Hillsboro school board updated on spring events

As the fourth quarter of the 2022-23 school year is underway, members of the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education were briefed on several recent and upcoming events during their Monday, April 17 meeting.

Hillsboro City Schools superintendent Tim Davis and student board representative Ethan Kirk both dedicated their reports to recapping activities and accomplishments.

According to Davis, state testing for English language arts is being conducted at the high school, middle school and elementary school throughout the week of April 17. That will be followed by math, science and history testing starting the week of April 24, Kirk said.

The Hillsboro High School musical theatre department presented “Little Shop of Horrors” during the weekend of March 24-26, with over 700 individuals in attendance, according to Kirk.

“Thank you to Jenna Horick and Laura Jacky as the directors and all the help from volunteers, the cast and crew members,” Davis said. “They all did an amazing job.”

On March 29, Hillsboro’s quick recall team competed against HHS staff members in a competition conducted by Ms. Weisner. The HHS staff team of Mr. Letts, Mr. Jacky, Mrs. Craig, Mr. McRill, Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Haines defeated the high school team, Kirk said.

Also on March 29, the 51st annual Ernie Blankenship Radio-Telethon was hosted by the Hillsboro and Greenfield Rotary Clubs. Davis attended the event at the Hillsboro Orpheum with representatives from Hillsboro Elementary, Middle School and High School, who together raised over $2,000. The elementary school donated $339.58, while the Hillsboro FFA chapter donated $500 and HMS raised $1,188.34.

Kirk reported that on March 31, the HHS marine science, field science and zoology classes took a field trip to Newport Aquarium, while on the same date the annual Senior Showcase was held for HHS seniors and juniors.

“The purpose of the event was to get students to network with businesses that had job or internship opportunities,” Kirk said. “Roughly 43 or more businesses attended.”

In other recent activities, the annual FFA banquet was held April 2 and included many recognitions of Hillsboro FFA members. On April 6, the Hillsboro DECA chapter donated books to the Highland County Library on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Kirk said.

Davis also announced that HHS senior Evan Fender was selected as Highland County’s winner of the Franklin B. Walter Award.

According to the Southern Ohio Educational Service Center, “The Franklin B. Walter All-Scholastic Award was established in 1989 by Ohio's county superintendents to recognize student achievement and promote academic accomplishment. Only one senior from each of Ohio's 88 counties is chosen to receive this honor each year. The recipients are the top scholars in their class.”

Fender was slated to be recognized at a ceremony April 18 in Columbus, Davis said.

Other upcoming events are the high school band concert April 21 and high school prom April 29, according to Kirk.

In other committee reports, board member Beverly Rhoads gave an update on the Great Oaks Board of Directors’ April meeting. The board approved the 2023-24 student handbook and accepted a $2,876,900 bid for Scarlet Oaks’ phase-one rooftop unit replacement project.

President/CEO Harry Snyder told the board that Great Oaks’ student enrollment at the end of the third quarter was 2,748, with a 95.2-percent retention rate. He also discussed potential programs and facilities expansions for all Great Oaks campuses under the governor’s proposed CTE Expansion Plan, if approved.

Also discussed at the Great Oaks meeting were upcoming end-of-year events, such as a retirement celebration for staff; student recognition dinner; senior ceremonies; Project SEARCH graduation; and Adult Workforce Development graduation.

In other action:

• Following an executive session, the board approved the termination of paraprofessional Stacy Neal, effective immediately, at the conclusion of Monday morning’s meeting.

According to a document signed by Davis and provided to The Highland County Press by Teeters, the superintendent wrote to the board to “recommend the termination of employment of Stacy Neal” for alleged “unprofessional behavior of falsification of sick leave that constitutes dishonesty, inefficiency, insubordination, neglect of duty and nonfeasance.”

Neal was employed as a paraprofessional at the high school, according to the district website.

• The board approved an interdistrict open enrollment policy for the 2023-24 school year. According to the motion, intradistrict is the option to transfer between buildings in the same district, while interdistrict open enrollment is between different school districts. Hillsboro is not eligible for intradistrict open enrollment because all of its buildings are one-of-a-kind buildings.

The following restrictions were approved for the interdistrict open enrollment policy: open to all Ohio school districts; application deadlines are April 1 through Sept. 30; previous open enrollment students and their siblings will get first preference; enrollment limitations will depend upon space at each grade level; and approval of special education students will depend upon teacher limits/space.

• The board approved the tax amounts and rates for the 2023 fiscal year as determined by the budget commission, authorized the necessary tax levies and certified them to the county auditor. The document is on file in the treasurer’s office.

• The board approved the financial reports as presented.

• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated: tutors Alan May (retroactive to Feb. 22) and Tammy Newsome (retroactive to March 29); summer school tutor Blake Kibler; volunteers Nicole Burnett, Jessica Dammeyer, Rebecca Herrick and Seth Phillips, all for Hillsboro Elementary; and one-year contracts for Lydia Falgner and teacher Breanne Harp, both for 2023-24.

• The following resignations were accepted: paraprofessionals Megan Apgar and Jessica Mast, effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year; teacher Shawna Collins, effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year; teacher Debra Duffy, effective at the end of the 2022-23 contract; and secretary Sandy Ford, effective at the end of the 2022-23 contract, due to retirement.

• The board approved a leave of absence for teacher Pam Harp, effective March 16-May 14.

• The board approved the list of 2023 graduates. In a separate motion, Logan Bradford, Terra Fry, Makenzie Griffith and Cali Jeffries were approved as early graduates.

• The board approved an out-of-state field trip for the high school football team to Montrose, Mich. for July 23-26 and an out-of-state field trip for DECA to Orlando, Fla., April 21-26.

• An $800 donation from Hillsboro Global Methodist Church for classroom supplies for elementary school teachers was accepted.

(Editor’s note: Thank you to Teeters for his assistance with this article.)