001sorry about the weight my uh technology wasn't working but thank you all for attending the March 17th 2025 meeting of the Westerville City School boards of Education this evening's agenda will be displayed on the screens in the front of the room printed agendas are in the back of the room um or you may find the agenda on your mobile device by clicking by connecting to the district's website at www.w CS o .org click on our district link select Board of Education and follow the board docs link to current meeting agenda there will be an opportunity for public comment this evening there's a signup sheet located on the table in the back of the room and Mr doran's holding it up each speaker will have three minutes to address the board and a timer will be
002shown on the screen this portion of the meeting will be limited to no more than 60 minutes and with that Miss Marshall will you please call the role Mrs Alman here Mrs Davidson here Mrs Valentine here Mrs Meyer here would you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay um next we have District highlights and recognitions the fun part of the evening and I am going to turn it over to my colleague Miss Valentine all right good evening everyone thank you for joining us tonight and as uh my colleague said this is one of the fun parts of the evening where we get to have
003some recognition and some awards um we are going to do the Zant Club of Columbus outstanding young women in central Ohio award first if Ava Graves is here could you please come up so so we are we are recognizing Ava this evening for being selected as a zanta club of Columbus outstanding young women in central Ohio a wward for 2025 each year the Zant Club of Columbus recognizes 12 young women in central Ohio high schools who exemplify the values that zanta club members worldwide promote and encourage Scholastic achievement leadership and commitment to service in her community and her school Ava is a senior at Westerville North and has been committed to volunteerism throughout her High School career she served as a mentor for elementary students through the big Warrior little warrior program she teaches Spanish
004to third graders at Robert Frost Elementary she's involved with the Rotary Club of Westerville I can program working with second graders at anhur Elementary in addition to her service work she is also co- captain of the girls cross country team president of the astronomy club and a member of the warrior athletic leadership team she's also part of the global Scholars diploma program I am tired thinking about that good for you uh congratulations your achievement is an inspiration to many of us um thank you for your to the community and we can't wait to see what the future holds for you uh what congratulations so we also want to acknowledge Kurt yansy the principal at Westerville North and family members who are here in the audience this evening to uh congratulate Ava all right next up
005I would like to invite the following students to join us up front Maddie D Rose Ella Monson both from Wester bill central Adam CA from Westerville North and Michael wi Michael MC wer and Emily from Westerville South you're it we have some other programs going on tonight so some of the uh some of the other students couldn't be with us tonight but Maddie Ella Adam Emma and Michael were named finalist in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship program these seniors are among more than 15,000 finalists who have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered this spring so congratulations on the achievement and wish you the best of luck and success we also want to acknowledge Don s the principal at Westerville
006Central Kurt yansy the principal at Westerville North and Jeff and Jeff good athletic director at Westerville South as well as family members who are in attendance this evening thank you for being here and finally we would like to invite AJ Kier to join us up front so we are recognizing AJ tonight for placing third in the boys diving event at the Ohio High School athletic association's State swimming and Diving Championship meets so this is quite an achievement he's only a sophomore so still a long ways to go and many more Awards to um gain as a freshman you placed eighth in the state championship in addition to his success at the state championship kir won the ohsaa division 1 District diving Championship also the Westerville South boys swim and dive team won the Ohio Capital
007conference championships for the first time in school history it's awesome so AJ congratulations all that hard work paid off we also want to acknowledge um as we said before Jeff good the athletic director at Westerville South as well as uh your coach and family members who are with you here this evening thank you for being [Applause] here don't go anywhere good evening everyone at this time it is my pleasure to recognize one of our board members Tracy Davidson who is with us tonight for her last board meeting after almost 12 years of service to the Westerville City [Applause] Schools and in addition to the influential work that Tracy has done with our school board um as many of you probably know she's also been instrumental in the Big Bus and that is a program that
008has continued to grow Tracy salul in need our students and their families and she found a way to meet that need and has even brought on a second bus this year and I'm just super excited I know part of the reason it was a really difficult decision for her to step back from the board but part of that was commitment to her family obligations but also to seeing the Big Bus continue to grow so we're so excited to see what other ways you can continue to serve our students and and we know the sky is the limit thank [Applause] you okay good evening tonight I'm excited to introduce a new and meaningful recognition within our district the We Are The Ville sportsmanship award this award honors and celebrates qualities that extend beyond the playing field
009and into our daily lives sportsmanship community and positive attitude it emphasizes that while success in athletics is important the true measure of character lies in how we conduct ourselves support others and contribute positively to our community each season this award will recognize one Middle School student and one high school student whose Integrity respect kindness and Leadership set an exceptional standard students are nominated by their coaches and then carefully reviewed by a panel of community leaders committed to highlighting those who best exemplify the district's values along with receiving a Comm commemorative plaque the re the recipients names will be added to a traveling trophy which will be displayed proudly within their respective schools we are especially grateful to the Westerville Education Foundation for their generous Grant which makes this recognition possible with Lila sabur and Dr
010Michelle Martin and Dan BX please join me Leila is a seventh grader at Walnut Springs and she is the first recipient of the Middle School award her volleyball coach anuka Kota nominated her after her season this fall here's what coach Kota said about her her optimism is contagious and does not waver despite the outcome of the game if we had an odd number of players in practice this athlete made sure that the extra person was included in the group she's extremely coachable and has improved so much as a player this season she would share tips or techniques with other players who may have struggled with something similar whether that be an issue on or off the court Leila truly represents her family her community and her team in a great way congratulations Lila for receiving
011the We Are The Ville sportsmanship award in our Middle School Division thank you for setting an example on and off the court and we wish you all the best in Seasons to [Applause] come and we'd like to present the traveling trophy on Lila's behalf to Dan bixel the athletic director at Walnut Springs and Dr Michelle Martin the building principal congratulations w [Applause] Springs thanks next up can Nehemiah Thomas coach Justin Ferguson and athletic director Jeff good join me [Applause] Nehemiah is a senior at Westerville South and he is the first recipient of the we are the bill sportsmanship award at for our high schools his football coach Justin Ferguson said nehemiah's attitude towards teamwork and Leadership is exemplary he approaches every practice and game with a Relentless work ethic motivating those around him to elevate
