001All right, it's 6:00. This is a special board meeting of the Edgewood City School District. Miss Bowers, will you please call the roll? >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft. >> Present. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes. >> Present. >> Mr. Kevin Ball. >> Present. >> Mr. Mark Messerschmidt. >> Present. >> Mr. John Thomas. >> Present. >> Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? >> So moved. >> Mr. Ball, is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Thomas. Miss Bowers, will you call the roll, please? >> Mr. Kevin Ball. >> Yes. >> Mr. John Thomas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mark Messerschmidt. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> Next, we'll look for a motion to go into executive session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal,
002discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee official. Is there a motion to go into executive session? >> So moved. >> Mr. Messerschmidt, is there a second? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Barnes. >> Miss Bowers, will you call the roll, please? >> Mr. Mark Messerschmidt. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kevin Ball. >> Yes. >> Mr. John Thomas. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. It is 6:01 p.m. >> We are back in regular session. Um we have superintendent items. Mr. Philpott. >> Uh the first item are the uh class of 2026 uh graduate candidates. I'd like to approve this group. There's a couple Google Sheets. There were some last-minute add-ons there. >>
003Is there a motion to approve the class of 2026 graduates as presented? >> So moved. >> Mr. Ball, is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Messerschmidt. Mr. Bowerschmidt, please. >> Mr. Kevin Ball. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mark Messerschmidt. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Ball. >> Yes. >> Mr. John Thomas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Karen Scott, are you here? >> So, the next item are the pay-to-participate fees. Um I just Call your name. >> Mine. >> Wait. We We said a couple months ago it was part of our master kind of our plan for next year we were going to look at pay-to-participate fees. No commitment to change it, but at least to look at it. Um the question was is is our structure a barrier for for student
004athletes and um would lowering it, you know, appeal to possibly some some maybe kids in other districts who like to come down to and go to school here and and participate in athletics. Um so, as you can see on the left-hand side, you've got the our current uh structure is $500 for the uh first sport, $500 for the second sport, and the third sport is free. So, families that pay like two or two, you know, kids that pay two or more sports it's $1,000. You You're fine arts, you've got the marching band and the choir leaders are $500. Everything else it it is less. Some of them are free. It's a little bit confusing cuz if you're in band and but you do jazz or pep, then that's free. If you're in band, but if
005you're not in marching band, it's $150. Um if you go down to the first box, you'll see that in '22-'23 when the pay-to-play at Edgewood was $50, we had and this is just student athletes. This does not include fine arts. This does not include marching band, choir leaders, plays. This is just student athletes. I could probably get those numbers for you, but this is the numbers Scott was able to get me. We had 928 student athletes in 22-23. In 23-24, that was the year that we bumped it up to $500, the current pay structure. Well, mine's mine's changed because at that time we didn't even reduce it for for free or reduced. Um we we dropped down to 725 student athletes. So, you saw 200 less student athletes. Gradually, over the last 2 years, it's
006it's went back up. So, last year it was 774, and this year it's projected I mean, I'm assuming we're going to be right at 834. The big change there that we saw the increase was due to um we're still $500 pay-to-play. First and second sport, third sport free, but we added the provision if you're on free or reduced, free would be free. And if you're on reduced lunch, your pay-to-play would be um we saw I I got to assume that that cost reduction is what caused those numbers to jump back up. Um so, when I was making a recommendation that we look at it, I was just playing with numbers. My theory is if we lowered pay-to-play, we might increase participation. I don't know I don't know what the magic number is. So, if you
007took if if you if you calculated roughly 50% of our kids are on free or reduced lunch, so they're getting them free, I just said basically half of half the number of athletes. So, approximately 400 athletes again paying the full $500 pay-to-play, you're going to collect $200,000. If you take that same number and you lower it to 450, you're going to raise 180. So, to get back to the 200,000, you need 44 more athletes. Is that a reasonable expectation? Will 44 more kids play sports if we lower it by $50? If you lower it by $100, takes it down to 160. Would 100 more athletes, of course, over three seasons participate in athletics if it was $400 instead of $500. And then I originally threw thrown out the the number of 350. If we if
