001It is June 19th at 6:00 and I'm going to call this meeting to order. We will start the meeting with the public hearing on the retire retire of the following employees. Mark Trout, Kimberly Frell, Kathleen Langner. Are there any public comments to be heard? Okay. Can you please call the RO? Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers. Yes. Mr. Wilson. Yes. Mrs. Chestnut. Yes. Mrs. Mason. Yes. Please stand and join me in 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. I need an approval. I need an approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr.
002Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board meeting held on May 15, 2025. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now, I need an approval of the minutes of the special board meeting held on June 2nd, 2025. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any comments? Please call the role. Mrs. Will. Yes. Mrs. Powers. Yes. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. Now, we are moving on to junior high athletics recognition, and I would like to call Mark Trout to the podium. All right. Good evening everybody. Thank you uh for having us here. Madame President, Mr. Spicer, uh it
003is exciting whenever we get the opportunity to come and recognize our outstanding uh students and especially our student athletes at all levels, but in particular our spring athletes at the uh junior high. Uh we just wrapped up a tremendous spring with almost 130 uh track and field athletes resulting in league championships, uh broken school records, and state level participation. I'd like to uh thank Mrs. Get for being here to help me uh hand out certificates. This might be her last official public duty as principal of Milford Junior High. Congratulations to her for moving on to the central office. That's outstanding. Um also like to thank our coaches. I know a lot of them are out of town, but I'd still like to name them. Our track and field coaches this year, Chad Blackburn, Troy Wyan,
004Juan Lewis, Marie Owen, Paul Denu, Austin Graves, and Marley Burnham. Um, you know, obviously with summer, uh, I don't think any of them were able to make it tonight, but we we want to know that we want you to know how much effort and, uh, that they put into this, which is outstanding. Uh, now I'm proud to introduce our 2025 junior high state participants and school record setters. Uh, when I call their name, I'd like to go ahead and come on up and they can get their certificate for Mrs. Gets. And then when I'm done talking about them, they can uh, shake hands with the board of education and our uh, board personnel. First is Laya Costrove. Come on up, Laya. Laya is a jumper. Uh Laya, you can only enter three events in the
005ECC Championship meet and she placed in all three events. In the 100 meter hurdles, she was second in the ECC. In the long jump, she was first in the ECC. So she was a league champion and in the 200 meter hurdles she was also first in the ECC and she qualified for the 200 meter hurdles at the OSA state competition where she was 21st in the state of Ohio. So she did had an outstanding season. She's a fantastic athlete and congratulations Laya. You can go on up and shake your hands. Say hello to the board. Congratulations. Next, we'd like to call up four boys who were good individually but great collectively. They're all multiport athletes. A couple of them also competed in the ECC and won some ECC awards. But let's bring all four up
006and then I'll talk about them. First is Camden Barro, Liam Kegley, Luke Morgan, and Logan Weezner. Camden was third in the ECC in the 400 meter run, and he was first in the ECC in the long jump. So, we won the girls long jump and we won the boys long jump in the league. Liam was third in the ECC in the 200 meter uh race and third in the ECC in the long jump. So, we dominated that event if you couldn't tell. But really, the main reason why we want to uh congratulate them is together the four of them qualified and made it to state in the 4x4 meter 4x400 meter relay. For those that don't know, that means each of them has to run a lap. And they have to run it. They have
007to pass the baton and keep on going. They they did that in 3 minutes 41.7 seconds. They were first place in the state of Ohio. Wow. And that time set a new school record by over 9 seconds. Now, this is I can't understate what a big deal this is because we cannot find any records of any state championships at the junior high level. So, if if that's not correct, someone can email me. We'll be happy to, you know, modify our history. Um, but this is the first state championship at the junior high level. There only two at the high school. Um, Tammy Macllum and Doug Kassen's boys golf team, and those were back in the 80s. So, this is a big deal. We'll commemorate this with a plaque at the new junior high. And we've
008certainly set our new middle school. We've certainly set the bar the bar high for future. Uh but these guys were uh fantastic and you know at a three minute 41 second that means all of them ran a lap in under a minute. So um they were cooking that day I would say. Yeah they did great. It was great. So congrats to all of our junior high athletes and coaches. We'd like to go ahead and invite the boys to uh shake hands with the board. Congrats. Good job. Great job. So, congratulations again. What an outstanding accomplishment. Congrats to all of our junior high athletes and coaches, and we're proud to continue to send outstanding young men and women onto the high school level. Thanks for having us. [Applause] Mr. Acriman, do we have anyone for public
