001Welcome and thank you for attending the August 25th, 2025 regular meeting of the Westerville City Schools Board of Education. This evening's agenda will be displayed on the screens in the front of the room. Printed agendas are available for our guests in the back room on the table or you may find the agenda on your mobile device by connecting to the district's website at www.wcsoh.org. Click on our district link. Select board of education and follow the board docs link to our current meeting agenda. And with that, Miss Marshall, will you please call the role? >> Mrs. Alman, >> here. >> Mr. Huckleman >> here. >> Mrs. Valentine >> here. >> Mrs. Leian >> here. >> Mrs. Meyer >> here. And will you join us in the pledge of allegiance, please? >> To the flag of the
002United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Um, next is district highlights and recognitions. and we don't have any this evening. So, we're going to move along to reports. So, 4.1, we have staff wellness plan. And welcome, Miss Bishop. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to present the district's employee wellness plan for the 202526 school year. The employee wellness program is an initiative to improve and promote the health and well-being of our employees. We recognize the benefits of wellness initiatives for the employees of Westerville City Schools and aim to provide information and opportunities that can improve their physical, mental, and financial health. The employee wellness program is funded by a credit of our administrative fees by
003Anthem, our health insurance carrier, and all funds are run through the district self- insurance fund and not through our general fund. Um there is an attachment but on the attachment um there's an overview of the programming available to our staff for this school year. Opportunities are available at no cost to staff and some opportunities have an incentive offered for completion. Uh we are working to highlight topics of interest to our staff, increase our available challenges and professional development day offerings, as well as provide more information about general wellness, our insurance programs, and our employee assistance programs offerings. And I'm happy to share that we saw an increase of participation in each of our offerings during the 2425 school year and look forward to continuing that trend. At this time, I'm happy to answer any questions
004you may have. I'll just say they look like really awesome benefits. So, I hope people are taking advantage of them. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, moving along 4.02 student wellness and success success funds and disadvantaged pupil impact aid plan. And Miss Marshall, will you please talk to us about this? >> Uh, thank you, President Meyer, members of the board. Um, so this is an annual report that we are required to present to the board each year and then we will post this plan on our uh district website as required within 30 days of this plan being reported. And so um not new funds uh just a newer requirement to schools for how we're using funds that we were already receiving. Uh so for this year fiscal
005year 26 which is 2526 school year that's what we're talking about today we have student wellness and success funds if you remember correctly as part of Governor Dwine's first budget. Um that was initially separate funding outside of the funding formula that's since been rolled into the funding formula. Again I can't stress this enough. Not new funds just new requirements. uh what we received last year, we're seeing a reduction of $241,747 this year from what we received. So our estimated amount for this year is 995, uh $3526 for our disadvantaged pupil impact aid. Uh we're estimated to receive about 1,28,52 um also being reduced by 22,872. And uh those reductions are really a result of our state share dropping as as we've discussed multiple times over and over again. So that is a total reduction in
006funding for our district. And um other state and local funds which what we're using out of our general fund in addition to those dollars to support this work that we are required to do is about $2.9 million that you can see on that. And I'm happy to turn it over to Miss Santa and Mrs. Ralford and uh Mr. McWain to share with you about the programs. >> Thank you. Uh good evening, President Meyer, Superintendent Hamburg, Miss Marshall, members of the board. Appreciate that opening on the dollar side, which I think this is our group's third or fourth year presenting this. So to to watch those dollars continue to to shift um is important to note. Uh we're going to present this in a couple sections. as you'll see uh if if you follow along, I'm
007going to cover the student wellness and success uh portion and then Cheryl and Nick are going to um go back and cover the disadvantaged um pupil impact aid portion. So, as you see, uh this requires a collaborative effort. Nothing has changed for us here. We still are um you choose from an approved provider list. We're still partnering with the ESC of central Ohio as well as Concord Counseling Services, which are two long-standing um places that we have great partnerships with. So that hasn't changed at all for us. As you jump into the student wellness uh content, our focus also continues to be the same. We're uh continuing that consistent area of mental health and physical health, which I'm lucky enough to support both of those departments. Um more specifically in those departments, when we talk
008about these dollars, we're talking about the school social workers and the mental health team. And then we're talking about the school nurses serving in our clinics. So, just to be clear on those pieces, um I think we have been um just really grateful for the continued support of our community in both of these areas. Um I believe that by uh having a look at both of these departments for a long time now, um have been able to observe uh the more consistent tiered levels of intervention and support that we've been able to offer on both sides, mental health-wise and physical health side of the house. Um, I think it's a testament to both of those teams and spaces growing and strengthening for our kids um, and for our families. And so to just simplify that,
009it's whether we're talking about maybe a disregulated student really struggling with some mental health pieces or helping a student really manage a chronic medical condition, right? Our goals really remain the same on both of those areas. We're trying to build skills, teach kids what they need to stay as healthy as they can, and really maximize their time by staying in the classroom. So, it looks very different than that would in an outside mental health setting or an outside clinic setting for nurses, but that is our goal. That continues to be our goals um when it comes to our mental health team and and our nursing team. And then lastly, uh just like the other pieces that you'll see on here, we do have um now consistent systems in place that we track often. Um we're
010reviewing uh just trends, um patterns, anything that we might see in both of these areas that just allows us to make um ongoing adjustments. um I'd say really thoughtful decisions um on just the best ways to support our students under this umbrella. So that covers the student wellness and success side. I'm going to have Cheryl and Nick cover the next portion and then we'll answer any questions. So at the elementary level, we use our disadvantaged pupil impact aid to support primarily our reading intervention services that we provide for our students in need of those foundational um skills outside of the classroom. So, as you know, uh we do provide high quality um instruction in our day-to-day classroom for all of our students, but sometimes students will need a little bit extra to help them um
011hone in on those skills so that they can work at a more masterful level and apply it in the classroom. And that model that we use with reading intervention is small group. Um with some of the legislation that has come down, we had to lower our number of students that we service in reading intervention from five to four. Um at this time we can only service four students in within a group, no more than four. Um so that has been an adjustment. Right? We also service about 20% of our students K5 receive reading intervention. um most of them do receive reading intervention through a pullout model outside of the classroom, but there are times where we do provide some level of support within the classroom. Um, we've worked diligently across our curriculum team to make
012sure that the resources that we're using to provide these interventions are high quality um, evidence-based um, resources that align with the science of reading and provide a multiensory approach of teaching kids these foundational skills. and we monitor our students progress ongoing and make the necessary adjustments based upon the interventions they receive based upon how they're progressing through um by learning those skills or showing that they can learn those specific skills. Um beyond that, not a whole lot has changed for us other than the decrease in class size or small group service model, but um we're excited that we're able to cons to continue to extend these services for our kids using these funds. and then Nick has the other portion of how we utilize them. >> Thank you, Cheryl. We are extremely blessed and thankful
013to be able to use these funds to offer our most atrisisk students an opportunity to earn credits and not drop out of high school through our educational options for success or our EOS program. Um with this program we uh uh aim to meet the educational needs of the students but also support their social emotional well-being as well. Typically the EOS program supports your upperassman students that are underacredited um you know on the cusp or at risk of possibly dropping out of high school um due to some of those educational struggles. Uh since the pandemic as you know we have definitely seen an increase in the mental health needs of our students as well. Um, so not only working with our upperassman students, but also working with our underassman students that are dealing with the anxieties,
014the depression, and just all the noise that can kind of sometimes overwhelm them in a typical school setting to give them another alternative to earn credits and get themselves on the right track and uh graduate within four years. Last year, we had about 200 kids utilize the EOS program and we service them with their educational and social emotional needs. On average, the EOS program will account for about 10% of all Westerville City Schools graduates. We typically award anywhere around 450 credits each year. Uh but last year we had an amazing year within the program and we actually awarded over 580 credits to our students. This is the most credits that we have awarded since the 2018 2019 school year. Um, so we had a lot of success with a lot of our students with um,