008you if pay-to-play was 350 with 400 athletes, you'd raise $140,000. Um you would require 171 more athletes to get back to that 200,000. That might be a reach. So, um you know, what what I what I proposed there, and again, I'm not asking you to vote for it. I'm just throwing this out for discussion to think about it, we revisit it uh in the future cuz we do need to set fees for next year. Is possibly lowering that uh $500 down to maybe a little more manageable number, perhaps $400 for first and second sport. And I even toyed with the idea of the third sport instead of being free, $100. Because if you are a uh a three-sport athlete, it would still be a $100 savings over the over the over the year for all
009three sports. Um so, it would still be beneficial to to to families. Um also, lowering the the marching band core layers. And then basically, everything after that's $150. And And again, it's kind of confusing. I know Scott struggles with the different core layers or your marching band and your jazz band, it's free. And um just make it set 400 or 150 or or whatever number you come up with. And then we would also um you keep the free or reduced lunch at 300. And then if you're if you're paying the 150, and your reduced lunch would be 100. If it's free, it's still free. The The hope is more kids will participate. More kids will participate, and you'll make up for your lost revenue with lower fees by increased participation. Uh again, kind of our
010kind of our theme is let's make Edgewood the best we can. And is pay-to-play a barrier? The numbers show that it is a little bit. Remove you know, allowing kids on free or reduced lunch to come at a reduced rate or free, and brought our numbers back up. Would another reduction to regular fees also result in in in, you know, a jump in participation? Cuz that's the ultimate goal, increase participation. And, you know, part of our our theme is education, enrollment, and engagement. This potentially could help our enrollment and and certainly helps our engagement with our families. So, that's that's what I wanted to share with you guys. Not asking for a vote or proposal, just wanted to throw it out there, start the conversation, get your thoughts, and maybe at our next board meeting
011we can set fees for next year. >> From '23 and '24 to '24-'25 when you had added the free and reduced, um and it went from 725 to 774, what percentage of those additional athletes were free and reduced? >> I don't know that number. This was all projected based on our 50, about approximately 50% of our students are on free and reduced. >> About 50 are on free and reduced. Okay. >> Yeah, 50% of our students. So, that's why I I used the number >> 50% of the whole student body. >> of the student body >> is on free and reduced, but we don't know what percentage are free and reduced athletes, student athletes, or participants in these other extracurriculars. >> I could probably deep dive into these numbers and get you that exact data
012before you have to vote on it. This is just a best guess scenario based on the 50% of our students are on free and reduced. So, I took 50% of our athletes, assuming they're also on free and reduced. Could be could be different than that. >> Cuz I mean, even these sports or whatnot, I mean, cost quite a bit anymore. Even a select, I mean, 50 bucks would go a long way. Um just from zero type thing. Not sure if that would make or break the students' decisions to participate in those options or not, but uh the other thing I, you know, had mentioned before as an idea is we're always struggling to get volunteers. Is there a way with um a a extracurricular activity or a sport that you can volunteer for a booster
013activity to pay down your fee and registration? Cuz whenever we get more volunteers, it seems like more money's coming in to those activities that those other supporting organizations are doing. I know it may be difficult to track, but it was just an idea of something to look into. >> Well, that's why we wanted to discuss it, put out put out ideas. Um I mean, I don't not say it's broken, you know, if it's not broken, don't fix it, but I just felt like when we were we were creating our master plan for next year and we were trying to figure out ways to engage with the community, uh it just stuck with me as a as a possible idea. Yeah, to to to engage with the community again, but I also know Paddy knows the
014finances behind this and we're not even really putting a big dent in the the total uh pay-to-play the supplemental contracts. It's not It's This doesn't carry the cost the burden at all, so reducing it. But again, the theory is if you could find that sweet spot to lower it enough to increase participation to raise similar amount of revenue, then it's a win-win. Cuz you get more kids involved in the sports and activities and you know that's that's a perk that helps our enrollment, helps our engagement, helps our education cuz kids are engaged with their school. So, that's that's what I'm seeking here, is to try to find that sweet spot. >> So, I remember when we did the first round of cuts, we'll do a couple things with these numbers. So, you're showing student athletes