009commentary? We do not. All right, then we're going to move on to mission moments. And for tonight's mission moment, I want to take a moment to celebrate Misty Gets, our incredible former junior high principal who was recently named OASSA zone 2 middle school principal of the year. This honor is more than just a title. It's a reflection of the strong leadership, heart, and dedication Misty brings to our students, staff, and community every single day. She embodies all of our Portrait of a Staff member qualities. Anyone who has worked with Misty knows how deeply she cares about building a school where kids feel safe, supported, and inspired to grow. She sets high expectations, and she does it with warmth, humor, and a whole lot of heart. This award places her among the finalists for the Ohio
010Middle School principal of the year and we are incredibly proud to have her represent Milford at the state level. Congratulations, Misty, and thank you for making Milford a better place for our kids. Now, we're moving on to our kindergarten discussion. And I think Michael, you want to take the lead on this? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, we've talked about kindergarten over the last couple of months here. And so, we wanted to make sure that we kind of, you know, put a book end on that as we're getting close to um, you know, the deadline for that coming up in in August. Um, so after thoughtful discussion and as part of our continued commitment to listening and responding to our community, you know, the board's decided to delay any transition to tuitionfree all day kindergarten until at
011least next year. Um, but this timeline will give us an opportunity to monitor how the state budget develops. So, we won't know until the end of this month um what will come from the state house by way of um the bannual budget which it doesn't all look great which we'll talk a little bit more about that late uh later. So, given that uh current situation there and our financial situation, we're not in a position to give tuition free all day kindergarten at this time. But while no final decisions been made for the future years, we'll continue to prioritize this uh discussion. Uh we recognize that tuitionfree all day kindergarten is critical lever for improving early literacy, supporting working families, and strengthening long-term enrollment in Milford schools. Um so we're not able to move forward with
012tuition free model uh depending on the things that we just talked about, the financial outlook and and the um state budget. So in the meantime, you know, we also heard from all the families that the $5,000 tuition can be difficult to manage. And to support those families, what we're going to do is ask our administration to develop a kindergarten payment flex program. Uh that's the name I came up with it. We can change the name once we develop it. So this will allow eligible families to apply for a modified payment plan that better fits their monthly budget. So, this program does not eliminate tuition, but it will provide a pathway to extend payments over a longer period of time with no penalties or notices as long as, you know, as long as you stick to
013the agreed upon plan. Um, this will give families peace of mind that they won't fall behind and if they need more time. We still strongly encourage families who can make the standard full payment um or the evenly spread 10-month installment payments payments to do so. Um and then for those who apply for the flex program, um there will be a minimum monthly payment threshold. Um we, you know, we will not approve any payment plans that are too small or overly extended as we want to avoid creating long-term financial strain for families or added administrative burden for our district. Um so I think that this is uh you know a step in the right direction on this aspect while we while we um continue to think about tuition free kindergarten. Uh the last part I'll say
014before we get you know agreement or questions from the board is that you know we do know that there's some appetite from the state uh to cover um kindergarten all day kindergarten for our families. So, another theme that we've kind of been doing month over month, and I'm sure we'll talk a little bit later about things you can do to advocate to the House of Representatives and the Senate is, you know, while you're writing about things on the banual budget and these other bills that are in front of them, you know, make sure you're also talking to them about how important it is for them to help fund all day kindergarten for our schools so that, you know, we're not in this situation. So, so with this, I'm just asking for agreement from the board
015for us to allow the administration over the next few weeks to develop, you know, a very simple uh form for a payment plan um that we will be able to announce in the month of July before payments are due in August. And we hope that this encourages families who are, you know, maybe on the fence or concerned about the amount of money to to go ahead and enroll and then um, you know, wait to hear from us and then submit the form so we can help them with lower payments. Um, you probably haven't thought this far ahead, Doug, but what will this look like to families? Just I'm I'm just thinking back to uh I had the fall when I had two seventh graders and I needed to all in on the laptops that we
016don't do at the Chromebooks, right? We which we've switched now, but like I had a huge bill that fall like August um with high school sports and all that stuff. And um Dr. Dunn was like, "Well, you know, you could extend the payment for the laptop, like pay half now and half late, whatever." So, I just self-decided to do that and partial paid, but then it was looking on my statement just like I was always, you know, I had $400 of unpaid, right? Because I had I had kind of left that on there. So, is there a way to reflect it that families know like this month I I'm going to pay $300 every month. Um, even though I know that's going to take me more than the 10 months of school to get through.
