001It is 6 pm on May 15th and I would like to call this regular board meeting in session. Can I get a roll call? Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Please stand and join me in saying the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. Now, can I get a motion to approve the resolution to initiate procedures under Ohio law for the re employment of retired employees? So moved.
002Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. Now, I need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board meeting held on April 17th of 2025. So moved. Second. Discussion. Can I get a roll call? Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I'm looking for a motion to approve the minutes of the special board meeting on May 8th of 2025. 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 would like to hand it over to Josh Kaufman. Thank you, President Mason, Board of Education. It's always a privilege to recognize our fantastic student artists.
003And this month, we're going to recognize our student artists from Meadow View. So, if our student artists would uh come on up, that would be fantastic. We have a small but mighty group uh this month. A lot of baseball and soccer and um different events that are kind of keeping uh other people. Uh come on up. Come on up. So, we have three of our student artists. Uh we're going to recognize all seven, but three are with us this evening. Uh we are going to start with uh sixth grader Cedar Chapman and we've uh changed the so I apologize it's behind you right now but they get lots of air time on local ICRC right uh so we're going to go left to right we've got Cedar's artwork there on the top left congrat congratulations
004we'd also like to recognize Harvey Schultz Alexandra Epert and Jace Estus who are not here tonight for their artwork and then I'd like to recognize Vincent Dande. Congratulations. Great job. [Applause] And first grader Miss Josie Wolfer. Congratulations. Well done. [Applause] Great job. And our final feature artist is kindergartener Robin Mock, who could not be with us this evening. Sweetheart, would like to thank Mrs. Leon, who's here this evening, as well as Ward for all of the fantastic uh artwork and uh just support of the arts in their buildings. Uh we're going to get a picture with our uh fabulous student artists here in just a moment, but I did want to highlight two uh things to kind of round out this month's recognition. Um tomorrow night at 7 o'clock, Saturday at 2 and Saturday at
0057:00, we will have our junior high musical 13 junior. Tickets are free, but you do need tickets. It is reserved seating, so just hop online. Uh Parker Brown got a great post out for us today with the link and the information for tickets. Make sure you grab a ticket for that. It's the kids have been working really hard and it's a really really great production. And then finally, more on this will come in September when the actual uh recognition occurs, but last week we were notified by the Country Music Association Foundation that uh one of our band directors, Brandon Ditken, was named as a Country Music Association Foundation music teacher of excellence. Um, and just to give you a little bit of a of context into how big of a deal that is, every year
006the CMA recognizes 30 music teachers from throughout the country. They focus uh heavily on music educators from the Tennessee and Nashville area. So this year of the 30, 15 are from Tennessee and 15 are from the rest of the country. And Brandon Dickin is one of those 15. So uh it's really a tribute to our incredible band program to Brandon's commitments to students. If you watch the video online, it was really great. The moment that Brandon um found out that he uh received the award, he opened the award, he looked at it and he immediately turned to the students and he said, "Congratulations to the kids." And that's that's Brandon. And that's so many of our music and art teachers throughout the district. So, congratulations to Brandon. Thank you as always for your incredible support
007of the arts. You can keep it on, Josh. Thank you. Uh, we have another presentation from Meadow View, Miss Nicole Ward, our principal. Yes, welcome. You can get your picture in a minute. She's on double She's on double duty tonight. Good evening. U, my name is Nicole Ward and I am the proud principal of Meadow View Elementary. Um tonight, um I have the pleasure of sharing with you some information about our elementary level sources of strength. So um I have Cedar here who's one of our amazing sixth grade leaders. I'm going to hand it over to her in just a second. But before I hand it over to Cedar, I just want to say thank you to our mental health interventionist, Michelle Pah, and our school psychologist, Julia Williamson, who have also helped spearhead this
008effort at Meadow View. So, I'm going to turn it over to Cedar Chapman at this time and she's going to share a little bit about what sources of strength looks like at Meadow View Elementary. Um, we are 10 sixth grade peer leaders chosen by teachers and trained by staff at the district level. We meet every two weeks to talk about our campaigns and how we're going to get the word out about Sources of Strength. Um, source of strength helps kids connect to peers in the building in order to talk about things that are going on in their lives, things they need to get off their chest, etc. Um, I have learned that everyone struggles and that no one's alone in their struggle and that there is always someone there for you. Um, we do campaigns
009like we do morning announcements and that is we did we said hello in different languages on our morning announcement on announcements. We also said happy new year in from different languages around the world. We did high five Friday where every day every Friday before breaks we would um meet at our exit doors and we give all the kids high fives on our way out. And then we also did a campaign about our three big emotions and we talked to fifth and sixth graders about um how to cope with their three big emotions and we passed out coping strategies. We also do presentations where we talked to our sixth grade about different elements of sources of strength. We also did a campaign that was called Chalk the Walk and we wrote encouraging messages around the sidewalks
010at our school. And then we also did trusted adult postcards where we gave our trusted adults postcards telling them that they are our trusted adult. And we also gave all the rest of sixth grade postcards and they were able to do the same. I mean like she is going to be a hard one to pass on to the middle school. Mr. Wells, take good care of my girl. Um so next year we will not have um sources of strength at the elementary level. Um however we have learned by empowering students and giving them a voice and having them kind of lead the way um in these campaign efforts that they have taught us that like we can keep that going. So there are going to be some things that we that that they have done
011that will maintain at Meadow View next year. So I'm super excited to see how these students thrive at the middle school. This program has really added positivity to our already positive culture at Meadow View. And so I couldn't be more proud. And that's just a few pictures of their campaigns and our awesome kids. That's about it. That is amazing. Thank you, Nicole. Good to see you there. All right. And our final presentation is our junior high cooking team, Mr. Todd Wells, Mrs. Mr. Gats, good evening. So, where are my uh my students? Would you come on up, please? I feel like I'm stooping down here. I'm not too tall. So, anyway, thanks uh for letting us present this evening. Uh behind you I have three wonderful eighth grade students um that were given the opportunity
012to uh participate in the Ohio student chef showcase. Um started about what two months ago would you say ladies? So around two months ago um Tina Reynolds our director of food services and Tena over there who's been a wonderful coach and mentor and adviser uh came to Mrs. gets and that kind of trickled down to me a little bit and said, "Would you be interested in doing this competition?" So, she she reached out to all the buildings in the district. Uh we had five teams from the junior high that um got together. Now, these all these girls are all on the same team, but I don't think they're, you know, all in the same peer group, so they kind of got together. And I I can go on for hours. A lot of people know
013that I like to talk, but um truly this this process is really a portrait of an eagle that we talk about constantly in collaboration, critical thinking. Um but these wonderful young ladies here competed. They uh they created a grilled chicken sandwich and a uh glazed carrots and a baked potato with homemade butter and chive. They submitted that to the state and then at the state level, the state then chose five teams from around the state of Ohio. So with this meal that they created, it had to be uh under $4. Tena, may I have to help me? Where's Tena? She behind us. There she is. She I'm going to have her stand at the mic cuz it's really all about Tena and these girls. But they had to create this dish for under $4.50. um
014which would be one of the uh nutritional guidelines and cost because if they would have won their dish would have been sold next year uh in lunchrooms across the state. Um but unfortunately uh Hamilton City won but in our hearts our girls were champs and they really won. Uh they went through a very very hard process. So when they uh created the dish at the junior high a couple weeks ago, they created I believe 75 samples. We cut those in fours and then we served them to our seventh and eighth graders. And then the hard part of this for them is then I we created a Google survey for the staff and students. Now we know some students aren't very kind. They said I was, you know, I needed some type of sauce or something.
015But they had to present that to the judge and and explain to them this is the feedback we got from our our our peers and our staff. And then they had to add some additional things to it. So, we do have a nice banner Miss Gats is holding. Um, we will we will share that and I think the girls really wanted to take it to the high school next year, but I think it will look nice in the new middle school. So, we're going to hang that in the cafeteria. We may have them sign that and date that so it will be there for years to come. So, I like I said, I can talk forever, but I'm going to let Tena uh take the mic here and share a little bit more. And if
016any of the girls want to speak a little bit, we'll let them speak as well. Hi, sorry my voice is gone. I've been talking all day. Um, so yeah, um, the project was presented up to us through Ohio Education Nutritional. They're always looking for the next big thing that they can use in their brochures and on their website and their Facebook page. Um, the challenge was to create a school meal that you would think everyone would eat in a school. And for us, our dish was simplistic. It was easy, and it's something that can be easily replicated. You don't have to have a 10star chef in the kitchen to prepare it like a vegetarian taco. Although you have a 10star chef in the kitchen. That's neither your nor. But the girls did a really good
017job executing every single portion of every single part of the competition. They came up with the dish on their own. They came up with all the um ingredients on their own. They were able to learn how to read recipes and learn how to take measurements, how to double, how to triple, how to make 50 portions of the recipe from the recipe of six to eight. So, they did really good. They presented themselves very, very professionally while we were in Columbus and they were not sore losers and they did a really good job of keeping a nice strong face at the end. So, um, like he said, in our hearts, we're the winners, and it will be on Milford High School and Junior High's menu next year coming up. So, very proud of the girls. You
018did a great job. One last thing, I apologize, ladies. Why didn't you kick me and say, "Mr. Wills, are you going to introduce us?" So, with us tonight, we have uh Bella Peterson, Melissa Korn, and Charlie Beal. Uh our other two students that could not make it with uh make it tonight was Milin Cortez and Alexis Rose. So if you would please give them one more round of applause. They did an outstanding job and we all should be proud of of their accomplishments. Thank you. Congratulations. Um this was a really really cool project to follow online and um through the news. It was just so exciting to watch all of you make it to state and um I think it's really great that your sandwich will be served in our cafeterias next year. That's amazing.
019Great job. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Do we have any public commentary? Uh not this round. Okay. All right. So, we are going to move on to mission moments and we have a very special mission moment tonight. Um, for tonight we wanted to take a moment to honor an organiz organization that has been a steadfast pillar of our community, Feed Our Flock. After much thought and consideration, Feed Our Flock made the heartbreaking decisions to close their doors as of April 30th. While their services may no longer be available, their legacy of compassion and dedication to Milford students and families will be felt for years to come. Feed Our Flock's commitment to our community was truly exceptional. For years, they provided much needed resources, support, and a sense of belonging for families who needed it most.
