important for us to not um
050only look at the health of our system for all students but also specific groups of students. We really want to ensure that um that our our system is good for all students and um and so what this really looks like are is related to these achievement goals for various subgroups. And then the next slide um is looking at the growth goals. And so we have um a few student subgroups that we still are working towards closing that achievement gap for. But when you look at our at the progress measure, so the clo the um the progress that they've made, if they haven't quite met that achievement goal yet, they're exceeding the the the progress measure. And so this is an indication to us that we're moving significantly in the right direction. And it's just a
051matter of time before we're able to to close that achievement gap as well. So this graph um is looking at chronic absenteeism. It is no surprise to any of you that really postcoid all districts have been um struggling to have students showing up to school. And so chronic absenteeism reflects students who've missed, you know, 10% or more of school. And that comes from missing having missed like full days or just having a bunch of tardies and coming to school late every day or leaving early every day. And so we've really worked hard um over the last few years to be in as intentional as possible um about removing barriers that stand in the way of students being able to get to school um as often as we need them to. And so this the bottom
052graph is really looking at the percentage of students who are considered chronically absent um in our district. And so we're seeing a decline which is moving in the right direction. 29% of students being chronically absent is still way too high. And you know, we're not like thrilled with that, but we are definitely pleased that it's moving in the right direction. And the the top graph is looking at our overall um attendance percentage. And so we're we're seeing higher percentage of students coming to school and a lower percentage of students who are considered chronically absent. And so, um, our intentional efforts continue and we're part of, you know, statewide efforts. And, um, you know, and this is something that I think is continues to just be an education piece for for families as well. Um, you
053know, it's easy and we don't want, don't get me wrong, we don't want students who are sick like coming to school. That's not what this is about. Um, but there are often times where we know it's it's challenging to um, you know, for my own I I will just speak as a parent of like four children of my own. Um, there can be times where it it's challenging to um, you know, have have everybody up and ready and out the door on time. and and life is sometimes not easy and there are a lot of um you know challenges that come that come from um you know just getting everybody where they need to be. But it really does take a partnership and so our resource coordinators and their efforts are really designed to continue
054to bridge um you know those those gaps that might exist and to really partner with families around helping students get to school. So, um, that third indicator that really is, um, the one that we've been looking at consistently is around graduation, um, graduation rate. And so, again, graduation rate is one of those measures where it's like a year in reverse. And so this the um we kind of already took liberties to tell you what our graduation rate is going to be for the class of 25 because we're just like so excited about we can't help oursel even though that was not the measure that was on the actual report card. Um the measure the four-year graduation rate reported on the report card is for the graduating class of 24. And so that was a 94%
055graduation rate which is higher than it's been you know than it's ever been anyway. But our graduation rate for the class of 25 is 97.4%. And so again, we are if you look at just a few and and some of you were on the board at that time, if you were to like walk down memory lane just a few short years ago, our graduation rate was under 90%. And that was um that that was not we were not pleased at all with that. And so this again is really a reflection of very intentional efforts on the part of our high school staff but across the system getting more students ready for high school so that they can graduate on time and not just graduate um you know having gone through the motions but really graduating
056with an intentional plan and a a pathway um for their future. And so we are like so thrilled um beyond thrilled as it relates um to this and you should be too. So the um the last well second to the last measure is our early literacy component and um this is a measure that it it is comprised of a couple different things. One part of it is looking at an offtrack to ontrack percentage and um and and the state is still trying to like figure out the the best way to to measure this the way it is right now and they're sort of pending legislation to even like modify this yet again. This is kind of the measure that keeps on like changing a bit but the the way that it's currently measured looks at