017I I think we can do anything you want. Yeah. I think we just need to have a discussion. obviously start in committee and then bring it here uh to the open meeting and just say this is what we propose, this is what we suggest and then ask for feedback. Okay. So, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Make sure it's like a two line items or something like that. Right. Or like it doesn't show up in the individual. Yeah. Right. Individual line items about what the month and you don't want anyone to get to the end of the year and then have a panic attack. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. And also, so part of this is, you know, over the next couple of weeks, we'll make sure we prioritize time to to think about
018this, but as I've also mentioned before, is making sure we look holistically at our process for collecting fees. Um, you know, last two years at the end of the school year, each year we have a good amount of people who the community fortunately rallies around to pay for to make sure that they can walk. And I don't think that problem can be solved all together. I'm not suggesting that, but I think this by working through this program, it might give us an opportunity to kind of look at what we're doing. We have some new principles. We got some other things that have changed here recently. And I think they've been getting better at it year-over-year, too. But maybe there's a, you know, we want to make sure that we continue to focus on that. So,
019so we're not asking the community to to, you know, kind of help at the end of the year even though we're so gracious that they do. Well, thank you for spearheading this. Um, I know it's really important to our families and while we would like to offer free tuition to everyone, I think this is just a step in the right direction while we wait to figure out what's going on with funding and what's going on with our finances as well. So, I I commend you for pushing us to do this sooner rather than later. Yeah. Thanks. Do we need a vote on this, Doug? No. No. Um, just to build on the comment of of just school fees in general, I do think it was probably two years ago that Mr. Aspie brought to us
020like, hey, we have all these student fees. It falls on the um high school principal to chase all these down in the spring. How do we make this better? And so I think he just brought it to the forefront and had like 30% collection, right, just by making awareness. And so two years later, I think we've seen improvement. And I think communications to families have helped. I know that I I get better notifications when there's a fee added on. You know, if I pay the fees in August and 10 more dollars gets added in September, like I'm not looking. I don't know. But um so there's better communication to families. So I think just as long as we keep keep going in that right direction um I think it was a great acknowledgement to start
021and um good progress. Our EMIS coordinator Mrs. Hair actually keeps a spreadsheet of all the fees. So obviously we want to include her in this discussion and then work towards the principles the other administrators and say okay what works what doesn't work. um see which which schools are having a more difficult time and why and then maybe we can come up with an idea on how to help everyone. Yeah, I think our um fee collection really was born out of uh the high school administration who is here tonight um and and their ability to be collections, you know, folks at the end of the year. So, they came to us, we went to John, we talked about this and then we came up with some ideas. Uh, and I think it was more of here
022are the ideas. We need to make sure we have support. Um, and I think it's going to be really important for us to work with all of our building principles with whatever plan we kind of come up with because they're the ones that have really led this charge to make sure that we're collecting fees. Uh, and it's been the lowest it's ever been. Yeah. And it's understandable why that was a hardship because literally they were collecting from fifth grade seven years before, you know, so it's really hard to get that kind of money. It is. So, yeah, we're very uh grateful for them bringing that to us and then, you know, and all the work they've done since then. Okay, good. Well, over the next couple weeks, we'll we'll figure that out and announce that
023as quickly as possible so people can understand what it is. Um, but hopefully that that will help. Great. Um, now we're moving on to the treasures reports. Can I get a motion to approve the board reports? So moved. Second. All right, Doug, do you want to walk us through this? Sure. Madame President, members of the board, I am thrilled to give you a snapshot as of May 30th, May 31st actually, I'm sorry, of 2025 or fiscal year 25. So, if I can get Steve to scroll down, you'll see that we are balanced our fund balanced inside the state software and our operating account with Fifth Third and then of course our payroll. And then if you go up, you'll see our investment report. And you'll see how we did for the month. And then year-to