020Their mission always went beyond just helping. It was about uplifting our community and ensuring that no one had to face challenges alone. Their final act of service, raising funds to help our graduating seniors pay off their fees so they could walk across the stage and receive their diplomas, is a perfect example of their unwavering commitment to our students. In less than 24 hours, the community came together, raising over $11,000 to ensure that these students could walk with their peers at graduation. And even after reaching their goal, Feed Our Flock continued to collect donations to help even more students in need. Their work, even in their finals days, exemplified the very core values that we hold dear in our district. kindness, compassion, empathy, and being student centered. Sarah, Audra, and Candi, the heart and soul behind
021Feed Our Flock, have given so much to Milford. Their tireless efforts and heartfelt compassion have impacted countless lives. While the building itself may be closed, Feed Our Flock will continue to operate in a limited capacity online. Even without a physical space, these individuals remain deeply committed to helping others, still actively connecting Milford students and families with local resources and working to improve the lives of those in our community. Their influence will be felt for years to come, and we are deeply grateful for everything that they've done. The work that Feed Our Flock has done reminds us of the power of community and how together we can make a lasting difference in the lives of our students. So, thank you, Feed Our Flock, for everything that you've done for our families. We we do have two
022of the uh Feed Our Flock members here. Um I'd like to read a a letter that was sent um to them uh from the Milford Academy. Words cannot fully capture how much we've appreciated everything that Feed Our Flock and the three of you have done for the academy over the past 12 years. You have been a constant source of strength, kindness, and generosity for our students and staff alike. From the weekly food bags and the unforgettable Thanksgiving feast to the lovely prepared Christmas gift bags for each of our students, you have poured love into every detail. Your support has gone far beyond the physical. You've offered financial help, emotional encouragement, and comforting presence that we've come to count on. You didn't just serve a school, you nurtured a village. This has been a beautiful calling
023carried out by a selfless group of mothers who have touched so many lives. Your hearts, your hands, and your time have left a lasting imprint, and you will be deeply missed. With our warmest thanks and enduring gratitude, the Milford Academy. Okay, moving on to the treasures reports. Michael, do you have a summary for us? Yeah. So, we um so we spent most of our committee talking about the five-year forecast and tuition uh you know tuition free kindergarten. We have tuition we have the kindergarten discussion on the agenda for later. So, we'll talk more about that later in the meeting. Um Doug is about to go over the five-year forecast, so we'll look at that together with him. The only other piece to mention is um our state performance audit is going very well. Um we
024we can't discuss any of the details right now but the but the timeline of that is they're continuing their fieldwork through July. They are on schedule to do an exit conference in September. They will uh they're on schedule to release the report in October. Um and then there'll be implementation tracking that's to be determined. So after the fact of um the report they'll follow up to to see how we are following their recommendations from there. So the state performance audits going really well. Uh received very good remarks from them for all the administration. So thank you John and Doug and entire team as they have to dedicate um time and resources to working with the auditors. And that was pretty much the committee. I'll let Doug take over from here for the five-year forecast. Then
025we can kind of chime in with questions as he goes along. Okay. So, I need a motion to approve the border reports. Some moved. Second. Okay. All right. Madam President, members of the board, thank you for this opportunity to give you a fiscal snapshot. Well, we're jumping ahead of oursel right there. We go where we are for the month of or through the month of April. So, as you can see in our first slide, as you sl as you scroll down there, Steve, you can see that we keep going, we are balanced, which is great. And then of course we're balanced in payroll. That's very important. And then if you scroll down to the next slide, this is our investment page. And you can see, and I know it is hard to see and I'm
026looking at it, so I'm going to use my cheat sheet, that for the month of April, we earned $458,000 and year-to- date 4.7 million. That's great. Um, as you scroll down one more page, now this is a snapshot of the five-year forecast for the month of April. Why this is important is last month, if you scroll down, we obviously have our revenues and expenditures. Scroll down just a little bit more, Steve. right in here. Last month, we were at -11 million. Because we have received our property tax settlement, which is something we get twice a year, it shows that we're now at a positive 6.5. That is excellent because we were projecting a negative 3.9. So through the month of April, we are doing a very good job of being fiscally responsible. And then the
027next slide kind of gives you a breakdown through some graphs where you see that the uh local revenue is up from fiscal year 23 to 25. State revenue is going to be down a little bit because we haven't received everything. And then of course all other revenue which varies is down from it's up from fiscal year 24 but down from fiscal year 23. Doug with the information right above since we're getting close to the end of the fiscal year. How do you see us ending up? We will get to that. Okay. Just making sure we will get to that. All right. So then our expenditures. So as you scroll down to our expenditures, you can see that salary and benefits are up. You can see that purchase services are down and all their expenditures are
028down. Now, what's important to know is there are things that are going to be up every year, but right now we're seeing purchase services down approximately $761,000 and all other expenditures down around $652,000. And then the last graph gives you a different explan or just a different format, but it shows you the same thing with salary and benefits and then purchase services. So, that's the month of April. Any questions on that before we jump into the five-year forecast? Okay. Do you want to vote on those or? Yeah. Okay. Let's uh call the role. Okay. So, Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. All right. Then can I get a motion to approve the five-year forecast? So moved. Second. Now for a treasur, this is Christmas. This is
029very exciting. For everyone else, I know it's can be boring and I apologize for that. So our five-year forecast, this is an amended five-year forecast for fiscal year 25. Why this is important is this really gives you a snapshot of where we are or where we're projecting oursel to be. not only for fiscal year 25 but through fiscal year 29. But what I want to do first, if you scroll down, Steve, we're going to go back two years. We're going to go back to fiscal year 23, May of fiscal year 23 to kind of give you an idea of why we had to make some of the decisions we did. So, if you look in here, you'll see our beginning fund balance from fiscal year 25 through 29. Now, you notice there's no levies that
030have been modeled. nothing at all. So there's no levy discussion at all right there. So you have our revenues and our expenditures and then you have our ending balance. Now yes, red numbers are not good. It shows you that we are extremely deficit spending. We have to curb that obviously or we're going to get oursel in major trouble. So and I'm speaking like it was two years ago. Two years ago, because we're deficit spending so much, we were looking at a fund balance of 35.7 million and it took us down to a negative 6.6. That's not good. We knew we had to do something. So, in the short run, you always try to run a levy. That is something that the Ohio Department of Education and the Auditor State require you to do to get
031yourself out of deficit spending. It didn't work. So it means we have to come back and we have to figure out what are we going to do to be fiscally responsible. Because of that we decided to eliminate some administrative positions, some teaching positions overall reduce expenditures by 10%. Moving into fiscal year 26, reduce uh transportation expenditures and restructure some debt to help the uh taxpayers. And we'll talk about that a little bit later. So, if you look at the next slide, here we are. So, this is fiscal year 25, an amended five-year forecast. So, at the beginning, we've got our beginning balance, we've got our revenue, and again, no levies. We're not talking about any levies. Our expenditures are somewhat in check. And I can say that because our surplus or deficit, yes, we're still
032deficit spending. We're still going to be fiscally responsible. We are going to work on that until we get it right. But you can see that we just discussed a minute ago, we were projecting a $3.9 million fund balance or excuse me, deficit spending and now we're looking at a 1.5. So what does that do? If you go all the way down to the bottom, your ending balances 38 million and go look over here, 12 million. because of the things that we've been able to put in place in the last two years without passing a levy, with being fiscally responsible and continue to be fiscally responsible. That's an $18 million swing. I'm very proud of this district for what they're able to do. Now, we're not finished. We have to move forward. So, so to give
033you a little update, you can go ahead to the next slide. What this slide is is uh this kind of gives you an idea from the November forecast to the May forecast where we've made the uh most progress as far as reducing expenditures. Purchase services, we've been able to reduce between 1 million up to about 1.7 million. And then in operating transfers out, we've been able to reduce that by about 1.9. Those are the major areas. And then the next slide, now this is great. This gives you a really, if you like pictures, this gives you an idea that these are our expenditures between fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 29. So, showing that comparison between November and and uh May, you'll see where we're starting to reduce our expenditures. And then because of that,
034you'll see where we're able to gain, in other words, a savings. And right here between fiscal year 29, you'll see around a negative $9 million, which means we're saving $9 million. That's that shows you you're moving forward. And then your next slide. Now, here's a couple circle graphs, and they're easier to read for me. Some people like the bar graph, and we'll show that one here in a minute. But here's a breakdown of your revenue, and you can see that that is uh all your local revenue right there. So, majority of our revenue is local. Right in there is your state sources. Right in here, the green section, that's your property tax reimbursements. So, your 2 and a half and 10% reimbursement that you guys see on your tax bills. We get reimbursed from the
035state as well as homestead exemption. And then on the expenditure side, you'll see that right there, our largest portion is salary and wages. And then you've got uh benefits right there and purchase services right there. And then on the next slide, now this is a bar graph showing you the same thing just in different direction in case it's easier to see. But uh here's your local revenue, state revenue, and then of course your salary, benefits, and purchase services. And then the next slide. Now the next slide gives you an idea of just plain and simple. Began the year with 81 million um or excuse me revenue of 81 million expenditures of 83. So we are deficit spending of 1.5. And how does that affect the fund balance? You'll see that we began the year with
03639.7 and we're projecting to end the year with 38.1. So, we're still doing well, but we got to fix that. Next slide. Okay. So, here's some here's a pie chart. I love pie charts. To me, this is easy to see. So, this is a revenue analysis. So, here's your local taxes right there. So, majority of our revenue is local taxes. State funding is the next section. And then you can see over here that under local taxes you'll see the property taxes and public utility personal property taxes which is what utility companies pay for the land that they use to um you know out fiber and Duke and and water. So, and then you have state funding where you'll see the fair funding plan uh restricted funding that we have and what we discussed earlier are
037reimbursements for state share of local taxes and then of course all other then the next slide gives you an idea of our expenditures. So what as we discussed earlier majority of our expenditures are personnel salary and benefits and then purchase services is the next section half of that is transportation and then all other expenditures and then the next slide. Now the next slide is an important slide probably one of the most important slides. We have a 90-day cash reserve policy. So as of fiscal year 25 we have 167 days of cash on hand. That's great. You can see that it's dwindling down by fiscal year 29. So that means we've I keep saying it, but we have to reduce expenditures. We have to be fiscally responsible. We have to get that up. That doesn't sound
038the alarm. That doesn't make us panic. We're not broke. It just means we've got to fix some things. That's what that slide tells me. And then the next slide. Now, this next slide is another important slide because it tells you the same thing, just using different graphs or different numbers. So, in fiscal year 22, we had 6,258 students. By fiscal year 25, we're down to 5,537. That's a drop of approximately 11 a.5% or 721 students. What's hard to imagine is of that 721 students, 179 of those are kindergarten, which we will discuss that obviously later. So that is a big deal because you'll see that that drop in enrollment means that we're you're we're not receiving as much money through the fair school funding plan. The fair school funding plan is designed to pay you
039on the amount of students that you're educating. And then the next slide. Now the next slide is pretty interesting slide. So this is the daily cost to educate a student. And you can see that it only costs us $84 a day to educate a student. What's amazing is of that $84, it only costs the residents 35% of that. Everything else is coming from the state, federal government or business taxes. And then the next slide is another comparison between November and May. And it shows you that as far as revenue, we are down by approximately 294,000. But what's really great or awesome is expenditures right now are down 2.6 million. So any questions? I just had a few questions. Um, so when we look at the personnel, um, when we're looking at like the fiscal year
040expenditures for 25, can you break that down a little bit? Like help me understand like what's in there in personnel? Yeah. All salaries. So in the general fund. Well, because I know that we made some expenditure. Well, we were going to make some expenditure reductions um in personnel when we were talking about closing the neighborhood schools and going to grade banded schools which would have cut like 30 to 40 positions. So, is that reflected in there because we didn't end up going to neighborhood schools? Correct. So, in November, you did not see that reduction. So therefore that reduction has not been taken out and put back. Okay. It just never left. Okay. And then um when we talk about personnel too, do just help me understand the five-year forecast because this is not my wheelhouse.