012their performance his leadership style is grounded in positivity and encouragement rather than criticizing teammates who may struggle he gently corrects them and offers constructive feedback coach Ferguson has seen him advocate for teammates who have been hard on themselves reminding them that every athlete faces challenges and emphasizes the importance of perseverance Nehemiah inspires not only through his actions on the field but also through his unwavering character and integrity off Integrity off of the field in every interaction he exemplifies how one should conduct themselves with respect humility and a Relentless drive to improve we would like to present Nehemiah Thomas with the We Are The Ville sportsmanship award congratulations Nehemiah Nehemiah shows us that having a heart of every game beyond the skills strategies and victories lies in something even more important sportsmanship Jeff good the athletic
013director from South please accept this traveling trophy on nehemiah's behalf for you to display it south and congratulations to South as well [Applause] congratulations again um we really uh honor and appreciate all that you do in our schools um feel free to stay if you'd like or you can I see people filter out or you can leave yeah okay I'll give everybody a minute to settle okay all right next up we have the superintendent's comments Miss Hamburg thank you good evening again everyone um again I'd like to congratulate all the students who were recognized this evening um for everything from academics to a athletic Excellence we're really proud of all of your hard work would like to congratulate all the other winner athletes who've excelled this winter and wish good luck to our Westerville North
014boys basketball team who will be competing in the state championship this coming weekend in Dayton also super impressed by the sophomore that's already placing at state so that'll be exciting to watch as well um did want to just kind of give a quick update to the board um we have been continuing our advocacy work on state funding tomorrow is a big day it is Lobby day down at the state house um Nicole and I are planning on attending I know some of the board members are planning to as well we have some meetings scheduled with our legislators throughout the day our team has been attending staff meetings PTA and booster meetings and other community groups and just wanted to let you know we are happy to come around and share information with any other community
015group that would like to learn more about our challenges with State funding and we have um thanks to our Communications team we have lots of information right on our front main page of our website so you can check that out as well that's all great thank you next up we have 5.1 is public 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 Viewpoint 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 asks that speakers not identify students by name during their comments persons having public complaints about District Personnel programming or operations will
016be referred to the process set forth in board policy 9130 finally the board reminds speakers that their statements should be directed to the board as a whole and not to individual members each speaker will have three minutes to address the board a timer will be shown on the screens and Mr Doran will call time when three minutes has a last our first speaker will be Miss Nancy McFarland welcome [Applause] I'm not sure all my comments are qualifying under that but I'm going to try so good evening to the board president Meer and superintendent Hamburg um I think half the teachers in this room are going didn't her kids graduate and when is she going to leave us alone but I wanted to come tonight for um to publicly thank my very very dear friend Tracy
017Davidson for the 12 years that you've spent all the time that you spent to get that you have given to the school district um time more time than anybody in this room knows Levy signs putting markers in our kids' hands before they could get to kindergarten to write lovey signs and to hand out literature all of our walks all of our canvasing all of our begging for people to vote for school levies so all of these wonderful people in this room could teach in our district um I want to thank you for that it was a huge time commitment on your your part um I also want to thank you for making the tough decisions it's not easy for any of you to sit up there and make tough decisions and it's not hard you
018get criticized you get ridiculed you don't sometimes people don't understand and sometimes people everybody in this room sometimes doesn't understand why these tough decisions have to be made but you did them and you did them with a strong backbone and you made me proud so many times for standing for your convictions and um again I thank you for that um I thank you for um the times when you've had to do meeting after meeting after meeting when we're opening schools and redistricting and being thoughtful about that redistricting and really caring about how the schools are going to look and how the schools are going to be able to form ptas and PTO and have all the support that they need to have when they reopen when they open or we have to shift kids and
019being thoughtful about that that and listening to the community and listening to people and many many emails about redistrict in and going through them and and being thoughtful about that I thank you for that I thank you for pushing for the programs new programs in school trying new things pushing for reading tutors pushing for Orton gilan to be done so dyslexics in our district should be properly educated um I thank you for that I thank you for taking the time to do all of those programs um I I don't think people understand all the graduations that you missed Eli's birthday because Eli's birthday falls on graduations so all the all the time that you took away from your family and your time to shake all of those graduates hands um every every May that comes
020through all the honors programs that you went to in the evenings all the school plays all the sporting events all the PTA meetings all of um the time that you spent outside of this room and in our community and I thank you all the times that you have gone and supported teachers and supporting support staff and everything so thank you boy that is Harsh so thank you um thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope from the bottom of this community and the people in this room thank you thank you next up we have Miss jacqulyn fry welcome back that's fine we we like friends okay yes stand here okay I'm here um to address um the RTI policy that's going to be read today I'm sure this is a shock to
021everyone sitting here um I'm asking the board to consider enacting a strict RTI policy that helps ensure the student safety and decreases the distractions from the school day for all students I realize this policy has become a divided issue for our district and has caused great stress for the members of the school board when you rescinded the previous policy you did so to protect this district from disrup disruptions at an RTI policy caused I'm asking you to put in place a policy that addresses those prior concerns I sat in every single hearing at the State House for this issue and spoke to both the house and the Senate the phrase that was constantly used by supporters of this legislation was we aren't saying there has to be a polic there what we're not saying what
022has to be in the policy just that there has to be one I'm asking you to include for student safety that any RTI program must have background check equal to school teachers and any level two volunteer to protect our student safety this is specifically allowed under house bill 8 which mandated the RTI policy I'm asking you in the policy to list all core classes as graded classes to be considered core classes as in the previous policy I'm asking there to be strict guidelines about handouts and encouraging students to invite other students from their class to come to life wise or any other arari program to address when students arrive late and consequences for any infractions such as that the RTI program would no longer be allowed in this District if they have any violations of
023the policy I'm asking for True parental permission to be verified other districts have implemented a policy where not only does the RTI program submit a signed permission slip but a school generated permission slip that must be picked up at the school signed by a custodial and legal parent and returned to the school by that parent parent is required for any student who leaves the ground currently the ones by many RAR programs are simply signed up through a web Porter with no proof that the legal guardian or custodian of the par of the child signed that permission slip I'm asking you to work with us to find a policy that will help keeps our students safe I know there was a lot of trouble that we went through before this and you did resend it and