015the EOS program with getting them back on track and awarding those credits. Um, on the social emotional side of things as well, we do a pre-ervey when students come into our program to see kind of what their thoughts and feelings are with school and we collect those results and then as a student uh, leaves our program, we give them a post survey and we compare those results. What we're hoping to see is that as we work and meet their social emotional needs that we are increasing their positive aspects and thoughts and feelings around school while decreasing their negative thoughts as well. Last year within the program we had 98% of our students have a positive and change and positive thoughts with school while over 90% of our students had less anxieties, less fears and less
016negative thoughts with school. So, uh, not only are we meeting their educational needs, but we're also meeting their social emotional needs as well. Uh, throughout the program, we'll continue to track our graduation numbers and the students um attaining credit and getting back on track. Um, we'll also look at our social emotional needs um as well through our survey to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our most atrisisk students. And we cannot tell you how thankful we are and how grateful our families are that we serve to be able to have this option for them. um turn it back over to uh Miss Marshall for any uh parting comments and we'll take any questions. >> Again, just want to mention these aren't new dollars, but just the reporting is new requirement. This is
017work that um our teams have been doing for a long time to help support kids and um so that's all I have. >> Yep. Thank you so much. I do have a question. Could you in terms of percentage clarify or let us um better understand what percentage of our total student population is considered disadvantaged? >> So our um it's based on our economically disadvantaged numbers is what the calculation is a portion of that and it's about 43%. Um actually I think it might be a little bit higher this year but last year was 43%. I think we're up to like 48% now. I just had a question um from Miss Ralford. You had mentioned that we're now I think I hear mandated to have four and not five in these groups. So tell me about
018the other students. I imagine they don't slip through the cracks. We have to figure out how we're servicing them. So can you walk us through what that looks like? So, we get a little creative and we've worked really hard to make sure that our classroom teachers are well trained and prepared on how to deliver interventions within the classroom. We do understand that sometimes kids need a little bit more. So, we try to get that um high, you know, top 10 20% of the students receive the more intensive reading intervention services. But within the legislation when they implemented high dosage tutoring, one of the things that changed is that the group sizes had to be smaller. So we dropped from five to four students to meet that criteria. And with that doesn't seem like a lot
019of students, but typically a reading intervention teacher has about eight groups within the day. And so you're talking about 32 students receiving reading intervention ser services per case load typically for one teacher. um which was a decrease from 40 students on a case load. Um we are providing you oftent times hear us talk about tier 1, tier 2 and tier three. Um tier three is reading intervention. That's our most intensive reading services. Tier two um are those reading intervention services that students receive by the classroom teacher within the classroom. And tier one is that whole class um instructional model that all kids get. So, if a student is receiving tier two or tier three, they're getting interventions on top of day-to-day instruction. Um, and again, tier three is the students of greatest need in need
020of a lot more than what a typical kid would need at tier one. >> Thank you. So, following up on that question, I imagine like you said the top 10 to 20%. Are we track I I know we are. We're tracking just to make sure that they're not slipping through the cracks if they're below that amount. We are um we have some children who will exit out of reading intervention, but you will have some students who may be in reading intervention for a few years at a time. Then you have the some students who are like those bubble kids and they're always going to just kind of be right there in the middle. Um and some kids will need more on top of reading intervention. they may qualify for um special education instruction or 504
021accommodations or things of that nature. So we as you know we offer the full range of service for our kids from the least restrictive to the mo most restrictive based upon their needs. >> Cheryl, could you talk about how we assess all kids though with a universal screener and then what those data conversations look like? That might be helpful just to add to that point. So, we start with um screening all of our students and it's typically K5. Um we do offer I Ready diagnostics at the middle school level and we do even have some high school students who take the I Ready diagnostic. I know you got within the community families hear about I Ready, I Ready, I Ready. But I Ready is one of the assessments that we use as a universal screener
022to determine just where do we start? Um, we also are using Dibbles as our uh, dyslexia screener and that kind of drills in a little more specific. Both of those assessments just serve just touch upon things differently, but we want multiple data points to use to make the determination on who to serve. And then once we use those universal screeners, then our reading intervention teachers administer more assessments. We continue to dig in so that when we pull students in for a group, we are very targeted and skill-based. um that's our focus at that point, trying to drill down so that we're really targeting the specific skills that a student might need support in. And so the data doesn't stop with just a universal screener. We monitor students progress all along the way and we make
023adjustments if we need to based upon the um instructional or intervention delivery. Um if it's meeting the needs of the student, we continue. If it's not, we adjust so that we're making sure that it we're getting them I call it the sweet spot for learning because it should be very intentional and purposeful and match the student based upon their skill deficits. >> Thank you. >> Um just to follow up on that >> um could you explain what kind of communication families get if a child is in tier receiving tier 2 versus tier three? How is that explained to families? >> So, if a student is receiving interventions from the classroom teacher within the classroom, well, let me back if I could just back up a couple steps. >> So, um at the beginning of the
024year, right now, we're in heavy assessment uh time. It's the beginning of the year, we're trying to assess all of our students to make a determination of need. Um all of our students families will get notified based upon how they perform on their I Ready diagnostic and how they perform on the Dibbles assessment. Um those screener communications go home in a letter form um to all. And if a student is being identified for interventions from a reading intervention specialist, the com the communication comes directly from that reading intervention teacher, letting the parent know that that student is receiving um small groupoup instruction outside of the classroom. And sometimes our reading interventions uh specialists push in to a classroom. And we might not really tell a parent in kindergarten that their child is receiving extra services
025because we don't really service kindergarten students until January. But we do sometimes have our reading teachers push into a kindergarten classroom so that they can interact with more kids and kind because the what you're teaching at kindergarten are all early literacy skills and they can be of support to provide that targeted I I want to call it is really more tier one support at that point. If a student is receiving tier 2 interventions by the classroom teacher or if the coach is pushing into a classroom or a reading teacher is assisting with trying to build a student up, the teacher would be the person communicating those areas of strength and weakness and what the plan of support is moving forward. >> Great. Thank you for walking through that. You're welcome. >> Could I just follow
026up on my colleague? Um, so when you say they get uh the reading intervention specialist or the teacher will let the family know, is it via email? Is it via call? Like >> it could be a range. The reading intervention teachers send a letter home to families. Um, and then they usually establish a system of how they're communicating their progress that the kids are making. So that is usually done. Um when I think back to what I saw when I was a building principal, um once you receive the letter that your child has been identified for those services, we provide the reading specialist will give input um feedback to families letting them know letting families know how the kids are progressing and that can go via via backpack mail in a folder. It could be
027an email. It could be a phone call. It could be a range of communication. Um, for district communications, as it pertains to I Ready and the dyslexia screener, we do email some of those communications, but buildings often send home hard copies as well. Um, and then if the classroom teacher is providing interventions, um, it might look like the teacher just communicating that, hey, I'm noticing that your ch your child is having some area, um, where we need to provide a little extra support and this is how I'm going to do that. And that could be communicated via phone, email. It's usually varies by teacher at that point because they're doing so many interventions within the classroom. >> Thank you. I have a question for you as well on the reading intervention when kids are taken
028out of the classroom for additional reading intervention. When does that happen during the school day? So, we try to identify those blocks of time where we're not disrupting their tier one instruction. And so, often it will be during a center rotation model. So, maybe they're pulled some from some independent practice activity. We don't like to pull kids out of a classroom when they are with the classroom teacher receiving core instruction. We try to do it outside of those times. Um at from K to two, it's more of a center rotation time. So, like they might get pulled from their um computer-based interactive activity a few days out of the week or they might get pulled from an independent station where they're doing something that they can complete at a different time. Um grades three, um
