001It's Thursday, October 16th at 6:00 p.m. and I'd like to call this regular board meeting to order. Can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? Yes. Please 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 which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So move. Second. Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. >> Now, I need a motion to approve the
002resolution to initiate procedures under Ohio law for the reemployment of retired employees. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Now I need a motion to approve the minutes from the regular board meeting on September 18th. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. And now I need a motion to approve the minutes from the special board meeting on October 2nd. >> Second. >> Please call the RO. >> Mrs. Will. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson. >> Yes.
003>> Mrs. Chestnut. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. And now I'd like to hand the podium over to Josh Kaufman. >> I think it's the fun part. I'm glad to hear you think the same. I would love to invite our featured artists this month from Meadow View Elementary as well as uh Mrs. Ward. Miss Leon, if you would come forward, that would be awesome. We've got some tremendous artwork uh from Meadow View and uh just really excited at how it's thriving at all of our elementary schools, but this month especially at Meadow View. So, we're going to go oldest to youn oldest to youngest tonight. >> You guys can be right here. This is great. Uh we are first going to recognize Willa Schultz who has also gonna go left to right here. She's
004got the object with value here. Willa, congratulations. All of the students are getting um Especially for the Meadow View students and parents. This is the custom pin that only our featured artists in the district get. One of our high school students designed this last year. So, uh, Callie Beal did the wonderful pop art boom box here. Congratulations. >> We have third grader Berkeley White. Berkeley did the line perspective drawing here. >> Beautiful fall drawing. Well done. >> Arya Gray did the landscape, the watercolor landscape there. Congratulations on Chloe Zu did the line with watercolor down there. Thank you, M. And kindergarter Crosley Frank did the beautiful pumpkin on the congratulations. >> Well done. >> Really some awesome things. Thank you, Mrs. Leon, Mrs. Ward for cultivating art in your building. Um, and you know, I
005never pass up the opportunity to celebrate the arts. The arts are absolutely thriving. Like, we are worn out. We're thriving so much here at Melford. Um, a couple things to share with you. Uh, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, our marching band was named a Bands of America, which is a national competition circuit, a Bands of America regional finalist at the Columbus competition. So, um, yeah. Pretty pretty cool. Uh, so they will move on. They will compete next week at the Bands of America regional. Super, I'm sorry, super regional. So, you go to a regional competition, which is, you know, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, kind of like that. They made finalists. They'll go to the super regional in Indianapolis. They'll compete with bands from all over the Midwest next week. We're really excited for that. Um,
006also, as I've mentioned before, we're celebrating a hundred years of Milford band. Um, and right now, um, in conjunction with our band boosters, we are, uh, trying to accomplish a century club. So, we're looking for 100 donors of $100, uh, to fund our band program. Our band boosters do so much for our district and, uh, they would love to hit a hundred names on that Sentry Club. So, if anyone is so uh interested in in donating to that, all the information is on the band boosters website. Choir will be at AASET uh in a couple weeks, I'll be thrilled to share uh their performance results with you at the next meeting. Uh but the most exciting thing in town right now are the six ex-wives of Henry VII, who will be uh taking the stage
007uh beginning tomorrow evening in the regional premiere of Six, the musical teen edition. Um it is it's absolutely exceptional. It's really really fantastic. If you've not gotten your tickets for it yet, um it is a regional premiere. It is an awesome production. Um 6X wives, an ensemble of dancers, some exquisite lighting design, all done by our students. Um it's going to be a really, really fantastic show. So, >> is it 6 or 7? >> It's 6. The show's at 7:30. >> That was a little joke. >> Oh, >> 6. I missed I was He teed it up for me. Um but would love to see everybody out at 6 this weekend supporting Milford for drama. I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Ward, who's going to share some exciting things going on at Meto
008View Elementary. >> All right. Good evening, members of the board. Thanks again for having us here and recognizing our awesome young artists this evening. I've told John this before, but I truly believe I have the best district in the job or in the I have the best job in the district. Sorry, it's been a long day. Um, it's really hard for me to narrow down all of the things that I love about Meadow View. Um, but it's very timely that I'm here tonight because we've just wrapped up our first quarter and we've had a a great first quarter. So, just a couple of highlights. Um, I know that you guys know that we are implementing a new math program at the elementary level, Reveal. I am so happy and proud of the work that our
009staff is putting in to teaching this program with Fidelity. I go into classrooms and I ste see that students are engaged and they're learning and change can be really hard. So, I'm really proud of the staff for teaching it with fidelity and for having really powerful conversations at the grade level and vertical um conversations in order to really support their students as they work through the first year of implementation. So, I'm really looking forward to see how the rest of the year goes for that. And then, um we just wrapped up our walk-athon campaign which our community and our students worked so hard. They raised nearly $30,000 which will be then given right back to our school community um in the form of an outdoor learning space. So we're collaborating with PTA. We're getting the
010students involved in taking their considerations and their opinions and also the staff so that we can hopefully break ground soon on an outdoor learning space. So just a couple things. Um, so thank you so much for your, you know, the board's support and for John's support, um, as we work through new curriculum and new adventures at Meadow View. And thanks for your time. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Now we have a um, curriculum and instruction presentation. uh keep the excitement going with learning. Um excitingly, we did exceed state expectations on our state report card. However, we u met state requirements for our college, career, workforce, and military readiness component. So, um I just wanted to present to anyone that um a little bit about this new component on the state report
011card. Um, if you go to the next slide, just so everyone knows, this is a new component. Um, it's the CCWMR. It's intended to measure how prepared a graduating class is for postsecary education, entering the workforce, or joining the armed services. This component evaluates students in the 4-year graduation cohort, and it lags a year. So, the 2025 state report card reflects the calculations of all students in the 2024 graduation cohort since it's lagged a year. Just like the graduation component, I also added a new graphic in here that you didn't see, but um I told you guys about how in March of 2025, this was the timeline for the implementation of this component. And in 2025 is when they presented the rating structure and technical details to everyone. So that was just like proof that