024I'm asking you to work to have a strict policy to protect our students with that thank you thank you next up we have Mr Doug krinsky welcome back big crowd tonight it's exciting to see uh before I jump into my notes um since I can't use names the board member that's leaving I do want to say I I truly respect everything you've done with the district and I want to thank you for your time and your service we haven't always seen eye to eye on anything but uh that's that's part of the process so but I do wish you well with your bus program and and all that you do for the district so thank you for that um couple things on the agenda tonight uh first one is the contract again can't name names
025but I guess positions are okay for the treasure um I see there's some new things in the contract um a $113,000 annuity um covering Medicare expense covering the cost for the retirement program for that position um that are new and are in the new contract so I'm sort of surprised when I look at the five-year projection um that I seen tonight that we're adding additional cost and expense beyond what the normal contract would be so I'm wondering kind of why we're adding cost when all I see are deficits over the next four out of five years um so I'm just throwing that out there that instead of spending more money um we should probably be a little bit more frugal on what we're spending the money um which then goes to the next point on
026the five-year projection um for the fiveyear projection what I'm looking at is $179 million of cash sitting on hand that can cover any deficit moving forward um I also want to thank you for the five million year you've cut out uh but it appears whether it's administrative things we need to take a look at um I think there's a lot to be looked at within the district um love the teachers to death I think they deserve money but I think we need to look at every line item that's in the budget and determine what else we can do before you go back to the voters which I know is ultimately what's going to happen and ask for money um before the last Levy um you talked about you had done everything for cost savings and
027then after the levy went down all of a sudden magically there was five million that appeared that's now out of the budget so I would tell you look harder look longer and keep looking for more cost-saving expense I'm not saying eliminate positions but I'm saying be efficient with the money that's there and in terms of asking for more money over the next five years I'm still looking at things in the black because of the cash balance the taxpayers have kicked in that's hanging out there hasn't been spent so it advise use that money wisely um make sure you've saved every penny you can don't come back and ask for money once you approve the 5-year projection because there's money to cover whatever these deficits are going to end up being my last point is on
028the board position that's currently going to be coming open as of tonight um you know I've talked to somebody that sits at this table to get the names of who the candidates are to get who the finalists are and I'm wondering why has not that been released to the public I mean every other school district from Columbus on up releases it I would like you to release that also thank you you all right thank you moving along to 6.01 um may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting held on Monday February 24th 2025 so moved second any changes wasn't here okay take the r Mrs Atman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson abstain Mrs Meer yes and may I have a motion to approve the minutes of
029the Board of Education special session held on Monday March 10th 2025 so moved second you take the role Mrs Atman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson abstain Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the Board of Education special session held on Friday March 14th 2025 so moved second and will we take the vote Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Davidson abstain Mrs Meyer yes and next up we have financials and 7.01 the fiveyear forecast Miss Marshall will you talk to us about that motion oh yeah sorry you did tell me that I I have a motion to approve the fire forecast so moved second okay now will you talk to us about the fiveyear forecast yes so this will be a fairly short presentation maybe you can't
030see um so we the board approved a fiveyear forecast back in November uh which reflected a negative unreserved fund balance and for our general operating fund um that uh because of that we weren't able to sign contracts past June 30 2028 it reflected a negative under Reserve balance in 2029 and so as we've gone through and made some austerity measures and some uh reductions for future years we've worked some of those austerity measures through the forecast period so I will bring the full forecast back to the board at the end of May like we normally would this is just our optional spring update um we don't normally do update the forecast this time of year but given where we were with the November forecast and for our ability to be able to sign contracts past
031June 30 for cost savings um normally if we can get a longer term contract it results in sa cost savings overall so we are I swear it's a short presentation only a few sles right thank you just hit from beginning up on the top left there okay like I said it's the optional uh spring update for March so changes from November uh we resented the capital projects fund so as part of the uh ballot planning and the facilities master plan updates and all that that we were looking at with the bond issue uh that was on the ballot with the operating Levy in November uh last last year we had transferred $30 million out of our general operating fund um and into that capital projects fund to combin with the bond issue to be a
032no new millage but since the bond issue failed we talked about it the board made the decision to resend that capital projects fund which then moved the 30 million back into the general operating fund so that's a big change to this um forecast uh we would have still had a an unreserved uh negative balance in 29 even with that 30 million being moved back so we looked at making um some initial reductions to the current year uh we reached out to all of our buildings and departments and asked them to find where they could in their budget to make reductions we were able to come up with $4.8 million I do want to point out that means there's a lot of things that aren't happening that would have happened had we um not made those
033reductions so and then uh we are also looking at reducing over 30 positions next year for Staffing we are a service business staff is over 80% of our operating expenditures so it's really difficult to make any meaningful reductions without reducing Staffing positions and we updated budgets we're going we've been going through this spring working with all of our buildings and departments meeting with all of them and updating their budgets for next year which is the base year to go throughout the rest of the forecast uh we also worked with the curriculum department and the technology department to update their 5year plans uh lots of uh delayed or deferred updates with technology and curriculum through that process and we eliminated the transfers out to the capital Improvement fund for Turf replacement so we had been transferring
034$65,000 a year uh to build up a savings for an eventual Turf replacement in our high schools uh we eliminated that transfer out of the general operating fund which means the pi fund will have to cover that in the future when that needs to be done which means something else wouldn't be wouldn't be Happ happening because of that uh so this is just a snapshot of um overall revenues that are in the forecast now I do want to mention State funding is very uncertain at this time this does not reflect the governor's projections uh we lost overall $4 million that uh state revenue includes one-time stiens for teachers for the science of reading that is just a pass through it is not additional operating revenue for the district um so we lost um a pretty