041Um I know that we have some contract negotiations coming up soon. Like how do we prepare for that in the five-year forecast? Want secrets told. All right. With a five-year forecast, whatever's been negotiated with a collective baring agreement is put into the five-year forecast. After that, it's just steps because you can't predict what negotiations are going to happen. So, the steps are in the five-year forecast. Steps are in the five-year forecast. The negotiations aren't because we don't know what because we don't know. So, that number will change probably. Well, it will. Yeah. Not could, but it will. So that number will change in the next five-year forecast. It Yeah, correct. Okay. Which is why the November five-year forecast as we present in October, it gives you a good idea of where we think we're going
042to go. But remember, we're not actually bargaining until next May. So even this time next year, we won't have an idea where that stands. Okay. And then um general fund transfers. Do we are there any upcoming general fund transfers that we anticipate that aren't reflected in the forecast? Well, all right. To be totally transparent, remember Columbus is still trying to make up their mind on how they want to handle the new buyin and budget. And this 30% cap could take a hit. We could take a hit, but so is every other district. So that could affect our five-year forecast, but what it's going to affect is the fund balance. Okay? So, as long as we can legally move money, that's what we'll do. Okay? And by moving that money, we're going to move it into
043something that's going to help the taxpayers as far as reducing debt, not um you know, using it for something we shouldn't do. And then my other question is, so we're still finalizing this decision around kindergarten. So, how did you account for that in there? Well, the thing about kindergarten is you kind of leave things the way they are because they haven't changed right now. Okay. So, in other words, um something simple as $150,000 reduction in transportation for midday routes. You're not touching that because you can't assume that I know how the five of you want to vote. So, you just kind of leave it in there. So, did we base it off of the upgraded $5,000 tuition on No, I did not. Okay. Because the problem with that is when you look in, especially in
044my position, you're trying to forecast the next few years. So, yes, you can look at tuition. You look and see what's been paid for the year, meaning fiscal year 25, but you also look and see what's not been paid, right? whether it be uh scholarships, uh vouchers, waiverss, or just delinquencies. And you kind of subtract that out because those are the numbers you're actually seeing in there as the net. So, you would do the same thing as far as $5,000. You know, we haven't moved forward. So, I don't want to assume that we're going to collect $945,000 because I don't want to assume that we're going to have $200 or $300,000 in non-payment. That makes Okay, that all makes sense. I know that this is a little bit of like you have to sort of
045predict the future and that's all you're doing. That's what makes the report that I show you each month so important. that snapshot of the five-year forecast. In the left column, it shows you the fiscal year, what we've done for the month, and how we are year-to- date. That's the best one or best, in my opinion, the best report that I show. Yeah. I mean, and we'll continue to look at those, too. So, that makes sense. Um, I look at the 5-year forecast every day of the year. It's important to me to see. Yes, it's a living document because I understand that we don't want to run a levy. Nobody wants to run a levy. We want to control our expenditures and every school district can control their expenditures. You sometimes have to be creative. And
046that's the whole idea of looking at account codes every day and looking at the five-year forecast and saying to myself, okay, not only what do the five of you want, but you represent everyone out here. So, the five-year forecast in November is probably going to look way different than this because Yeah, to be honest with you, and again, I'm giving away trade secrets here, but the five-year forecast in November never looks as good as the one in May because May is your amended five-year forecast. I mean, we've got just about all the expenditures in there that we know. There's always going to be something that pops up that you didn't realize, but it's not going to be one, two, or three million dollars of something. it's going to be, you know, you forgot to pay
047a bill for athletics or something that's tied to the general fund. So, yeah. And the important part from the I know me and you had discussed this from the five-year forecast piece of where he was talking about that underlying number that's in there right now for kindergarten tuition. Right. So, originally we were at the the lower mouth of $2,700 and and then you had a uh the amount of students that were enrolled last year or this current year that we're in. And then there's a portion of that that's um still outstanding debt. So, the number that's underlying in the five-year forecast is much smaller than what would be the entirety of a $5,000 tuition at 189 kids. Right? So if you know we'll discuss all day we'll discuss kindergarten more later u but as we
048look at the numbers of what the actual investment would be there and we look at the five-year forecast trending in the right direction of our deficit spending going down. You know it's not a onetoone comparison of if you give all day kindergarten you automatically lose $980,000 in the five-year forecast. Right? So the forecast is still trending in the right direction even if we were to make that decision because of the numbers are based off of the actual numbers not not what would be projected out there. So is that accurate Doug? Correct. Yeah. So that's it's important to know because it just when you look at that you think about you know what the ground we've gained. We obviously don't want to give that up, but we also know the value of all day kindergarten, which
049again, we'll talk about that later, but I wanted to bring up that point to understand that that line item. I have a question about the um enrollment. Yes. So, I do feel like uh I hadn't seen a dip that big yet, and I think I had just not seen things that had looked out that far. I think we were Steve, can you go back to that slide? Um Oh, yeah. That dark blue. There you go. So I feel like we've been hovering around 6,000 and if it was a a drop in enrollment it was pretty small. So is there something that changed? Is it lower birth rate? Is well that is part of it. Um to defend all school districts when the fair school funding plan started. If someone lived in your district you got
050to count them as part of your we call it ADM which is average daily membership. We call it my my office. We call it butts and seats. Um the whole point is is enrollment starting in fiscal year 22 went down because all the students for whom you were allowed to count who left your district to go to another school. Charter school is a great example. Open enrollment out. The money filtered through you and then you paid them through your foundation payments. They changed the law with foundation fun or school foundation program and because of that the enrollment we had with those students went directly to the schools where they were attending. So you took a major hit right there. So that's the big drop that was that's that's the big drop. Yes. Um, from there,
051yes, you have birth rates. Um, the voucher system, that's a big hit. And, you know, I believe that we do an incredible job in this district of making sure we hire the right people. They're awesome. They care about the kids. They care about education. So, we're doing everything right. And it's like any business, you're like, "Okay, I'm losing customers. What do I do? How do I get him back in the door? So, there's never an easy answer, but it's something you do consider all the time when you see grass like this and and opposed to some of our districts, and I'm thinking farther east, we don't have a lot of places to build. Like, we don't have full neighborhoods going in. It's a onesie twoosy or it's a couple houses. So, and that's a great
052point because if you look at uh our neighbor, let's say start with Lovelin, you know, years ago, Lovelin had a lot of room to grow and they have, we don't. So, the only thing we can do now is if people want to come and start buying homes and knocking them down and and it might happen. I don't know. But, you know, you're right. We're landlocked. Miami Township had a lot of room to expand. Um, but they've utilized all that in the last 20 years. Um, Goan still has a lot of room. They can move, but you we don't. So, with that number with the number from 2021, is that the one that we're being like accounted for on the guarantee? The guarantee is actually 2020. 2020. Okay. So how this works is we are there's
053a formula and the formula is based on three basic variables and that's uh property value, income, and enrollment. So they start with $8,000 per student. It's actually a little bit more than that, but just around $8,000 per student. And then they put everything into the formula to see locally what you can afford. Well, we can afford a lot. So, it takes what what the state pays us from $8,000 down to about $2,300. So, every child that we educate, we receive $2,300. Now they go ahead and they calculate the formula and they realize that all the districts when they started this weren't able to match what they were receiving in 20 when the fair funding plan started. So they called it's called a guarantee. They supplement the difference between the what the formula says and what
054the fiscal year 20 uh revenue that we were generating from the state. So they give us the difference. What's going to happen at in the six-year phase in is at the end of year six, the guarantee will go away. The governor came with his proposal a few months ago and said, "I want to get rid of the guarantee now to anyone that's losing enrollment." Well, that's probably 60% of the districts out there. And most of it to no fault of their own was because of the way the funding plan occurs and how you used to get funded for the kids that didn't even go to your district but they filtered through your district. So there's going to be a whole lot of districts that just fall off a financial cliff when this goes away. They
055can. And then if they put the 30% cap on top of it. Now we're in a district that, you know, everyone takes care of us here. We really do. Um and and I'm appreciative of that. This is an awesome district and even though the 30%, yes, it hurts. It hurts your fund balance, but we will survive. I feel bad for smaller districts, whether they're in southwest Ohio or, you know, southeast Ohio or Northeast, Northwest, because if they're small districts and and I know this this term is thrown out a lot, a mill, a mill has to do with the value of your property. um you know uh small districts even in uh southwest Ohio there's districts where a mill is only worth $90,000. So just to think about that a minute when people hear a
05610 mil levy I mean that kind of freaks you out. 10 mil levy sounds like a lot. It only generates $900,000 for a district. Well I don't care how big or small you are. $900,000 is not a lot of money to keep you moving for many years to come. So this 30% cap, what makes it hard is districts would be reduced. And the first thought is, well, let's go out and run a levy. Well, guess what? You run a levy, you pass the levy, you're above the 30% cap, the money gets taken right back. So it goes back to the idea that just like at home, you just can't generate money out of nowhere. You have to reduce your expenditures. You have to control. You have to be fiscally responsible. So it's a lot of