024date, we have earned interest of over $5 million, which of course that is spread out over various things from the bonds to the general fund. And then if you scroll down, this is my favorite report here. Now, this is a snapshot of the five-year forecast. So, this of course you have your descriptions, the five-year forecast that we filed in November, and then where we stand as of May 31st. And if you scroll down, Steve, you can see that right here, we were projecting a negative $3.5 million fund balance, but right now we're looking at a $4 million positive fund balance. So, we are doing things right. We are correct in moving forward. We are being fiscally responsible. We're not stopping though. We're going to continue to make cuts. We're going to continue to be fiscally
025responsible. We're going to continue to show people that we're not going to deficit spend. Now, now that I say that, we do have some big expenditures this month. So, I'd love to end the year this way, but I have to be honest, we probably won't. But, it'll still look good. And then if you scroll down, you'll see our graphs and you can see in revenue that we have gone up. Uh let's see because I need my cheat sheet. We've got local revenue has gone up, state revenue has gone up, and then all other revenue has gone down, but not much. And then if you slide down to the next graph, you'll see expenditures and you'll see that salary and benefits have gone up, but then you'll see that uh professional services have gone down or
026purchase services and then all other expenditures have gone down. So that looks really good. And then the next slide shows just in a different format. So we are excellent. We're looking great. I'm very happy with the way that we look right now. So, any questions on that? Nope. It's good. Can I get a roll call? Sure. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh, now moving on to the approval to amend appropriations. Amending appropriations. So, real quick, real quick. You still got a little bit more to go for you. All right. All right. I want to make sure we didn't miss the moody piece. Oh, no. We'll talk about that. Okay. All right. Never mind. Go ahead. Okay. So, Steve, can you hit that link? Okay. So,
027what this is we in which I'll do next month, come to the board and ask for temporary appropriations to be uh in be stated so that we can move forward in spending money. Then by September we have our budgetary appropriations which again remember that we cannot spend more than the revenue that we take in at the end of the year. What I'm asking you now is to amend those appropriations so that our expenditures are right sized with our total revenue. So you will see that down here we are not overspending or I should say in this column right here. So, this gets sent to the county auditor to be approved, then gets sent to the state auditor. So, any questions on that? Okay. Can I get a motion to approve? So, moved. Second. Please call
028the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now moving on to approve transfers from the general fund. Transfers from the general fund. Okay. So from the general fund we are asking or I'm asking the board to transfer money into mainly state and federal grants. Now these state and federal grants cannot go negative as of June 30th. So I'm asking you to move money over. Uh we get reimbured for these funds. So what I'll do so that we get the money back is I actually do this a little different. I got approval from the auditor of state. We do a uh intra fund transfer in the middle of the year. So I'll move so when let's take 572 which is title one. Most people are familiar with
029that. We receive the money, we post it into fiscal year 25 account code and then next year I will move it or ask you to move it into fiscal year 26. So it gives a little buffer so we don't have to come back every year and ask for transfers. Um right up here we are self-insured as far as workers comp. So every few years we have to put money into that. So unfortunately you have a few years where things don't look as good and people get hurt. I feel bad about that. Um but we have to cover oursel and then unfortunately athletics was slightly down this year so we have to put a little money in there to help them. So any questions on that? Is this already reflected in the numbers you just showed
030us or would this be reflected in next month when we looked at the um ending balance these? Yes. Next month. Okay. Yes. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now we're looking at vendors for approval. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Looks like the list is getting smaller. It will get bigger as the year starts. No. I mean, if you don't have anything to point out, I don't have any questions about that. They all look pretty straightforward. All right. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes, Mr. Wilson. Yes, Mrs. Chestnut. Yes, Mrs. Mason. Yes. Now I have contracts for approval. Can I get
031a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I have donations to approve. Can I get a motion to approve those? So moved. Second. Any discussion? I I would just like to thank all these uh community partners. Uh I appreciate that we have such a variety of of community partners um supporting the schools. Yeah. Yes. Always thankful for that. Yeah. I see the lunch that lunch debt on there. That's always churches are always taking care care of that. So so nice. And then is this Matt Milford Basketball Association? Is that their the Yes. for the gyms throughout the year. Yeah. Which technically it's rental, but it's a donation. Yeah. No, I understand. Still still good.