035significant amount this year and then going forward those 2023 reappraisals will affect us as the formula continues to update but that could look completely different when we come back uh it would be next November this upcoming November um once the budget's actually approved so and this does include uh that I do want to mention that bump there that is that $30 million transfer back in from the general operating account or from the capital projects fund to the general operating account that's not actually a bump in revenue and then expenditures this is what's updated after the um austerity measures and then continuing updates with inflationary increases as needed and overall this is the changes uh so I do have that right side highlighted a little bit so 25 through 29 those are our projected years uh
036we're currently in fiscal year 25 I feel like that highlight's not showing up very well 22 23 and 24 we had uh eser funds that were covering some expenses during that time all of those expenses have since come back into the at least the expenses that were new expenses came back into the general operating fund that uh weird the two weird Peaks that was the transfer out so our expenses were up of the 30 million and then the transfer back in of the 30 million is bumping our Revenue up in that year so that's why you see that uh weird Peak so overall this is where we're at this does give us a a slight positive unreserved fund balance it's about $14 million a little under $14 million in 2029 so we will be able
037to approve contracts uh after this and just as an example with the contracts our copier contract the lease is up and so we were looking previously at only being able to sign a three-year lease so this gets us back to five um which is a six fig we would anticipate just for that contract alone a six figure savings by being able to sign a longer leas yeah uh I do want to point out that even um with the austerity measures that we've made so the red line on this is our expenses the green line is our revenues uh our projected revenues are well under where our projected expenses are so we will have to come up with a solution to get those numbers a little closer together uh before our cash balance is depleted and
038so all right any questions Nicole can you talk a little bit about collections so after we put a levy on the ballot all about the timing of collections depending on sure that would be let me go back to that slide I think I helpful to look at that so we were on the ballot in uh November of 24 and had that passed it would have been assessed in tax year 24 the first collection year would have been calendar year 2025 so that would have meant we would have had a halfe collection um in 2025 and then a full year beginning in 2026 so uh if we are on the ballot in 25 the first year collection would be calendar year 26 and it makes no difference if we're on in May or November um the
039first year collection would be 2026 so that would give us a halfe collection in 26 and a four-year collection beginning in 20 fiscal year 2027 and so it's always lagged a year behind and then we're only a fiscal we run midyear fiscal year so it's very complicated yeah um can you also talk to us a little bit about the cuts that have already been made you know someone had mentioned 5 million it's actually been 8 million that will be made a little bit about that yeah so the 4.8 million was the current year budget reductions that we did but we also um made reductions the curriculum and Technology uh fiveyear plans that we were talking so that's it's over um I think it's over 2.4 million altogether throughout the forecast period and then the positions
040the Staffing position were over $3 million in reductions with the Staffing positions between salaries and benefits um with that and and can you again explain for us um this we need to have 90 days cash on hand um you know we hear that we're in the black and looking at this could you tell us you know having cash on hand when we might not be able to sign contracts as a result of falling Below on the 90-day right that unreserved fund balance line on the 5year forecast um it's actually numbered we have the forecast is attached to this agenda here but um that is what we can use to certify the certificates that are required to sign long-term contracts uh any Appropriations measures any wage schedules or anything like that so um or any contract
041over $500,000 the so that's the line we look at if that line is negative we don't have the ability to certify anything because the forecast is telling us that we don't have the funds available for that so just like and so the 90 days um is meant to be to give us so our uh if you just take our total expenses divided by 365 days out of a year we spend about $634,000 daily um just in our operating fund and so the 90 days gives us the ability to have adequate reserves should we have economic downturn um I've been having this conversation with some of our state legislators that feel like they don't have to fund schools because they have cash balances right now uh I worked for the state auditor office I think I
042said this the last time between 2005 and 2012 and I worked on fiscal emergency and watch projects for public school districts for town townships Villages um cities all of that and all during that time uh local governments and public schools were criticized for not having adequate reserves to help weather economic downturn when we fac the recession in 2008 and 209 and coming out of that and um this District so in June of 2011 this District actually had to delay a payroll to July of 2011 across fiscal years because of cash flows issues there wasn't enough cash to make payroll to meet the payroll needs of the district at the time and so I think it's responsible uh we have board policy worked with our district finance committee that includes representatives from all of our employee
043groups and our um different community members that help develop that policy and um that's what we look at right now so just like any we're always told businesses should have in us and our fam should have a reserve for a rainy day three to six months and this is really following that smart business model making sure that we are able to continue to operate if there should be an economic downturn yeah I think the other thing too is we have to remember we're subject to the state's two-year budget process we're required to do a five-year forecast Plan update it twice a year and submit it to the state but the state does its budget every two years and like we' s have seen with the governor's budget uh if his proposal went through the way
044it is that would be another $6.9 million loss to us over the bium we've already lost4 million this year that's a significant drop in operating Revenue over a three-year period And if you uh continue to read through his budget proposal there's like 30 plus new requirements that public schools are required to do and you know I I tell everyone I don't know any business model that works by decreasing revenues and increasing Services no business would run that way and I don't know why the state expects us to run that way um but that's seems to be what continues to come out and so right now our state share is 23% 2% and over the bayum if the governor's budget should pass the way it is it would fall to 11% yeah and the minimum State
045share is 10% right which means then that on us the tax pay local taxpayer we are considered a wealthy um School District in the this area in Ohio um and we have 43% of our students qualify as economically disadvantaged so it's the metrics that they're using for that determination they're looking at property value and they're looking at resident income and they're comparing us to the rest of the public schools around the state but we don't get any benefit on the other side of the equation that the cost of living is also higher in this part of the state which is frustrating I think the other thing to point out too Nicole talked about the uncertain CES with State funding in the banian budget um there are also a lot of uncertainties around our federal funding
046as well right now so we get $7.5 million on federal funding um the majority of that money goes directly towards staff position salaries primarily for special education and reading instruction and um with all the talk of potential Cuts or Andor shutting down the US Department of Education um you know the the conversation has been around well it'll be no problem they'll just flow that money through the states um I did ask some of our local legislators does that mean we would get that money directly given to Westerville so we can continue the continuity of those services and um the answer was that they would have to look at what that would look like for us so our concern is with that um if they would apply their state share or some other type of reduction