057a falltofall measure. So the percentage of students who were off track in the fall of kindergarten compared to those same students in the fall of first grade and then another cohort of students who were off track in the fall of first grade compared to those same students in the fall of second grade and so on and so forth. And so one of the one of the just challenges like the inherent challenges of that measure is that the fall is like the beginning of the school year. And we know the beginning of the school year was immediately preceded by like summertime. And um and so all of the gains that a student has made from the fall of a grade level to the end of that grade level that the measurement is isn't doesn't come from
058that. It comes from the beginning of the next school year. And so one of the things that we sort of took a step back this year to take a closer look at was um you know we were we were administering our diagnostic assessments pretty early. We have you have 30 days from the beginning of the school year to the end like you have 30 days to give these assessments and we were wanting to get as much information about students as soon as they came into school so that we could really then intentionally target instruction for them. And what we found was like that's actually not giving us credit for all of the the gains and the growth that the student actually made during the the immediate like the the grade before that. So like the
059fall to the end of the year progress. And so we intentionally this year like held off on that and gave kids an opportunity to like come back to school and like remember all the things that they were in a rhythm for having like learned right before they left for summer. And so based on our our fall diagnostic data um from this year and I'll just use like our kindergarten to first grade numbers for example um over 80% of the students who were off track in kindergarten were now on track in first grade. And so it it is like doubled the n the percentage of students that were measured on this year's report card. And and it's because of some intentional efforts, absolutely, but it's also because like we just needed to be a little um
060you know, we just needed to give ourselves credit for all of the the efforts that our our teachers and our reading specialists were putting into this. And so um so this really I guess it's a long way of saying that we really don't believe that those two stars from this year actually reflected the progress and the growth that students made. And so, um, so with a few just kind of intentional tweaks, we're well on our way to next year having our our report card measure really reflect the efforts that, um, that we put into this. So, you can, this is kind of all wrapped up into that same that same piece. Oh, back. One more. One more back. So, the last measure, and again, this is that new measure is the it's a it's a
061mouthful. the college, career, workforce, and military readiness component. And in its like truest kind of most um you know, if you kind of get at the heart of what this measure is really supposed to measure, I think it's actually measure something that we as a district really also believe in. And what it's trying to say is that there are lots of different ways that students can demonstrate readiness and that they can demonstrate that they um have developed the knowledge and skill to prepare them for um success at whatever that might mean for them postgraduation. And so kind of on the bottom there there, you know, it gives like a list of all the different ways that a student can meet this um this indicator. And so again, this is a measure that's like um it
062we're looking at class of 24 data and that class of 24 data um you know that that was even before like we had built systems to be able to like really try to not only capture this information but help people really understand um how to how to approach this with with the kind of intentionality that it sort of takes. And so I'll just use like one example. One of the ways that you can demonstrate um readiness as measured by this indicator is looking at the number of like dual enrollment credits that a student has earned. And so if a student earns 12 or more college credits while in high school, that is one indicator that they, you know, that's one of the ways that they can meet this. So we had lots of students taking
063CCP courses. As we kind of um began to like unpack this, we found that there were many students who had nine credits or 11 credits or you know um they had nine CCP credits plus they had two AP scores and one of the ways you can get it is having three or more AP tests with three points or higher. And so it was really an indication to us that we have many students who are who are doing so many of these things. And um and with just a little bit more intentionality and a little bit more education for students, for staff, for parents around um like the why of this, we um we're we're going to be seeing expon like exponential gains um in this. And it's really our goal in the short term that
064100% of our students have met at least one of these indicators. And we're really backmapping a system that begins in elementary school where students are beginning like with career awareness for example and just learning about all the kinds of jobs that exist in their community all the way up to graduation where they've had an opportunity to kind of take a deep dive into learning about the things that they their own skills, their own interests and the potential career pathways that might exist for them aligned with those um areas of interest and skill so that they can have a real clear path and a real clear plan that begins um you know the seeds of which were beginning to be planted in elementary that they were able to explore in middle school that then in high