029right now we are servicing grades three, four, and five, but four and five is contingent upon what the students needs are. Um, but it's not our main core service model is grades one to three for the beginning of the year with some fourth and fifth graders and then when we move into January, it's grades K to five, but it's contingent upon greatest need at that point. >> Okay, thank you. >> Sorry, I just had one more too. Uh, I just have a piece on the staffing model if we go back for just a minute. So we've gone from basically five one to five to one one to four, right? For the ratio. I'm assuming that our needs are not decreasing proportionally. If anything, they're probably rising. So are we are we hiring additional staff for
030that? Are we re how are do we have some staff who is underutilized? It's now tap being tapped into that additional teachers being trained. How are we going to fill that need? uh that unfunded need if you will about those additional teachers that will be required. >> I wish I could say we were doing more um we are making do with what we have um targeting the needs of the kids of great the greatest need of kids based upon the data. And so what you will find um in our title buildings they tend to have more staffing because we use some title dollars to fund some of additional reading teachers in those buildings. But all of our buildings, regardless if they're title, title or non-title, have at least one full-time reading teacher in the building.
031And we use the data to determine how we service kids. you will find from building to building that there may be spaces on a case load because we don't take um sometimes we move teachers around if we need to based upon one building having a greater need than another but we do try to make sure that things are equitable as as far as resources within a building but we have not added any additional reading teachers in a while now um and we do work within the FTE that's currently allocated in our title on buildings there is this um expectation that you're not whatever we provide to the students in our title building is on top of what we provide in our non-title buildings. So in our title buildings they have more staffing but they have
032a smaller case load. So they might not service full 32 even at that in those title buildings because we have to show that they are servicing that the kids in our title buildings are getting on more on top of excuse me what a typical >> Thank you. >> I just want to mention about the title funds. So the title funds are federal grant dollars that we get based on our student demographics. And when Cheryl talks about the title buildings, those are buildings that are targeted specifically with those funds. And with all of these federal entitlement grants, um, they're required to provide support above and beyond what the local and state dollars provide for. So that's what she's talking about when you see that it's additional support on top of. >> Thanks for clarifying that, Nicole.
033I'm getting drymouthed up here. >> Could we scroll back up to the dollar amount for this? I just wanted to point out too, I think it's important to note as we are talking about being on the ballot and we are having lots of um conversations within our team about if we're not successful with our fall ballot issue, what types of recommendations would we make to the board on things that could be cut? And I think it's important to note, you know, everything and I've said this before, but everything that we have was added because it provides value to kids and to our community. And so this is an area where if you look up here um that important number is the other state or local funds that were contributing to this. So as Nicole mentioned,
034we are required to spend some of this money in this area. This district has made a commitment to providing above and beyond what is required by these funds because these are all services that they talked about that remove barriers for kids who are not learning. And so we just talked a lot about reading. So, I won't hit that as hard. But as we think about what Tammy and Nick also talked about, you know, these are this is programming. We talk about nursing services. You know, we have diabetic children who need help managing their diabetes when they're at school. When we don't have nurses available, um often times, we've just talked about it today. If we don't have enough nurses, that might fall on the principal who's then not available to do other things to lead
035the building. Um kids might not get the level of service we want them to get. We talk about the programming over at the AEC that Mr. Mawne oversees. Um, you know, that's a credit recovery opportunity that we don't have to provide and so that could go away. So, I just want to point out when we're talking about all this great programming for kids that we're currently funding, um, that these are things that as we look at what do we have to provide by law and then what are the extra things we provide because we think they're the right thing for kids. And that's the bucket that we have to look at when we're identifying potential reductions. So the conversations we're having right now and we're planning on bringing that information to the board at the
036September 22nd meeting to consider. These are the types of things that are included on that list because we without passing the levy would not have that additional money to put toward this. So I just want to point that out. I think it's important as we're talking about um the great work that they're doing that again this is above and beyond because our kids need these barriers removed so they can focus on their learning. Um to follow up on that actually I had a question for Mr. Mawne about um students moving into the EOS program. So could you just talk briefly about um you know I a lot of times my understanding is you know this is a recommendation um that comes to students that this might be a great fit for them but can you
037talk about is that can students move in only at the beginning of the semester or if someone is really struggling like how does that actually work moving students into the EOS program >> and that's the beautiful part with our program is that uh it is self-paced uh with the learning model so we're able to bring students in and out at any time throughout the school here. Um, we'd love to be able to bump out a wall and move out towards Electric Avenue and offer more to our students because there is a need for that. We have a wait list in all three high schools of students wanting and waiting for that opportunity. Um, so anytime a student is uh recommended, obviously they go on that wait list. We try to get uh those students that
038are seniors, work with those upper classmen, but those underassmen that are really struggling and really in a bad spot. We're going to try to make and work to get them in there the best that we can. Um we are limited obviously with our staff and with our space. Uh but we do uh we are very fortunate to be able to have a program where students can kind of come in and out at any time that they need to. >> Thank you. And um just in in thinking about that, my understanding is you know some some students are doing a split day, right? So not everybody's there all the time. If you just would talk about what >> correct >> days look like for kids in the program. >> Yeah. Uh we are uh we offer
039two uh sessions. We offer a morning and an afternoon session. And a lot of times our students will come in and they'll do what we consider split days. They'll start the day with us and they're there for three hours and then they will bus or walk across the street over to Westerville South and take a couple more classes over there um to try to get themselves caught up. It's all really individualized and based on what the student needs um and where they're at with things. Um we always try to get it to where we're hopefully getting students in a good spot to where they can possibly transition back into their building, specifically those underassmen. Uh we sent 12 students uh back to their building to start this year full-time that are now back on pace
040and on track to graduate within four years um taking care of their educational and social emotional needs. Um but they do know that if things kind of start to take a turn that they can come back to us and we can get them back in and we'll continue to work with them. Um a lot of our students are uh out in internships and doing other jobs and learning job skills as well. Um so with us having a split day um they're able to participate in those things and help and support their families uh while meeting their educational needs. So we're we're very lucky to be able to do that. >> Great. Thank you. And just one more if I can beg everyone's forgiveness. Um this might sit between you and Miss Santa. So talked a
041lot about how sometimes students are there their academic need but also social emotional needs. So could you talk a little bit about the additional what what that support looks like in the program? Yeah, we have a mental health specialist within our building um that is able to work one-on-one with students. Um we also offer some meditation and yoga services to students um just to be able to kind of work on what they need to. Um and honestly being just in a smaller environment really helps a lot of students as well. Um the connections that they uh my teaching staff makes with kids um as they work with them one-on-one in those small group settings. you're only looking at about anywhere from about 14 to 15 students per one teacher and really being able to kind
042of hammer down on what those individual needs are educationally, but also what their social emotional needs are. And they don't have to worry about the stresses of um changing classes, doing anything like that because they're in one uh specific setting. Um they don't have to worry about all the social things that are going on. Who am I going to sit with at lunch? What did somebody say as they walk by me in the hallway? It's just a really condensed and kind of relaxed atmosphere for our students to help them with that mental health piece. >> Thank you for painting a picture of what that's like. Appreciate that. >> Thank you. And if I may, um, pertaining to the reading intervention uh, services with the science of being reading being a statemandated um, requirement as well.