012uh you know for example Liz Emmens and Paul Daniels last year didn't get it until March. >> Okay. Next, there are 11 measurements. Um if a student meets the criteria and at least one measure, the student counts once in the numerator regardless of the number of measures the student has met. The denominator includes all of the students in the four year four-year cohort even if they did not graduate. And that's the chart. Next, you can see that once that um calculation is calculated, if we are greater or equal to 85%, it would be five stars. And like I um stated, we were at three stars. So, we were between 63 and 75%, but we did meet the state standards and postsecary readiness rates. This chart here is are all of the um components that a
013student can meet to to be in that um numerator. So um you can read through those. Those are on the ODW website if you'd like to read more about them. But those are all of the things that we are tracking students in the graduation cohort. Um here's some of our historical data. So, um, I put this down here. Although it wasn't on a star on the report card, we were at a 53.8% in fiscal year 23. And then in 24 is when we um got the score of three stars with the 70.7%. Those are the different calculations of the components that we met. And then we're already looking and predicting what we will get in the year prior. although it's already been calculated and there's nothing that we can do about it, we still are
014set to meet four stars um for our next report card. So if you go to the next one and then for the current year, as you can see, our goal of course will always be, you know, to do the best that we can for all of our students. And um these are some of the action steps that we are taking. Um our career counselor is meeting with students um like school counselor data. Uh the school counselor and career counselor will meet with students to determine which demonstration will work for the individual student, gather the appropriate documentation and evidence and they will report student experiences with fidelity to ensure the data is accurate. >> That is where we are. Any questions? when they set the scoring criteria, was it um was there anything in the scoring
015uh metrics or the matrix that we weren't already doing? Right. So, like when they when they gave for the guidance, was there things we had to add to the way that we were delivering this already? Um or was it just trying to make sure the data aligned with what they're requesting? >> We we've been doing everything. It's just a matter of tracking the numbers at this point and making sure that >> we've, you know, and doing more, you know, doing some of the other things more, you know, like the pre-apprenticeships, we we were offering things like that, but it's just making sure we exp we extend those opportunities to as many students as we can. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And then, um, you know, I did want to add that, you know, we're very typical
016for all of the the districts around us as far as the three stars go. So if you look at Forest Hills, Loveland, um they all have threes. Marrymont, three stars. So we're all like learning this together. >> Um and I wanted to point out that the gap in stars is not because our students are not achieving. It's what we can document because they've replied to our email or we've been tracker down. So the biggest barrier is trying to like engage students. Um, not that they aren't doing it because I I have full faith that our students are eating those marks. >> Yeah. It's making sure that we know they're doing it. >> It's like getting the email back from a teenager, you know, when they're not in our district anymore, you know, because because they're
017gone, >> you know, or making, you know, making sure that we know that they've enlisted in the military and that we have that documentation back. >> Yeah. >> I've also heard that um they may be changing the standards for this component next year as well. like they may be moving the goalpost on it. >> Yeah. So, I can't say that I guarantee that we'll get the four star on next year's report report card if they move the the metric, you know, the number. So, hopefully the metrics won't move. >> Yeah, >> historically that does happen like it does after >> you know like with early literacy component. So, they they move the numbers. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. Do we have any public commentary? >> We do. Uh Tony. >> Okay.
018Be before we start, um I would just like to say individuals will be permitted three minutes to present to the board of education. Complaints against a school employee are not permitted in public session until the defined lines of communication have been met. Each person addressing the board will give her na his or her name and relationship to the school and the public participation may be extended by a vote of the majority of the board. >> Okay. My name is Anthony Brothers 1396 Lynen Creek Drive. what I'm talk want to talk to you about today. You're going to a um give two guys contracts tonight and you should know a little bit about them before you do. >> I just want to ask that since this is a personnel matter, you don't use names. >> I
019won't use any names. I promise. >> So, tonight you guys are going to hire a liar. He went to the police department and lied about me. Um, so if he's you're willing to hire a liar to work here, but I can't. He also said in the police report, "This team has no talent last year except one girl." and he had one-on-one after practice training with her. She got hurt. He didn't tell the other coaches because he was a volunteer. But that's okay for him to have extra practice. He can't be here all the time because he's got to travel. So all you're doing by hiring him is hurting the program, the girls. And you're going to let a guy volunteer for the same program that talks down to the kids, shames them if they talk
020to boys. has been in the stands last year as a parent and badmouththed the two coaches that were on the mat. Um, so you need to know that who you're hiring. They're also the same two people that were the only two interviewed in your guys uh outside report. So, it's sort of ironic that they're getting jobs now. That's all I have to say right now. Do we have any other public participation? >> Not at this moment. >> Okay. >> All right. We are moving on to mission moments. Um this evening I'd like to highlight a team whose impact is felt in every building every day. Our food services team who's led by the incredibly dedicated and amazing Tina Reynolds. Whether this team is introducing new offerings like Smartmouth Pizza, which brings restaurant quality personal pizzas
021to our students, growing hydroponic greens right here in our schools, or creating specialty themed homecoming week treats, this team is consistently going above and beyond. Their work is a great example of what it means to be both a student centered and innovative, which are two of the core traits in our portrait of a staff member. Just recently, they launched their own Instagram account to keep families and students updated on menus, food service, highlights, and behind the-scenes moments. And you can check it out at Milford HS Eagle Eats. This is just one small but powerful example of how they're building connection, trust, and visibility. At the center of all this is Tina, who not only manages the logistics, but fosters a culture where students feel cared for and supported. She is also a master at watching