047based on our wealth Factor we could be looking at a reduction in our federal funds as well so obviously Lots up in the air from a federal level but that's another piece that we're watching very closely I'm I'm glad you brought that up the other thing that I I'm reminded of is I attended a property tax relief seminar um held by some of our local legislators and um there are a series of bills that are in have been introduced and it's around providing direct relief to Property Owners which sounds amazing um but also it means uh like a expanding Homestead which is um right now it's an exemption that senior citizens are permanently disabled Ohioans are able to get there's also a military uh homestead exemption that they've added recently and right now the state
048reimburses us for all of those dollars that are lost to the homestead exemption uh the proposal would expand that exemption to an even greater number um and then the state would reimburse us 50% of any dollars lost from that exemption and then they have the um property tax roll back which has had been around forever uh it went away and for all new levies after 2013 uh but there was an automatic 10% reduction uh for property taxes for uh residential and then if you lived in the home so owner occupancy credit was another 2 and 1/2% so 122% that went away in 20 after the 2013 so important to mention the state reimbursed it to the district the state the state reimburses reimbursed the district for the 12 and a half the 10% and the
0492 and a half% the full 12 and a half% and so then they eliminated that exemption after for all new levies after 2013 so it automatically made every property tax levy 12 a half% more expensive to any homeowners but it didn't give the district any additional dollars on those levies and um I've shared a graph on here before uh Dr Howard fleers with the Ohio Education Institute uh policy Institute that he has put the data together about since 1975 um to 2022 the state has shifted the property tax burden away from businesses to homeowners and Farmers by over 20 by 20% um and the state has acknowledged through all of this property tax reform uh stuff that their policies have basically screwed our property tax system up to the point to where when these new
050reappraisals came out while we didn't get additional dollars at the level that I think everybody thinks that we did um a lot of people saw some pretty big shifts in their tax bills which has caused a lot of angst and just people that can't afford it and so they're looking at everything they get can do to fix it right now but when you're a district that 64% of your Revenue comes from your local property taxes and the state's model is designed to make our local residents pay more the wealthier our community looks through property taxes or an income tax which is also on our residents we don't really have much I mean we we don't charge fees for our services um we are a public service this is why we exist so it's um it's
051very frustrating right now to see all of that so uh I think it's important that we maintain that 90-day um balance as we're looking at just all of the things that could change I think about back to when the uh business personal property tax uh went away in 2011 the they eliminated that tax in the name of Economic Development and then um they reimbursed schools for a period of time and then they eliminated that reimbursement and they are looking at the homestead and roll back reimbursement that we're currently receiving on the old stuff um they talk about every time they talk about the budget so lots could change and so we're just trying to keep an eye on everything trying to follow everything um and talking to our legislators about how these decisions will impact
052our community and so um part of Lobby day tomorrow I know Westerville parent council is also um hosting people I think there's a sign making party at alcot tonight yeah right now I think we're messing up yeah um and hopefully we'll have some go down there and help us Advocate tomorrow um so for for folks who don't know and you can correct me if anywhere along here I'm I'm wrong but when we think about the state the grf the General Revenue funds operating dollars that the state banial budget that's being sorted out now um I know a lot of people know this but I just want to reiterate that process so the governor introduced a budget now the house is working on their version of the budget my understanding is somewhere around April 8th or
053so um they're going to introduce their version the first so they so all of the amendments were due by Friday and so they'll be working through April the 1st and they're supposed to introduce their sub Bill and then they should have hearings from that point until I think they're trying to get it in front of the Full House by the 9th for might be the eth by I I think I heard the ninth on Friday when I was on a call on Friday okay um but they should have some hearings at some point okay with the finance committee the house finance committee yep so keep an eye on all that but then we're not done right because once once the house is done then it goes to the Senate and the Senate it's you sort
054of start the process over and in a sense um all the advocacy with state senators which of course you can do now but it'll be in their hands once they see what the house what the house bill looks like then it goes to the Senate side and then they'll conference it once the Senate has something in so conferencing what May June um and we always hope that there's a signature Governor's signature by the end of June so things can continue to function but that's kind of what this process looks like over the next few months um so in any case that's where we are with the house now it'll go to the Senate then the conference then for the Governor's signature so lots of opportunities to be heard um but the sooner the better and
055I just wanted to ask um um for clarification so you know we have a banal budget that do a 5-year forecast it's a little challenging but we do it because right you don't know what's going to be in the next banial budget we don't even know what's going to be in this very next one let alone the one after that right um do all other entities that receive state funding have to do a five-year forecast no so um actually more than just this but so like the non-public schools that receive the private vouchers they're not required any 5year forecast or anything like that so yeah and other agencies and so on don't either but yeah I mean in our case that's primarily the point is this exercise that we have to go through um and
056it's always good to forecast and do your best at that but um those entities that are receiving state tax dollars to educate children don't have to go through this process yeah uh and they are receiving over a billion dollars a year and they don't even and go through the financial audit process um so we do go through the financial audit process and I got an email today that our audit was released and so we are expecting another clean audit award which I'm very excited about I am trying to get state auditor favor to a board meeting um he's come once so I'm hoping I can get him out here I'm going to try for April the 7th so awesome thank you for all your work on this takes a village any other questions questions no
057I just I want to just State something really quickly um I just want to thank those who have gone down and testified already on the budget I know that um Nicole has um I know there's some parents that have as well um I've submit a testimony those that are going down um tomorrow and Wednesday thank you um but as my colleague Miss Alman said um there's plenty of opportuni so please do so all right yeah take the r Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the purchases in accordance with the hire Revised Code 5705 41 D1 in board policy 6320 so moved second talk to us miss Marshall about this uh yes we have two these are what we call the an
058now purchase orders it's where we have a purchase order that's open after an invoice date um and so these are both for our special education department and they are for uh students who are attending the uh who are in the juvenile attention system that's not typo um that really I we didn't know that this was coming and so that's why we don't have a th and now but we do budget for this this every year uh we can have these things pop up from time to time because we're required to cover the cost of Education uh for those students so any questions okay will we take the vote Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Atman yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the financial report Investments for February 2025