043Could you maybe kind of walk us through, especially for those of us that aren't familiar with the history of this and I know it's new, how that's maybe impacted the work that we're doing. And that's the that's the great thing with us. We are uh we're like a tier two tier three model for helping our students. So we're able to really sit down and kind of cater and look at, you know, what specifically does the student need. We look at the data to see where they're at through their different uh testing scores, through their previous grades, but honestly through conversations with our students and with our families to where we can go ahead and we can cater and change things because it is a self-paced program. Um, so if a student does need a little
044extra time to go ahead and read through or work through some written work or a quiz or test, they have that ability because they're not, the teacher doesn't have to go forward. The kids working at their own pace. The kid can work at home. Um, so with the science of reading stuff, we're already at that tier 2, tier three level with what we're doing. >> I just have one last question. If someone like family member was considering this for their child or their child was considering this, would they be able to reach out to you and just take a look and see how it is over there? I mean, I've been there and it's really cool. >> I've enjoyed myself when I'm there. >> Absolutely. Um, they are more than welcome to email me or
045call me and reach out. Um, I have parents do that at least it seems like a couple times a week. Um, with me being listed on the website. Um, some of them it was we worked with their older brother or sister and now they've got a younger sibling and it was just so transformational for the older child that they feel like they would like to try to get the younger child in and we work with families like that. But anytime anybody is more than happy to reach out and uh kind of come in and see what we do and see if we can help their child. Thank you guys so much and thanks for all the amazing work that you're doing around, you know, meeting the the child where they're at, their whole child and
046removing those barriers. Okay, next up we have uh for 03 the superintendent's comments, Miss Hamburg. >> Thank you. I want to start by first of all thanking those three for their report. as I just um kind of added there, you know, a lot of that work is the extra work that a lot of times people don't realize that that goes on in the school district to make sure all kids are successful. So, those are the things that make our district special and that help us make sure we catch kids and they don't fall through the cracks. So, I appreciate all the work that their teams do on a daily basis to help our kids. Um, I do want to just thank everyone for how what a great start to the school year. So, since we
047were here last, we started school. It's been a great start. The energy in the buildings has been fantastic. Just really appreciate all of our students, staff members, and families for all of your work to help us get off to a great start this year. Um, wanted to thank the Westerville Education Challenge. I know some of you were able to make it out Saturday to the Night of Hope 5K. Um, appreciate their support of mental health programming. It's a nice fit in with what uh Miss Santa was just talking about, but they um have the 5K fundraiser to help support mental health programming for our students and also had the big bus out there who continues to provide programming for our students with tutoring and other afterchool activities. So, it was a great night Saturday for
048that. Um I'd like to give a shout out to our communications team for all their work and helping us showcase the start of the year. If you didn't get a chance to check out a couple of our new videos, we've gotten really good feedback on our South Construction video featuring uh Carrie Dennis, our chief operations officer. Um that can be found on our South High School website as well as our facilities page. So, if you didn't get to see that, check it out. Um there's also a fun sportsmanship video that three of our high school students, our student section leaders, um actually initiated wanting to do some work on setting some common expectations for behavior at games and we did a fun video with them as well and you can find that on our we
049are the page which is under our extra and co-curricular activities page. So two great videos. I know they have some more coming out this week so stay tuned. Um wanted to give another shout out. Our three high schools were all recognized in the recent US News and World Report best high school rankings. So, congratulations to all of them. Uh these ratings are based on AP participation in ratings, reading, math, and science proficiency and graduation rates. We know those are just some of the things that make our schools great and obviously we want to continue to improve in those areas as well as all of the other areas that make our schools wonderful. And that is all I have this evening. Thanks again to everyone for a great start. Thank you. Um, next up we have
050public comments and the board of education welcomes public comment on educational issues of interest to our school community. The board does not discriminate based on the identity or viewpoints of the speaker during our public participation. However, the board president may limit comments that are obscene, abusive, or harassing. In an attempt to protect the privacy interests of our students, the board asked that speakers not identify students by name during their comments. Persons having public complaints about district personnel programming or operations will be referred to the process set forth in board policy 9130. Finally, the board reminds speakers that their statement should be directed to the board the board as a whole and not to individual members. And each speaker will have three minutes to address the board. A timer will be shown on the screens and
051Miss Dennis will call time when three minutes have elapsed. And our first speaker this evening is Mr. Doug Krinsky. Welcome back. >> Thank you. Uh I guess on a bright note I'll say um I hope everybody realizes the state did give the district additional funding over the next two years. there is $648,000 additional coming to the district. So, I think everybody needs to know that in addition to the 2.7 million the district will continue to get every year on the real estate reevaluations. That said, Westerville levy concerns, which is a group that I put together, is simply a group of concerned citizens in Westerville in this particular case that opposed the Westerville school income tax proposal on the November ballot. I think it's issue 39 in Franklin County. The board is asking for even more
052money than the last levy, which was defeated November of last year. Currently, they're seeking 24 million this time as opposed to the 20,800,000 last time. After it was defeated, the district somehow found 5 million in cost savings and a total of $8 million in savings. But yet, they're coming back asking for more money. 24,300,000. Interesting. After the last levy was defeated, the board said they wanted to listen to residents. So, what did you do? You eliminated public comments on the district Facebook page. You eliminated public comments after all line items on board meeting agendas. And you also shortened public comments to three minutes at the beginning of the meetings. I don't think that's really wanting to hear public comments and feedback, but actions speak louder than words. We'll see. The proposed income tax will overburden
053working families. The last proposed property tax would have been an increase of 16% for the average homeowner of say a $354,000 home. That would have cost $68. For that same average household earning $ 107,000, this increase will now be $82, a 32% increase over the previously defeated levy from last fall. On top of that, renters, both apartments and homes in the district, will now have to pay this income tax. Whether they're residents or not, it doesn't matter. So, if their income taxes go up and their landlord's taxes go up, this means double jeopardy. They get hit twice. So, I remind folks, student enrollment is down since 2019. Last year, the budget went up almost $31 million. This year, it's gone up almost $8 million. So, while enrollment is down, test scores are down over the