015from '22-'23 compared to student athletes '24-'25 and and we've had a significant drop in enrollment, so >> My mind went the same place. We lost 225 kids that year. >> Right. So, we've not really comparing apples and apples there. And honestly, I think the numbers where they are right now are actually a little higher than what I thought they probably would have been with the $500 pay-to-play fee. So, when we started our first round of cuts, and I know you remember this, Patty, cuz I was hitting you up every day asking Remember I asked you for all those numbers? And I ran the numbers, and based on the numbers that Scott gave me and the numbers that Patty gave me, and I did this because a lot of people were saying there's no way it
016cost $500 for a kid to play football, baseball, basketball. So, I ran the numbers, and I I I removed anything that was educational and separated it from things that were purely extracurricular. And I added up all the supplemental contracts, and I divided it by the number of students that had participated in sports that year before. And the number came out to just shy of about $1,200. So, when I had people tell me there's no way it cost $500 for a kid to play basketball, it's $1,200, and and people just couldn't believe that it was that expensive, and that number didn't take into consideration, you know, any of the transportation or anything. That was just purely supplemental. So, I say all that to say, you know, we've we've put a lot of thought and a lot
017of effort into this, but I I still personally believe that the um the pay-to-play fees are a barrier for a lot of families. And in the very beginning when we started these cuts, there was a lot of discussion about potentially a $900 pay-to-play fee, which I absolutely You remember this. I said I I will not vote I will vote against athletics before extracurriculars before I vote for $900, cuz I think it it separates the haves and the have-nots based along those lines. I had a real hard time with that. I personally think anything that we can do to get that number as low as possible helps in all the things that you had just discussed. And I actually if I did my math right, and uh But, know, the difference between 350 pay-to-play and 400
018pay-to-play is less than $42,000 in a $44 million budget. I I would ask to take a real hard look at trying to get that number that low and trying to figure out how we can make this more accessible because I do think um participation is higher than I would have guessed it would have been when we had these conversations years ago. And the possibility of what it could look like if we could eliminate that barrier really excites me. You know, man, I I think it would be awesome to to have a smaller district than we had 22 and 23 and have the same number of kids or more participate in extracurricular. And and we did see a pretty significant increase when we made the third sport free. So, I would ask you to take a
019look at those numbers. And if we can We think we can keep that kind of in that, you know, $40,000 to $50,000 range, then I I would say that would be where my head's at. >> You know, I think there's a lot of excitement right now about football. We got a new coach and you I don't know about the last coach, but I just think there's excitement there. I think there's excitement about our new girls basketball coach. And boys basketball, I think there's excitement about baseball and all the legal seasons. And they've got great coaches, too. So, I think there's a lot of excitement. So, um you know, I I talked to a a girl who hadn't been in the basketball program. She actually withdrew and is going to school in a charter school. She's
020coming back to Edgewood next year cuz she wants to play basketball her senior year. It's a good choice. And that's that's the kind of stuff that you'd have um get kids excited about things we got going on here, whether it's sports, whether it's academics. And um if if this is a barrier we can lower it without making pay-to-play too uncomfortable, that's that's what we're trying to do again. It's find that sweet spot that that it's not because you're right. I'm not going to you know, my kids probably travel sports AAU basketball and I paid a lot more than these fees for for that when my kids were in elementary school, you know, so um but but you know I was fortunately able to do that and made that choice to do that. Not everybody does
021have that luxury, so it'd be nice to to remove this barrier if we can. >> Well, and going back to that number I threw out there, you know, $40,000, that's $40,000 not going to save us from a levy and it's not going to put us in a levy to take your quote. I mean, I don't think that's the difference. But what I will say is, you know, if you look and I I saw Sunday there was an article in the Journal News that Lakota is looking at closing three buildings. We've seen all the cuts that are being made in Hamilton. Lots on the line tomorrow for Fairfield City Schools. I mean, three of the 10 schools around us are are making some pretty in this in Butler County are making some pretty significant cuts and