059so moved second Miss Mall will you talk to us about this too yes uh so this month we're going over February's month end and so for year-to-date receipts we for the general fund we had $226.1 million year-to-date expenditures we had 149.5 million and we ended with an unencumbered uh year-to-date fund balance for the general fund of 29.3 million for all funds together uh we had year-to date receipts of 260 million year-to-date expenditures of 241 million and we ended with un incom fund balance for all funds at 245.000 million any questions okay we take the vote Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Atman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I take the personal consent agenda as one all right may I have a motion to approve the personal cassette agenda 8.01 through 8.13 so moved
060second welcome Mr Cooper good evening president Meyer members of the board Miss Marshall and Miss Hamberg tonight's Personnel consent agenda includes action items with regard to resignations retirements leaves of absence contract status changes one time pays and other employment related decisions we have several staff members who have announced retirement on this evening's agenda Mary zarle will be retiring at the end of the year after 14 years of service to the district Beth Hammond with 26 years Betsy Johnson 29 years Kelly modick 26 years Stephanie Morris 33 years Pam work 27 years and Terry Yates seven years in Westerville City Schools we appreciate all these individuals have done for our students and certainly wish them the best in their years of retirement at this time I'm happy to take any questions you may have any questions
061and congratulations to our retirees thank you for your service all right will you take the vote Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Atman yes Mrs Meyer yes and is it okay if I take old business as one too all right may I have a motion to approve old business 9.01 through 9.07 so moved second any discussion comments questions okay Miss Marshall will you take the vote Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes next up we have new business um 10.01 the first reading of policy 5113 interdistrict open enrollment enrollment wow welcome Mr Dorne thank thank you and good evening president Meyer members of the board Miss Hamburg and Miss Marshall I'll actually present the next two policies for your consideration item 10.01 is policy 5113 inter District open enrollment
062and that would be between Westerville and another school district revisions to this policy update language to coincide with the current Ohio Department of Education and Workforce provisions and to include the requirements of Senate Bill 208 which is effective on April 9th to a student who is not a native student of the Westerville City School District to open enroll in the district If the parents of students parents is an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is stationed in Ohio and who provides the district a copy of the parents official written order verifying the parent status as an active duty member of the Armed Forces the new military exception must be added to policies for districts that entirely prohibit interdistrict open enrollment which is what we currently have Additionally the bill
063permits a student enrolled to uh under a District's open enrollment policy exception for military children to continue to attend the district and receive transportation services for the remainder of a school year if the student's parent is discharged or released from active duty this policy should be adopted in order to comply with current law I just have a a question um I know it states in there that uh that upon request um the parent requesting Transportation um that it can be provided but only within the boundaries of the district so does that mean a parent must drop a child at a school bus stop or pick them up from there yes okay and we already um taken students that are from the military right and Armed Forces but not from particularly outside of the district per
064se right now this would allow for this anybody who is a resident in the district regardless of of that take so um I'm just wondering and and I appreciate the armed services so much so I don't want this question to come off wrong but does that come with additional funding from the state or the feds it does not okay thank you at least not to my I would say you would probably get the typical when you have when you do have open enrollment the the dollar amount from the state would come here instead of usually you have to send out from the local District the full amount so they would have to send out what they get from the state plus their local share they don't include the local share anymore oh did that change
065that changed with the new funding formula so okay it would be the state share just the state share then so we would that that where they are whatever District they are that money would follow them here they would no longer receive they would it's where students count so the district if the students currently enrolled in another District that school in theory is getting funded for that student although none of us are all getting funded for all of our students but that's another conversation um and then if the student leaves that'd be one less student on their ADM funded ADM and that would be one more student on our funded ADM which is subject to our state share yeah okay thank you thank you for explaining that thank thank you I didn't realize that changed CU
066in my previous District we had open enrollment that was how it was yeah it's been a huge complaint about the open districts that allowed open enrollment okay item 10.02 is policy 5223 released time for religious instruction during the school day this policy is provided by a statute through House Bill 8 effective also on April 9th requires districts to adopt a policy authorizing students to be excused from school to attend a released time course in religious instruction the bill requires school district school districts to collaborate with a sponsoring entity of release time course and religious instruction to identify a time for the course to be offered during the school day this policy should be adopted in order to comply with current law any questions or comments um yeah I think uh just a couple of these
067things and we can you know chat about obviously this a first reading um but just some clarity around things like the students parental Guardian consent in writing like I just want to understand um a little bit more what exactly we mean and what those procedures look like so I'll I'll reach out I suspect maybe we haven't worked quite through all that yet but in any case we are in the process of developing the administrative guidelines that would go along with this policy y any other questions and I think just a point out on that Mr Dorne has worked really closely with our legal council to make sure because there are a lot of considerations with those guidelines with our liability okay thanks thank you um okay next up we have 10.3 the first reading of
068policy 5610 removal suspension expulsion and permanent exclusion of students welcome Mr mine thank you good evening Miss Myer Miss Hamburg Miss Marshall members of the board it is my absolute pleasure to present to you for first read reading of revisions to board policy 5610 removal suspension expulsion and permanent exclusion of students this policy is recommended for revisions due to changes in Ohio Revised Code that came under Ohio House Bill 206 some of the revisions are some general wording pieces but these revisions reflect current Ohio law and are recommended to make sure that our policies are accurate and maintained I can answer any questions that anyone might have about these changes to the policy doesn't look like we have any okay thank you very much appreciate it um and next up we have 10.04 first reading
069of policy 74401 video surveillance and electronic monitoring welcome Mr Stiffler good evening um president Meyer uh members of the board superintendent Hamburg and treasure Marshall in front of you tonight is consideration for policy 7441 which are changes to video surveillance and electronic monitoring um most of the changes are grammar driven except for we are expanding our ability to hold video from seven days to 14 days and requests from 14 days to 21 days simply because we have better technology in place to be able to run it now so if you have any questions I'm happy to answer um any questions questions no thank you all right um next up we have 11 recommended actions and standing business 11.01 early graduates welcome Miss Baldwin good evening I'm excited to share with you that we have several