054last 10 years, we come back with another levy. So, increasing $ 58 million over the last five years apparently is not enough. I say make sure you're registered to vote and vote no on this levy coming up in November. Thank you. Um, next up we have Mr. Kevin Hoffman. Welcome. Check the timer. Good evening, members of the board, Superintendent Hamburg, Treasurer Marshall. Uh, it's good to be here with you this evening. My name is Kevin Hoffman. I have been a resident of the district for 43 of the last 44 years. I'm a graduate of the district. I am the proud parent, proud father of two successful district graduates. I live at 1147 Tidewater Court. I am here to thank you for taking the pragmatic decision you have taken to place a 0.75% earned income levy
055on the November ballot. And I'm also here to offer my support as a co-chair of the committee to support the levy. This levy reflects the will of the people to move away from property tax for the funding of public education. This levy reflects the needs of the community to focus on earned income only. As such, it does not take into account retirement income, social security, unemployment, interest, capital gains, or dividends. This levy provides a mechanism to deal with the inflationary pressures that have challenged public education for as long as I can remember. And most of all, this levy ensures that the district is able to provide the required services to make the kids of our community successful. Thank you again for your leadership in taking this important decision. You can be sure that the team
056of which I am a part will work tirelessly to share this important information with the voters of the Westerville schools community so that they can understand how important it is for them to vote for this critical issue. Thank you very much and have a good evening. >> Thank you. Um next up we have Miss Ellis Blackstone. Welcome. Uh hello, my name is Ellis Blackstone. Um I attended West Philadelphia City Schools K through 12. Uh I'm here to talk about the levy uh that's going to be on the November ballot. Um I graduated in 2019. Around 2017 2018, I decided I was going to take a gap year. Um, not super conventional decision, but uh, my educators in the Westville City School System supported me anyway. Uh, they provided me with the resources, with the tools
057necessary. They answered my questions. They sent me on my way. They were so excited. I was so excited. Um, I was ready to get out of Westerville, right? Like for me, this was like small town USA. Uh, no opportunity for me here. Uh, so I left and I traveled and it turned into two years and it was awesome. Um, and it was eye opening. But I think what was really eye opening is that when I came back home, I started to notice things in Westerville that I took for granted. Um, amazing natural spaces, right? Like Tree City, USA. Correct. Um, I started noticing like the community. Uh, I feel supported, welcomed, safe, loved. Um, and so I was I did a 180 where I was like I was never going to come back and now
058I might like set up home here. I might start a family here. Uh, I'm in this liinal space where I'm not in Westville City Schools. I don't have kids in Westville City Schools, but um I still care because the only thing that would discourage me from having kids and sending them to Westville City Schools is the fact that uh there might not be the programs I had available to them, uh they might not be the resources that I had available to them. I did see like in my four well four years in high school, 12 years total in Westville City Schools kind of like a a decrease in availability of programs and resources and tools and opportunities. Um, why were we relying on the $10,000 Ronald McDonald prize money to like fix our bathrooms or
059to like get a water fountain, let alone like stock our classrooms or like provide disabled students with opportunities to like thrive and flourish and learn. Um, I support the levy that's on the November ballot just from personal experience. Uh, I might not have stats. I might not have like numbers uh to like persuade people one way or another, but I do know that I have lived experience. Uh and I'm I'm not about abandoning ship, jumping ship. Uh I want to stay here and I want to fix this community. Uh I want to see it flourish. Uh I want kids, my kids to have the same opportunities I had. Uh if not better. Why not better? Um that is why I encourage everyone to vote yes on the uh levy that's on the November ballot. Uh
060that's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] [Laughter] >> Um, thank you. Uh, we have no more public comments this evening. So, moving along um to 6.01. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board of education meeting held on Monday, August 11th, 2025? So moved. >> Second. Any comments, alterations? All right. May you take the vote, please? Miss Marshall. >> Mr. Hackleman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Alman. >> Abstain because I was absent. >> Mrs. Leean. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. And may I have a motion to approve the financial report and investments for July 2025? >> Some moved. >> Second. Miss Marshall, will you talk to us about these? >> Yes. Thank you again. Uh, so we are going over July, which is
061the first month of the fiscal year. Um, so not very far into the fiscal year with this one. Uh, so for our general fund, uh, we had year-to- date receipts, monthto- date and year-to- date are the same of $61.3 million and year-to- date expenditures of $18.2 million. I do just want to mention for our general fund as we're tracking when we're talking about forecasting and all of that. Um $61.3 million is about 20 or is about 28% over of what our projected revenue is for the year. So you can kind of see how that es and flows a little bit and we had spent 7% of our projected expenditures for the year. Uh our total unencumbered fund balance um for the general fund was 144.7 million and for all funds uh we had year-to- date
062receipts of 72 million and year-to- date expenditures of 24.8 million and we ended with unencumbered fund balance for all funds of 239.9 million. And that is all I have if you have any questions. Any questions? Okay. Will you take the vote? >> Mr. Hackleman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Altman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Leean? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer? >> Yes. And may I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 2026 permanent appropriations? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Miss Marshall, will you talk to us about these as well? >> Uh, yes. Thank you again. So, uh, the board approved temporary appropriations in June, and so this sets our permanence, um, which are actually not required to be approved until the end of September, but, um, we wanted to go
063ahead and get those set with our budgets in place. And we do have a couple of additional budget requests and our, uh, principal funds, the public school support, and then our district uh, managed student activities funds. And those are all uh, self- sustaining funds based on the revenue that they receive. if we adjust those budgets throughout the year. And then uh we are decreasing the grant allocation for the psych intern. We don't have any psych interns this year, so we won't see grants for that. And then we have a new um Ohio Arts Council grant um for one of our schools, so that we're adding to the appropriations. And those are all the changes. >> And we don't have a psych a psych intern. Not that we don't want one, we just and >> we
064don't have a need for a psych intern this year with the program. So there's no grant for that. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Any questions? All right. Will you take the vote? >> Mrs. Leeban? >> Yes. >> Mr. Heckleman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Otman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer? >> Yes. And may I have a motion to approve the purchases in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 5705.41D1 and board policy 6320. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Will you talk to us about these? >> Yes. So this is what we call the then purchase orders. This is where we have a purchase order that's dated after an invoice date. Um in this case we have um two uh one for uh direct energy marketing for utilities and this was
065due to direct energy becoming a supplier and they were supposed to be changing the bill over but we had one final bill that got left off. Um and then special education we had some changeover with um secretarial support and this purchase order got missed being opened at the beginning of the year. Uh both of these things have been budgeted for. They're included in all of the department budgets. So, I would recommend the board's approval so that we can get them paid. >> Any questions? >> Okay. >> Mrs. Altman? >> Yes. >> Mr. Eckleman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer? >> Yes. And can we take personal consent agenda as one? >> Okay. May I have a motion to approve the personal consent agenda 8.01 through 8.10?