022you know, whether we were lucky or whether we were good, I think we got ahead of a lot of this stuff years ago and right now when everybody else is you know, backpedaling and trying to figure out how they're going to make ends meet, we're we're in a position where potentially we do this and who knows, maybe we'll pull some of those kids, some of those families to our district and I think that kind of goes along with our strategy with all the other things that we're doing. So, if we can figure out a way to make this work, I think we need to do it. >> Do we know what Ross and Talawanda what what are they now? >> I know that our neighboring districts don't have fees as high as ours currently, but
023I'll I'll get those. It's Scott I'll get Scott's here probably the easiest way to get you. You probably know what the Ross and Talawanda >> Cuz they were way higher than us. >> Way higher than us. Talawanda was. I'll get you that. We'll put together more details. I'll get that out and we'll uh we'll add it. We'll try to get that voted on sooner rather than later. Recommendation. >> All right. >> I think that's all I got. >> All right. Now the moment you've all been waiting for. President of the nation. Sorry. >> Yes, thanks. I worked myself out of a job. >> No. >> I've never seen anybody work as hard to get out of a job as you did with this. >> I know. So, is there a motion to approve the resignation
024of Mr. Curtis Foltz as superintendent effective August 1st. It says August 1st. >> July 31st. >> And did I not refresh? >> Resignation is effective July 31st. The start date on the other role is August 1st. >> Oh, no. I'm reading the wrong line. Sorry. >> You know what I mean by effective like that? >> No, it's to his new position starting August 1st position. >> Got it. >> Okay. Sorry, I was reading the wrong line. Okay. Anyway, is there a motion to accept the letter of resignation of Curtis Foltz effective July 31st, 2026? >> So moved. >> Mr. Foltz. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mrs. Barnes. Ashley, call the roll, please. >> Mr. Kevin Foltz. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mark
025Meacham Smith. >> Yes. >> Mr. John Thomas. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> 5-0. >> Just so everybody knows, I don't think we would do that normally that fast if we didn't have a plan in place, so. >> Well, you already did. >> Definitely not wanting to get rid of you, but >> You read my letter. I appreciate the trust you guys put in me in the last board. It's an honor for my career to do this and uh I I can't I can't thank you enough for the trust and uh I feel good about our direction moving forward and uh our plan with Jeff coming on and uh me being there to support him, to continue to serve the district in a different capacity. So, I feel good about it. Thank you, guys. >>
026Sorry, I did want to I did want to say something for people that are watching at home cuz I actually saw something on Trenton Talk that there was a perception that we had created a a new position for you, and and this director of business ops job, this is this is bringing back a job that we had cut several years ago, and it was John's job. He retired out of it. We didn't backfill it. And I I think now, after what, 3 years of really not having anybody full-time in that position, I think we realized just how much we actually needed that job. And you have the kind of the back story is that was the job that we had posted. And uh Curtis uh Curtis started putting together um resumes to present to the
027board for who he thought would be the right person for that job, and that's when he came across Jeff, and we'll talk about that here in a minute, and that's when you said you were willing to to step down if we found the right person to take that position. So, this is not a new position that you're moving into. This is a position that we've had before. We just didn't fill it for the last 3 years and and trying to save costs for the district, but I I could probably make a pretty good argument that we probably probably um missed some opportunities with some facilities maintenance. May have cost us more money than it saved us by not filling it. So, I think this is actually something we need to look at bringing back, and
028you being the one to do what you did, very much appreciate it cuz you you came in as superintendent at a very difficult time. We're right in the middle of levies and cuts and riffs and um so, we do appreciate what you did, what you came into, and do appreciate you being willing to step into this cuz it's it's it's good for the district long-term. Thank you. >> All right. Next is there motion to approve the superintendent employment contract of Jeffrey C. Madden to the officials um as presented? >> So moved. >> Mr. Thomas, is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Messerschmidt. All right. Is there any discussion on this topic? Just kidding. Can you call the roll, please? >> Mr. John Thomas? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mark Messerschmidt? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy
029Ashcraft? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kevin Poll? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Do I say anything? >> Uh I'll I'll steal just a few minutes to your favor, man. >> Mhm. >> We'd love to hear what you have got to say. Well, >> Well, and your family's here, so >> And my family's here. I wanted to also recognize a couple of guests. >> You We >> All right. >> So, our camera's right here. Yeah, you got to like Oh, camera. >> Come up on >> I don't want to get that close to the camera. I'll stand here this way. Further away, I look the same. Um Now, I I want to recognize a couple of guests who came down from Beaver Creek, uh Superintendent
030uh Paul Otten Chief Security Officer Chris Williams drove on drive to uh to see this moment. Uh my father, mom, stepmom are here as well, and um I will tell two Edgewood stories. First First one was freshman year, I hid my grades from my dad all the way up until I was about ready to fail algebra. And uh I think he saw the sign on the old high school saying the report cards are out, and uh he goes, "What's going on with that report card?" So, my dad became a tutor and and helped me pass algebra, and if it I wouldn't have graduated high school without him in in that moment. And my mom's always been there Any any time I needed someone to just bounce things off of, just a great person to to
031look listen to my stories. I wouldn't be able to take this job if it wasn't for where my kids are. This is a sacrifice personally that they had that almost be prepared to. And they're at the age they're just two great kids that they take care of their their lives really with little guidance from dad sometimes. So, to see where they are at their age is impressive. If they were like me, I would not be able to take this job. So, I just want to say blessed to have them. I want to say thanks to Curtis Villapiano just for his support 30 years ago to some extent on the basketball court. He saw me as a young eighth grader. He became our high school assistant principal. We were all excited. And for me to have
032maintained a relationship for almost 30 years with him. I've seen the success of his career. I'm just excited to to continue to work with him. And I'll lastly thank the board. I owe a tremendous amount to this community. I had a conversation with my second grade teacher on the way here and I shared the news with her, Mrs. Keegan. I don't know if you guys know Denise Keegan. I wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for her in second grade. She had some very tough conversations with me as a young person. And just another one of those people that have made me who I am. So, thank you to the board. I owe the community really everything. And I will do everything I can do to serve the community in my fullest capacity. So,
033thank you. >> Congratulations. >> I got to sign now? >> Sign yeah I know. We're lucky to have We're lucky to have >> Right here in front of the signing there. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. THANK YOU. >> YOU'RE VERY WELCOME. >> YOU'RE WELCOME. >> WELL, WELL, SO YOU'RE NOT IN BLUE, you're in green. So, you got to start wearing blue, right? Not spring or blue. >> Oh, yeah. >> All right. I got you. >> All right. >> They're going to have to hook you up with something supplied. We can't have you walking around here with panthers on. All right. Our next item is our fiscal year '27 administrative and exempt compensation schedule. Is there a motion to approve that as presented? >> So moved. >> Mr. Messer Smith, is there a second?
034>> Second. >> Mrs. Mrs. Barnes, roll call, please. >> Mr. Mark Messer Smith? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kevin Ball? >> Yes. >> And Mr. John Thomas? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> All right. And lastly, is there a motion to approve the administrator's contract for Chris Polipnick as director of business operations? >> So moved. >> Mr. Ball, is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Messer Smith. Mrs. Barnes, roll call, please. >> Mr. Kevin Ball? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mark Messer Smith? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Amy Ashcraft? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lori Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. John Thomas? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. All right. At this time, we will look for a motion to adjourn this meeting. Nobody wants
035to go home yet. Mr. Messer Smith, is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Paul. By the way, please. Mr. Mark Schmelz? Yes. Mr. Kevin Paul? Yes. Mrs. Amy Ashcraft? Yes. Mrs. Lori Barnes? Yes. Mr. John Thomas? Yes. Motion carries 5-0. It's 7:10 p.m.