070students that are going to be completing oh do you need I need a motion yeah thank you is there a second second okay thank you you all right good evening we have several students that are completing their graduation requirements prior to their cohort graduation this may and so your approval once they finish all of their requirements will mean that they can earn their diploma I'm happy to answer any questions you may have any questions congratulations to them no questions you can take Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Meyer yes and um may I have a mission to approve out of state overnight field trips so moved second and Miss Baldwin will you talk to us about this yeah good evening again we have one trip request this is Westerville Central softball team
071traveling for spring break to warmer weather for practice and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have sounds nice I don't think there's any questions thank you thank you can take the vote Mrs Atman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes in 11.03 um may I have a motion to approve the resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor so moved second Miss Marshall will you talk to us about this uh yes so uh last month you approved the updated rates from 24 collection year 25 so now these are the estimated rates for collection 20 for calendar year 2025 collection year 2026 and then we'll come back in February next year and approve the
072rates for actual collections for 25 so this is just the estimate for them that they've already sent tax bills out for by the way so well that's next year but yeah from last year okay thank you any questions or comments all right will you take the vote Mrs opman yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meer yes and um may I have a resolution or may I have a motion to um approve the resolution to adjust a High School attendance boundary so moved second welcome back Mr Dorne thank you U presented here tonight is a recommendation to move a small portion of the Westerville South High School attendance area into the Westerville Central High School attendance area prek through 12th grade there are 15 students in the identified neighborhood the neighborhood is currently slated
073Point View Genoa South the change would change that to Point View Genoa Central the handful of Genoa students are the only students at Genoa who eventually go to South uh this change will now keep all Genoa students moving to their high school together this neighborhood is South of i27 West of Cleveland Avenue as shown in the exhibits and um just right at the Home Depot if you need a a marker like that uh it is recommended that the board approve this change tonight so that the eighth grade students schedules can be completed for the appropriate high school during the scheduling process Scott did parents uh request this just car us we did have um there's a very small number of eth graders currently at Genoa who did request it uh they brought this to our
074attention and um just as we started moving through that process to um take a look at that it was very obvious right off the bat that this made no sense the way that we were doing it so this is just a it's really a correction we should we should not have been doing this so what we have done though is given the students who are already attending Westerville South the opportunity to stay and everybody else is being transferred to Central thank you any other questions or comments okay I'm assuming that the parents of those kids are have been notified yes okay are we ready M okay thank you Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Myer yes and next may I have a motion to approve the resolution to award contract to
075tpv design build Inc for the Hawthorne Elementary renovation project so moved second welcome Mr Schwartz thank you president Meyers superintendent Hamburg Treasurer Marshall so I'm here to talk about resolution approving a contract for renovation work at Haw Elementary to tpv design Build Incorporated in the amount of $188,100 even this is for Hawthorne Elementary as I said this is bond funds o4 so 2019 bond funds this was part of the original facilities master plan the project involves creation of a couple SLC or small group rooms both on the cafeteria stage as well as a small underutilized dining room off the student dining room uh five bids were received and the work is forecasted or scheduled to be done August 1st 2025 with that I'm happy to answer any questions it looks like there are none thank
076you m Salman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes and may I have a motion to approve the amendment to the treasure Employment contract effective August 1st 2021 in the treasur employment contract effective August 1st 2026 so moved second Miss Marshall do you want to talk to us about this a little bit uh yes thank you um for one having this on the agenda uh so I am currently in my second contract with the district by law uh we can a treasur and superintendent can have up to a 5-year contract uh the end of my current contract is um July 31st 2026 and uh the new 5year contract would begin August 1 2026 with your approval tonight uh I have asked the board to amend my current contract uh to freeze my
077salary for next year at my current year salary and to eliminate um any compensation any additional compensation uh that is that I currently have for performance um pay I do want to make sure that it's very clear that um there is nothing new added to my 5-year contract the only difference is the elimination of the performance compensation and um a change in my vacation days which I will be in year eight with the district and I've had the same number of vacation days since I started with the district and the ability to cash some of those days out because I don't always get to take vacation like I want to so um that's what's on here it is an overall savings uh to the district um from what I currently have in my contract it
078is a pay decrease for next year uh but an overall savings through the life of the contract of over $63,000 to the district that I've calculated so um nothing was added that was heard tonight so yeah thank you um I just want to thank you for your thoughtfulness Nicole I know um these decisions the fact that we didn't pass a levy the fact that we don't really know what's coming down the pipeline um just really appreciate your thoughtfulness as we're you know um making hard decisions I do want to make that clear like I I couldn't ask the board there by my contract assuming that you've found my um you know work satisfactory um I would see a pay increase going into next year and I have a hard time accepting that knowing that um
079we're reducing positions that we fail to Levy and just all of the things that we're dealing with right now I just I wouldn't feel comfortable taking that so that's why I've asked for this amendment to my current year contract and I love this community I'd love to stay I hope to retire on June 1st 2038 from this community from this District um I have a in school here H she's going into high school next year and um I would love to get a new 5-year contract for that thank you I I just want to Echo Christie's sentiment because that is not something that a lot of people would think to do and you're being very thoughtful about this and unfortunately you know the financial situation with the district is what it is for right now
080but it we we really appreciate your your creativeness thanks and and this is a period in which you have and I know because of your commitment we'll continue to work even more hours we encourage you to take that vacation we know you can't always do it um but just really appreciate you doing this because um every little bit that we can keep in the classroom is where we're trying to keep it so thank you I I just want to add sorry that it's very um standard with the superintendent or treasur contract to do them this much in advance when they expire just in case folks aren't aware that that's a normal thing under statute for our positions so Nicole I just I thank you very much for doing this I know it's uh hard and
081you take all of this personally I know you love this district and and our staff and our students and I appreciate appreciate you you are probably you are the best Treasurer we're so lucky to have you I go that okay can we take the vote Mrs Davidson absolutely yes Mrs opman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Meer yes all right next we have 11.07 um may I have a motion to approve a settlement agreement so moved second will you take the vote Mrs Alman yes Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Davidson yes Mrs Meyer yes next up we have board comments um who would like to go first I'll go first um so first off I want to say thank you for all of you coming tonight um we see you this is a great way to show