022our budget and our food waste. Her use of USDA commodity dollars saves the district money and her implementation of the offer versus serve model gives students more choice while reducing waste. Tina is helping us fulfill our mission in very real, very tangible ways. The work of the nutrition services department isn't always flashy, but it is absolutely essential. Thank you, Tina, and to every member of the team for showing what it means to lead with care, major creativity, and heart. And I did hear today that they had Cubans in the high school cafeteria, which I think is a pretty amazing dish to offer to high school students. And I don't know a lot of uh food service programs that do that kind of cool offering. Tina, >> Tina, come up and uh >> I need you
023to sing the Avocados from Mexico song for us. >> Sing the Avocados from Mexico for us. >> Avocados from Mexico. >> There we go. >> Uh, you should come up here, too. It's not just me. >> I have a huge team that does amazing work. So, it's not just me. I just say yes, and then they all look at me and they're like, "What are we doing now?" and then they just go for it. So, it's really not just me. It's it's every little person I have that I love. So, and they love the kids. I just tell them we're here to feed the kids. Just feed the kids. So, >> I mean, it's clear that you inspire it's clearly you inspire them though to bring you good creative ideas and you guys are able
024to execute on those things. And I mean that's uh just something that's really cool about our food services program is just you know I've been sitting on the board now for close to two years. I mean and last year you guys you know bringing the kids together for that competition and all that sort of stuff was something we did I didn't even know was coming. Next thing I know I see it online and I've been telling John like how can we make sure that keeps happening and everything I see you guys do I'm just like how can we make sure that keeps happening? As soon as our audit is over with, you'll see more. I promise. >> Well, don't, you know, keep doing what you're doing. I'm not pushing I don't want to push you
025any harder. I'm just saying what you guys are doing is great. It's phenomenal. And um if there's anything we can do more to support you guys is let us know. >> You do. So, thank you. >> And behind every strong woman is another strong woman, Allora, who does so much, too. She worked at she was a head of the kitchen at Meadow View during CO and they didn't know what food they were getting any day from one day to the next. They had no idea. And Allure was incredible. Like she was, I think I can make gumbo today. And I'm like, these kids aren't going to eat gumbo. And I'm walking around and every bite of gumbo is gone. They were all loving the gumbo. So the team together, the two of you are just
026awesome for the district. Thank you. >> I just love the creativity because I I don't know of many kids who are like, I want to buy lunch. I'm going to buy lunch because there's so many cool things you can get. And that definitely happens in our district. Awesome. >> Well, it's all of them in the kitchen, so they do a great job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What? >> Talk about our chef. >> Yeah, we have a chef at the at the high school. Those of you that were at the Milford Foundation event got to try a little bit of that masterpiece action. So, I think he's making the kids at the high school very, very happy right now. They even had a pork sandwich from the pork loin that we had
027at >> Oh, it was it was wonderful. So, it was a limited time offering and Allora has more of those coming. So, the kids should get it really excited. We just want to feed them. You know, it's the heart of the home, right? So, it's the heart of the school. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. I think Michael has an update for us. >> Yeah. So, uh the treasure report. So, we're going in the treasure section. And I mean this this month in committee we really just kind of focused on the financial work that we've been doing. Um we but we did have an update from the performance audit today and um I think the findings the report should be released early November possibly November 1st. Um once that's released then we
028will um follow up with more information uh based off of the guidance and just the readout and more explanation at our following board meeting in November. Um, and then we have another state audit coming up as well, which is separate from our performance audit. And, um, Doug, I'll let you tell us when when does that start? >> It's actually already started. >> Okay. Already start. >> So, they're working on the financial statement and then the auditor state actually audits the financial statement >> and that's yearly. Correct. >> That happens every year. So, right now we're actually finishing up the performance audit. >> We're at the beginning stages of the financial audit. Foods and Nutrition is going through an audit and we're also going through a Medicaid audit. >> Okay, great. >> So, yeah, lots of
029lots of audits, lots of, you know, double-checking our work, which is good. And we always do really well at our audits. Um, >> do you have a um to the performance audit? Do you have a top? We can't share the full thing. Is there a topline like a oneliner we can share so people aren't cliffhanging? >> I don't think so. No. No, we're not allowed. Come back next month. cliffhang until it well they'll release it out on um the so the way the performance audit works is they'll release it on their own website um first and then then we'll follow up to discuss it at the next board meeting so people will have an opportunity to get >> so they're they're going through a review process right now with the data that we gave them
030for the last well six nine months and it's based off of fiscal year 25 24 23 so those three fiscal years. Uh there's not much in fiscal year 26 since we just started. We just completed the first quarter of fiscal year 26. So this data will be compiled, they review it, and then it gets sent out with recommendations. >> Right. >> So yeah. So other than that, um typical finance thing that Doug's about to go over with us in more detail. So I won't take that from him. and just other things that we've been monitoring in committee like transportation, athletics, paytoplay, homeschooling, things like that. But nothing really to uh read out on in more detail right now. >> Uh so with that, can I get a motion for approval for the financial reports, the
031treasury reports? >> Second. All right, Doug. Okay, Madame President, members of the board, thank you for giving me this opportunity to present to you a financial picture of the district through the first quarter of fiscal year 26. So, as exciting as it was early, I'm going to try to keep that going right now because I think we are looking great. So, what we have first, this is our bank reconciliation. And what we're doing here is making sure that our operating account matches the state software. Um, if you scroll down just a little bit there, Steve, you can see right in here we match, which is perfect. And then this is payroll, and that matches. So, we're good on both ends there. All right. Now, this is our investment report for the month of September. And
032you can see that right in here is what we've earned for the month of September. It's three a little over $300,000. And year to date is 1.2 2 million. So even though interest rates are starting to go down, we're still doing very well. And then on the next slide, now this is the exciting slide. This is the one I love. Now what this is is this is a snapshot of the five-year forecast, the current five-year forecast for fiscal year 26 and how we are comparing to that through the month of September. So we have our revenue, we have our expenditures, but it's if you slide up just a little bit there, Steve, uh, keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Down, I should say. I'm sorry. Okay. Line 6.010. So, we are