065school they were really able to um to develop and and have experiences aligned with those. And so this really to me is an exciting frame. Like this offers us an exciting framework to really um to to really tighten our system where we do believe that um that not every student is created equally. Like they all have their own unique interests and we want to really allow students to develop and be poured into in lots of different ways. And so just helping kids understand which of these is like the best plan for them and how they can ensure that they are prepared to graduate having met one of those um is really something that we're we're just really excited about um what this is going to allow us to be able to do for for all
066students. So one more slide. Um, so in summary, do you have do you want to say something before something small? You said some students have 911 credits. Is there a credit threshold to to meet to be able to qualify? It's 12 12 or more college credits. Yeah. So it's like 12 or more college credits, three or more AP with three or plus better points, and it's you can't do like a combination of those things. So, it's really just about building awareness of um some of those on the part of students as they're making, you know, decisions and for us to lay that out in a way that really just helps make it clear for kids like this is really a a choice that makes more sense for you based on XYZ kinds of things. Um
067so, so really with some small tweaks like we have all the all the ingredients of the recipe. Like that's the great news. um it's really just a matter of like putting it all together um in a way that can help people clearly like know what to do with the ingredients that we have in place for them. So again to kind of like summarize kind of those three key points we have you know the highest performance index score that we've had since since co and those gaps were like continuing to separate oursel from from the state and um the high school will will be awarded the momentum award um despite all those systemic differences that exist those are not excuses for us it's helping it's we're um you know even with those happening we're performing competitively
068across the county. Our progress, our value added puts us in the top 13% of the state. Um, and again, we see our highest growth coming directly from us having had multiple years of implementation of our of our curriculum revision cycles. We're closing gaps for students either through them meeting their achievement targets or through their growth targets. Graduation rates are the highest they've ever been and continuing to grow. and we're really working to ensure that every student has a path to post-secary readiness regardless of of the things that they're interested in um and that again students can be prepared really for anything not just something. So that concludes my um presentation. I don't know if anyone has any questions. That's awesome. So those are the highest graduation rates ever. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Um are is the
069district also judged on the number of uh technical student I want to say technical students going to the oaks and their assessment. Yeah. So, so that college career readiness, workforce, military readiness, that indicator, the big mouth, full one, one of the ways that they can demonstrate readiness is through um some like career technical like web exams and um also through um um military enlistment. Some of our students that's like a pathway that um they may have taken at the Oaks. And so we work we actually um Mrs. Zot and myself were a part of a call last week, this week, I don't know, sometime recently, I guess last week, where um it was done in conjunction with the oaks to make sure that um that we're working in in um alignment with one another and
070in conjunction with one another because they want to ensure in the same way that we do that all of their students uh are graduating with one of these indicators in place. And so it really for us is um we want to to be able to make an assumption that when they go to the Oaks they're going to be well prepared to be able to be successful in they they call it being a completer of a career technical field. And so that means that you've successfully completed like all years of the program plus then taken sort of whatever the final exam or series of final exams would would entail. So sometimes it's the completion of a pre-apprenticeship, sometimes it's the completion of web exams or other career technical exams. And so when students do that, then
071they are reported for both the Oaks and for the district um as someone who has met that indicator. The word I was looking for is credentials. So if if a student there does not get the credential, does that count against Yeah. West Claremont? Yeah. which is totally beyond the control of anybody here. Yeah. And and correct. And so it really is it's kind of like where we want to really be partnering with them to ensure that um that they are completing their program successfully so that they will be able whether it's the industry recognized credential that they needed to earn that they've like actually earned it or if that they were going to need an alternate pathway that that alternate pathway has been um you know available to them. So, so absolutely it does. It