057moving parts. Scary. I know. Yeah. A lot of good information though, Doug. It's a lot of information. Well, call the Ohio State Senate because I was going to say this later in the kindergarten piece, but they the so the way that where the so the House budget bill went to the Senate. They're hearing testimony this week in the Senate. They expect that they'll put out what is called a substitute version by the end of May. Uh could come out next week. The substitute version is uh all the different changes that they make from the House budget. And then there'll be what is called a omnibus amendment in in mid June. So we'll know more at the end of May if they're going to keep you know obviously they signal that they take out the 30%
058or they do things like that it it'll give us a good indication that that's probably going to go away and then we can start to plan accordingly going into our meeting next month. But you know there's still time to write your senators, your house members. You can obviously go on to their website and write the alias that goes to all of the education committee for the Senate. And you know, if you support public schools, which you know, if you're listening to this, I'm sure you do, you should write them. And also ask them to pay for all day kindergarten. That's Senator Terry Johnson and Representative Jean Schmidt for anybody who lives in Milford. Yeah. I think this guarantee going away is going to be huge because if we're getting paid for 6,258 students and our
059enrollment right now is 5,000 537. That's a huge gap. Yeah. Um and that's a that's a lot of money. And I know we're not the only district in that boat. Yeah. So, we'll be looking to that admitted uh we'll be looking for that substitute version come out late May and not have that in there. That's what and not have the 30% in there. I think other things would be easier to manage, but those two pieces will be tough. Good on that. Can you 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 vendors. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I
060have contracts for approval and I need a motion to approve those. 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 a whole list of donations and I need a motion to approve those. So moved. Second. Any discussion? It's nice to see Peggy TR still getting donations in memory of her. It's nice. Yeah, it's just a phenomenal list as we see month over month. I mean, this is the third month for people donating for Peggy, which I read out her obituary a few months ago, which was very, very moving. You know, you have the, you know, very generous donation from Miranda for the Miranda Center. Um, the whole list of the feed our flock that you had
061mentioned earlier, um, which is fantastic. And then you even see Bezac on there for the the mulch, which I'm guessing that was probably for all the students that helped go out and mulch the high school and I think some other various buildings. So, um, always good to see that. And then I see the Cincy Hat Foundation on there, which is which is cool. I got one of those hats. It was really a good quality and and uh a great partnership. Yeah, it's so nice to see our community really coming together and supporting the schools and I think it's really important to thank them. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, 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 resolution authorizing the
062issuance of unlimited tax general obligation refunding bonds. So moved. Second. Can you tell us a little bit? I sure can. This is I'm always happy to do this. This is not a new levy. This just is bond money that we've already received in the past. We now have an opportunity to take it back and refund it, which means save the taxpayers money. So, and we should save approximately $2 million off this. So, very happy to report that. And John, this is the what we kept seeing on our slides when we were going through the levy, right? When we had that sitting out there and we were trying to make a decision. So, we were able to now put that through. Okay. The nice thing is you get to do this every few years. Um, so
063and and you need a road map to follow all this, but we had bonds from 2001 that became part of 2007, which became part of 2017, which will now be part of 2025. But the whole point is is each time you do that you get to pay portion of it off. So, and how does that how does that refunding portion work? Does it just take it off the end? So, just so what happens is as far as bond goes, bond is very similar to your mortgage at home. So, the auditors will ask, okay, how much do you owe? And you'll tell them, I wish it was only $1,000, but it's not $1,000. And then what they do is come up with the rate between the thousand dollar and of course the interest that goes along
064with that. And then that's what gets charged to the taxpayer. Okay. And then it goes down each year because twice a year we make payments on principal and interest. Sounds good. All right. Can I get a roll call? Yes. Uh Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now moving on to superintendent's business. Thank you, President Mason, members of the board. We do have uh five things uh under the superintendent's business. First is our middle school update. Mr. Jeff Johnson. So, construction Whoa. Um construction still continues to to go at a fast and furious pace. Um finishes in the academic wing um are finishing up. Um we're ramping up to begin um in a couple of weeks to move out of the junior high and start moving um
065teacher stuff um displays things like that out of the junior high and into the middle school. So this is a drone picture of the academic courtyard. Um it's not quite done. There's still a little bit on the bottom concrete to finish, but if you see kind of up in the top um right and left and just above the circle, that'll be some um lowmaintenance ground cover. uh that'll go in there. Um but that's really um it's really a nice space for our our students. Uh this is the band room. Um a lot of work still going on in there, but they've got sound attenuation panels that that go along the wall. Um same thing with those kind of cone looking um ceiling tiles that helps um with the sound. Uh but basically our music rooms
066all have that. Our choir room has it. Um ensemble room has it. um just to keep um that sound at a good uh good level in those rooms. So, this is looking from the second floor down onto the cafeteria and the learning stairs. Um so, the learning stairs go up. Um kind of off to the right uh would be the front of the building. U but that's our cafeteria from the second floor. What's on that second level up there above the cafeteria? There's classrooms, media center. Um, those are all the elective classrooms right in that section of the second floor. It's really cool to see those stairs come to life. Yes, I got a closeup of it, the mockup. Um, this is a picture from the main gym. Uh, they just put um some of
067the branding up there this week. Again, sound attenuation panels. You can't see them. Um, you can barely see them when you're standing in there, but they're sound baffles that are up in the rafters of the gym. um they blend in because the sound panels are black and and the ceiling's black, but uh will help a lot with with noise in that gymnasium. This is the opposite wall. So, underneath those eagle wings will be um and actually there'll be bleachers on the other side that we just looked at, but there'll be bleachers um that will go in underneath those eagle wings. So, that's a bit of a closeup. That's a mockup of what those learning stairs will look like. Um, so what you're looking at is fire rated plywood, but then there's LDT flooring that kind
068of goes down. Um, really, really good from a maintenance perspective, and I think it's going to look really sharp when we get that get that installed. Is the idea about the learning stairs like groups of kids can sit on it, work together, and ask Mr. Wells. I'm just building it. He's going to use it. Yes. But yes, I believe that is the we're gonna we're going to put a mushroom there for you just to sit on and you just educate for the education stairs. There you go. Well, and they across from that, I didn't get a picture onto the slideshow today, but the yesterday afternoon or this morning, they installed um projector screen that goes over top of like the doors you walk in in the kitchen. It's 25 ft long. Wow. It's big. So
069you'll be able to project and kids will be able to see things from those learning stairs. Couple of aerial views um kind of pull in the stadium, the Marina Sports Complex as well as the middle school there. Um obviously closer to us on the bottom of the screen is the existing junior high. And this is kind of the opposite side of it kind of looking and that's your academic wing and that academic courtyard I'd mentioned before. And in the middle is is um where that cafeteria is. And then off to the um east there is our our gymnasium, our two gyms. So things are going well. Um if we could stop raining, we'd appreciate it. Um they're actually going to the road that goes around in that parking lot in between the middle school and
070the stadium is going to get laid um I think Tuesday and Wednesday as long as the weather cooperates. So that'll be access um this summer. that access to the stadium in the Marina Sports Complex will go around the north side of the middle school. We'll park in that parking lot. Um because we we're going to start tearing out the parking lot up to the east of Marina Sports Complex in the middle school. And when you come off Wolfpen and you're going to the high school, will that be different than it is now? How there's that like real sharp turn? Yes, that S-curve that we we close off right now, that will be the road. Um just with the two roads there when we first did it, it was it was not the safest thing in
071the world, which is why we tried to close that off. Um but that'll open up and that'll be that you'll kind of come in and make a little bit of an S-curve and then go towards the high school. I'm assuming there will be signage or people directing us with these new traffic patterns. Um there is signage up and and I I admit some of it's confusing because it's signage for what it's going to be, not necessarily what it is today. Um and and the answer is yes. When school starts, I mean, just like now, we've got people out there kind of helping direct traffic. Um we'll do the same thing. Um I will tell you the last two starts of school, I was kind of scared to death what it was going to look like
072up there um in August and in both years it went better than I could have imagined. Um not saying there weren't some issues here and there, but people figure out the new traffic patterns, you know, pretty quickly. We do have um the roundabout is strike now. So, we've got arrows, you know, showing people the right way to go. Um sometimes on weekends I've I've heard people see people turning left in a roundabout still, but not very often. Um so, and of course, the buses are going to be different. We're going to have that's the bus lot you're looking at at the bottom of that picture. Um so, the buses will load in that lot instead of blocking off Eagle's Way and and going all over the place in the morning the way they do now.