033projecting to deficit spend by 1.9 million in the 5-year forecast, but through the first quarter, we're at a positive 13.5 million. So we are doing a very good job of watching our expenditures, reducing them where we can and being uh fiscally responsible. Uh then if you go down to the next slide now this is our revenue. This is a graph of our revenue comparing fiscal year 24 25 and 26 September of each year. So you can see that our local revenue is up, our state revenue is up from last year and then our local revenue is up. And then the next slide, this is our expenditures. Now, salary and benefits are up slightly in comparison to last year. However, uh if you look at purchase services, yes, they're up from last year, but they're down
034from the previous fiscal year. And then you'll see the same thing for all other expenditures. And then on the final slide, now what this is, this is our administrative cost. Now, the new bianium budget is requiring us to keep administrative expenditures below 15%. When we finished fiscal year 25, we concluded with a 12.91 percentage. Right now, we're sitting at 16.59%. I'm not going to panic about that because if you look at the previous two years, you'll see that one was over 15% and one was a little over 16%. So we are watching these closely but again this is at the beginning of the year beginning of the fiscal year. So a lot of our costs are not in yet. So in other words we haven't cut a lot of checks. So that is going to
035be a little higher and uh as the year proceeds we should see that going back down like it did at the end of fiscal year 25. So any questions? >> Um so I know our purchase services went down and then up a little bit. I'm guessing they went up because costs went up and >> uh a little bit of that. You do see some insurance did property casualty liability to go up. Um but we've also uh if you remember at the end of last year you approved a lot of contracts for various things in curriculum. Well, we made sure that we made those payments now where they weren't made last year until a little later in the year when things were caught getting caught up. So, >> okay. Any more discussion? >> Looks good. >>
036Okay. Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Uh, now we have contracts for approval. I need a motion to approve the contracts. >> 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 we have several vendors for approval. I need a motion to approve them. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> No. >> Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. >> Now, I
037need a motion to approve the following donations. So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Just >> um is a grant from Claremont County Mental Health, Doug? Is that something we get every year? Do you know anything about that one? >> Yeah, usually they apply for those. They're called little mini grants from the county and uh we're fortunate that we probably receive four or five a year. >> So, >> okay, that's good. Good to see. Good partnership there. Yeah. And of course, thank you to our private donation to Sources of Strength and to the Southern Ohio Football Association. >> Absolutely. >> Please call the RO. >> Mrs. Will. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Now, we're moving on to
038a middle school update. >> I'm hoping we don't have too many more of these. Um, no, things are progressing. We're still obviously working on some punch list items. Um, just coming off a fall break, we had a lot of contractors on site with with staff and students not being there. Uh, we had to shut down the water on Monday to move a fire hydrant that was in the middle of the uh the parking lot we're putting in at the tennis court. Um, sidewalks have been installed. the last section of sidewalk um that goes into um the neighborhood at Marcy Lane will be poured tomorrow. Um so so that'll be done. Um we did run into some poor soils um over by that tennis court lot. Um that has been mitigated. If you've been by there,
039they're they're spreading gravel and the plan as long as weather holds out is that we'll actually pave that on Tuesday. Um now it'll probably be a day or two before we get it striped and kind of officially open up that parking lot, but uh hopefully by the end of the week uh next week that that parking lot will be open. Um we have had some inquir inquiries come into uh the board office about handicap spaces. Um so there's a parking lot behind the bleachers um that really was never planned to be a main entrance to the stadium. Um we did add a uh a handicap space there probably a month ago. Um we are planning to add two more because particularly now not that junior high football is done for the year but um you
040know people just coming in um on junior high events or or rentals and stuff like that. We really don't have personnel kind of directing people where they should go. So people are parking in there and not seeing handicap spots. There are eight handicap spots which is per code right out at the front of the Miranda Sports Complex. Um I met the Miami Township Police Chief Rob Hirs there this morning. We're going to add some signage is coming um that will make that a little clearer for people to see that. Um right now it's just painted on on the asphalt, but some signage is coming in the next couple of weeks. Um and and like I said, we are going to add two more um handicap spots in that lot that's behind the bleachers, kind of
041in between the middle school and the bleachers um to assist people coming into games. Um on Friday night football games, that lot is is really blocked off. It's kind of used for game workers, officials, um you know, people like that. Um, but we're monitoring that and seeing if we um, again, we've got the handicap spaces that are required by code, but we're going to continue to kind of monitor what that looks like and if we need to add some, we we can add some. Um, so I mean, that's really where we're at. Uh, really by the end of this month, we should be, you know, again, I'm not going to promise there's not some punch list items. We're still doing some owner training. We had one this afternoon on sound systems and um some of
042our uh electronic monitoring uh metering that we've got in there. So, uh owner trainings going on, but uh really we hope by the end of the month um going into the middle of November um later on tonight there's a change order on the board agenda for the softball field that will go in in the field basically where the the old junior high existed. Um, we'll talk about that later, but that that work will be come, you know, coming, but uh, we're getting real close to wrapping this thing up and and getting close to closeout. So, >> I appreciate you monitoring monitoring the handicap spots. I know I go to youth football and um, often at um, I'm usually at the fifth grade games, sometimes fourth and sixth, but um, a lot of time those handicap
043seats at the beginning at the lowest level of the stadium are full with grandparents and everything. So, I'm just wondering if maybe it is more than eight and they don't know about that little lot behind. So, >> and that is partial. I, you know, I had a a resident, a grandparent, you know, she emailed, I responded, and then she called and I talked to her today. Um, I'm not sure people always know that the handicap spots are out in front at the what's we would deem the main entrance to the stadium because some people are parking in the other parking lot. Um, I did look at the video. The game started at 6:30 last night. Um, there was at least one open handicap spot until around 7:15, 7:20. Um, and somebody did come in and
044fill the last spot. Now, I can't tell on the video if the people who are parking there had legit handicap parking stickers or anything like that. I I I I just can't see that on the video. Um, but, you know, 45 minutes after the the kickoff, there were there was at least one, if not multiple handicap spots that were available right there at the main entrance. So, again, we'll continue to keep an eye on that. um you know on a daily basis maybe 25% of that lot is is filled and and quite honestly a fair number of those are still contractors on site >> so I don't even know that we're filling 25% of that east lot dayto day during the school day obviously when we get you know events you know varsity football kind