072would be something that would reflect negatively on the district. I personally think it's grossly unfair. Yeah. To to rate us on something that we're not involved in. Yes. I don't disagree. And yet they are students and so we want to really ensure that um that a diploma, you know, graduating from Mus Clare High School means that you have um demonstrated this readiness. So, it's it will continue to I think the relationships between the career technical schools and the the home schools will continue to um to evolve and to to be more aligned as as time goes on. I think in that way it's a good thing. Yeah. Okay. Does each pathway hold the same weight? Like if they were to enlist in the military, would that hold the same weight as someone getting 12 credit
073hours? Yeah. And again, I think that's meant to at the heart really reflect that readiness can be measured in lots of different ways, which I do believe our community really does does value. Can they also earn uh is there a pathway for working? Yes. So, one of the one of the pathways it's a combination of Ohio has created it's called the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness Seal. And so it's a whole host of really career um sort of durable skills, you know, things like punctuality and um you know, attention to detail. And so there is a seal that you can earn through like successful completion of those Ohio means readiness job like um tasks and that has to com that is combined with 250 hours of work-based learning experiences. And so those can come from actually
074working a job. They can come from participating in career related activities, you know, um job shadowing, um internships, um guest speakers, a whole host of things. And so that is those two things combined together is one of the ways that that um indicator can be met for students. that's always struck me as something that shows that you have to work against it to not be able to graduate because you've got all these options and that one is is a a great one. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. For for kids that don't have maybe, you know, talents otherwise. Yes. Yeah. And again, it's really we're working to help build a personalized system um where where we really are um helping students really understand um you know themselves as learners and their their future plans for themselves and helping
075to really line those things up for them. I was going to mention all that they already stole from me and mentioned no I I will say um my comment will be brief but it's you know there was a lot of things that took us to this to this place um you know right the graduation rate but really my appreciation goes to the teachers and the students for them showing up every day doing their job doing what needs to be done and getting our kids it really is it's the teachers and our students that have got us to this this this place and so I I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely. I said in the education committee like I have the honor of being the spokesperson of this, but this really reflects the efforts of um of
076our teachers, our support staff, our students, our it's our building principles supplying what needs to be done. It's our teachers meeting kids where they are, where they need to be. Like it's Yeah, absolutely. They're really the boots on the ground. So, I appreciate that. Absolutely. Thank you. Um, Dr. Folz. Okay. I just want to reiterate what Mr. Patton just said and and what Ellie said today is is you see on the news a lot uh public education being ridiculed or mocked for a variety of things and and I challenge anyone to come into the West Claremont School District, any school that we have, and you're going to see amazing high quality staff teaching amazing things and students learning it. And so, um, I I that as as a superintendent gets me excited to come to
077work every day. Um, also I don't want to take Dan, but I just wanted to to mention that last week we had the take care of yourself fair. It's the third annual. And, uh, it part of the take care of yourself is is wellness, physical wellness, financial wellness, mental wellness, and I believe the staff had a great time. We had a little pep rally at the at the um football field to kick it off. and uh hopefully pictures and video will be forthcoming. Um but uh I walking around and getting positive feedback from the vendors and from staff just talking about what a wonderful day it was. So I wanted to just say uh just bring that up and say we're we're proud of of having that program. That's all I have for today. Thank
078you, Mr. Romano. So u I'm glad he did that because I was so blown away by that presentation. I would have forgotten it. So I'm glad you did bring that up. So, I um this is off the cuff, okay? This isn't like something I've written down beforehand, but I'm going to ask I'm going to ask you to write down two sets of numbers and two phrases, okay? Because I think it's really really important. So, the first set of numbers is what Ellie talked about. And that was we performed in the top 13%. Right? Which means so that's 13% is one number. The second number of that set, that first set is we outperformed 87%. That's what that meant. We're in the top 13. Did I say that right? Right. We outperformed 87%. Second set of
