001It is Thursday, March 12th of 2026, and I'd like to call this regular board meeting to order. Mr. Arman, can I please get a roll call? >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Please stand and join me in saying the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> All right. Can I get a a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers, >> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, >>
002yes. >> Now, can I get a motion to approve the minutes from the regular board meeting from February 19th? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers, >> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mason, >> yes. And now I'd like to hand the floor over to Mr. Kaufman. Well, thank you. I would love to invite our featured artists from Cypel to come on up. We've got some amazing artwork uh that uh Mrs. Casper has helped uh our young folks create down at Cypel that we want to recognize. Uh so we have um eight featured artists this month, uh fifth grade all the way down to kindergarten. We're going to start with Na Nathan Bishoff and Nathan
003created the dragon eye right here on the end in kind of the cool colors. Great job, buddy. And I got something for you here. There you go. Congratulations. [applause] I want to give a special shout out to Aiden Thompson who's a fifth grader. Aiden couldn't make it tonight. He's home ill, but he his mom assured me he's watching online uh for his recognition. So, Aiden Aiden has the dragon's eye right here. Uh >> congratulations, Aiden. [applause] We also have Stella Wilhoff, a fourth grader. Stella has uh right here the weaving. Great job. Adeline Dronan has the Gustaf Climpmp inspired tree of life which is >> Oh, right here. Great job. [applause] >> Squish mallows are all the rage and Mallerie decided to sew her own. So, she has the sewn squish model here. Congratulations. Navy
004Phillips is a second grader and she created the textured piñata. Great job. [applause] Summer Kelly, I don't believe is here this evening, but she did the Van Go inspired sunflower. And Summer, if you're watching at home, and kindergartener Natalie Wilson created the beautiful value scale ice cream on the air. Congratul [applause] And of course, I'm not going to miss an opportunity to highlight some pretty incredible things in the arts over the last month uh or or upcoming. Uh just as a reminder to everybody, next weekend, a week from uh tomorrow night, we open Water for Elephants. Uh it is the uh most ambitious technical production we've ever done. Uh there will be silks and trapeze and giant elephants and the circus is literally coming to the Zamudio Theater. Tickets are selling very, very fast. So,
005if you have an opportunity, we would love to see you out. We also have a live band again. Uh the the response to that last year uh and in the fall was just so incredible. So, uh we do have a live band again. We're really excited about that. And then I'm going to try to share a few details of the next one without just getting a little bit emotional. Um this past Sunday, uh we took our band program to music hall to celebrate a hundred years of the Milford band program. And I I have to share with you that it was the most fulfilling uh performing arts experience uh for our students and our directors and our community that I've been a part of. And we've done some really incredible things. Um but to fill
006music hall with the sounds of our band program um and approximately 200 of our band students um was really absolutely incredible. If you've not had a chance to see uh some of the videos and posts that Parker Brown has put together, uh the look on our students faces when they got off that bus and they walked into that beautiful hall uh is really incredible. And I shared uh in one of the interviews that was done um you know what what did I hope kids would take away from that experience. And aside from having a chance to perform on a world-class stage and all of that, um I really hope that one day they're they're at music hall for the symphony or the Nutcracker or some other performance and they can look over to their children
007or their partner or their grandchildren and say, you know what, I performed on that stage, too. Um and it was just an absolutely magical experience. It didn't happen without the incredible support of our Milford band boosters and Milford Schools Foundation who funded the event. Um it was it was incredible. We're already dreaming about how can we do something like that again. So, um, congratulations to the Milford band on 100 years. Thank you to everyone that made, uh, that event so, so incredibly special. It was a core memory for our kids that they'll remember forever. So, thank you so much. >> It was wonderful. I just have to say I just it was a core memory for me. I don't hopefully. And um, you did amazing. The students did amazing. I never heard one squawk or
008squeak or anything. It was just wonderful. It couldn't have been any better. So, I appreciate everything you did too, Josh. and the band boosters. >> And I agree. It was a great great event. Couldn't have been any better. Those kids were so >> professional. They were >> and talented. It was wonderful. >> It's magical. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thanks, Josh. >> Thank you. Um, now I would like to hand the floor over to Mr. Joerger. Mr. our featured artist and mom and dad. You want to come All right. Well, we are ready to get started. President Mason, rest of the board, Dr. Fiori, thank you for giving us the opportunity tonight to highlight some of the things going on at Cypel Elementary. Um, I'd like to start by thanking you for the opportunity to
009lead CYPEL. Um, you know, 10 months ago, I never thought I'd be here. Um, you know, things hit in July and here I am and it's been a great opportunity. Um, a great growth experience for me. Um, and I work with a dedicated group of people in the building. So, thank you for the opportunity. Um, just want to do a couple highlights before I put the real stars on. Um, you know, you guys hear us talk all the time. That's the reason we're here. Um, we had conferences this week. So, we have conferences going on right now. Um, we just finished up the Soore Olympics, tried to tie into our PBIS and current events. So, we were watching the Olympics during lunch and then we had some behavior challenges in the hallway um where students
010could earn points for their classrooms and the winning classrooms chose donut parties courtesy of POPS who's one of our sponsors. So, shout out to Pops Donuts. Um, they also sponsor our student of the month. So each month we recognize 25 students. Each classroom teacher, whether it's a core teacher, an elective teacher, an um intervention specialist, a speech therapist, they all recognize a student every month um for their exemplary work and those go with our character traits. Um and so POP sponsors that too um for us. Upcoming events tomorrow we have a wheelchair basketball event that we're really excited about. um that's done by a group called school aid and it's promoting teamwork um resilience really talking about resilience and disability um awareness too. So things that are very near and dear and important to us