045games probably being the most obviously youth football um junior high football um we get a large concentration and um you know I would just you know obviously encourage people to not park in a handicap spot if you don't have a handicap sticker um and don't create your own spots if you got to walk an extra 30 feet walk to an extra 30 feet we do have we're really blessed we've added oh >> it's probably been two years since I counted them up I want to say especially even before the tennis lot gets done I want to say we added around 200 parking spaces on campuses So, >> um obviously not all of them are 30 ft from the entrance to the stadium, but uh they are there. >> The um the the little tiny parking
046lot behind the stadium that isn't open for youth football. People can't enter at that gate like they do at the football, you know, the school activities. >> Well, I I I'm not sure what youth football does. I, you know, as far as what gates they open or or you know, if they allow people to park there and kind of walk around the Miranda Sports Complex, I'm not sure exactly what they're >> That's what I did. >> So, I think the parking lot's open. I don't think the gate is open. >> Yes, I think that's right. >> But, um, again, that's why the concentration of handicap spots is really at the main entrance to the stadium right there at the Miranda Sports Complex. Um, >> and again, we'll monitor it. If we think we need to
047add a few, you know, we can do that without a without a ton of trouble. >> I saw grass growing. Does that mean we get the I was like, "Oh, I see grass." >> Um, grass is growing. We were we were very fortunate that um the grass around. So, for the open house um for the ribbon cutting, start of school, Conger didn't charge us a dime on the west side of the building and the south side of the building. to the front of the building. They solded that um and and we spent, you know, had laborers out there watering it. Um the the north side of the building and the west side of the building, we were very fortunate that we got that seated before what, three weeks ago, we had like a week of
048rain. >> Um now, unfortunately, one of those days on Sunday was a torrential downpour and washed out some grass seed. So, we do have some some spots there, but we did get some good water. Um, I was actually looking at the uh practice field where the old junior high was. Um, and grass is starting to pop there. Um, which is a little bit of a surprise just because we really haven't had any rain and we don't have any way that there's that that field's not sprinkled. It's far enough away from the building that it's really not um feasible to get, you know, sprinklers and stuff out there. So, we're kind of at mother nature's um mercy. But uh grass is starting to pop on that field. Um and we do have uh some decent rain
049coming on Sunday. So pray that it's not a deluge. There's just a nice steady downpour all day long and we'll get some grass growing. >> Um for uh car pooling and busing um are SRO's and traffic people who are out there is that for the year like what we see now is what we're going to sustain. >> Um SRO's have been running the traffic light both arrival and dismissal. Um we would like to get away from that. Um I actually have um I just today got the meeting invite for a precon for with the county and the road widening project. Um so we're hoping to get back to having that light scheduled a little bit better so that it allows egress from campus particularly at the end of the day >> um more than the
050beginning of the day. But um I actually received a text message from our high school SRO and I actually talked to him this afternoon that when we milled and overlaid um the rest of Eagle's Way um out towards Wolfpen um Duke had to move a pole so we kind of got that widened and he he said like people are getting off campus in half the time they used to. He's like it's great. >> I have noticed it's quicker. So, um, between that and I think parents have kind of figured out, you know, I don't have to be here an hour before school that's out. If I show up 10 minutes afterwards, campus is kind of more empty. And I think people have kind of figured out when the best time is to come and they've
051spread themselves out on their own. Um, and that's not just the high school and middle school. I think that's happened at the elementary schools from talking to elementary principles that, um, you know, I know it's a challenge for parents, but everybody's kind of figuring it out. And I think things are, you know, have gotten better. The first week was >> chaos. >> I was going to say a challenge, but chaos probably isn't a bad word either, but I I think across the district things have um gotten a lot better. It's just people have figured out what's the easiest way. You know, some people are, you know, parking on workshire and picking their kids up. People are coming later, people are parking, you know, different places. They've just figured out best ways to to uh manage
052that. And and I think it has gotten better. >> Emily and I wave in the parking lot. We go past each other a couple days a week. >> I have to say too, I know we're not talking specifically about that, but um at the elementary schools, I think it's like Chick-fil-A there. It is like so organized and so consistently like the the way that they have everybody going through the parking lots and handing in your uh car uh ticket and everything. It's just it I know that that is a so much easier for the parents and also I know that that that is a lot of thought and dedication on the behalf of like our teachers and administration behind that. So I think parents are very grateful. >> Miss Mason, you get you make a
053great point and I just take the opportunity to shout out to our building principles, our SRO's and not just them but the entire staff. I mean, I've been out there and, you know, especially at some of the buildings that have been hit the hardest. Um, probably Malberry quite honestly being the most just because they got a little bit, you know, sight belt got hit pretty bad too, but they got a little bit of a smaller population. It's like all hands on deck. Um, especially at dismissal. Um, and they've tweaked it. uh and they've worked it and they're working hard and I think they've done a fantastic job in making the best of a of not a great situation but um so again building principles SRO's have been out there helping um and and and really
054all the teachers some of them are taking the kids that you know the handful that still get on a bus the kids that stick around for right at school afterwards the kids that are getting picked up by parents um they're safe they're They're efficient and I mean really I mean they're emptying parking lots in 20 minutes. Um which I think is really remarkable for as many, you know, parent pickups as and and parents are car pooling. That's helped. That's that's picked up over time. So um kudos to the parents and and the staff for for really again the first couple of weeks were kind of like, you know, but it's really kind of smoothed out a little bit. Still a lot um but but it definitely has smoothed out. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Uh,
055next up is human resources and I do have a personnel update. So, the district continues to review staffing benefits and supplemental positions to ensure we're supporting our employees effectively while maintaining longterm financial sustainability. So, I think it's worth mentioning that as with all our committees, we don't just sit there and rubber stamp decisions. We regularly have many long discussions in personnel to make sure that we're serving our students in the best way possible um in curricular and extracurricular and to make sure that we're right sizing our staff to say fiscally responsible. Uh the supplemental review committee met this month and they discussed adjustments to the supplemental salary schedule. So that includes requests related to unified sound and the fine arts department chair positions. So the goal here is to ensure that these roles are aligned