066So moved. >> Second. >> Welcome, Mr. Reeves. >> Thank you, President Meyer, and members of the board. I'd like to present to you for your consideration tonight's personnel consent agenda. Along with the regular action items in tonight's agenda, there are a number of items to be noted. What is typical for the weeks following the start of the school year, the board will notice that the consent agenda is weighted heavily toward classified employees as all admin have been hired to start the school year and we still have seven remaining teaching positions that we are working diligently to fill. Of the 71 new hires in the teaching ranks that we have to start this school year, 16 of them are Westerville graduates. nine from Westerville North, five from Westerville South, and two from Westerville Central. So, we're
067very proud that people come back home um to serve the district that meant so much to them. We have 11 classified resignations and several substitute bus driver and van driver resignations. For the substitute drivers, you'll notice their names later on in the employed employment section as they've completed their training and are moving from substitutes to full-time drivers. We have no licensed resignations on this content consent agenda. Leave of absences and contract status changes. We do have one classified leave of absence and a slight classified contract status change which amounts to the difference of a half an hour in their day. We have seven one-time pay requests for some of our new teachers getting crisis prevention intervention training. And you can see the many names in the employment section of our bus and van drivers moving
068to full-time status as well as new building aids to be hired. For licensed employees, we have two hires. We have home instruction tutors and two amended licenses. one who earned college credit over the summer to move up on the teacher salary scale and the other is a start date that coincides with the allowable return to work following retirement. As typical to the start of the year, the board is asked to approve the many supplemental contracts that teachers take, coaching, club advisors, and all of those things that make the experience very vital. I would also like to call out specifically and congratulate uh Trevor Kilmeer who will take over as the head boys basketball coach at Westerville South following a very illustrious Hall of Fame career for longtime successful coach Ed Cao. And we wish Mr.
069Kao very well on his next chapter. Retirements. We have four retirements, two classified and two licensed retirements this evening. Susan Moore will be retiring as a bus driver after one year of service to the district. Richard Palmer will be retiring as a long-erving food service worker with 16 years of service. Deborah Co is retiring as an elementary teacher after 28 years of service to the district. And Donna Dixius will be retiring after serving our English learner students for 19 years. Collectively, they have served 64 years to Westerville City Schools. And if that time were linear, that would take us back to 1961 when President John F. Kennedy took his oath of office. The singing group, the Primes, signed with Mottown. They'd later change their name to the Supremes. The 101 Dalmatian opened to audiences worldwide.
070The Beatles made their first ever appearance in Liverpool, England. And the sparkling new Westerville High School just completed its first school year. Go Wildcats. I'll happy to take any questions you may have. >> That's great. Any questions? Thank you for that history lesson. >> Take the vote. Yeah. >> Mr. Hackleman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lee Ban. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Alman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. Next up, we have old business 9.01. And may I have a motion to approve um policy 1069.1 public participation at board meetings. >> So moved. Second. >> Welcome Mr. Reeves. >> Nothing for this one. >> Okay. All right. May any uh final thoughts, questions or can we take the vote? All right. Let's take the vote. Yeah. >> Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes.
071Mrs. Lee, >> yes. >> Mrs. Alman, >> yes. >> Mr. Huckleman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Meyer, >> yes. And may I have a motion to approve policy 5136, personal communication devices? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Welcome, Mr. >> Thank you. I do want to follow up on this particular item. We don't typically have a lot of comments in between first and second readings, but there is a lot of publicity around this particular policy. a lot of uh things online in the news and all of those good things. So, we did have a few uh comments and questions that were brought before us. So, we want to again articulate the parameters of this particular policy and um how we have been progressing to this point. So, I do want to reiterate that the change in
072this policy and our procedures are a result of mandates from this particular budget bill and not something that we unilaterally decided to do on our own. If you will also recall, we made slight restrictions to our policy last year as a result of legislation, but the legislation in this uh budget bill became more restrictive than what we had last year. We also noted that a number of suburban districts around uh 270 opted for total personal communication device bans last year. We did a tiered uh restriction. Several of our building administrators reached out to their colleagues from those areas and most indicated that they didn't have any issues or problems at all. Questions were asked about using devices during lunch. Why can't our children use devices during lunch or in study hall or in the hallways?
073And the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce came out with clarity that their intention was a total ban of personal communication devices from the start of the instructional day to the end of the instructional day to include hallways, lunch, and study halls, all times where students are supervised. We had the option and and the bill provides an option to expand the total ban outside of the school day into all school property into all school activities. But we felt trying to monitor that at a football game or a basketball game. We wanted to focus on the instructional piece. So we started there. The deadline to implement this change is not till January one. So people ask, well why are you doing that now? and it was very unanimous across our our 23 buildings and and well
074preschool kids don't really come with cell phones but um that it would be very very difficult to start the year under our old system and then try to make a drastic change at midyear. That wouldn't be fair to anyone, the staff, the students. And so we thought it best practice to start the year uh with the policy and and have a complete year um of the of the restriction. There are allowable exceptions and I do want to review those allowable exceptions with written documentation from a physician explaining why the cell phone is required is an allowable exception. If the device use is written into a 504 or an IEP to help the student meet their goals, that is a an allowable restriction with a classroom teacher's permission for instructional purposes, which is something that we
075allowed last year that classroom teachers could allow students to use their devices in the classroom for instructional purposes. And I'll give you a very practical example. Several of our students in our English learner classes use their devices for translation purposes. that is an absolutely viable instructional use of cell phones that we intend to continue to allow. And then lastly, if we have an emergency situation where a student may need to call or text their family or their parents to let them know that they are safe, as long as their access to the device doesn't violate safety protocols, they can do that in an emergency situation. What would violate a safety protocol? If we're on a lock down, they're in a classroom and their cell phone is in a locker and somewhere else in the building.