073Um, so I think that'll help clear things up quite a bit as well. Um, there are going to be two entrances to the middle school campus. There's a new entrance to where the construction parking lot is to the north of the the junior high. There's actually a a road that or a driveway that comes in um from that area pretty much exactly where that lot is. Um, and it'll go through where those trailers are now. So, that's another stacking area. Parents who are dropping off at the middle school can come in there. There's there's a lot of stacking in that location. Anyone using Wolfpin will be glad to see that longer turn lane. Um we're we're continuing to work with the Claremont County T on the lane widening um as as well as the traffic
074light on 131. Um so again, a lot of stuff to get done between now and August 1st, but it is starting to come together. Um and we're excited. As soon as school lets out, we move. We do some safety training with our our local uh police and fire departments and then June 23rd the building starts to get abaded and torn down. The trailers actually start to get demoed on June 1st. Wow. Is any of Mount Milford going to be left by the time school starts? Um there might be some. Um just the way the schedule sits right now, the junior high will be close to being demolished when when school starts. Um I don't know that foundations will be out yet. So they got to get those foundations out and then some of that top
075side will go over the the softball field and the practice fields that are there basically where the current junior high sits. Thank you. Thank you. Exciting. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Uh, next up we do have a legislative report. Um, Mr. Wilson stole a little bit of my thunder. The Ohio Senate did have some official hearings on the uh, state budget last week and then today actually. Okay. Uh, and then the Senate Finance Committee uh, will begin their budget hearings on May 27th. Uh, expected to have a version of that, substitute version around June 3rd. Um, and then the second round of that would be June 10th. Uh, and I think ultimately, um, you know, what we heard was contact Representative Jean Schmidt and Senator Terry Johnson about this. It's still not, it's not too late,
076uh, regarding your concerns with House Bill uh, 96. Uh, and then also Senate Bill 158. Uh yesterday, I'm sure many of you heard, um uh the Senate voted Wednesday to generally prohibit the use of cell phones in schools, which um I think most of us would be okay with that. So, uh we currently have a plan in place at the high school and then K to8 um that's not new for us, so we already do that. So, that's not an issue there. Um but I think that's something to watch and uh to see what happens next. So, the change with that was before they were saying we just had to have a policy on it, but now they're saying it has to be like Now I think it's going to be like there are no
077cell phones. Yeah. Yeah. All right. They can't come into the building or they put them away. Just no use. No use. It's a good move. Um, next we have some policies for approval. Can I get a motion to approve the policies as presented? So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion around these policies? No. No. Let's call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Um, now I need a motion to approve resolution to adopt special education model policies and procedures. So moved. Second. I'm assuming this is just a legal. It It is. Jenny can speak to that for us real quick. So earlier this year, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce revised the special education model policies. Those were needed to be adopted by local boards
078by May 30th. And more recently, that extension was because uh the Ohio Council of School Board attorneys had looked at the model policies and determined that there were a few statements, if you see those four bullet points, that it did not align with federal and state law. So, they asked for local boards to accept the updated special ed policies excluding those four bullets. And so this is what that resolution is. Great. Does anybody have any questions or discussion around this? All right. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh, now we're moving into the kindergarten discussion. And for those of you that were not playing along, I think uh Mr. Spicer has a summary. Yeah, I do. I just wanted to give a
079quick little summary. I'll let Treasurer Acriman chime in as needed. Um this is these are just a few of the slides um from our previous meeting. Um just noting that I think the most important figure on here is that 90.5% of families in Ohio enroll all in all day kindergarten in 2024. Um, also, uh, in the past, this past year, we did give, um, $111,000 in scholarships to, um, families in need. Uh, and as you can see, our demand locally here for all day kindergarten has increased. Uh, Yep. Thank you. Uh, we've we've talked about the academic um um, it's just academically it's just great for kids. you know, our our data certainly indicates that all day kindergarten students benefit. Um, we also know that our other students eventually will catch up. Um, we talked
080a little bit about uh the resources that are used to catch those students up. Um, but ultimately an all day experience for our students um is certainly beneficial. Uh and then also um not necessarily directly associated with this, but students that attend preschool uh are also ready for kindergarten and they're really ready if they attend a Milford preschool. Um Yep. And so some considerations, Treasurer Acriman talked about our enrollment declining, um 38% over the last four years. Um and again, some of that is um the birth rate. We've talked about that internally as well. Um, as with the board, um, we have some classroom space with the middle school opening up. And Treasure Acriman also um, mentioned earlier the $150,000 potential savings um, for midday routes. And that's the summary. Um, open for discussion and
081if we've generated some questions and um, some dialogue. I do want to say I thank everybody for being engaged in this. We had people a lot of people show up to our um special board meeting and then I know that I've been receiving a lot of um emails and a couple phone calls and I the rest of the board has as well. So it's great to hear what the community thinks and have that community engagement. Um I think three of the takeaways I had from the meeting that we had um about um in addition to the test scores but retention across 12 years. So when we get students as kindergarteners they're more likely to stay and we saw those numbers dropping off. Um so we want every student to have an opportunity. Um there is
082additional cost uh in added resources to catch students up who only are there um by third grade. they seem to have be been caught up, but that means we have a couple years of extra teaching and opportunities we need to give them. Um, and then I just think it's an opportunity for students um to to really start their school career off off well. So, I the idea of all day kindergarten and the possibility that it could be there um is really amazing. Um, but I still feel like I would like more um conversation around the cost and where it fits. Um, I appreciate uh, Mr. Acriman, since you've been here, I feel like you're very slow and methodical and think through things and I really really appreciate all of that. So, I just want to
083make sure that we continue to have th those kind of trends and um, I know we started the work before you came as far as reducing expenses, but um, just keep looking what does our future look like um, financially. I think too a big part for me is that we're having this independent audit done by the state and we don't know what's going to come in from that. But I I think it would be wise to hear their recommendations before making any huge financial decisions. Um because we have large spending commitments that were already part of our plan and this was a new one. So, I just think to me it makes sense to hold on it a little bit. I definitely think that kindergarten is really really important, especially tuitionfree all day kindergarten because
084it's going to help close those gaps for our students um and and really help some of the kids that really need this that cannot afford it. Um we all know the data and everything that says that it's really important. Um, I don't think this is something that we should say like we're not going to do it. But for me, it makes sense, like you said, to move slowly, to ask some more questions, to get some more numbers, to make sure that everything is all aligned before we pull the trigger on this. And I would also hate to promise something to our families and then like think about it some more and go back and forth and back and forth. So, I just want to make sure that we're making a sound financial decision and that
085it's something that we can sustain for our families, especially with all the weird stuff coming up in the state and we don't we don't really know how to plan like at this point. It's it's really taking um a guess since we don't have what the state is going to do and it could change at any moment. So, I definitely support this goal and I hope we can get there, but I just don't feel like it's the right time right now. And if we look back over the history, so my son graduated last year and there was not all day kindergarten as an option when he was here. So, you know, we've and that was 13 14 years ago. So, Milford has grown as state funding as need as Yeah. I mean, like we're we're always
086balancing these things and we it um the enrollment has obviously grown over time, too. So, I think we can get there. I think we're on the right path of trajectory having the conversations and I agree. I think definitely the information we have received is the importance of all day kindergarten is pretty big, right? But the financial piece of it is also pretty big. So I don't want us to rush in and do something and then we need to take a step back. So I would rather postpone this for another opportunity to sit down and discuss with our leaders and get input from the community before we make a decision. Yeah. I don't feel that there's anyone up here or I guess I could say I feel that we all agree that all day kindergarten is
087an ultimate goal. Free all day kindergarten is the ultimate goal. It's best for our kids. And although the children that don't get it do tend to catch up by third grade, sometimes the attitudes that they've assumed by starting out behind in first and second and as they go up, those those negative attitudes can continue to affect them well into the future with their attitudes about school. So I know we all want to have all day kindergarten if it's budget conscious. So the way I'd like to suggest that we proceed from the chair of the finance committee is that come into the next committee meeting um in June, we really focus on the exact number that we would be investing year-over-year that we would see in that five-year forecast, which I don't think is as substantial
088because the one thing that we have to think about is that we're not actually adding any expenditures because we wouldn't be adding any new staff. So, what we really are giving up is revenue, which generally our revenue comes from tax dollars and estates and things like that. As a public school district, we don't generally look to our parents for revenue. Sometimes they offset fees or paytoplay or things like this, but um you know, we don't look at this decision, and I I know I'm speaking for us on this and and also for the district. We don't look at a decision on uh how much to pay for kindergarten as a revenue generating opportunity. Um so what you know we talked about through the situation at the state house with the senate we will have more
089information before our committee meeting next month and we should have a pretty good picture although it won't be fully approved by the governor. There still is an opportunity for him to make changes right at the end. Um, but I think come our regular board meeting next month, we'll have more information. I think beyond that, we would be getting too close to the next school year, you know, we know people are making their decisions now about where their kids are going to go. They might be making some deposits or things like that, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily couldn't um couldn't still decide to change their mind. Um, but that's the way I would like to proceed so we can see kind of what we see from the state because if it does come down
090to a few hundred,000, which I know is not nothing, but we have to think about essential and non-essential. So, I know it's it's hard when we think about paytoplay and busing and things like this, but it is non-essential in the way that we look at it from a public school perspective. And then essential spending is kindergarten, you know, all day kindergarten and making sure that we were being equitable for all of our families in the community. Um, so I think that if we go into committee next month and can really look at what that investment would be, if it lands at 300,000 or 350,000, that way when we look at our five-year forecast, which is is looking much better, that that may be an opportunity for us to say, you know, okay, the the state
091isn't going to do the 30% thing maybe, so we don't have to worry about that. Um the guarantee might be off. So maybe we get a little less. And I I'm not expecting that we're not going to get a little less, but that would put us in a better opportunity to make that decision. So that way we're tableabling it for now, but then we can kind of make a final decision next next month and then if we weren't going to do it at that time, it would definitely be a you know next year decision. My only push back to that is because I feel like the way that you're talking about this is the right way. I feel like this is a long-term discussion about like what is the planning for our district? What are
092we finding that's important to us? And I mean I think all of us say yes, this is a very important thing, but with that kind of long-term planning, like we're still not going to have our audit back in. Yeah. And then my other concern is that we've been doing a lot of really really hard work making these financial cuts and we're we're doing the hard work right now. We're cutting busing. We're raising extracurricular fees. We're making these difficult staff decisions and we're going to have to keep doing that. But while we're seeing some of the benefits of those financial decisions, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to make another huge financial decision like this until we have more time. Yeah. So, I don't know that we're going to be able to have
093a decision like a wellthoughtout decision next month. And I also I feel like as a parent, I would want to know like right now Yeah. what's going to happen. So, I do agree with you like I think we need to continue to have these discussions and we need to really slow down and think about this. Um, but I don't know that we're going to be able to have a decision next month. Yeah, I I would feel more comfortable along the same time like stay the course where we are right now. 5,000 families have already decided where they're going next year. Not that they couldn't change, but they can just stay the course. I think it's hard that uncertainty and the maybe what if still leaves it out there. Um so I think for next year
094we should stay the course with what we were planning and then keep the continue the conversations and the budget and the all of these. Yeah. Well, we're not in a position to vote on tonight anyway. So what I did want to stay at the end of my statement is that currently at this time families should absolutely move forward with that. nothing's changed. So, I totally agree with you guys. So, um I think that we'll talk about it more in committee. We'll give the administration an opportunity to bring more stuff back, but absolutely people should move forward as if nothing has changed. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. And 250 responses from the thought exchange. So, please continue to if we put those things out, that was a fantastic response and that's very helpful. and continue to email us
095and talk to us because we need to hear from the community on this, especially if we are doing some of that more long-term planning. We need to hear what's important to our community. The the only thing I want to clear up because you saw a couple different percentages earlier. I stated that kindergarten was down 25% of the 721. The 38% is what actually the kindergarten numbers by itself. So, take kindergarten, pull it aside. and it's down 38%. Just want to clarify that. And and I've definitely heard from the community that vouchers is impacting that. I've heard families say, "Well, we get voucher money to go to other schools and we'll go there." So, um you know, just another way that the public is still paying and the students aren't coming here. Yeah. They're making it