032I like it's great. It's good partnership. I don't have anything else. All right. Please call the role. Let's see. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now we're moving on to the superintendent's business. Before we do, if I may have one moment. So a week ago, Mr. Spicer, Mr. Johnson, myself, our bond council, our municipal advisor, um, we all had to meet with Moody's and we have to do this every few years because right now we are asking Moody's to give us a credit rating. So it's very similar to how you have one personally. So we went before and gave them a a a presentation and I am happy to say that the highest you can have is AAA then it goes double A1 and double A2.
033We are double A2. So we have not gone down and there's only 30 districts above us in the state of Ohio that have a better rating. So, thank you to the taxpayers. Thank you to the board of education. It was a great opportunity. Uh, but we are refunding some bonds and it will save the uh taxpayers approximately $1.7 million. Always like to hear that. Good news. And that's 30 out of 600 plus school districts, right? Is it 600? 612. Yeah. 610 612. Seems to change a lot right there in that 10 to 12. So when I when I was as I was thinking about this, I said, you know, I was thinking this is also important because it's a rating that comes from an independent outside agency. It's not from the district. You know, Moody
034has no stake in our decisions. They review our financials. They ask tough questions, you know. So when they affirm a high rating, it's a neutral validation of us and and helps with lower interest rates, more savings for the community. So it's just another indication of, you know, things that we're doing. And that's that's really what they they had to say. Now granted, they're always going to give you negatives. I'm not going to lie or hide that, but Well, you could have not brought it up. That's true. Just kidding. Just kidding. Um but they were very happy that we've improved our 5-year forecast, that we're trying to be fiscally responsible, and the fact that um we are moving forward as a community, both Miami Township and the city of Milford. So economic development is huge and
035uh they realize that they realize that property values have gone up and they realize that obviously the income of the taxpayers has gone up and that they can support um what is happening in this district. So awesome. Nice job. It's nice to hear. Thank you. Now giving it over to superintendent. That sounds good. President Mason, members of the board, uh we do have some middle school updates. We have some wonderful pictures for you. Here's our courtyard. It's coming together very nicely. Uh it just looks fantastic. Uh this is our auxiliary gym. Uh pouring the floor. So the auxiliary gym has a we'll call it a plastic floor, if you will. So it's rubberized, etc. Um so that's coming together very nicely. Here's some of our signage outside of the gym. Um the uh the logo
036looks great. I mean, our our branding is really nice. Uh, and then this one is popped up, I think, yesterday. It was only O the other day when I drove by. So, here we have uh our Milford um branding and it looks it looks wonderful. So, you'll be able to see that from Wolfpen. It's it's amazing. Gym floor is in. Uh the hardwood is in. Uh it has had time to climatize. Um looks really nice. I think the next picture is No, I'll come back to the gym floor. Um, yeah, just media center area in the middle school in the second floor. Of course, our trailer is coming down and gone, which is great news. Back here to the gym. They're prepping um this floor area for um bleachers. So, we had to prep some
037of that area prior to so that the because of the timing of the bleachers coming in. So they they're they're prepping this area, staining and getting that ready for the bleachers. And I think they come in Monday. Oh, good old restrooms. I'm not sure why Jeff chose that picture, but he did. Well, it was a good number. It's always good. Uh just some some concrete outside. This this picture here, of course, would be uh before the Milford uh signage going up top. So, um they're working on um the concrete pores. Here's the uh the the stairs going upstairs. Obviously, uh it's really just a picture of the red flooring um covering on that stairwell. Uh this is middle school equipment that we've transferred or excuse me, junior high equipment that we've transferred to the middle
038school that we're storing right now. Uh and the reason we're storing it in some of the classrooms is we do not have elevator access yet. And so we're waiting for that. uh to happen uh hopefully in the next week or so. I think that's it. And uh got an MRI over there. I don't think so. Um great news uh this week at our construction meeting on Monday. Um Paul Molinsky from OFCC commented that, you know, everything that he sees um there's there should be no reason why we're not fully there with our um temporary occupancy on August one. Awesome. So again, Jeff's Jeff's folks are moving things uh in already. Um things are being delivered and so we're on target. We're we're still on target for August one and we see no reasons why we
039won't get there. When's the middle school start coming down? Monday. Um so we have we have some dark junior high junior high school. Sorry. We do have some dark fiber um that needs to be run still into the middle school. Uh currently the fiber that's in the junior high runs the internet for every building except the high school. So starting Monday they will begin to begin the abatement process. Um and then so with I would say within a week or so we're still working with HCC and Alta Fiber on the rest of the fiber so that um Doug's department doesn't have to work from anywhere. We can't all squeeze into Panera. That's right. That's right. So, I I think we'll see um you'll start to see some of that coming down in the next in