076we wouldn't be able to allow the the student to be able to go get that. I will tell you that our buildings and our principles are are vigorously communicating to their kids every day. The staff is doing an amazing job in the classroom of reinforcing the expectations and we have really had uh as Miss Hamburg said earlier a great start to this school year. We've been in buildings. We don't see this as being an issue. Our kids have been great. They are complying. And an interesting byproduct of of just two weeks into the school year, this time last year, Westerville North had approximately 300 books checked out of the library. Coincidence or not, this time this year, it's over 900. So, can't play your game, can't watch your device, go check out a book. Not
077a bad thing. So, just wanted to update and answer some things that we've been getting and some clarifications and and around this particular bill and any questions that you may have before approval. >> Thank you. >> I just had one question regarding books. Uh where do Kindles fall in this policy? >> E-readers in general, I should say. um but we don't check them out of the library and and you know those are questions that we had and we are really trying to define for our students whether because the bill really is intended for cell phones and personal communication devices but we are trying to provide clarity. We're having these conversations with our principles student leaders. We are meeting with them coming up in the next month or so for things like electronic games that aren't
078necessarily communication devices or things like Kindles or Ireaders or things like that. And so we are trying to provide consistency across our system so that we don't have one experience in one school and a different experience in another. So those are ongoing conversations that we're having for things that fall maybe just outside of the the parameters of the policy but maybe inside the spirit of it. So, it's a great question >> and I assume that once we figure that out, we will be communicating that out to the families. >> Absolutely. And we we've done a great job. Our communications department, our teaching and learning teams put things out to families, our teachers, uh, building principles, a full full out effort and I think that's why we haven't had much issues at all. >> As a
079parent, I know I've received this, too. So, thank you. >> Okay. Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Mrs. Lean, >> yes. >> Mrs. Alman, >> yes. >> Mr. Eckleman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Valentine, >> yes. >> Mrs. Meyer, >> yes. We have no new business. So, moving along to recommended action, standing business 11.01, which is a really fun part of the night, donations. And may I have a motion to approve the donations as presented? >> So moved. >> Everybody wants to approve that. Will you talk to us about this, Miss Marshall? >> Yes. So, um, we are crossing fiscal years here. So, we actually have a donation that was accounted it received and accounted for in fiscal year 25 that we're adding to the list um of $23,68110. That brings our grand total for
080our um fiscal year 2025 donations to $386,55659 um from our wonderful community. It's amazing. The previous year 24 before that was 349,62. So well above where we ended in 24. So we just can't thank our community enough. And then uh for the current request for fiscal year 26, um it's $17,54148 from our generous donors. And I would recommend the board's approval so we can accept these So moved. >> Second. >> Oh, you've already voted >> or you've already >> Yes. >> I'll if there's no comments, I'll take the role. >> Sorry. >> I just Sorry. Um Yeah. Just want to say thank you. That's amazing. 17,000 already in the school year is pretty awesome. So, thanks to the community. Please take the >> Yeah, Mr. Hackleman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Alman, >> yes. >> Mrs.
081Valentine, >> yes. >> Mrs. Leean, >> yes. >> Mrs. Meyer, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, next up we have uh 11.02 Musk Kingdom. May I have a motion to approve the Musk Kingdom Valley ESC service agreement? >> So moved. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Welcome, Miss Glass. Thank you. Good evening, President Meyer, Superintendent Hamburg, members of the board, and Miss Marshall. Tonight, I am presenting for your information in approval a service agreement with Muskigum Valley Educational Service Center for the 25 and 20 26 school year. This agreement is for orientation and mobility services, which are essential for students with visual impairments. These services support students in developing the skills they need to travel safely and independently within their school and community environments. Due to the highly specialized nature
082of orientation and mobility services and limited availability of certified providers, we are partnering with Muskigum Valley ESC to ensure we can meet the needs outlined in our students individualized education plans IEPs. This agreement is ensuring continuity of services for students and reflects our ongoing commitment to providing equitable and individualized support to all learners. I recommend approval of this agreement and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Are there any questions for this class? >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Mrs. Leian, >> yes. >> Mr. Aleman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Otman, >> yes. Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. And here's the exciting part of the night, too. May I have a motion to approve the early graduate candidates who have completed at all local
083and state requirements. >> So, second. >> Welcome, Miss Asher. >> Very. Uh, good evening, uh, President Meyer, Superintendent Hamburg, uh, Miss Marshall, and members of the board. Tonight, we have two students who are candidates for early graduation. These students are on schedule to complete their graduation requirements prior to their cohort. Uh I am requesting approval for early graduation for these two students upon meeting all state and board requirements for graduation. >> So moved. >> We already did that. I just want to say congratulations. >> There's so much distraction up here today. >> Congratulations to the graduates. Thank you. Will you please take the vote? >> Mrs. Alman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Lee Ban. >> Yes. >> Mr. Huckleman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. And it's come to
084my attention that we've had a mom that showed up that wanted to speak but didn't sign up. So, may I have a motion to approve an additional public comment period. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay. I'm not sure the name of the mother, but um >> Huh. >> vote. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. We need take them. >> Ready? >> Yep. >> Mr. Aleman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Altman. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Valentine. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lee Man. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. And I'm just going to remind just the board of education welcomes public comment on educational issues of interest to our school community. We do not discriminate based on the identity or viewpoint of the speaker during our public participation. However, the board president may limit comments that
085are obscene, abusive, or harassing in an attempt to Protect the privacy interest of our students. The board asks that speakers not identify students by name during their comments. Persons having public complaints about district personnel programming or operations who will be referred to the process set forth in board policy 9130. Finally, the board reminds speakers that their statement should be directed to the whole board and not an individual board member and each speaker will have three minutes. Um is the Okay. Welcome. You can take the podium up here, ma'am. Welcome. >> Would you please just state your name for us? My name is Ferdosa Ahmed and on behalf of come my son his name is Jabriel Wasam and have some difficulty for his school last two years he go school five years and special need child
086and have difficulty last two years so I come that reason to help today I try to contacted to school and special education but still I'm feeling think I'm not getting the help I need out of he needs my son. So that's why today I come to the port. I say I have to find someone helping me. >> Thank you. Um Miss Gertie Glass is right there with her hand up if you wouldn't mind. >> Yeah, I met her last year. >> Okay. >> And I don't find it the help I needed. I missed a school last two months of school year April and May because the difficulty I have in school and I was confused and I keep at home for his safety. >> So I met her and I met her Adam and I
087met her. What's call her name? Linda all of them I don't get the help I needed. >> Well >> or he need my son he needed >> Okay. >> So um is he he here? Oh, sorry. I didn't see Oh, yeah. >> Mr. Cooper in in the back could help you. He's our chief of academics. If you would >> want to um talk with him and then we'll be sure to follow up with him too to make sure that Christie. Yeah. May I? >> Yes. Thank you so much for coming. I can't imagine it's very difficult for you to come and share that publicly. Um again, Mark Cooper. Um and you know definitely know board each of us you can email give us a call we definitely care. We want to make sure that your
088child gets the assistance that they need. Um and you know you'll be very well taken care of. So I know so since 2005 I was district school but the last two years what I face him I never had it. uh >> almost five children they graduate even my daughter she is with me she is nurse she graduate she started while school kindergarten >> so had mentally she go middle school high school and now she go school of nurse >> yes >> but last two year what I have it I see it I never see it >> yes so um >> week last week Wednesday Thursday Friday I come to this office the building the She lady who secretary downstairs she send email by phone. Nobody answer her. Nobody come to me. Nobody talk to me.