096hard on us for sure. All right. That's good. All right. Okay, we're moving into personnel and we have a lot in personnel this month. So, I will try to keep my update short um as possible. Uh first exciting piece of news is that we had a principal search going on. We recently completed the search for a new high school principal and out of nearly 30 initial candidates, the central office team narrowed the pool down to eight and then four with three rounds of interviews. Um, and the interviews included students, staff, and community members because we know this is such an important decision for our community. Uh, the questions for the interviews were based off of the principal profile that we developed with input from the staff, students in the community and our decision was made
097on Monday and we will talk about a little later, but I I know that we've all probably seen that we're excited to have Kevin Mezer fill this role. uh the next thing we talked about was this EMS survey. So through our partnership with swoosh, which is the Southwest Ohio organization for school health, we conducted a healthcare survey through enrollment management services for both potential employee and district efficiencies. So, our staff highly value their insurance benefits and the survey revealed an opportunity to enhance support for making insurance decisions potentially saving the district money. Uh, the cost of the survey and the follow-up analysis are being covered by swoosh and employees eligible for insurance through the district will have the option to meet with the EMS staff to determine if this extended offering would be beneficial for
098them. We are also exploring an after-school study hall for middle school. Um we will be sending a survey to introduce and gather interest in this afterchool study hall for middle school students who lack transportation for the 2526 school year. This program is designed to give parents extra time to pick up their children and is a direct response to requests from our community. Uh site supervisors are going to oversee the program at no cost to our families. And then we have a lot of exciting staff changes this month. As we bid farewell to our outstanding chief academic officer, Paul Daniels, who will be transitioning to a superintendent role in New Richmond, Misty Gets, who is our current principal of the junior high, will assume the role of director of teaching and learning. She will be supported
099by Kelly Ellison, our new coordinator of early learning. That's preK through five. and Todd Wells will move from assistant principal at the junior high to principal of the new Milford Middle School with Lauren Iger stepping into the role as assistant principal. And then just a couple of other things and then I'm going to hand this over to Jenny. Um we've been working through some job descriptions. So we're updating those job descriptions across the district including newly created positions. And this month we will be approving all certified staff for the upcoming school year. And with that I would like to hand the mic over to Jenny. Can we can we get a first a second with on the agenda and then some conversation a vote and then we would like for some of those folks to
100come to the podium as well once once you take a vote. Absolutely. Uh so can I get a motion to approve and this is consent agenda. So, all the human resource business from G1 through G6. So, moved. Second. And then we're going to do a vote. Is that what you said? Uh, we we'll have conversation. There's just a couple things I want to talk about. Um, so we have some retirees. Kim Frell, 32 years. Kathy Langner, 31 years. Mark Trout, 32 years. Vicky Williams, 25 years. uh Victoria Johnson who has been with us uh I think a little bit off and on. Uh and then we have super sub Mary do 29 years of subbing solely in Milford. Wow. So that's pretty amazing. So we have that and then Paul stand up back there. Um
101Paul doesn't know that I that I was going to um say something about him but my association with Paul uh started probably 15 plus years ago. uh we were colleagues and then co-workers in Cincinnati public schools and um high school principles. Um and so our professional affiliation continued after I came here, Paul came um to Milford and the best work that was ever done uh with us uh was at South. We shared a classroom at South. Um Paul and I talk about it often about just being able to have conversations, spitball ideas. Um, and so I'm going to miss that. But mostly, Paul, I'm going to miss your random singing. I'm going to miss your constant need for a snack of some sort. Um, and of course the assortment of condiments needed for whatever lunch
102you have. U, but I think most importantly during this time, you know, I I've known Paul as a professional, but certainly he's a valued friend and I'm super happy for him. and um New Richmond has no idea what's about to run them over. So, I'm super happy for him and proud of him. And with that, now we can take a vote and then we'll turn it over to Jenny. Please call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. All right. Well, one of the highlights of HR is certainly watching our employees grow and emerge into into leaders. And tonight, this was evident for five individuals. So, if Misty Gets could join me, Todd Wells could join me, Kelly Ellison is not here with us to due
103to family obligations, if Lauren Iger can join me, and then Mr. Kevin Mezer. So each of them have certainly uh shown their desire and commitment to expand their leadership and impact the larger group of our school community. Each is eager to begin their new role and work hard for a seamless transition. And again, I want to thank you to Paul as a dear colleague and friend as well for his work and dedication to Milford. And he remains committed to supporting these changes and these people as we prepare for the 2526 school year. I think each of these um these three for sure we're going to start with and then we're going to do Kevin at the end. So I think they have have a quick word that they'd like to share about their new role.
104So we'll start with Misty. Misty's is a little bit longer. So Well, I just I I really appreciate the time to just tell everyone a little bit about me and to make sure I thank a few people. So it's only a minute and a half. I promise. That's what that's what I always say, too. Um, it is truly an honor to stand before you tonight as I step into the role of director of teaching and learning. I want to start by saying how incredibly grateful I am for this opportunity. For the past 10 years, I've had the privilege of serving as an administrator in this district. Four years at the high school and six years at the junior high. It has been more than a job. It has been a calling. And Milford has always
105been home. In fact, I'm proud to say I'm in a Milford I'm a Milford alumni, class of 1993. I grew up in this town, living in different places all over Milford. My dad was a hardwood floor man, and from him I learned the value of hard work and grit. I got my first job at Lee's Famous Recipe in Old Milford when I was just 15 years old. That is that the timer? No. Oh my man, that was from your family. There you were. That was and I have been working ever since. Um, back then I didn't know if college was in the cards for me. Neither of my parents had a high school diploma and we didn't talk much about college at home. But I had a history teacher at Milford High School, Mr. Jim
106Moore, who changed the course of my life. He believed in me, encouraged me, and told me I could go to college. His belief gave me the confidence to believe in myself. I worked my way through college, and now here I am doing a job I once could only dream of. I've had the benefit of being mentored by so many incredible people over the years who have helped me prepare for this next step. One of those mentors is Paul Daniels. Paul, I will never be able to fill the huge shoes you are leaving behind, but I want to thank you for your leadership, your guidance, and your unwavering dedication to this district. You've done an amazing job preparing me, and I'm grateful beyond words. To the staff, families, and students I've worked with over the past
107decade, thank you. Thank you for your trust, your collaboration, and your commitment to what's best for kids. This new role is not about me. It is about us. It's about continuing the work we've started, always striving to support our teachers and create meaningful learning experiences for every student who walks through our doors. And finally, I want to thank my family. My husband Jeff and my son Camden are here with me tonight, and I couldn't be more proud or thankful to have their love and support. My daughters may be living their best lives overseas right now, but I know they're cheering me on from across the ocean. This is a full circle moment for me. From a kid who wasn't sure what their future held to standing here today, this district, this community, and this journey
108who has shaped who I am, and I'm honored to serve, and I promise to give this role everything I have. Thank you. All right, before Lauren goes, I think you need to know that Misty is a lifelong learner. She has finished all of her coursework for her doctorate and she's currently working on her dissertation. So, Good evening. I wanted to thank you for this opportunity. I am so honored to be able to accept this position. This is such an exciting time for the Milford Middle School. Um I want to thank leaders like Misty and those leaders that are in the room tonight. You have been mentors to me throughout the time as from when I was an educator in Milford. Um Melissa Caraher, thank you for everything that you have done and thank you to
109the board for believing in and valuing the position of a TOA. I would not truly be here if it weren't for that position. So, thank you. And I'm looking forward to this and serving the Milford community. Thank you. Lauren is also an alumni. I said Lauren is a Milford grad also. Yes, Lauren is also a Milford grad. And um I am not. Sorry. Todd Todd is not. However, Todd did say when we talked to Todd about this middle school um principal position, he said, "I'm only going to do it if I can have Lauren Niger." Laura Niger. So, thank you. So, uh, it it's it's a it's an honor. It's a privilege. I I appreciate, uh, you giving me the the vote of confidence to to open up this new building. It's it's kind of
110like building a new house. I've I've only built one and I'm won't never build another one. Uh, and to open up a new house, but to open up this wonderful community uh, school for Milford. Um, I'm so excited. So excited to do that. So, I appreciate the the honor and and I I hope that I can fill the shoes that have been at the old junior high. So, I've been mentored by many uh administrators. Miss Ellison was there when I first started in the district. Actually started in the district at central office and then uh Levy didn't pass. I got transferred to the the junior high, but came back to the board office. But I love kids and when I was here, I know Mr. Spiser and Miss Berkeley were very happy when I said
111I have to go back to the junior high because it's all about the kids and and that's where my heart is. So hopefully um we'll do a great job and um if if you do get phone calls from parents, just have them call me. My cell phone number is online as well. But uh but no, thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you. All right, a little bit about Todd. If you don't know Todd, Todd helps run the uh Special Olympics um here in the spring and that's his true element being out there with his kids and it's a testament to who you are and he's going to bring it to Milford next year. We've talked about that every other year. All right. So, I was going to say that Myra pretty pretty amazing
112that three out of these four Milford alumni and grads. So, full circle for sure. So lastly, Kevin, if you want to come a little closer here, it's my pleasure to formally introduce Kevin Mezer as the next principal of Milford High School. Emily touched on this a little bit. A comprehensive process was conducted beginning with the survey followed by the focus groups that recreated a profile of the school community's hope of the next principal of Milford High School. After three rigorous rounds of interviews, Mr. Mezer was selected. Kevin is a proud Milford grad. came back to teach, began his teaching career and taught mathematics for 11 years, took a one-year move to the elementary in a teacher on assignment role and is currently finishing his second year as the assistant principal at Milford High School. So,
113I will let Kevin tell you uh one about his vision and also um his goals and how he aligns to that Milford of High School profile. Uh, President Mason, members of the board, Superintendent Spiser, uh, thank you first and foremost. Um, as we've heard before, we've got three of us up here that are products of Milford, and then a wonderful new middle school, uh, principal that's going to lead the new building transfer. Um, just to give you a little bit of background, uh, growing up through Milford, working at Finley Ray, uh, CVS on 131 with Amy Dayne, um, and and some of some of the other people that are in the Milford community, uh, going to University of Cincinnati and then coming back to Milford to teach mathematics at the high school for 10 plus
114years. Uh, had a great experience in the classroom. Absolutely love being in the classroom. Want to be in there as much as I possibly can. uh kind of got the um the drive to to lead uh which led me to get my my administrative license through the University of Cincinnati uh and decided to jump to the elementary school for a year which was probably the most rewarding experience um I could have ever asked for um other than the interview experience that I just had. Um Lauren hit the nail on the head talking about TOAS. That's such a valuable experience working along uh Mina Espie at Voy Smith. Uh just learning how to be a principal going through um all the things that we talked about in school and actually applying it. Uh and then being
115able to apply and become an assistant principal at Milford High School has been amazing. Uh the last two years I've learned so much. Um a special thank you to Dr. Arnold for the work that he's put into Milford High School. uh giving uh his assistant principles and his associate principles the opportunity to learn and grow and and sometimes fall and learn from that as well. Um first and foremost, I should have said this first, but I wanted to give you guys a little bit of background. I've got two very important people here tonight. I've got my wife Sarah Mezer and my son Bo Mezer um who attends Meadow View. Um two very important people. We have a third one that is not here tonight. Uh his name is Lucan. Um he's two years old. uh
116we made the decision that at two years old you can be ready for Milford but Milford might not be ready for you and that's okay. Uh he might have led this meeting with with charisma and in a lot of attitude and that's okay but he's still learning. Uh these these guys are my rocks. Um Sarah and I whenever we we have an opportunity we sit down and we talk about it and I was talking with Mr. Spiser about that process. Uh we're a team and that's one of the things that I'm most proud of that you guys heard in the interview. Um, moving forward with this new role, uh, I'm excited being a product of Milford High School, graduating in 2007, seeing what the history is and seeing what it's become. I'm so excited to
117to see what I can do with the community and with the students. You saw a group of students here tonight, them participating and learning what the board meeting is all about. Let's do more of that. Let's let's have hard discussions. Let's teach. Let's learn. Let's fail forward. Let's move forward. We have a lot of tradition in Milford and you all know that there's a lot of history in Milford. Let's embrace all of that and let's move forward together. We have a lot of layers at Milford High School. We've got staff, we've got students, we've got community members, we've got different events, we've got all sorts of components, but in the grand scheme of things, if if we can come together, we can ultimately make the biggest decisions and reach the biggest goals for Milford High
118School. With that said, I look forward to being the building principal moving forward. I'm excited. Go Eagles. [Applause] Um, I just wanted to say Myra and I were on the interview panel for the principal search. We were representing the board and um, when Kevin did his interview, I was so impressed. He answered every single question like spot on. And all of his questions showed a real passion to be student centered um and a focus on our students which is exactly what we need. Um he also showed that he will collaborate with his staff and he trusts in his staff and I also think that's really important. I felt like his energy and passion, which you've seen here, are contagious. And I'm I'm really excited to see him as he leads the new high school community.