011um and I will mention to them that the parolympics are going on right now too so they can maybe they like the wheelchair basketball maybe this weekend they can check that out. Um the Olympics challenge went so well we're going to do a March Madness challenge too. Um, we did home rooms first or with the Olympics. We're gonna do grade levels this time and pit the grade levels against each other for behavior challenges. So, that'll be fun. Um, I'm also going to challenge my teachers to a communication challenge now that we finished up conferences. They don't know this yet. They're at conferences. So, they're not watching tonight. Um, so we're going to do a communication challenge for them to sort of like Super Bowl squares but for opening day. Um, with once they reach out
012to so many parents, they'll get a square and I'll come up with some prizes for them. Um, just really trying to build the community at Cypelt. But most importantly, Mrs. Wanaker, who's our TOA at Cypel, um, works with a group of fifth graders every week and they're going to come. They're our sore ambassadors, and they're going to come up and share what they do. Some of these friends might look familiar to a couple of you. >> Ready? >> All right. So, Mr. Blake's got your presentation ready up here. So, I'm going to turn the mic over to you guys. >> My name is Lucy and I am a fifth grade ambassador. And today I'm going to be talking to you about Soore. What is Soore at Cypo Elementary? Soar stands for safety, ownership, attitude, and
013respect. Soar helps us be safe every day, show ownership, have a good attitude, and be respectful each day. >> I'm Kade Mason. >> And I'm Keegan Isles. Our school theme this year, our school theme is soaring out of this world. The theme reminds us when we follow sore expectations, we can achieve great things. You can see you can see this theme throughout our school in hallways, classrooms, assemblies, and celebrations. >> Hello, I am Emry Miracle. At Cypel Elementary, we believe it is important to recognize positive behavior. One way we do this is through mission accomplished certificates. These certificates are given when students make small decisions that make a big difference in our school. This might be showing kindness, taking ownership, helping a classmate, or doing the right thing when no one is watching. Mission accomplished
014certificates help us celebrate positive choices right away and encourage everyone to keep soaring. Another way we rec Oh, I'm Hannah Wingreed and I'm going to tell you about another way we recognize soaring behavior. Another way we recognize soaring behaviors is by awarding sore points through the classroom dojo. Students earn points by following expectations in all areas of the school and all staff members can award points when students demonstrate these positive behaviors. Every other week, students can earn rewards such as book tokens, lunch with the principal, wearing a hat for a week, stock for the day, and other fun incentives. Hi, I'm Olive Kentia. And I'm Katie. When students show soaring behavior, we also earn points as a school. Some of the the rewards we have earned this year include a mini field day and a
015movie reward at Milford High School. These rewards motivate us to keep making making positive choices and working together. I'm Presley. >> I'm Nora Scorp. We are both part of the uh sore ambassador program. Our fifth grade ambassador program has been a wonderful addition to our school community. Each year, interested fifth graders to apply to serve as leaders within the school. This year, we have 19 student ambassadors who meet weekly with Miss Waker to plan and prepare lessons. Lead classroom meetings on topics like friendship and conflict conflict resolutions. >> Read with kindergarten, first and second grade students. >> Assist at school evening events. >> Lead the daily pledge and support schoolwide needs. >> Help with tasks tax tasks such as recycling and other building responsibilities. Our ambassadors play an important role in supporting younger students and
016strengthening our school community. Hi, I'm Charlotte Shre and I'm another one of the ambassadors and the topic I'm going to be presenting is classroom visits. One of the most important things we do as ambassadors is visit our assigned classrooms each week. Each ambassador is paired with a classroom in kindergarten through fourth grade. During these visits, we teach a weekly topic such as leadership, friendship, bravery, kindness, and how to make an a sincere apology. Each lesson includes a circle question of the topic and a fun activity connected to the theme. These visits help us build relationships and model positive leadership for for younger students. >> My name is Cole Thomasson. >> My name is Lily Wall. And today we're going to be talking why Soore matters. Soar helps make Sabel Elementary a safe, respectful, and welcoming
017place for everyone. >> It teaches us leadership, responsibility, and respect. Skills we'll now use in the future. Thank you for your time and for supporting Cypo Elementary. We're proud to represent our school and be soaring out of this world. So, I have a couple pictures of us in action. At the top left, we have one of us reading to the younger grades. The bottom left is another one of us reading to the younger grades. The top right is one of us doing a um class visit and bottom left or the bottom right is another one of us reading to the end of grades. And then the middle is a group photo of all of us. [applause] >> [applause] >> They're a fantastic group. One thing that I did task them with second semester was leading
018our morning announcements. So we do the pledge every morning at Cypel. We recognize our mission accomplished. The kids hear me enough. Um so they come down every morning. They all know how to work the PA now. Um they just whether I'm in the office or not, they get started. They lead the pledge and they rec start that recognition so Mrs. WMaker and I can meet kids where we're needed. Um, that's been a huge help for me. Do any of you have questions for the kids? I didn't tell you that was going to happen. >> Or any comments for the kids? >> Yeah, I don't I don't have a question, but I love the idea of getting them to the high school for movie night. I mean, I'm sure that was a lot of fun. What
019movie did you guys watch? >> We have a database that we're allowed to use and it was Christmas time and you know, I'm of a certain age now. Um, I chose a year without a Santa Claus, which is one of my favorites. So, it's a good length of time. Um, price was right. >> The auditorium was cheap to rent. Um, so just looking within my budget, but yeah, it was a lot of fun to go to the high school for that day. >> That's awesome. Yeah. No, I love that just getting them into the high school. I mean, anytime we can get the elementaryaries into the middle school and high school, I think are great. >> I love hearing how all the elementaryaries have such different PBIS programs. And I think the students did a