040the next week or so, for sure. All right. Um legislative update. Um, my good friend Parker um has helped me capture um House uh the bill Senate Bill 330, excuse me, House Bill 335. Um rather than go into a lot of detail, um you know, we're going to we'll play the video. The most important thing that we can do um as a county, as a community, is to advocate for ourselves, amplify um you know, the need. You'll you'll see in here that the district stands to lose 6 million, the city of Milford stands to lose upwards of $700,000, and uh Claremont County uh stands to lose $22 million. Um so this this is not a good bill. So we'll we'll go ahead and we'll play this for you. Education funding is at critical crossroads in
041Ohio, and here at Milford Schools, we need your voice more than ever. We've asked for your help before and now we need it again. Your voice is critical in standing against House Bill 335. Introduced on June 4th, 2025, the bill represents one of the most sweeping overhauls to Ohio's property tax system in decades. If passed, this legislation would eliminate inside millillage, ban new emergency and substitute levies, and give county budget commissions the authority to override voterapproved levies. These funds go directly towards core services, including education, safety, and city operations. It's estimated that school districts across the state would lose nearly $1.5 billion dollar in funding. For Milford schools and other districts across the state, that could mean teacher and program cuts. If House Bill 335 passes, Milford schools would lose 6 million every year. The
042city of Milford would lose 700,000 annually, and Claremont County stands to lose 22 million annually. This bill seeks immediate tax relief, but ignores long-term consequences, which could result in more levies, more taxes, and bigger burdens on families and businesses. Unfortunately, bills like these are proposed without consulting or listening to the districts and cities, which is why we need your help. Visit milfordschools.org/page/advocate. org/page/advocate to contact your legislators to protect the guarantee, ensure funding keeps pace with inflation, and remove the cash balance provision. Thank you for helping us keep education strong, supported, and local. Once again, thank you to Parker for that uh video. Uh I did reach out to um Senator Terry Johnson, Representative Schmidt, and Representative Bird. I did hear back from Representative Schmidt and Bird um regarding this. Um I believe that they are
043against this this bill. So um again, I would just ask that um we amplify our voice and we continue to advocate um for um for ourselves and it's my understanding that they're trying to if they're trying the people who do support this bill are trying to put it into the byanual bianual budget bill. So while people go to advocate for this, understand that it's on the most likely on the same timeline as a bianual budget bill, which you know only has what about a week left of of back and forth between the House and the and the Senate for Ohio. So, um it's definitely one uh one of the various bad things for public schools that are baked into the bannual budget. All the while and you know I must point out while uh increase
044of funds to the voucher program to private schools who are not impacted by the video that we just went over. So, yes, please, please, you know, write. If you don't know what to write, write one of us. We'll help you. Um, John will help you. There's a lot of partners out there that will help you. But um it's very important that all community members right now take a look at what is in the banual budget bill and then especially this one and just pick which one you want to write to and just let them know that you know you support public schools and and there's a lot of this in there that needs to be pulled back. Um or you can call right now. They're not there. You can leave a message. You don't have
045to talk to anybody. So you could call and I think the message is as simple as support schools and local government. I mean, I think the fact that the impact is to everything we see, right? It's it would just be detrimental. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Especially with that bill right there. I mean, 22 million million out of the county. I can only imagine all the areas that that will impact. So, um Yeah. And it's not that I mean, I just must say it's not that people don't understand that property taxes need to be better, but it needs to be thought out longer than under this bill. It just seems to be there's multiple different um things being tried that don't that don't seem to be the best solution where the banual budget bill could be passed
046without these things and then more time could be taken to uh fix the property tax issue. Yep. Will that video will that video be up online Parker? Was that your radio voice on there? It was nice. [Laughter] No, I really appreciate you doing a video like that because I think it really uh boils it down to the salient points of what everybody needs to know and it's just these bills can be super confusing and I think at the end of it it's very clear that it's bad for our kids and it's bad for the community. So, it it helps to have those videos because I think it can help you bullet point what you're going to write in to um talk about the schools. Yeah. Yep. Great. Now, we're moving on to the first reading