119And I think that he has a real vision and dedication for our community, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him. I also walked out just blown away. I wasn't expecting it because I've known him since he was in kindergarten. So, I didn't know how much he'd grown in all those years. But his interview questions were uh all about treating kids with dignity, a vision for the community, and uniting the community. And it was inspirational, and I was thrilled that everyone in the process agreed. And I'm really happy for Kevin. And I taught Lauri Niger's husband in fourth grade. So, he was cute, too. I know my daughter, who's a recent graduate, was very excited that Kevin was selected. She said that when she was in Milford High School, going through the hallways and working
120with you was a big moment for her, something she'll always remember. So, I know that she uh was very happy. She text me when I got it now. She's like, "Why didn't you tell me?" You know, I'm like, "Well, I just found out this afternoon I wasn't on the panel." All right. So, uh, with that, we're moving on to curriculum and instruction business. Emily, do you have an update for us? I do. Um, at the curriculum, uh, meeting this month, we'll talk about a couple things, and not to take, uh, Mr. Daniel's, uh, excitement away, but, um, we approved several stipens for staff, um, safety training, kindergarten readiness, summer learning, um, and extended school year for some students with IEPs. Um, we also looked at the handbooks. Um, I think the administration's done a really
121good job of trying to align it and get where we can documents in one place so that everything um is all aligned. So, we'll be approving those tonight. Um, we spent time talking about our new K5 math curriculum um, reveal which will be on the agenda tonight as well. Um, the Milford Academy introduced a new elective course in drone operations. So, that's a neat opportunity um including some FAA certifications um and some realw world technology for public safety that those students will have an opportunity to explore. And then we also um got an update from Emma Walker about technology and onetoone device programs um and kind of what that looks like going forward. With that, I need a motion to approve the curriculum pay. So, so moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs.
122Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now, I need a motion to approve the handbooks. So moved. Second. Um, so this is just something we're doing every year to make sure that everything is all aligned. Is that right, Mr. Daniels? Yes. Each each year the handbooks have to be board approved so that families can sign off of them in final forms. So uh one of the big changes is the authorized use policy. It needed to be updated to include um information on artificial intelligence per the Ohio um general assembly names shuffling around and all those are there for the public to see transparently what all the changes are. They're attached to the board agenda. All right. Any discussion around that? Let's call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs.
123Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Next. I need an appro a motion to approve the drone elective course at the Milford Academy. So, moved. Second. Uh, Mr. Daniels, can you tell us about like how this came about and everything? So, it came about, it was homegrown from Jimmy Grippa, who is our amazing um social studies teacher at the academy. And as you know, over the last 10 years since Mrs. Berkeley and the team went to the Boston Day and Evening Academy, they have worked really hard. We have worked really hard to revamp the academy. They are looking to add some electives. We did have some grant money that was left over. So, we were able to purchase drones and uh he will offer that class. The goal over time is
124for students to earn their FAA credential or their license, but we'll start, you know, small and build up. And then when they learn how to use them appropriately, it is another um avenue for careers such as realy um disaster management um and insurance agencies when they fly and tell you you have mold on your roof. So those are the type of things that you know the practical uses and how they're tied to a career field. Any other discussion? I just think this is so cool and I think it's another way that we're preparing our students for the real future and things that may not exist uh right now. Like we're preparing them for those careers. So I just think this is a really really great program. Can you call the role? Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs.
125Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I need a motion to approve the math purchase. So moved. Is it motioned or it says information information? We're not voting on it. We already did. We're good. Yeah. All right. So uh we are at the end of our cycle of revision for math K prek really through 12 this year. I want to start out by thanking the teachers. They are the most important uh folks that are part of this process. That would be Sarah Savitz, Kristen her, Jesse Merke, Jen Wiler, Amanda Chandler, Stacy Vernon, Erica Rous, Christy Blankenship, Blair Slasher, Megan Davis, Michelle Reid, Michelle Thompson, Lindseay Shifflet, Katie Swing, Kayla Chitwood, Christina Hinchcliffe, Jen Borchers, Jen O'Brien, Sarah Us, and then Kelly Ellison. The most important thing here is this is
126a five-year adoption. It is not curriculum. It is a core resource. The standards are developed by the Ohio Department of Education workforce and voted on by the state. This was a long process that went from September to May. Uh we are excited uh because we too just like buildings can come under budget. So we are $28,4827 under budget for a 5-year revision. Um, our teachers are very happy after using uh math investigations for many, many, many, many moons. At least 11 years to my knowledge. Why are you looking at me? I just cuz you used it. Um, there was tremendous feedback for a change. So, we piloted three resources. We built a site for our families to go out and look. So, they did not have to come here. They could go out online. They
127could make choices. They could read about the products. and it was 75% of our staff who were part of the pilot did choose reveal. So it was pretty overwhelming um you know 3 to one there. So we are very happy. Um I am happy to pass the reinss on to Kelly Ellson who will work on the training this summer. Uh we will be able to have all of our supplies shipped to us throughout the summer months and we will be ready to go with a comprehensive training for our staff that will kick off on May 23rd. There are three optional trainings. They will be paid if you can't make any of those. You can also do an asynchronous online course. So, there are lots and lots of supports, office hours, and free teacher one-on-one uh
128coaching opportunities that do come with Reveal. So, that is another huge plus. No one has to be out there and wait for us to have another um meeting training. We will also train, just so everyone knows, our gifted interventionists, our co-teers, and our EL teachers. So, we will have over 103 staff members who will be trained and ready to go in August. And thank you for the vote earlier today. I just want to say too, I really appreciate that you took the time to build a decision log around this core resource. I know that that takes a lot of time to do and a lot of resources to make that happen. And I think that if you look at that decision log, you will see how much goes into a decision like that. And it's
129not just financial, although we do appreciate you coming in under budget. Um there's a lot of collaboration that goes on with our teams that are using this resource and there's a lot of thought and a lot of testing that goes into this and really knowing and understanding both our students and our teachers. So, I know that we do that for every curriculum resource, but I just think that the decision log really shows that played out. So, I thank you for that. My pleasure. Absolutely. All right, we are moving on to business operations and we have a Duke easement that I need a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Any discussion around this? Jeff, do you want to talk about this a little bit? Um, it's just a short easement at the uh intersection of Eagles
130Way and Wolfpen because Duke needs to relocate a gas line because of the lane widening and some of the storm piping that's going in. Great. Any questions? No. Please call the role. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Um, and then we have some public participation. We do. First up, we have Mary Ferguson. Oh, you got it. Um, so first off, I wanted to say thank you for pausing the kindergarten. It's showing that you guys are willing to do the research, which is what we as a community need for you to do. Um, second thing, I have two questions. One is on the handbooks that you guys just approved tonight. there was a blank space because you're waiting to figure out what the phone section is. But
131I also think you need to reinforce with the coaches in particular that if students aren't allowed on their phones. It talked a lot about texting. A lot of them use group me that they shouldn't be using group meet to contact their students during school hours. oftentimes they offer opportunities on a first come first answer basis which means the students have to have their phones out during the school day. So when you look to update that portion if you could do something about that that would be great. And then I have two questions. One is about um fiscal responsibility and busing for sports. I don't know if that's actually a requirement um when we go to state minimums for busing. And we've asked the coaches and they're all kind of like, "Oh, we don't know. We
132don't know." But we will have buses next year. I just want to make sure the district is not paying for those. I kind of feel like the boosters or the sports themselves should pay for it or parents can transport their kids because we usually go to the games anyway. And then the other question is dealing with the turf that was just bought. I don't understand why the boosters aren't paying 100% for it. Um I believe 10% came out of the general fund to pay for that. And I just kind of wonder about, you know, we're saying before at least now we look semideent for a couple years. Is that where we really want to be spending the general fund money? And that's it. Thank you. Okay, we have more participation. We do. Uh, Jennifer Culver,
133my phone died. Sorry, my notes were on it. I just came uh to talk about Kaylee Masten and um my daughter was one of her good friends and it would be really um mean a lot to her and all their friends if somehow you guys could find it in your heart to let them just have the chair there for her to recognize her. Um it's not about what happened to her but just what kind of student she was at Milford. My kids, I have three kids that have been in Milford 14 years. Um, Kaylee was one of a kind, the most sweetest girl, plus looked like a beauty queen, and she could have been a mean, nasty kid, and so everybody would want to be her friend, but she was the opposite of that. She
134was the sweetest girl. My daughter um was coming back from being homeschooled, and Kaylee made her, she was freaking out, and she just took the time to be with my make coming back to high school so much nicer for her. And she was just a light to so many kids. Never bullied anybody, never was nasty. I guarantee you couldn't find one person to tell you anything terrible about this girl. She was just always so sweet. Um, great kid. So, I'm just kind of heartbroken that us as a community are telling her mom that we can't put a chair for their graduation and for all the kids she touched. and she was an athlete and had just has been really um eating my daughter alive who's been struggling with losing one of her best friends and
135all their friend group. Um and her poor mom has been struggling every day. It's just a nightmare. If if something like this can happen to Kaye, you know, athlete, good student, gorgeous, it can happen to any one of our kids. I mean, every single one of these kids are talking about suicide daily. It's terrifying. and they're scared to talk about it because they're scared they're going to be locked away or put away to tell the truth. So, I just think it's really important that we talk with the kids and bring these subjects up and, you know, not try to hush it away because when they get that idea, they're going to do it, you know, and we're not going to be able to bring them back. I just wanted to see if there's any way