056appropriately and equitably across both the high school and middle school levels. Um we're also working to explore potential cost savings through the district's enrollment management service in partnership with swoosh. We've talked about this a little bit before. This includes reviewing all of our enrolled employees and identifying those who might be eligible to move to a spouse's insurance plan and learning from some of our neighboring school districts that are successful uh with us such as Kings who have implemented similar initiatives with success. The district plans to meet with Kings to understand their incentive structure and will develop a proposal aimed at long-term budget benefits while continuing to educate staff on available options throughout the spring. On the staffing side, um we have retirements and resignations which continue to be reviewed and addressed, including upcoming retirements within
057the certified staff and hiring remains challenging for high turnover positions such as aids, custodians, and food service workers due to the highly competitive market that those are in. Uh but the district is actively recruiting for all of these roles. A new building secretary position has also been added at the middle school to support our day-to-day operations. Um, on a happy note, we want to congratulate Katherine Aki on her upcoming retirement. Katherine is a valued history teacher at our high school and she's president of our MEA. She's been with us for 32 years and her commitment to students and teachers has made a real impact and her presence will be greatly missed. We also recently held interviews for the head baseball coach and the committee was especially impressed with the interview for our new baseball coach,
058Jim Dri, who will be joining us for the spring athletic season contingent on board approval. And then finally, winter supplementals are on the agenda to be approved this month, including coaching and activity positions. Volunteer approvals for winter sports will also be completed tonight. Um so with that um we do human resources with a consent agenda. So I am looking for a motion to approve items G1 through G4. >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? Okay. Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. >> Now moving to buildings and grounds. Um I need a motion to approve the proposal worksheet summary form for the driveway grading and softball field. >> So moved. >> Do I
059have a second? >> I believe Mrs. Will. >> Yep. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, they said at the same time. Okay, you got the Jeeoff, can you tell us about that? Um, so when the the initial documents came out, um, as as most of you know, we had a softball field that is now a roundabout. So, we lost, um, our JV softball field. Um, we've been without it for a couple of seasons. Um, obviously, we need to replace that. um within the civil drawings um there was a layout of a softball field that was on the drawings that quite honestly I assumed all along was there and probably six months ago I started asking questions about the softball field and they're like well there's that's just showing what could be there like wait a minute
060let's back up so it was kind of a miss in in the original a miscommunication um you know certainly from title N we've got two baseball fields, we need to have two softball fields. Um, and and that was in my mind and in in the district's mind was what we had always planned on doing was having that softball field there. So, again, just a little bit of a miscommunication going back two to three years ago. Um, so we captured that. Um, so it wasn't in the scope. Um, so we've got to add that in. Um, it's it's going to look just like the freshman baseball field. It's got a relatively simple back stop, you know, some team benches on the side. There's no bleachers. There's nothing like that um that are going in there. Um
061for people who might look and go, "All right, how many softballs are going to end up on Wolfpen Pleasant Hill Road?" We've thought about that. Um home plates probably 300 ft from um the sidewalk Wolfpenish. Um and these are not adults playing on this field. These are not varsity softball players playing on this field. These are are younger. Um we don't anticipate that that being that being an issue at all. Um there's also a little bit of work in there. The so eagle's way that we just finished milling and overlaying kind of matching the new with the old. There was a little bit of grading that we needed to kind of work on in there. So that's not a ton of of this change order, but a little of that is in this as well.
062So that's what this is for is to get that um JB softball field back on campus. Um you know, the rest of that field will be grass. It'll be available for practice for you know, we've got two turf fields. We don't have to use grass fields for practice a ton. Um you know, but some of the JV teams sometimes that's what's available because of um you know, overusage of of the turf fields and occasionally they may be out there in that grass field um doing practices. There won't be any goalposts or anything like that, but you know, just kind of a general practice field is what kind of the northern side of that field will be is just going to be grass, but kind of over on um up against Eagle's Way is where that
063softball field will be. >> Does anyone have any questions? >> No. >> Please call the RO. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. >> Discussion for CNI. >> Yes. Uh we are going to have Emily jump in for CNI because it was not on the agenda, but she does have an update for us. >> Um so just a quick update. So most of our items were within HR um for supplementals. Uh we do a lot of crossover there. But um at the curriculum instruction meeting this month, we talked about the report card which we saw um some of the um information that Misty shared earlier, we got an update on the district literacy committee from Kelly Ellison
064just to learn about what else is going on um at all levels. Um and then Emma Walker, who is not here tonight for technology, has been really busy in the district um especially with increased fishing risks and that sort of security. we need to stay on top of because they're getting more and more sophisticated as it comes out. Um, Emma worked really hard with Clever to update the password reset, uh, how it was set up. You needed to come to a desktop, you couldn't do remotely, and it was just causing a ton of headache. So, um, we're really glad that that got ironed out. Um, and that is my CN. >> Do we have any public participation? >> We do. First up, uh, Roger. Okay, I'm just going to read this again. Individuals will be
065permitted three minutes to present to the board of education. Complaints against the school employee are not permitted in public session until the defined lines of communication have been met. Each person addressing the board will give his or her name and connection to the school. The part the public participation may be extended by a vote of the majority of the board. Go ahead. >> Is this on? Okay. My name is Roger Smith. Uh I um have been a part of the wrestling program for a long time. Uh last three years I served on the board as vice president and eventually president till my son graduated last year. So I I'm here in support of uh Mr. Anthony Brothers. Um he I just want you guys to know he was my right-hand man for the past three