020great job presenting. I know that is very hard to do. So, I appreciate all of you coming up and telling us about your school. >> Thank you for coming. >> Yes, you [clears throat] did a great job. >> Yep. >> All right. Well, thank you for having us. I'm going to slide you guys out and we're going to go do a group picture also. So, thank you guys very much. >> Awesome. Thank you. [applause] >> Hey, that one little girl had the same color. >> I know. Is that the same? >> Okay, cuz you're like your hair's popping and hers like whoever did it did a really good job. [laughter] >> It does run. >> Oh, do you? >> All right. Uh, Mr. Acriman, do we have any public commentary? >> We do not. >>
021All right. Well, moving on to mission moments. Uh, for this mission moment, I usually do them, but I am going to turn the mic over to Maryanne Will. >> Thank you. [clears throat] I want to take a moment to uh recognize a former or a graduate of Milford High School. Captain Lewis John Spidel graduated in 1964 and was in the top 1% of his class. He continued his education at the United States Military Academy at West Point where he own earned both airborne and Ranger qualifications. After graduating in 1968, he underwent additional training at Fort Knox, Fort Walters, Fort Rucker, becoming a skilled helicopter pilot. On April 23rd, 1971, during a mission in the it's either ASHA or Asha, I'm not sure, Valley, Captain Spidel's helicopter crashed, leaving both him and his co-pilot for 48
022hours before being rescued. After undergoing surgery for his injuries injuries, Captain Spidell passed away on June 25th, 1971. He was awarded numerous honors for his valor and service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and others. In 2012, Captain Spyell was recognized posumously by the Milford School's Foundation as a distinguished alumnest. Last week, thanks to the initiative, compassion and commitment of Larry Lucky, a neighbor and close childhood friend, and to State Representative Jean Schmidt, who introduced House Bill 171, followed it through Senate approval and signature by Governor DeWine. There was a very special ceremony held. The purpose was official the official renaming of a portion of State Route 28. The eastbound and westbound lanes of State Route 28 between Castleberry Court and the Happy Hollow overpass will now be known
023as Captain John Lewis Spyel Memorial Highway, a stretch of highway ne that is near where Captain Spidel grew up. And I'd like to read a portion of a statement that was given by his um daughter Gretchen at um at the ceremonies to be read at the ceremony. My mother, Ellen, and I extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to each and every one of you for coming out to remember and honor my father, Captain Lewis John Spidel, nearly 55 years after he made the ultimate sacrifice. We send our apologies that we could not be here with you today. My father's sisters of course grew up on Route 28 and so it seems fitting for them to re represent the family in ourstead. We are blessed that so blessed that my father father's friends, neighbors and classmates
024continue to remember him. Although we have attended remembrance dedications in various locations around the country, including the Vietnam Wall, the National Museum of the United States Army, and the National Infantry Museum. This dedication is particularly touching for us because this is home. The stretch of road is where my father grew up and where I love to run through the aisles of Spidey's Garden Center after closing. I can still hear my f grandfather call out to me, "Nobody here but us chickens." And of course, Milford is the hometown of my mother and the generations before her. We are grateful to you for this honor. Those of you who know me well know that I fear I'm fiercely protective, [clears throat] excuse me, of my father's legacy and remain in close touch with many of his friends
025and classmates. Although I was only six weeks old when he died, his voice lives on through his writings and correspondence, and those who loved him reach out frequently to share their stories. My father was so proud of being a member of the 217 Cav, Second Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment. He described his fellow Cav pilots as the best in Vietnam, real professionals, and was honored to fly with them. He was aware that his rescue missions were risky, but in his own words, "When you personally save a man's life, it helps you feel that you're doing something worthwhile over here." His friends and fellow soldiers consistently describe him as steadfast, calm under pressure, loyal, and generous. During the notoriously difficult mountain phase of Ranger school, my father gave up his spare set of dry clothes to a
026fellow soldier who slipped and fell into a river. But of course, my father was so much more than West Point Vietnam in military service. He was also the young man who bought his dream car [clears throat] from the Porsche factory while he was stationed in Kitingen, Germany, and had it shipped back to New York. a fire engine red Porsche 911T. He had a passion for music, playing the drums in a band, and loved having the latest electronics, which in the 60s, of course, meant a realtoreal tape deck. He loved golf so much that the family legend is that he once played with brightly colored balls in the snow. Thanks to all of you, our hometown, for this tremendous honor. And may we be the first among you to wish you safe travels when driving on
027the Captain Lewis John Spidell Memorial Highway. >> Thank you. >> And we're really making one mission moment after another hard to hard to beat. That was great, Maryanne. Thank you so much for bringing that. >> Uh Michael, do you have an update for us? Um on the treasurer's report, most of it's going to be business as usual to tonight. Um as we head in committee, we are eight months into the fiscal year. The district finances are tracking as expected for this time of the year. Treasures team continues to do excellent work keeping things balanced and organized. Um they're in the final stretch of wrapping up the middle school building project and any excess funds will be, you know, put to good use. um that's in line with the facility maintenance plan and our tech technology
028investment roadmap which we continue to um define and update with Dr. Fiori being in seat now they're they're working on updating the facility maintenance plan and technology plan moving forward. So, you know, as our goal was last year and we continue to push for is making sure that we have all of the big, you know, milestones of facility and technology plans, um, you know, not just planned out, but accessible for people so that as we're spending money, we're aligning things against those, um, different plans. So, so yeah, continue to working on that. And other than that, just business as usual. >> All right. Um, can I get a motion for approval of the board reports? >> So, so moved. >> Second. >> All right, Mr. Acriman. All right, Madame President and members of the board,