136we could do anything um more for her mom and for the kids that she touched um as a student of Milford. Do we have anyone else? We do. Mr. Chambers. Uh before I get started, I would actually like to take a quick minute moment to uh thank Paul Daniels um and wish him good luck. Um in my time here in Milford, um I don't think there was a better person. I think the talk of how he has uh helped lead people. I've saw that myself. Um I do think Milford is losing something great and New Richmond is gaining something really great. So Paul, good luck to you, sir. Um, I come here uh in support of the Masten family who has uh been through an unimaginable loss um in recent years. Um the loss of
137which most of us will never experience. Um being a father of an amazing Milford graduate, one that played sports his entire youth, made good friends, made some not so good friends, but stayed out of trouble. Um tested his father's patience, but was always dependable and trustworthy. Um he experienced some trying times. He moved from Lovelin to Milford. Um but never enough uh nothing would ever get him to ever decide on a fate that was as as irreversible as suicide. Kaylee was that and then some. From what I've come to to learn, um she did make an irreversible mistake. My son was able to walk and receive his diploma and Kaye will not. If providing a simple empty chair would have provided the Masten family some bit of peace knowing they could uh connect on that
138special day known as high school graduation, most in this community, as we've seen, would have uh agreed that that was an acceptable gesture. I've heard the district's uh um e expert opinions. I've heard opposing of of opinions on what would be the best course of action. Let it be known in this sensitive topic there is no best or uh correct course of action just the right one. Being humane and unpolitical in the beginning would have saved this district countless negative conversations on social media, attention from news companies and now Union Township trustees and more. instead of doing the right thing. Um, which would have been working with the Masten family to work on a resolution or a solution that provided them the peace of mind on this day. The district decided to make their beds
139and you're going to stick with it from the sounds of it. Um, I think that's very unwise in an election year where we're seeing countless admin positions. How funny I I mentioned Paul Daniels uh being vacated um because of what this community has asked from this administration for years. I think it's also very unwise for this community um that is seeing the district spend money on raises and bonuses and a building while screaming we are reaching financial emergency soon. The wise thing would have been to understand again that this family is grieving. I'm sorry that's 3 minutes. May I have another 30 seconds? Our policy is 3 minutes. The wise thing would have been to understand that's three minutes sir. That's Thank you. Um Mr. Aerman, can you answer some of the questions about um
140where the general fund for the turf the 10% how we came to that decision? There's no 10%. It's all out of permanent improvement. Okay. And then um for the busing that is all offered through the sport the athletic fund and the boosters. Is that correct? Like Mr. Kaufman's going to help us out here. Yeah. I I don't want to make an assumption on the athletic side, but on the activity side, the paytoplay money that comes in goes directly into a transportation account. So that's funded in band and choir and drama. It's funded 100% through paytoplay. So that's money in, money out. It doesn't come out of the general fund. Okay. Um and then I do want to address uh the situation of the chair. I know this is a really tough issue and I thank
141everybody for continuing to offer their thoughts and concerns about this. Um it is a painful situation and there's a lot of grief that comes with the loss of Kaylee and our hearts do remain with her family. Um there were a couple things said in um the public portion of this. If something like this can happen to Kaylee, it can happen to anyone. And I believe that that's what our decision was thinking about the most. Um when we consulted with the experts, we really heard them on the potential risks of suicide contagion and it's our responsibility as board members but also a district to make decisions that prioritize the safety and well-being of all of our students. So that is exactly what we're doing because of the suicide contagion that can come at memorials at graduation.
142Um, we are going to continue to celebrate Kayle's memory. Um, her name's going to be read aloud at graduation just like the other graduates and her family is receiving a diploma. And the other thing that was talked about was not hushing away these discussions. We are encouraging these discussions and we team with MJ Ostroski and her team and our mental health specialists and have been very open about talking about this one-on-one with the students and we will continue to be there for our students when it comes to mental health. Um, so I know that it's not what everyone wants, but we really did try to prioritize the safety and well-being of all of our students. And then do I have did you want to say something? Okay. Did I have any discussion from anyone? Um
143I have a couple. So I have a I wouldn't call it graduating sixth grade or a promoting six. What is it when they go? They don't really graduate from sixth grade, but they graduate. They graduate. Okay. They graduate. Um but I wanted to give a huge shout out to the gym teachers for sore day. They had and they got double duty of sore day because all the fifth graders and all the sixth graders. I was out there today. So was Myra. Um and the kids were having so much fun and connecting with each other. It's so fun to see those um connections start. The band, I was uh at the band concert, sixth eighth grade band concert this week as well. Um and the one thing that stuck out, I mean the kids, the improvement
144that the kids had was fantastic. But also, Mr. Kaufman, can you tell me what the numbers for sixth grade band were? Because I think I got it wrong that there's a hundred more next year. Blood pressure still trying to like normalize. Uh we have on average for the past several years been somewhere between 85 and 95 in sixth grade band. Next year um we actually picked up two after the concert last night. We're at 180 students in sixth grade band next year. So that's just as a parent I don't know how they're all going to fit in the good. Good luck with that. But um I think that goes to show that um making it a middle school for next year and giving these opportunities that tells me almost a hundred fa more families are
145interested because we've taken away the barrier of having to get a carpool or drive them to school early. Um and when you do you can't really do bander if you don't start in sixth grade. So I can only imagine what that's going to do to the arts and band program. Um and I'm sure choir saw a similar increase. I was not at the choir numbers are up too. We have uh over 50% of Milford Middle School will be taking music next year in some capacity, which is that's that's awesome. So, um just kudos to all of the teachers. I mean, like I said, I was seeing sixth grade uh things this year, but I know there's a lot of great things going on as we wrap up the school year. Um I have to piggyback
146about the band concert. Um it was sixth through 8th grade. I was not expecting much from a junior high band. And it was so amazing to see the sixth graders. And they started with hot cross buns, which I love because that's the only thing they could play the whole first quarter. And then they went into two uh or three amazing complicated songs. And then they left the stage and the seventh grade came out and they were just so much more impressive, so much more complicated, so many more instruments and harmony and rhythms added. And I thought, well, they can't top this. And here came eighth grade. And it it just blew me away. I think you could have been at most high school band performances. It was it was just amazing. I wish everybody could
147see the sixth and the seventh and the eighth. It was impressive. That's cool. Yeah. And I would just say and if Parker if you could make sure this gets into the uh update for the meeting is just to make sure that the community and I only ask that because I know there's probably only tens of people watching right now is just to make sure that the community understands to you know support the PTO's and PTAs whenever they can. You know I was talking to the the uh PTO at Pison after I went to the carnival there which was phenomenal. They had a great turnout. The weather was great. They had so many things there to do. Um, but they were, you know, very overwhelmed. There wasn't uh very many volunteers that signed up, but the
148place was full of people. So, we know everybody loves it. And I don't think people always understand that a lot of those special activities at each individual school is not put on by the administration or the school board. Um, so it just doesn't happen if nobody um volunteers. So, um, let's just make sure that we're continuing to communicate that out for our PTOs and our PTAs that are putting in so much work that people can, um, you know, sign up for even small shifts if you can. You know, I've done it. You know, I know Myers has done it. It's it's it's painless, but the the show does not go on if if nobody signs up. And it is crucial to them. I mean, we see all the time on our donation pieces of just
149how much equipment and rock walls and just so many things that are donated by our PTO, PTA, and just the community engagement piece of it all, too. So, let's just make sure we're continuing to support those folks so they're not doing it on their own. Great. Uh, with that, I got one thing I have to mention before we close up shop. Um I just want to mention the fact that we made the decision to disable comments on Facebook. Uh and that is for the foreseeable future. The social media platform was originally intent uh the intent for the original platform was to share information. It is not um a space for open public debate. Uh, and then most recently we've had some um posts that were um I would say uh non-related. So there was non-related
150items going into those posts. Um excuse me. We certainly welcome family feedback. We will ask that um you know folks reach out to us directly if there's feedback they want to give. Um I think that is the the appropriate uh platform for folks, not not our Facebook page. And we'll continue to evaluate this over time, but for the foreseeable future, Facebook comments are off. Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with that. I mean, I know that it goes off the rails in there and people are more than welcome to email us or communicate in any other way, but that's just I think the only other thing I'd say about it is that people think that we read those things, right? There'll be people that expect a response to something that happens on social media or
151something like that. If we receive emails or communications in that way, we respond within generally 24 hours. You know, our administration is very open to meeting with people if that's necessary, but it gets uh you know, just people should understand that that we are not monitoring social media. So, it's true. Anything else? What What's that award in front of you? Oh, yes. I meant to talk about that. Okay. Thank you. So I was wondering why there was nothing in front of me. Part of the BAM awards this year which are put on by Miami Township and we won this year for the best large business Milford Village exempted schools and you can see our award here. Um and we have a little certificate from David Taylor. And there was a nice ceremony that Maryanne went
152to because her son also won a Wham award. Yes, it did. Um, and she was able to receive that award for us. It really was. And it I need to correct it's the Miami T Milford Miami Township Chamber of Commerce award. Thank you. Yeah, it's a great evening. Yeah. All right. Um, so with that, our next board meeting is June 19th, 2025, and it will be right here at 1099 State Route 131. And I need a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Please call the role. Mrs. Will, yes. Mrs. Powers, yes. Mr. Wilson, yes. Mrs. Chestnut, yes. Mrs. Mason, yes. Ma'am, did you get your question? You can come up now. We're done.