047of policy. Um, and that would be policy J E CE, J E D, and J E D A. And then we have policy for approval. Um, I need a motion to wave the first reading and approve the following policy, which is IGBLA. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Um, I would say the reason we're waving the policy is because this came down from the state, right? Like this is what they're telling us we have to do. Um, I don't know. It's it's timely. We have to do it before the end of the month. Yep. Okay. Uh, yeah. Important for people to know like you can go on and these policies are long, but you can go on and click on these links that are on the agenda and read read the policies and they're discussed in
048policy committee before they ever come here. So, um, you know, we approve these pretty quickly at a board meeting because they're very long and lengthy, but we have a a committee that's dedicated just for policy. A lot of it's dictated by the state anyways, and it can always be read via these links. All right. Um, I already got the motion in the second, correct? Yes. Yes. Let's call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers. Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh, now I need a motion to approve rescending the policy Jedr. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All right. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh, now moving on to human resources business. And I have a personnel summary.
049June continues to be a busy month as we prepare for the 2526 school year. We're happy to share that Milford is fully staffed for all certified teaching positions and we continue to see a strong pool of candidates. We're excited to welcome the newest members of the Milford family. A special congratulations goes out to Mr. John Mason and Mr. Joseph Solless who have been hired as assistant principles at Milford High School. both bring valuable experience that complements our current administrative team and we're looking forward to the great things they'll do together. As we welcome new faces, we also want to thank those who are leaving Milford to pursue new opportunities in their personal and professional lives. We're grateful for their contributions and wish them all the best. June also marks the start of our recommendations for
050district supplementals, including building level roles, fall sports, and extracurricular positions. Our students benefit from an incredible variety of opportunities to grow and explore their interests, and we're proud of the people who make that possible. As always, current vacancies can be found on our website at milfordschools.org under employment. We're especially in need of substitutes for nutrition and custodial services which are hired directly through Milford. Substitute teachers and paraprofessionals are hired through sub solutions and that information is also available on our website. Lastly, we're continuing the work of updating job descriptions across the district to ensure that they align with our overall vision and goals. So, we have a consent agenda that I need an approval for. So that would be items G1 through five. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes.
051Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Mrs. Berkeley. You're on. I don't think so. There it is. There it is. There we go. As shared last month, it is always exciting to welcome new staff to our Milford family and hear their excitement and passion in their journey be in their journey to become school employees, educators, and school leaders. So, first I'd like to say congratulations and welcome to all new hires that were on our agenda tonight. I'd like to further introduce Mr. John Mason and Joseph Solless tonight who will be joining Milford High School as assistant principles. Kevin Mezer, who we uh met last last board meeting, shared that Mr. Mason returns to Milford, formerly being a science teacher and has recently been the assistant athletic director at Lakota East
052High School. He brings energy and enthusiasm along with some administrative experience to our team. It is evident that Mr. Mason has a passion for education and cannot wait to return to be an Eagle. Mr. Solos has been an English teacher and department lead at Princeton High School. He has had a wide range of teaching experience of which includes SCOP and middle school teaching. This educational experience will bring unique opportunities for us in the areas of curriculum and instruction. Mr. Solless also shared his passion for education along with his excitement to bring his career to be a Milford Eagle. And I would also note that his wife is a proud alumni at Milford High School. So, welcome to both of you. And I think they both have a couple of words to say. Uh for I'm
053a little taller. Firstly, I want to thank the school board uh for granting me the opportunity to serve the Milford community. Um I know several people that have graduated from Milford. my wife namely and members of her family. And so I feel I can d indirectly attest to the pride of being a Milford Eagle and I feel uh very privileged to be afforded that opportunity now. So thank you for that. Um, in the last two weeks, I've had the opportunity to interact with several students and staff members, and the welcome has been so overwhelmingly warm and gracious. And I feel that's that reception is indicative not only of the Milford community as a whole, but to the collaborative nature that that community feels is required to achieve true progress for our students. And so I'm