089>> Well >> even the email she sending nobody answer to me. >> Yep. So thank you mate. You came we got you know we definitely hear it. We'll make sure that we follow up and Mark in the back will take care of you and I think everyone on this board agrees we'll get that information and make sure that you're very well taken care of and your children as well. So thank you. >> Thank you very much guys. You will be thank you. Okay. Um >> I don't think they knew this. >> Oh. Oh, we have one more. Okay. Um Okay. Welcome. And and could you please just state your name for the board? Thank you. Welcome. >> Hello everybody. Uh my name is Dah Omar. I'm the community member. I've been in Westfield community members
090since 200 I think four when my first child started kindergarten. All my children started kindergarten at the McFair Elementary and they also went to the Wellnut Middle School and they graduate North High School and guys thank you for sending my child to Columbia University for free ride. Um I'm I'm come from Somali community and I you hear what this young lady was talking about. Now I know um 2,000 and more Somali children attended to Westerfield schools and the same number go to the uh Columbus uh city schools and at least to one is Somali uh teacher assistant work with the Columbus public schools and so far I knew only one person work for Westerfield City Schools and I believe that our children we are the first generation and English is not our first language and
091our most of their families have a language barrier and we are in the stage that some families children and the parent don't understand each other because parent don't speak Somali in English and children don't speak uh Somali and we don't have enough help with the Westfield schools And when the parent come to school western school is for uh children sometimes they depend on their child to translate for them. And let's say this child made a mistake and you send home say call your parent and the parent come to school with the child next day and the translator will be the child and he will tell the parent every good thing whatever bad thing you said he will translate to good thing to the parent and that's what also we are really happy and supporting the
092levy because then we know that's important and thank you very much and actually we need to see more Somali uh English speakers into the public westerfield schools. We really need it and I think we know we are competing at literary schools like Dublin, North Arlington, uh whatever and just if the 2,000 3,000 children don't get enough education and they're great with law that impacted to Westfield schools too. And I think we need to uh think about to uh have more Somali uh speakers in the schools as assistant teachers to help those children. Thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate you coming today. >> Okay. Is that all of our Okay. Thank you. Um next up we have board comments. Uh, who would like to go first? Sorry, trouble with my button there. Um, thank you
093to the speakers, um, both sets of speakers. We always appreciate hearing from you and thank you for giving us the opportunity to, um, address your concerns. So, thank you so much for coming here tonight. Um, and I just want to say, you know, u, we've acknowledged the beginning of the school year. It's been a a wonderful start to the school year. By all accounts, I feel a little nervous even saying that out loud. Not generally superstitious, but um I think one thing I just want to call out, I have um a high school student myself and the personal communication device thing. I've had many conversations with my child about that. I know that um it it changes a lot of the way students are used to functioning. Um even in terms of like, you know,
094when am I picking my kid up? I might not know it until the end of the day now at this point as things shift during the day. So, I know it's a big adjustment um for families, for students, and for teachers and staff who are keeping an eye on all this. So, you know, I just want to thank everybody for doing that. A reminder that, you know, this is a law. So, we are doing our best to write a policy that we think fits Westerville on that one in particular. But I just know that it's an adjustment period. So, um, again, on top of all the other, you know, new things that happened at the beginning of the school year, I know this has been a pretty significant adjustment and just thanks to everybody for
095making this work. So, I just have a quick thank you. I want to say uh thank you to the staff and student wellness and success teams for answering all our questions tonight and for all the hard work you put in not only for our students uh physical health but their mental and social emotional learning as well. So uh that is such a big chunk to bite off these days and I want you to know that it's genuinely appreciated um and to echo uh my colleagues comments um we're still figuring it out as it relates to uh the personal communications thing. So, thank you for extending us the grace uh while we uh seek to do the same for your students. >> I wanted to say uh just great work and congratulations to all the educators
096and the staff who got our kiddos back to school um with without without too many interruptions or hit any hitches. Um so, thank you. I know that it's a lot going back to school and there's a lot to prep, you know, custodians cleaning the buildings and the bus drivers getting trains. Super exciting that we've got a lot more bus drivers that are no longer temporary but can officially drive buses with us. That is awesome. So, thank you to everyone in this district who puts in the work to make this happen for our kids. Truly appreciate it. >> Absolutely. I echo all of that. Ditto. um you know last week I think we had a or the week prior we had a really um it was exciting for me to welcome everybody back. So those of
097you who are returning for the first time I share the same message welcome back. Um it sounds like a lot of great things have happened these last few weeks at the schools. Um and I am happy to have been able to participate in a few of these events this past weekend and so thank you all for being here. Um, I really want to thank all of the different individuals that came out and spoke today, whether they were supportive of the levy or not supportive of the levy, because, you know, here's the thing, public input is so, so important. Um, and a lot of the members who came and spoke today really shared v vulnerable experiences and some of the measures that we passed today or were discussing um, the importance of making more investments really
098center conversations around supporting the whole child and what that looks like. And so on a personal level, I really want to make sure that those families know that we are here to support that I'm here to support. You can reach out. Um it's never easy to share if you're experiencing a language barrier or need a very specific um solution to support your child, but you know, I think that this district cares so so deeply. I mean, it's inner tagline and this is where you belong. Um, but I will definitely be sure to advocate that we are making those investments where we need um I don't think anyone wants to see um reductions in language. We absolutely I agree that we need more representation in all of our buildings especially the language support because if a
099kid can't understand what they're doing or if the parent can't understand what the child is doing then the child won't succeed. And so that kind of goes back to a lot of us discuss about meeting the academic and non-academic needs of the students. So, um, we have so many more months until the school year comes to an end. And so, please continue to come and provide feedback cuz I won't know, we won't know. Don't want to speak for everybody what needs to be changed if we're not receiving that input. And so, thank you so much for taking that courage to come out and speak because I know it's a very um difficult thing to do that. So, thank you. >> I want to echo my colleagues comments. I do really appreciate that people took time
100out of their night to come and provide comments and bring their concerns and their experiences. It's always really important. I think, you know, we're all pretty very, um, accessible, too. So, um, reach out if there are other things. I do want to thank the Westerville Education Challenge. I know Miss Hamburg did. I had a really awesome time even though my son smoked me and the 5K. Um, I really appreciate all of the support that they provide to our school district and the social emotional programming and learning and just programs in general. Um, the Rotary Club and the Big Bus, they collected a ton of food for our middle schools and delivered it today. It was pretty awesome to see that. I've enjoyed the videos. I haven't been able to make it out to all of
101the buildings for the back to school stuff, but they've been really fun to be able to watch and see what's happening in our school district. And I appreciate the thought and the intentionality that's gone into that. Um, I want to I know that this is a big district. It takes a lot of people to make this work and not just the teachers and staff and administrators, but it takes families and students and all of us. So, just thank you for a wonderful start. I think we've had a pretty non-hicup start here and there, but um just big thank you. And uh with that, the board will meet in regular session on Monday, September 8th, 2025 at 6 p.m. here at the Early Learning Center, which is 936 Eastwind Drive, Westerville, Ohio 43081. Um, and may
102I have a motion to move into executive session for the purposes of discussing the employment, compensation, and discipline of public employees? So moved. >> Second. >> Would you take the vote, please? >> Mrs. Leean, >> yes. >> Mrs. Alman, >> yes. >> Mr. Hackleman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Valentine, >> yes. >> Mrs. Meyer, >> yes. 723. All right, we are back and it's 8:13 and may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. And will you please take the vote or the role for you? >> Mr. Aleman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Valentine, >> yes. >> Mrs. Otman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Leean, >> yes. Mrs. Meyer. >> Yes. Thanks for staying.