029thank you for this opportunity to present to you a snapshot of the district's finances through February of fiscal year 26. Yes, we are eight months into this fiscal year. So, on our first slide, what you'll see right there, this is our uh reconciliation. So you see right in here that we have balanced as far as our operating account to our state software and then payroll has balanced as well. So obviously that's very important or you can't move on to the next month. Uh the next slide now this is our investment report and if you look at the fourth column you'll see what we've earned year to date and it's a little over $2 million. And then for the month, we have earned a little over $348,000. So, we're still earning money, which is good considering
030that the interest rates are starting to go down. So, we'll keep an eye on that. But, uh, for the most part, I am very happy with what we're doing there. And then in our next slide, here is a snapshot of our five-year forecast. So, what this is right here, this is the five-year forecast. And then over here in the last column, this is how we compare year-to- date. So you can see right in here 6.010 that we are speculating a deficit spending of 1.9 million and year to date we are actually deficit spending 6.9 million. Now I know that sounds bad, but please keep in mind that we actually receive two settlement payments a year, property tax settlements. uh we receive one at the beginning of the fiscal year around September and we don't receive
031another one until April. So this is why it's so important that we follow our 90-day cash reserve policy so that we can continue in business without a problem. So seeing as how we even with deficit spending of 6.9, we're at 23 million which is above the 90-day policy. That means we're good. So, little light on top of that dark mountain. All right. So, here is our uh this is a nice graph. This is our revenue and you'll see our local revenue from fiscal year 24, 25, and 26. Now, again, you're probably asking yourself, wait a minute, why have we declined? Well, this was an anomaly in fiscal year 24. We actually have at that point in time already received our second settlement for the year. So it's going to make it look like we haven't
032done much between 24 25 to 26 when actually it's not fair to compare. Uh but as you see from 25 to 26 local revenue has gone up. State revenue has gone up from 24 to 25 and it's about even between 25 and 26. And then all other revenue is up. So that's good. And then the next slide you'll see our expenditures. and you'll see salary and benefits where salary and benefits have gone up from 24 to 25 to 26. But again, what we have to keep in mind is right in here, we've had a lot of retirements in the last year. So, a lot of what we've paid out has been severance. So, probably close to a million dollars. So, when you keep that in mind, okay, it doesn't show up right now, but as
033we move forward, it will. And then purchase services have gone down from 24 25 to 26. And then all other expenditures have gone down from 24 to 25. They are up into 26, but a lot of that as we've discussed earlier has been uh some technology supplies and some items that we've needed for maintenance. So, and then in the last slide, this is an important slide because what this does is we uh according to House Bill 96, which is our current banium budget, we have to keep our administrative expenditures below 15%. And you can see right now that we're sitting at 13.75. >> A little lower than last month. >> It is. It is. >> So, um any questions? >> [clears throat] >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers,
034>> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mason, >> yes. >> Now, I need a motion to approve the True Green contract below. >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? Please call the RO. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Yes. Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. Now I need a motion to approve the following vendors. >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Uh, now can I get a motion to approve the donations as listed below? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Mrs.
035Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers, >> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mason, >> yes. >> And always uh thank you so much to all the people who donate, obviously. Yeah, I'm really interested in that Cincinnati for Icepace uh donation. Sounds cool. >> All right. Now, we have a performance audit update, and I will hand it over to Mr. Johnson. Thank you, President Mason. Um, one of the areas that the state performance audit looked like was our facilities. Um, and this is just kind of a snapshot of what we do, um, on a daily basis across the district. Um, our buses drive almost 3,300 miles a day. Um, our district is 31 square miles. Um, and we maintain and clean almost a million square feet every day. Um
036our food service department um provides lunches uh 1974 lunches to Milford students. Um but including our outside districts, it's it's a little over 6,300. Um and these numbers do not include alakart. These are are the full lunches um that we provide. Uh breakfast about 270 for Milford. Um over 1,800 um across all our districts. Um we have approximately uh 5754 students in Milford. Um 744 staff members and the daily investment in each student's education is $85 per student per day. Um so it's just kind of a snapshot of of what we do and um you know kind of the breadth of the operation that we've got across this district. Um I did want to just point out a few highlights. Um when you look at the uh performance audit, uh it was interesting because as
037we were going through the performance audit, we had a lot of changes going on within facilities. You know, we added um the Miranda Sports Complex. We got rid of a 100,000 square foot junior high and we added 206,000 square foot middle school. So they looked at a number of different they kind of compared more than one year. Um unlike some of the other areas they looked at um we are without a doubt spending less per square foot than our peer averages. Um and and that even becomes a little bit less when you look at the added square footage um that that we've done. Um so from 2425 to current um we were 6.8 FTEES less than our peer average. Um it actually showed our custodial um staff like a half a FTE above. But one
038of the things I like to point out is our custodial t staff does do some light maintenance. So they kind of blur a little bit between you know they'll change out light bulbs, they'll change out filters sometimes for us and they will do some light maintenance. Um so and again our grounds people they showed us 3.8 eight people less than our peer average. But our grounds people also they do more than just grounds. Um you know obviously in the summertime, yeah, they're cutting grass, but when you get into the winter time and and when grass isn't growing, they're doing some other things. Um so with our new square footage for this 2526 school year, we were actually 8.7 FTEEs below the benchmark. Um, and I and I will say, um, you know, people could potentially
039twist this. We're taking care of our buildings. Um, you know, we had the preschool. We had Milford Junior High that we've known for 10 years that were going to be replaced. Did we band-aid things sometimes instead of doing a full replacement? Yeah, because we knew that, you know, within 5C or six years, you know, that those buildings were going to go away. So, we didn't want to put a 30 or 40 year roof on the junior high. We put a 10-year roof on the junior high when when we needed to do it 10 years ago. So, we've tried to, you know, be fiscally responsible with managing those dollars knowing what the long-term um you know, look was going to be. Um overall expenditures, um again, we were down 8.2%. Um, the one thing I do
040want to point out to uh the board, the last three years have been incredibly busy for our myself, you know, my team um designing, building uh the middle school and all the everything on that campus, including uh the Marina Sports Complex. So, some of the summer projects, some of the capital outlay that that we would typically do usually in the summer. Um, we kind of pushed down the road a little bit. Um, I know we talked about some asphalt projects. Um, Mr. Acriman in mystead, since I wasn't here last week, kind of talked a little bit about what we're looking at doing. So, some of those summer projects that we haven't been outlaying capital on just because we didn't have the capacity to really do it. um some of those those numbers are going to
041go up. Um if you look at these numbers, you're like, you're 76% less. Well, all right. Well, we just kind of push some things off for a couple of years, and we're going to start catching up with some of those things. So, um you know, we're looking at a budget of about 1.3 to$ 1.5 million in asphalt projects this summer, for example. Um which again, we're looking at the savings that we've got out of the middle school covering, you know, those costs. Um, so, um, you know, kind of getting back tra back back on track just a little bit with some of those capital projects. So, those are the things that we're working on right now. So, all in all, I think I just want to a shout out to my team. I think they
042do a great job, you know, with with limited I don't want to say limited resources. That's not fair. I think we do provide them with the resources they need need to do to get their job done. Um, but going all the way back to 2012 when we failed a levy and we dropped some of our custodial coverage, we never brought that back to where it was pre pre20. And I think if you walk through our buildings and you take a look at um how well they're taken care of, how clean they are. Um, I I think it's really amazing what they do with the time they have. So, I've got a great team that works for me. I think they do a great job. Um, and I think that's why we see these numbers. um
043you know and we're able to do that with maybe less than what some other some other districts do. >> No, I think it's a phenomenal piece of the report obviously you know coming in under and I mean all the things that you show up there Jeff I mean it's it's astounding when you see it putting in that way with that uh many meals going through our food services and just the idea of the buses and all the things that are being cleaned. So the idea that we're doing it with a little bit less than than our peer districts and doing it at the level that you guys are doing at is is really really good and and u obviously like you said supporting them. We support them you know we support your department as much
044as we can but the idea that we're not actively trying to add to to to to match that and continuing to execute the way you do with the staff that you have is is a is great for our district. really appreciate that. >> I spend a lot of time in all the buildings and um they are always immaculate and clean, deep cleaned, you know, so I really appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> It's like they're always there. Like I was at a father's daughter dance and like they're just around just, you know, with taking out the trash. Like there's like always there's always around. So I'm surprised there isn't 50 of them. [laughter] Good job. >> Thank you. >> Um, are we allowed to ask other facilities? Sure. Can we get an update on the
045stoplight? They're working. >> They're digging. >> They are digging. Um, the unfortunately the water line they were supposed to tie in today did not go as expected. So, I think or I'm sorry, Dr. Fiori and Mr. Acriman, you don't know this yet, but we're going to have another water shutdown next week. >> Um, but it it's coming along. They have ramped up their manpower. Um, I got kind of a rough schedule update today. Asphalt plants for the most part aren't looking to open up until midappril. So, my my gut tells me I I I'm not super experienced with road work, right? That's why we had the Claremont County T. Um, I think we're probably talking miday until it's done. Um, they're going to start curb work um in the next week or two. Uh and
046then you know once the curb work gets done they'll look at you know kind of early to midappril when those asphalt plants um open up to get some base course down of asphalt. They're working on the the turn lanes themselves. Um if you look close the uh pads for the light itself have been poured out at 131 in Eagle's Way. Um so they're continuing to work and you know just pray for dry weather. They obviously weren't out there yesterday, but they were out there today. And um so it's coming along. It's it's obviously the winter really hurt that project with the early onset of snow and closing of asphalt plants. So they didn't get near as much work as they anticipated before the holidays back in November, December. Um, but they're they're progressing and and
047you know, rather than first April, mid April that I was hoping to be done, I think you're probably talking more like, and again, this is me guessing. I nobody's given me this date, but I think you're talking sometime in May. >> It's coming. We've waited 10 years, right? We have waited a long time and and it's it's kind of the last vestage of um you know I've told people for three plus years now that it's going to be a pain in the neck to get there, but once we get there it's going to be really nice. And you know this is kind of the last it's a pain in the neck to get there, but when [clears throat] it when we get done it'll be nice. They're also working on um one of the last
048things as part of our middle school project is widening Eagle's Way. um that kind of jumped up on us as as far as there's not enough room at the end of Eagle's Way for two turn lanes out and one turn lane in. Um we learned that when they >> even if you paint lines >> Yeah, even if you paint lines, we we learned that the hard way and had it repainted pretty quickly. But that work I'm trying to get scheduled over spring break. um not 100 I don't have confirmation of that but that's what we're trying to work on is if we can get as much of that done over spring break to minimize the impact of staff students and parents um along Eagle's way >> is the Wolfpen section and this section are they