054absolutely committed to contributing to the legacy of um the established legacy that Milford has established thus far and I look forward to developing ideas and ways to progress our students and enrich their lives. So thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Virtually I would like to thank everyone that was part of the interview process to give up their time and their days to come meet with us and then all the other countless interviewees. It was really impressive. It was it was kind of like a um homecoming for me. So in 2008, a young educator was assigned Milford High School to be a student teacher. That student teaching position then got a long-term sub position and then a full-time teaching position at Milford High School. And then I saw this posting for an assistant principal job at Milford
055High School and I was like, "Do you do it?" Absolutely. It was like a homing beacon to me. It was It's time to go back. It was time for this eagle to return to its nest. To say that I'm excited about being here is an understatement. I'm super excited about working with the staff on a daily basis with our teachers and every custodian and everybody else that is part of that high school. I'm excited about working with the community members. I'm excited mostly about working with our students. They're the lifeblood of our district. And making sure that we give them a place where they feel welcome, supported is the most important thing that we can do. So our job as educators isn't to educate. Our job as educators is to build relationships so kids know
056they always have a home wherever it is. And so that's why I came back to help build that home. Thank you. [Applause] Um wait, Mr. Mezer, um you might I might have asked him, uh do you know what classes they're going to be working with? Yes. So we divvied up rules the other day. Uh we actually brought um our two new hires in yesterday to meet with the team. Uh we've had some BLT representatives uh join us so they can get some facetime with teachers. Um currently uh we have Mr. Mason working with the 10th grade class and Mr. Solis working with the 11th grade class. Uh we've divied up some other roles like AP testing coordinator um and master schedule. AP testing will be uh led by Mr. Mason and then master schedule will
057be led by Mr. Solis. Um, those are two big tasks that need to happen and and for those of you that have worked in a high school before, building a master schedule is not an easy thing to do. Um, so you need very thoughtful people uh to be able to get that done. And fortunately, we have two very capable gentlemen up here that that would be able to fit the bill for master schedule, AP testing, or just being um, you know, a genuine human for our students. So, I appreciate welcome to you both. All right, Emily, would you like to give us a curriculum update? I would. Um, first of all, I'd like to say Misty, I don't know where she went. She did a good job at her first I was like, she was
058here. She was here earlier leading her first curriculum meeting. Uh, but uh this month we talked uh about reveal math training. Um we have a new uh system coming on for the fall that uh all the teachers and every teacher who is starting this program will need in the fall. So we've um reveal has worked with us to make sure that everybody who's going to be using it will will get the training over the summer. Um if they didn't already, there was already a chance um some curriculum pay for uh other staff who are helping update our programs. Um we had an update on the English learner progress. of the 75 students assessed, 73% of the returning students made growth. So, um that's well above the expectation that they were making. Um and we continued
059to we um were able to look at MClass Dibble's data this time, which is student performance, especially in the K2 arena. Um and the growth that they've had uh from the start of the year to the end of the year. Um, and that's that's really about the the big things. A couple trips this summer for our teams and you can find all the information online. Great. Awesome. Thank you. All right. I need a motion to approve curriculum pay. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Nope. All right. Please call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. Um, moving into concluding items. Uh, Mr. Acriman, do we have any public participation? We do not. All right. We will be moving into executive session for the purpose to discuss
060the employment of a public employee. Um before we do that, is there any discussion to conclude? No. But do you want to announce the next board meeting? Yes. The next board meeting is July 17th. I'm sorry. July That's what it says. 17. Well, one says 17 and one says 19th. Oh, no. I'm sorry. That's right. 17th should be. It's the 17th and it will be here at 1099 State Route 131. We will many days before my birthday. So bring gifts. Cake and ice cream. Oh, that'll be good. That too. Just macaroons. Macaroons. We will be coming in here to dismiss, but we will not be voting on anything or making any decisions. Um, so with that, is there any discussion that anybody wants to have before we adjourn to executive session? No, I don't think
061so. Sign those kids up for kindergarten. I'm a kindergarten advocate. Do we need a motion to to go into executive session? Yes. So moved. Second. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes.