Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education holds multiple meetings; Myers, Milbery sworn in for new terms

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education reorganized for the 2024 calendar year Monday, Jan. 8, with their evening including organizational and regular meetings as well as tax budget and school calendar hearings. 

At the start of the organizational meeting Monday, district treasurer Ben Teeters administered the oath of office to board members Tom Milbery and Bill Myers, who were reelected in the November 2023 general election.

Myers was then sworn in yet again, after the board voted 5-0 to nominate him as board president for 2024. Also sworn in was board member Beverly Rhoads, who was unanimously selected as the board vice president for this year. Both have served in those respective roles since 2017.

Superintendent Tim Davis thanked all five board members — who also include Larry Lyons and Jerry Walker — during his report Monday, as January is School Board Recognition Month. Each board member was presented a certificate from the Ohio School Boards Association in honor of their service. 

“With the two new [elected] members, congratulations on being back on the board,” Davis said. “Thank you, board, for the job that you do.”

Davis also noted that the board’s student representative, Maddisen Mikkelsen, was unable to attend due to work commitments, as the meeting was held one week before their usual date.

In other reports, Walker commented that Davis “and his staff help make us look good, and I appreciate that; Milbery wished the community a happy new year; Lyons said there is “a lot of churn at the Statehouse” with changes to the state department of education’s structure; and Myers announced that the board’s February meeting will be held at 9 a.m. instead of 7 p.m.

In other discussion during their regular meeting, the board approved the 2024-25 high school registration handbook, which includes changes to a longstanding policy for multiple valedictorians effective in 2028, according to Davis.

“The biggest changes are dealing with our valedictorians for the class starting 2028, which that would be our incoming freshmen for next year,” Davis said. “In the past, we've had multiple valedictorians of over a 4.3 GPA. We are going to one valedictorian with the highest cumulative GPA; a salutatorian with the second highest; and then we're starting a new section with graduates with distinction of those that graduate with a 4.3 or higher GPA. 

“Currently, any student that gets a 4.3 or higher is considered valedictorian. That has been in existence for probably eight to 10 years, when things were changing with weighted classes, CCP [College Credit Plus]. Now, we decided that we needed to go with just one valedictorian, one salutatorian and and then honor those that have the high GPA as well.”

The handbook also lists changes to some electives, Davis said. Mythology, zoology (now split into two classes), geology, materials science, contemporary global issues, economics (now part of financial literacy), business foundations, fundamentals of business and administrative services, strategic entrepreneurship, principles of management and organizational behavior, personal finance, business leadership, financial accounting, women’s chorus and men’s chorus are all being removed.

Courses being added are novel study, Shakespeare, mathematical modeling and reasoning, zoology I - invertebrate zoology, zoology II - vertebrate zoology, lifelong leisure, treble chorus and tenor/bass chorus.

“Financial literacy will be combined with economics, so economics will be taken off the graduation requirements course list,” Davis said. “The other changes are electives that have been added and removed, due to staffing and certifications.”

In his report, Lyons thanked Davis and Hillsboro High School Principal Joe Turner for their work on the handbook revisions.

“I had some concerns, addressed them with them, and they took care of that,” Lyons said. “I sincerely appreciate that, not just for me, but for the community.”

The four consecutive meetings/hearings began with a tax budget hearing conducted by Teeters. According to Teeters, the tax budget has estimated expenditures of $33,146,365 from the General Fund for the fiscal year of July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025.

The information to be submitted to the Highland County Budget Commission also included information from the five-year forecast approved by the board in November, Teeters said, as well as information on the division of taxes levied; the statement of fund activity; and voted and unvoted debt outside the 10-mill limit.
 
Next was a hearing on the proposed 2024-25 school calendar, which Davis said “will be voted on in February” by the board. The staff is also reviewing the proposal, he said, as they have had the calendar draft “for a couple weeks now, and we’ve had conversations.”

As proposed, the school year would begin Wednesday, Aug. 14, with the week of Sept. 2 off for the Highland County Fair. Other days off for students include Nov. 1, the day after beggars’ night; Nov. 27-29, for the Thanksgiving holiday; Dec. 20-Jan. 3, for Christmas break; Jan. 20 and Feb. 17, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day, respectively; and April 18 and 21, for spring break. The last day of school is set for May 21, with graduation scheduled for May 25.

Professional development days are proposed for Aug. 7-8, Oct. 18, Dec. 20, March 14 and May 22, with several days also marked for parent/teacher conferences.

“The biggest change from this school year to next is providing professional development at the end of each quarter,” Davis said. “That's something that we've talked to our staff about, and that's something that they feel that they would like to have a day at the end of each quarter for professional development, to kind of get that through the year instead of really front-loading or putting it at the end.”

Also as proposed with this school calendar, the end of the second nine-week grading period will be Dec. 19, which is the last day before winter break, Davis said.

“We are ending the semester before Christmas, so that we don't have a couple straggling days there when we come back from January,” Davis said. “That'll be good for our students that take CCP courses and different things, for them to get their grades in and be done before we leave for Christmas, instead of coming back like we did this year with three days.”

The hearing on the school calendar was followed by the organizational meeting, where the board took action on standard annual resolutions, all of which passed by a 5-0 vote. Those included:

• A resolution to set the dates and times for the 2024 school board meetings. Meetings will continue to be held on the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at the district office, unless otherwise noted.

• The board voted on board committee assignments, which remain unchanged from 2023. Committee assignments include: Finance: Rhoads and Larry Lyons, with Myers as alternate; Policy: Rhoads and Milbery; Ohio School Board legislative liaison: Lyons, with Walker as alternate; Great Oaks representative: Rhoads; American Disability Act: Walker; Southwest Regional Board: Rhoads; Business Advisory: Rhoads, with Lyons as alternate; Athletic Council: Milbery and Myers; HEA and OAPSE liaison: Walker; student representative: Maddisen Mikkelsen; Wellness: Walker and Mikkelsen; Community Relations: Milbery and Lyons; and Technology: Myers.

• In two separate resolutions, the superintendent was authorized to employ staff and accept resignations as needed.

• The number of students enrolled in the district — which was 2,271, including 27 juniors and 19 seniors attending Laurel Oaks — as of Dec. 31, 2023 was certified.

• The tax budget for fiscal year July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025, with estimated expenditures of $33,146,365 from the General Fund, was adopted.

• The board authorized the superintendent or designated assistant to serve as the purchasing agent for the district.

• In two separate motions, the treasurer was authorized to pay all bills within the limits of the appropriations resolution as bills are received and when the merchandise has been received in good condition and to invest interim funds at the most productive interest rate whenever interim funds are available.

• The board also authorized the treasurer to “represent the Board of Education for the certified public records training to fulfill the requirements” by law.

• The board waived the reading of minutes for each board meeting.

• The board approved a resolution to draw and pay taxes.

• The board voted to establish a Service Fund, to be set aside as an account within the General Fund, and to appropriate $7,500, which amount shall be incorporated into the appropriations of the district for July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025.

• The board agreed “to be paid at the maximum rate allowed by law.”

During the regular meeting, the board made the following approvals:

• The board approved the financial reports as presented. Teeters reported a general fund cash balance of $10,317,676 for December 2023, up from $8,058,258 in December 2022; expenses of $2,271,576, up from $2,140,689 a year ago; and revenues of $1,477,022, up from $1,364,783 the previous year. 

“We’re running pretty comparable to what we have in past years, so we’re in good shape,” Teeters said.

• The board approved Lertvaroon Srichantamit, an exchange student from Thailand, to attend Hillsboro High School starting the second semester of the 2023-24 school year.

“The student was displaced due to reasons of the host family [in a different district], and the new host family lives in our district,” Davis said.  “[The original host family] was not able to fulfill the requirements, so then they found a host family in our district that was willing to take him.”

Davis added that Turner called the school where the student was originally placed this year and confirmed that there were “no issues” with the student himself.

“Mr. Turner spoke to the principal, [who said he was] a great young man,” Davis said. “There were no issues. It had nothing to do with the student behavior.”

• The board approved leaves of absence for teachers Jordan Clark (effective Jan. 16-March 29) and Ryan Reilly (March 17-27).

• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated: classified, head cook Brandi Johnson (step 4, retroactive to Jan. 1) and paraprofessional Mary Sonner (step 0); and volunteer Caleb Link (Hillsboro Elementary).

• The board approved the A-Z Effective School Board Award Nomination Checklist for the Southwest Region Ohio School Boards Association.

• The board approved Andrew Addison and Nicholas Hertzier as early graduates.

• The board accepted a $450 donation toward cafeteria charges for students. 

As noted by Myers, the board will hold their next regular meeting Feb. 19 at 9 a.m.