049run totally separately or should they both be done >> both of them it's same contractor it's it's you know they've got different crews on different sides of it so >> and will we um get different timing will we always have an SRO exiting on Wolfpen or is it TV? >> My hope is is that once the new controller and everything is put in both at 131 and at Wolfpen is that we will be able to program that light like we had before construction and that we won't need an SRO out there at that light on a daily basis. >> So, we had we had a pretty good flow of the light at Wolfpen in Eagles Way back before construction started. Um, so part of what got removed was the controller and and and everything. So
050we'll work with the county on trying to get that timed up so that we get the flow of traffic leaving. I know it tends to back up Wolfpen a little bit, but at the end of the day, the quicker we can get people off of campus, the quicker that the flow of Wolfpen and 131 gets back to normal. >> Absolutely. >> Anything else? All right. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Uh now we need a motion to approve the resolution to authorize filing of board of revision complaints. >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Uh moving on to superintendent business. We have um some
051policies that we need to approve. Um, I need a motion to approve policies KMA, KGR, KG E1, and I KC R. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Please call the RO. >> Mrs. Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers, >> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mason, >> yes. Now, I believe Dr. Fiori has an enrollment presentation for us. Yes. Make sure this thing's working. Okay. Um, since I got here, there's been lots of discussions about enrollment and enrollment declining. So, I've been working with our team to dig into data and try to see exactly where our kids are going if they're not coming to us here in Milford. So, I wanted to share some of that information with you tonight just as we begin thinking
052about how we can keep as many kids here and maybe encourage some families to return. So, where's the Okay, you got it. Okay. All right. So, first off, I wanted to say that there is all kinds of different numbers you can get on enrollment. Okay. And so, you'll see Jeff had a different number in his presentation. So, it's different the kids on any given day, the the bodies that fill our schools. And then there's these things called FTEES, which are the full-time equivalent like students, right? So, if a kid moves in and a kid moves out, they're a portion of a kid. Okay? So, it sounds weird. There's no portions of kids, but that's kind of how they do it. So, I tried to look at what information that is consistent with what Doug shares
053each week. And this is what we get from our financial payments um through um the state. So you can log in and get those from the foundation payments um and when we're looking at enrollment. So my numbers are a little different. Mine are more like the kids that we get paid for and those are full-time the FTEEs versus what Jeff presented which was like the amount of bodies in our school right now. So if you look we are um we have had a decline of about a thousand kids,080 kids since uh the 2122 school year. So if you look we had 6177 kids in 2122. Um and then as of February we had 5,097 kids. So that's a a good difference. Um so I started you'll go to the next slide. I started looking at,
054you know, what where are these kids going? So, I started digging into open en started with open enrollment data. You know, are kids open enrolling to other public schools? Is that where they're going? And if you look um looking at some similar data and the 2122 school year, you know, we had about 85 kids that open enrolled out to other districts around us. Um and to, you know, right now we have 89. So, that's not a significant difference. that wasn't like that huge eye openener of where kids are going. Um I thought it was interesting to see of of those 89 kids where they're going and 46 of them are going to go that's the um district that we seem to be most kids open and roll out to. So not a significant you know
055really no difference there for kids. So that's not really the bulk of where they're going. [clears throat] Next slide. Community schools data. This is um another area if parents choose they can enroll their kids in community schools. So in 2122 we had 104 kids that attended community schools and now we have 174. So um if you look uh there was you know kind of a steady incline but then last year to this year there was a 46 student increase or close to that 47 student increase. Um anyway, so if you look at those kids, um I was trying to figure out like where exactly did the increase come from and it's mainly in our high school. So then I started looking up there's where all the kids go. What types of schools are they? [clears
056throat] So the major a lot of those schools are online schools or virtual programs. So looking at like um in our high school right now we have 83 students that are part of that 174 in the nine in the high school and 76 of those 83 kids attend an online or virtual school. So that increase that you see from last year to this year is pretty much all high school kids. A lot of juniors. I'm not sure exactly why. Um [clears throat and cough] it was three in the ninth grade, 13 in the 10th grade, and 18th in the 11th grade. So just trying to figure out where are they going. Most of those kids were high school and um all but [clears throat] maybe seven are in an online virtual school. Next slide. [clears
057throat] Know why? Sorry. Uh non-public enrollment data. So when you look at this, this is not specifically Milford kids yet. So this was looking at of the schools around us looking at like Miami Valley Christian, Milford um yeah Milford Christian Academy, St. Andrews, St. Bernardet, St. Columbian, St. Marks, St. Thomas, um St. Veronica and all these schools in 21-22 we had 1987 kids that attended those schools. Not just Milford, just any any district sent that many kids to non-publix. So if you look now there's 2791 attending those schools. So that is a pretty good, you know, increase of kids that are now going to non-public schools that didn't go. So, if you go to the next slide, it's hard to get the exact amount of kids that go to non-public because that isn't something that
058we can access in its entirety. What we can access is how many kids take the Ed Choice expansion scholarship. So, that's 853 that we know of that leave Milford and go to a non-public school. So, there's a big increase in all the non-public schools around us. We don't know that they're all our kids, but what we know is that at least 853 kids leave us and they go and they take the scholarship and they're going to non-public schools. So, uh I thought it was interesting to see how many what grades they're in. So, if you look, we have 86 kids that are in um kindergarten. So, that's the biggest one. Um and you can see on down first is 58, second 68, third 68, and so on. Um but that's kind of the breakdown of
059the kids that we know 853 are leaving Milford and going to non-public schools. Um that is a significant change since about 2122 where we had 66 students that took the scholarship. But then there was the Ed Choice expansion that expanded the rules around who could get the Ed Choice voucher which now we're at the 853. So we are losing a lot of kids to the non-public schools. And again, that may not be all of them. That's just the ones taking the scholarship. So just some summary data for you. There were 70 more Milford students attending community schools from FY22 to FY26. And I just put February because I pulled February from that year and February of this year trying to be as close to comparison as I could. Of the 83 9th through 12th graders
060that grade Milford students that attend community schools, 76 of those students enrolled in an online or virtual school. Um there are students who attend those non-public schools in this area. Um and there are 84 more students attending those non-public schools um than fiscal year 22. And there are 853 Milford students who received the Ed Choice expansion scholarship. So I don't think open enrollment is where we're losing kids. community schools, we've seen an increase, but you know, 70 kids over five years isn't huge. Um, but non-public schools continues to grow. And if from what I've heard from some of our community is that there are schools that are some of the non-pubs are busting at the seams and they're expanding and you know that they have more and more kids coming to them and we at
061least know 853 of our Milford kids are going there. So, >> so that's kind of the information that I have at this point because I think we need to start our team and the district needs to start looking at how what are the reasons that parents are going to non-public and choosing that. There's some reasons religious reasons and that's absolutely their decision. But if there are reasons that they're going to non-public schools that you know are things that we need to know about or could improve upon, I would love to know that. So, I'm hoping to find a way to reach out to the families to see what information I can get. >> Um, I really appreciate looking at this data. Um, I have a question about the nonpublic schools slide. Mhm. >> Um, are
062those just the ones that were stati statistically significant or is it because it looks like most of those are >> uh elementary schools except maybe a couple of them. >> Yeah, those were the ones that um we had kids that were attending and I just chose a selection of them, but there are um a few others but they didn't have as many kids so they were the ones that had more of our kids. Um but there is a list if you want to see that as well. There was a few others on there. I think there were 23 schools when Yeah, there's 23 schools that our our kids attend, but that was the ones that had more of the more significance. >> Did um did we find that we're losing kids at a certain grade
063level or is it just kind of all across the board? >> Well, kindergarten is the one that we're losing. I mean, we have more kids the highest. It's not significantly higher, but it at least taking the voucher right now, we have more kindergarten students leaving us than any >> and I'm not 100% sure if that's if how many are take not taking the voucher that are also going. That's just the ones that are taking the SC >> and I think um you know because anybody who watches the meeting stuff know I talk a lot about this stuff with enrollment and stuff like that. So, one of the kind of through lines of I'm very thankful of Dr. Fury doing this work is the idea that um you know because some people might think traditionally like
064why are we really worried if some kids leave the district or not at the district you know as long as they're getting a good education that's that's what's important and that's very true but there is the fact that and I know we talk about this whenever we're talking about the long uh the big picture of the finances for the district is that we're currently on the guarantee um with the money that we received from the state. Um the last uh bianual budget, you know, there was some signaling around, you know, cutting uh some funding to districts that are losing enrollment, right? And obviously when you look at this stuff, you're like, well, how can people not lose enrollment? You know what I mean? There's so many options. There's vouchers, all this stuff. So it's probably
065very likely that most of the districts across the state are losing enrollment, right? And that's that's true. But so what we've tasked our administration with and uh we've been pretty laser focused on is just not just accepting that making sure that we're learning, you know, why people might choose other districts, making sure we're reaching out through our marketing plans and things like that to share with our community all the great things that we offer. Because one of the last pieces of it is is just because we lose a few kids, it doesn't mean we can always reduce things. Because then then people would say, "Well, you're losing kids. You can reduce some things. you're not going to spend as much money. Well, you know, if you have 27 kids in a class and you lose
066two or three, you can't reduce that teacher or you can't spend less on electric or whatever it might be. It has to be a pretty significant change. So if the state was to to decide to take districts off the guarantee and pay only on enrollment, we have to ensure that we're doing everything we can now to increase that enrollment um with the idea that that could be the future of our funding to ensure that we can continue to deliver at the same level for our district. So that is um why we pay a lot of attention to this now when traditionally you haven't had to pay as much attention to it. >> Well, it's also helpful to all of that. Um, but it's also helpful, I think, to look at this data and find the
067reasons why people are leaving our district because if it's something that we can change to better serve the needs of our community, that's something that will help us with future planning for all of our um whether it's education or just something else that the school provides. And I think that that's a very valuable thing to look at. >> Yeah, it holds us. It makes a good thought process every time we talk about it, right? what more can we offer? How can we connect the community more? So, I mean, just even the exercise of asking the questions can just hold us accountable, too. So, >> and there have been a few parents that I've talked to that have shared that um kindergarten is a is a big thing because of the uncertainty over getting all day
068kindergarten, which we had we have changed. If you want all day kindergarten, you get that. Um, and the deadlines. So, like if they want to make sure they get an all day spot for their kids, like they're starting that in the fall. >> So, then they're already looking into other options for kindergarten. Um, and most schools do traditionally do registration in March. So, it's not like we're behind, but I get what parents are saying like, I need to make sure my kid gets in all day kindergarten spot. So, now I'm looking at this school and this school and then, you know, you have tuition and then you have a voucher. So, I think kindergarten is a big area for us to explore and dig into deeper. Um, as well as, you know, the why behind
069some of the non-public choices. Um, not that, you know, there aren't valid reasons and we respect them all, but it would be nice to know what they are. >> Definitely. Um, I appreciate that. I know I gave you some names and you connected with community members and I wanted to invite anybody in the audience who has neighbors or friends or are a family themselves that sends their kids to any of these choices um to reach out to Dr. Fiori. She'd be happy to meet you, talk to you over the phone in person um to really understand those wise. >> Thank you. Uh next I need a motion to approve the 2627 calendar update. So moved. >> Second. >> Dr. Fiory, can you walk us through the changes? Yeah. Um there were uh around COVID time
070there was um a remote learning day option for schools and after COVID they got rid of that option. So something that we had on our calendar was remote learning days and we needed to change those. So, we've been working with our um the Milford Education Association and talking through some of these days um and to make sure we have a certain amount of days for students in the year. So, there's essentially three changes. November 3rd used to be called a remote learning day. It is now a professional development day. So, it's still no school for kids. So, just the title change. Um February 12th was a professional development day. Now, that's a school day. That's a normal school day for kids. And then May 4th, which was a remote learning day, is also now a
071um typical school day for kids. That is election day. So, you know, there was November 3rd as election day and May 4th. Um we kept November 3rd is a is a day without kids, but May 4th, it's a May election and it impacts four of our schools. Um and we're working on plans to make sure we have security just because there'll be other people in and out. We have SRO's in each building. um and the turnout is just not as big as it is in the fall. So that will be a normal school day for kids. Um and we will plan in the future um with some of our days a little bit better around that. So but those are the three changes and we also included staggered start on the calendar because we did
072that staff feel like it's very important but we want to make sure it's represented on the calendar for families so that they know kids will be coming one of those days. Um, I take PTO and work the election and I I work over at Pison usually and we've had other we had a weird August election one year and they've made it work with half the gym and people enter on the one side um and it is pretty low turnout. Um, as you know people don't realize there's elections on you know and off off times of the year. So >> yeah, >> I think it's good. >> That's the calendar changes. All right. Any other questions or discussion? Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will, >> yes. >> Mrs. Powers, >> yes. >> Mr. Wilson, >>
073yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mason, >> yes. Now, I need a motion to approve items G1 through three by consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh before we move into concluding items, I just wanted to give a quick curriculum update. Um we we didn't have any items on the agenda to approve for curriculum, but in our committee, we did talk about a few things. Uh one of the things we talked about was recent academic achievements. So, uh we had our quiz bowl team. They did great at state and coach Harry Smith was actually named coach of the year. >>
074Wow. Um, and we talked about our teaching professions program which it's an amazing program and it's one of the older teaching profession programs like in the state. Um, so it continues to prepare many students who later return to teach in our district which is just really amazing. Um, and also we're exploring career interest in aptitude student data. Uh we do this all the time to determine areas of need for career exploration and career pathways. And then uh we also reviewed the proposed bell schedule for the high school um focusing on increasing instructional time while ensuring that the flex activate period is structured in a way that supports learning effectively. So that was update from curriculum. Uh do we have any public participation? >> We do not. >> All right. Can I do a quick discussion?
075A little bit out of order discussion. Um, uh, I attended the, um, Southwest, uh, regional Ohio School Boards Association last week and Myra was going to join me, but she was sick. Uh, so I appreciate not sharing her germs with me. But um we uh I accepted this award to us that it is the um I'm proud to recognize Milford Exempted Village Schools as a 2026 gold level effective school board. So um what this means is there's a whole list A through Z. As a matter of fact, uh things that make effective school boards, it's things like regularly reviewing your policy, setting um having committee meetings, uh working for with goals with your superintendent and your treasurer. Um, and so we, Emily and I wrote this up uh, and submitted it. But I think it's
076just really good recognition of the work that we do as a board with our administration um, every year. So, >> and it's nice, too, because um, it just keeps us on track. If we see those 26 things, we want to make sure that we don't have any holes in that and that we're working effectively as a [clears throat] board. So, it's just a nice reminder. Thank you to both you guys for always keeping us on task with the awards that we can get. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Especially a certain Emily, >> uh, does anybody else have any discussion? >> I don't have a discussion. I just wanted to share that. Last Friday, um, as a member of the Milford Schools Foundation, the committee for scholarships interviewed 14 of Milford seniors for scholarships. And like the
077last three years, I walk out at the end feeling good about the future of the world. Our children are so prepared. They're so thoughtful. They um we give them some little bit of trick questions. Couple of them even called it a trick question. And they just come up with the most thoughtful, kind, really well-considered answers. And they're well-rounded. And um I just it's a pleasure to do it. And I want to encourage seniors to apply next year. The rest of the committee will get mad about that, but we want you to. [laughter] >> Definitely. That's a great thing. Um, well, I have a couple items forformational purposes before uh I ask for uh a motion to withdraw to executive session. Uh for the first one, we have a board retreat coming up um and that
078is going to be This is March 12th. Is that right? >> 28th. >> Okay. >> It's March 28th. Um, and that's just where we do some goal setting um, and work together as a board to make sure that we are working together effectively as a board and so that we're all on the same page. Um, and then our next regular board meeting is going to be April 16th and that's at 6 PM right here at 1099 state route 131. And then um I just wanted to let you know that we will be moving into executive session. Um we'll be coming back here to dismiss, but we will not be having any discussion or voting on anything. Um we'll just be dismissing from here. Uh so with that um I would like a motion to withdraw
079to executive session for preparing for conducting or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason. >> Yes.