079numbers. Okay. And and this goes back to to the 2324 cup report and how we spend money. Okay. We ranked in the bottom 17%. Which meant almost a little bit opposite because the second number then is 83% of the state spent more per pupil than we did. Okay. If you go back and think of the growth that that um Ellie stated to us in that presentation as a benchmark from 2020 up up to now. Okay. we were spending in the lower 5% 6%. Okay. So um so those two sets of numbers 13 and 87% on performance 17 and 83% on how we spent I that's something we should remember when asked about what's going on with the school district. I think those are some sound data facts to present. The two phrases that I would
080say is one is and I just didn't get it before but intentional intentionality okay of the efforts okay this was d this this was very specific on how it was all put together um you know she's not just a curriculum leader she's the architect of this whole thing okay with a lot of other people coming together to do it I mean it it it really takes a lot to put that all together uh why I'm sitting here smiling is because you know most treasures don't want to spend money but when we have something where it's very intentional it really adds purpose to it so about two weeks ago someone asked me how I would describe how we put our budgets together okay and it's purpose driven okay so there's intentionality in in where those efforts
081are there's there's very direct purpose in where we put our money to make some things happen okay so the two sets of numbers And those two phrases I you know I think are there as you mentioned there were a lot of things that put this all together but I'll go back to to about I think it was two years ago when um a survey was taken and one of the questions was did the staff feel that they had the their resources to do their job. Okay. I mean I paraphrase it but I believe that that's that's what it was. That survey was taken I think in January or February and it was not positive results and a few of us went through the roof because it's like wait a minute we're we're providing the resources
082why don't you have it and before that year ended the the uh the administrative team through the principal said you tell us what resources you need okay and we'll make sure you have them and I think if that question was asked today I would hope that people would say they do have those resources but the you you know the the money that they have to spend and and people don't even know this, but I think the curriculum department is doing a great job of decentralizing some of the budget. So, um not just the curriculum centrally says here's how you spend the money, but as those curriculums are put in place, they're allocating money to the schools for those teachers to spend, right? For those departments to spend and the principles to spend, you know, within
083those curriculums. That's really that is really important. Okay? Because then they have the ability within that framework of the curriculum to decide what to spend the money on. Hopefully I'm making sense. If I'm not, I apologize, but I that that's really where we've come is really important. Okay? And I just don't know how to stress it. We can go back to the phrase that we don't, you know, we we're not spending money needlessly. We're spending it very purposefully and where it should be spent. That presentation is what it's all about on how we spend it. When we moved from 5% up to 70%, 17%, okay, that was very intentional, okay, to get those outcomes, you know, that that she presented tonight. So, that's there. So, I I apologize for I'm just I am I'm really
084as a fiscal officer really excited about those results. I mean that's that's that's why it all comes together with it okay to do it. The biggest thing is for me is none of that could be done unless the board had their aspirations which they did number one but just as important and maybe more important is I felt you believed we could do it. So not just I mean first is having them. The second thing is if you didn't believe we could do it, it would not have gotten done. Okay, that belief, you know, within the administration, within the team of people has to be there. The third part of that is although we directed the resources to curriculum, you've got a it's probably the front two or three rows here. You've got other people that
085run the departments um that need to support that whole thing. Okay. So from making sure that the buildings are clean to making sure the staff is in place to making sure that operationally things are running the right way. Okay, some of that strategically is making sure we're going in the right direction and doing all those things. So all this stuff comes together, you know, as with it. So I I'll stop there because I I think as Elliot says, she could go all night with it and I I probably could too. Um my final one is this. You had mentioned about being able to stand in confidence. Okay. That was the greatest example that we had with those students. And I don't know if some people saw, but there were three students that didn't have their
086note cards with them. Yeah. Yeah. And just spoke right off of it. Well, that's standing in confidence right there. And and we have to thank CFI because they're the ones that came up with the the aspirational statements. To me, that was worth the entire amount of money we we paid them. Yeah. Yeah. Um the last thing is on advocacy. So superintendent and I met with uh Representative Bird today. There's two bills that within the next two weeks may come out and go forward. Um one of them is House Bill 186. We had a great discussion on that with Representative Bird today and and some efforts to try and um push that forward so more communication could be done with it. The second one was on House Bill 309. Both of those are are aimed at
087property taxes. If I were to give you another set of numbers to think about, it is in 2020, and don't don't hold me to these numbers, but they're they're pretty close. 55% of our dollars came from local uh or came from the state, 45% locally. Today, 67% locally, 33% from the state. And that's because the state has not given us additional revenue. Any additional revenue with the growth that we have has come from from our local community. And so I I we can sit here and apologize that maybe that's a burden on the local community, but that's getting us the results that that we have today. So we're still advocating to get targeted relief um with that. We're not abandoning that and um we still have to move forward. But it was a good conversation
088today with Representative Bird. Thank you. Moving on to board comments. We will start with Miss Hamour. I'd like to thank the Club Pike students for uh coming tonight and they did a phenomenal job. I've never heard students talk so eloquent at a board meeting before. And I that's kudos to the principal and the assistant principal and their teachers that teach them every day about being a great leader. Maybe the leader in me is really working very hard with the that school district and our other school districts. And thanks to um Mrs. Parker for leading that way and leadering. She's done a phenomenal job. Thanks to Ellie tonight for uh doing the presentation. I was really amazed of how far we have come. We've we've come a long way since I've been on the board and
089I've seen all the good work that has been accomplished and I really appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chley. Uh yeah, I'll continue to piggy back off of you guys. U I love the presentation. Uh you mentioned a lot of that was the aspirations that were um in place previously um and that we believed in you guys to accomplish it but I think it goes beyond that. I I knew you guys could accomplish that and I know you guys can accomplish further goals that we have set. Um it's more than just that I believe in you guys. I I uh truly mean when I say that we have the best team. Um and to continue that celebration we were honored. Um, we got this earlier today from OSBA. Um, our we received the distinction award. I'll
090read what they had to say here. Uh, on behalf of the officers, trustees, and staff of the Ohio State School Boards Association, I would like to commend the West Claremont Local School Board on becoming a recipient of the 2025 OSBA Ohio Board of Distinction Award. Um, the Ohio Board of Distinction Award recognizes school boards that engage in a defined set of required and optional activities and model behaviors that lead to excellence in local school district governance in support of quality education. Each member of your board participated equally in these training and service activities to earn this award. Clearly demonstrating your leadership team strong commitment to serving your dis your district and community. Um, OSBA would like to honor your board at the upcoming Capitol conference. Um, which I think will be great for us and
091our district. Um, this is this is a great honor, not just for us, but it shows the hard work that that you all put in. Um, we get to we get to reap some of those rewards. But, um, I it it's it's all you guys. So, I would like to thank you for for that and uh your continued work. So, Thank you, Mr. Sh. Mr. Rudy, I want to really recognize Mrs. Preston. Um that was like a session of report cards for dummies, me being the dummy, but you are so good at picking apart and showing us those those different things and how they've gotten better. And I it helps me immensely. numbers and I just don't get along. So, thank you very much. Okay. Uh before I forget, because I always forget, our next
092board meeting will be October 20th, 2025 at 7 p.m. here at the Civic Center. So, again, October 20th, 7 p.m. here at the Civic Center. Uh again, I can echo the same thing that everybody's already said. You know, Miss Preston, I appreciate this presentation. Um it really speaks volume and the way that our district is going. And again, I go back to our staff. I appreciate them for showing up. I appreciate our students for showing up um and putting their best foot forward. Mr. Mason, again, they highlighted it. Today's presentation was perfect. This is what board meetings should be about. Having our kids come in so we can see what's taking place um for lack of better words, under the hood, right? So we can see what's going on in our buildings. So your your
093students, your staff, they did a great job. The parents, I appreciate them coming out on a Monday this late at night. So again, I appreciate all of that. Um I think with that being said um we do have a reason to go into executive session uh for the purpose of considering the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee and to consider the investigation of charges or uh complaints against a public employee official lency or student. Um would someone like to make a motion back out? Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Uh again, uh there is no vote. We will not be coming back out. There will be no vote after this once we're done. Mr. Rudy, he second it. Any discussion on this? Okay. Roll call,
094please. Mr. Rudy, yes. Mr. Chumley, yes. Miss Tanor, yes. Mr. Pat, yes.