066years. anything I needed. Um whether it was fundraising, uh just anything regarding wrestling, he was there. I could call him at any time and he would drop whatever he was doing to be there. This man served on this for this program for over 20 years. Been an amazing impact on these kids. Um, I sat as a mediator a couple weeks ago with the person you're hiring and him after the police report came out and the guy lied right to our faces because we heard the audio from the police report. And it's a shame that this program's losing this guy. Um he's just been an amazing influence on kids and I hate that you guys aren't bringing him back. So that's it. >> Do we have any others? >> We do. Uh Tony, >> sure. Um
067Angie Hi. Um, my daughter has been part of the wrestling team. >> Thank you. >> Seven years. Um, and now the girls wrestling program is a shadow of what it has been. Um, before now the team and the girls were growing and thriving. Um many of the girls have worked hard, dedicated countless hours um both during season and offseason to prove that they are um good enough to come out from underneath the boys program to have their own program to have their own matches and to have their own Milford Invitational. This past year they earned that right. They had their first successful MIT invitational that was all for the girls. Now the people and the board are telling these girls that they don't matter. Um, their collective voices don't matter. That one voice of one
068man can out far outweigh any woman. Their wants, their opinions have been silenced. The girls' end of year reviews of Coach Brothers were hidden and not taken into account during any contract talks. The girls votes during the Aries Awards were hidden, destroyed, and taken out because they voted for Coach Brothers. My own emails sent with accolades for Coach Brothers. And discontent with previous coaching staff have been hidden. They were never given to any outside investigations. They were never given to Miami Township because I spoke highly of Coach Brothers and not highly of the people that previously coached. Um, my daughter has stood in this room earning um, praises from the board for winning an all female national championship with ROTC multiple times. Now she stands here knowing that you don't care, that she doesn't matter.
069Um, how is she and all of our girls supposed to move forward knowing that they don't matter and that the only way to rise above man is to lie. This year, her senior year, we don't know if she'll be able to wrestle. The previous head coach made a poor intentional decision to put my daughter on the mat with a girl five times her class. She was five times outside of her weight, above her weight. Live wrestling. There are weight classes in wrestling for a reason, to keep them all safe, boys and girls. The other girl took a shot, slam my daughter to the ground and she was told to get up and get back on the mat by the head coach. My daughter doesn't cry easily. She was crying. The only reason she was allowed
070off the mat is because she called me and I told her to get off the mat and if they had a problem with it, they can call me. The coach then proceeded to end practice. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The time is out. >> Oh, okay. That's fine. Thank you. >> Uh, next we have Kathleen. Kathleen Falner 1640 Squireswood Court. Please don't stop my time until I start talking, not my address. Um, I'm trying to get everything in. During the public commentary portion of the last board meeting, a parent came forward with concerns regarding the decision not to renew the contract for the prior baseball coach. During her three minutes, not only were board policies violated and lies spoken as fact, but we witnessed why students and families do not come forward with concerns. This
071parent recklessly and irresponsibly publicly named a student and presented absolute fabrications as facts of the formal complaint made by our family. Instead of seeking fact-based evidence and using critical thinking skills to navigate the process of the non-renewal, she chose instead in what I can only assume was a combination of poor judgment, personal opinion, and hearsay to make it so much more difficult for anyone to ever come forward with concerns. We are community and these are all our students. Our primary goal was to share valid evidence-based concerns. We also included some personal and very sensitive information related to our own student athlete and the struggles we face. And we should not have to come to a public board meeting and share those that information. And we won't. But student athletes deserve to feel safe. They deserve
072to feel respected. And they deserve to make it out of high school whole and alive. They deserve to make it to their graduation. The reference of our official complaint, it encompassed financial concerns, athletic, school policy violations, poor coaching performance, and environmental concerns. The outcome of this has serious implications for our students and community, including student safety, program integrity, transparency, and long-term consequences for our student athletes. We had several meetings with stakeholders within the district, presented our concerns, and urged the importance of seeking input from additional families. Nearly a dozen families of current and former players were either interviewed or had already submitted complaints prior to ours that we were unaware of. The issues we see in many of these athletic programs, I believe, are a direct reflection of the poor oversight of the athletic director.
073He does not appropriately navigate crucial and complex situations with our athletes. And we have seen it over and over again with cheerleading a few years ago with the wrestling program and the baseball team. And these are just the ones we know of. And these are just the ones we know of. How many families have not shared critical information to keep students safe for fear of the retaliation or lack of action? Stay safe. Speak up is what we say and what we preach. People are afraid. In the most recent police report regarding the wrestling in investigation, it is twice listed that the athletic director com contact contacted former employees about the investigation or information was being leaked from him to others. This just should simply should never happen. >> I apologize. >> That's okay. My husband's
074going to finish. Thank you, >> Dustin. Yes, Dustin. Can I give her my time or would you like me to read it as well? >> For our policy, you have to come. >> I would love to read it. >> We can tell. >> Do you want where I'm at here or do you want >> Don't start my time yet, guys. Please. Dustin Falner, 1640 Squires Woodcourt. >> Yeah. All right. Yeah. We'll knock this out real quick. All right. I'm gonna I'm gonna pick up for Kathleen and if we have time, I've got some other stuff, but I have no problem coming back to the next board meeting to share my piece. Our formal complaint wasn't a winch hunt as suggested by the public commentator. It was, however, seeking accountability during our meetings. During our meetings,
075we offered several suggestions to improve oversight and integrity of not just the baseball program, but the athletic department. Some of these items included adding a policy for a check-in if a student athlete quits mid-season, centralizing communication so that everything is in one place as much as possible, and having a clear course of action for comp for the complaint pro process. We're grateful for the district listening, asking questions, and understanding the significant impact of these changes we have on our students, athletes, and community. We we do believe more needs to be done with the leadership in the athletic department, and we will continue to advocate for these for those who do not feel comfortable coming forward in public. Unfortunately, what the community saw at the last meeting was a loud shot fired that brings forward concerns.