082up and let us know uh where you're at how you feel and and I want to say for me um I appreciate it I think it's a a kind way um and you're appreciate it so um I'm going to go into my comments that will be a little self- serving I'm going to ask you guys just to bear with me there or bear with me here I'm a little nervous cuz a lot of emotions going on um I just want to start by expressing my deepest gratitude and say thank you um I'm going to start with the community for giving me a chance all those years ago and seeing potential um and letting me build trust I do really appreciate all the emails people reaching out and pushing me and help me to grow um
083I don't take that lightly um to my colleagues present and past I really do appreciate you I consider you friends um the ones in the past um I I value them each and every one of them all the things that we have gone through people can't imagine until you sit in the seat um to the staff um I appreciate your trust um thank you for pushing me making me think differently not just telling me but inviting me into your classroom and letting me experience things um to our students um I've loved coming to read to you um interview for BizTown um seeing performances plays games shaking lots of hands along the way uh one of my all-time favorite experiences was being a mentor for the girls model program it was lifechanging um if someone has
084time and can get out there and do something like that I highly recommend it um I want to say some personal thank yous to some staff members that uh Chang changed my life and my children's lives so Mary Taylor Beth dalen Emily winchip Kathy Benton Kim deoy Trevor kilm Stacy Alonzo Katie Fort Lauren Sefton Emily Swank Janet Pritchard and Noel brebach I cannot express my gratitude deeply enough um you all know if you have a family the people that really touch your lives and um I will be forever grateful I have other District people that um have pushed me out of my comfort zone sometimes pissed me off um challenged me stretched me and I am so grateful for them too and not all of them pushed me I mean pissed me off so don't
085don't take this in order um Ben Hartnell Tom Cook Sher Timberlake Ronda Gilpin Christen Robertson um Mark Hershiser Nicole Marshall Tammy Santa I don't know what I would do without you guys you you guys were tough but so so good uh Larry Jenkins who ran the last Levy who has done so much for our community is an unsung hero and people don't know him enough um kids out of the district spent months and months uh trying to get this Levy ped I am deeply grateful um my campaign uh for years uh was a machine I am so grateful for the people behind it Sherry blade three times I can't thank you enough Elizabeth creel Nancy McFarland um sorry Lisa aoin Laura Hammer Erica Cohen Jeff Johnson David Grimes last time really helping me I appreciate
086you uh Linda Wier uh John and Linda Bokus and I can't forget um Cindy Crow Cindy Crow was a a former board member I don't know if any of you know her um she is why I'm sitting here today she took a little stay-at-home mom and showed her that I could sit up here and I could do this job and I could push forward and I am so grateful for her she passed away of ALS thank you um and then just to my family um you know Nancy stated about my son's 10th birthday oh about his birthday I missed I can't tell you how many birthdays of my kid because it was on graduation and you know God bless my husband for always making his birthday the best and you know like I didn't miss
087and my kids really know nothing but me serving on the board um in this district has mean so much to my family so I wouldn't sit up here without them also and my husband's supporting me along the way so I am forever grateful um for that too so I just want to say thank you and I love you all that's it [Applause] okay um well first of all thank you for being here um like I said we want to put everything we can in the class rooms and that's you all so thank you for what you do every day and for showing up to be seeing and sometimes heard so thank you um to our retirees and our early graduates congratulations um uh I really want to encourage people to do what you can to
088advocate for public schools right now they are I'm a history nerd I'm just going to say this I'm a history nerd and um this state in particular has a long history with public schools and we need to grab that and run with it and remind people of that going back to Northwest Ordinance so um so if you don't know what I'm talking about let's talk or go grab a history teacher um and then finally I want to say um to Tracy Mrs Davidson you are um the most shiny example of a board member that I can imagine um I have known Tracy probably since 2011 or so when there were some dark times um didn't pass a levy and started working together uh in different ways on that and I remember standing in the lobby
089of the Westerville Public Library and you said I think I'm going to do it I think I'm going to run for boor and I was like wow you know that's so it just a a person who cares so much and I remember you saying like I don't quite know what it means but I think I'm going to do it and here you are all these years later and so many lives you've touched and changed and um I will say that I don't know how you've done it I don't it takes so much and you've done it for a long time and you are all in on being a board member so I just want to thank you for that thank you for your mentorship um thank you for your service and thank you for your
090friendship in this I couldn't have done it without you so thanks Tracy [Applause] so I will Echo the um congratulations for all of the retirees my goodness some of those in the 30-year Mark um that's incredible um congratulations to all the award winners tonight congratulations as well to the north basketball boys basketball team I'm a huge basketball fan I might go to the game this Friday I don't know um so Tracy we have not had the pleasure of serving too too long on the board together but what I do know without a doubt is aside from just being an amazing board member you have been amazing for this community you are you're all in for the kids for the community and I am really excited that you're kind of staying in the fold with the
091big bus and helping to grow that because like was mentioned before you saw a need and decided to do something about it not everybody does so thank you so much for your service and for for everything that you've done for the district we can I can only aspire to do as much as you can honestly thank you well I Echo those congratulations I also want to just say um there was a really great NPR story on about Westerville City Schools this morning if you didn't catch it it was highlighting how we have really done a good job in um reducing learning loss in math so congratulations to all of you you in the district thank you for what you do and the team um if you haven't heard it go back and listen to it
092makes you feel really good um and then thank you all for coming out tonight it is really important that you're here we do appre I do appreciate like my colleagues have said um when people reach out and inviting us into your classroom we get to see what happens where the Magic's made um so thank you for all that you're do and then to Tracy I'm going to try not to cry cuz I'm a crier and I'm a sympathy crier so this is probably going to be rough for me but um I just really want to thank you you lead with empath well there we go empathy and you always Center the student um you are always mentoring you're always picking up the phone we're always having a lot of conversations um I remember coming to
093you years ago and saying I I really want to be grounded in my own community and give back to the community that gave to me and you inspired me to run and you showed me the way and you helped me and you mentored me and I'm forever in debt but also I'm forever in debt for all the things that you've done here for my children too so thank you so much all right okay so um the board will meet in regular session on Monday April 7th 202 5 at 6 p.m. at the Early Learning Center which is here 9:36 East Wind Drive Westerville Ohio and with that may I have a motion to move into executive session for the purposes of um discussing the employment and compensation of public employees into consider the appointment of
094a public official so moved second you take the vote Mrs Valentine yes Mrs Alman yes Mrs Davis son yes Mrs Meyer yes you're welcome to stay if you want but I don't know how long we'll be have an extra one 729