076Lies will be told, students and families publicly ridiculed by people who quite literally didn't care enough to seek out the information which is public record only enough to blast another while fi but while filling their own ego. Our family will not be intimidated into silence. We will not we will continue to speak up. We will continue to put student safety first and we will continue to work with the district to make our community a place where students experience safety, integrity, and truth, where eagles can soar. I'm going to give you real quick off-the cuff, right? I am 44 years old. I have been a Milford person through and through for 44 years. I I work in this community. I live in this community. I have coached in this community. Uh I mean I I my
077kids are in this community right what what we what we have done right we have followed the process through and through right we we've submitted to the proper channels right to then be blasted at a meeting with with lies disinformation you know non-fact when it's out there. So, that's just to say we're not scared. We're not worried. We're going to continue to do what we do. Um, and I and I say this in closing real quick. I do appreciate uh Mr. Wilson um I I believe at the last meeting um and Miss Mason, I think at the end of that public commentary did did have some words to kind of clear the air. So, I appreciate that. But, uh yeah, what happened at the at the last meeting was was totally uncalled for. I'll end
078my time now. I'll be back next time to read what I have and I'll see you guys then. Have a good one. Go Eagles. >> We have uh Wade and Jacob. >> They left. Tony, before we start, can I say one thing? I'm the wrestling coach and everything you said was false. So, we'll go there. Tony Brothers, Anthony Brothers, 1396 London Creek Drive. I asked this board for a sit down talk. This board had a chance to come out and say nothing happened between me and the girls. Miami Township did an investigation. I was cleared. The school did a half investigation and nothing came of it. This outside company did a half investigation and nothing came out of it. And you still will not say anything. But you guys made sure my name was put
079out there at the start of this with no evidence and ran my name through the mud. Yes, I resigned, but I resigned as assistant girls coach. But at the time I resigned, there was an email saying I was acting head coach. When you guys tell me not right now, and then hire a guy who would lie to the police and then turn around and send an email to the school covering up the lie. I have the audio if you want to hear it. But if you're falsely accused of something, you can't work here. You guys say you have the kids in mind. You don't. You are hurting them with your actions. This team is going to suffer because of you guys, but you don't care. I read your report. You talked to the two guys
080you just gave contracts to. That was it. You never had the outside source talk to the parents of the victims or me. So, what kind of investigation is that? It's funny that I had private practices, but so did the guy you just hired and it was okay. I had favoritism. He said in the police report there was the girls in the room had no talent except one and that's why he worked with them every day. But he can be hired today. You just approved it. In the statement, it said, "I wasn't going to change." Maybe they didn't tell you everything. I'm not going to change who I am because I care for these kids. I treat them like my own kids. I'll do anything for them. >> I apologize. Time is up. >> Can I
081[Music] finish? >> No, we have a threem minute time limit. >> I know, but you I thought you could approve it. >> Okay. Um, would anybody like to extend Mr. Brother's time at the podium? I need a motion. Having no motion. >> Okay. >> We're finished. >> Is that it for our public discussion? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Um I I would like to say it's something as part of our discussion. I'm not going to get into a lot of the discussion of what was talked about up here because there were a lot of personnel matters up here. I do want you to know that when we talk about personnel matters, we take them very, very seriously and we do not just take one person's opinion. We follow our policy. Um, we have policies for
082a reason and the board follows policy when we get a complaint. I heard several complaints today. I would urge you if you believe that those are important complaints about district personnel to please file a complaint in writing. We do this so that we treat everything in a fair way. The complaint first has to go to the person against whom it is directed. If we have if that is not resolved then it moves on to the next stage and then it moves on to the next stage. This policy is called KLDR and it is our public complaints about district personnel. Um this is how we handle complaints in our district and we follow policy. Uh besides that, I just wanted to know if anybody else has any other discussion before we close out the meeting. >>
083I have uh I have one item. So, uh the Miss Mason and I were able to go up to the Ohio um Southwest Ohio School Board con um regional meeting last week, I guess it was. Um and uh we were the only district there that had five um board members who all received the aptitude award. So I think it's a good commitment to Ohio school board and the trainings that they offer. Um we might be the only one in the whole state of Ohio that had all five board members, but I haven't confirmed that yet. Um, but I think that it shows a lot that as a district, um, the board members are committed because we drove all the way up to Wilmington on a Thursday night, Wednesday night, I don't know what it was,
084um, to to meet with other Ohio school board folks. >> We appreciate you guys going to do that for us. >> Yep. Yep. You wouldn't have that beautiful piece of paper. >> Anything else? Okay. I just wanted to give an update on the superintendent search. We did um listen to all of our community sessions as well as um we took all of the survey um responses that we got to create our profile for our superintendent, sent that out um along with and that's what um the prospective superintendent read when they're coming to look at whether they want to be a superintendent for our district. So, we will be getting in um people to screen and then after we screen those people, we will have them go through a series of screenings with our community, our
085teachers and staff and then finally the board >> And students as well. Yes, you're right. Um and that's the update on that. And then um >> and it's still open if people till tomorrow. Yes. If if there are prospective folks who want to apply till tomorrow. You're thinking about it on the last day. I don't know. >> No me. No thank you. No thank you. No thank you. >> And with that, our next uh board special meeting is going to be October 28th. Um and our next regular board meeting Whoops. Nope, that's today. And the time will be at 6 PM. And it will be right here at the administrative office at 1099 State Route 131. And then our next regular board meeting will be November 13th at 6 PM right here as well. Um
086if I have no further discussion, can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. >> Mrs. Will? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes.