Board Meeting Recap for December 2024

Forest Hills School District is utilizing these articles as a way to communicate specific action taken at regular Board of Education meetings throughout the year. The Board of Education met on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at Mercer Elementary School to discuss a variety of topics relevant to students, staff and the community.

The official agenda and related attachments for this meeting can be found on the FHSD BoardDocs page here. You can watch a full recording of the meeting on YouTube here.

Special Recognitions

A Turpin High Orchestra quartet performed "Allegro non molto" to "Winter" from the "Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi. The students displayed wonderful technical ability under the direction of Lynn Poffenberger. The string quartet members are Joshua Yamaguchi (violin), Thanh-Tu Buchholz (violin), Ethan Goehring (viola) and Thanh-Nha Buccholz (cello).

The Forest Hills Foundation for Education highlighted fundraising efforts from the Denim and Diamonds event, which collected $121,000 to support Sources of Strength, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, Child Focus school-based therapy and Nagel after school clubs and tutoring. You can learn more about the Foundation and support its efforts by visiting https://fhfe.org/.

Superintendent Update

Superintendent Larry Hook discussed recent meetings with a Superintendent Leadership Council, which includes student representatives from Anderson High School, Turpin High School and Nagel Middle School. The group met for the first time in early December, with plans to come back together multiple times before the end of the school year. Superintendent Hook discussed leadership strategies with students and also listened to their feedback on topics like transitions between grades and buildings, course loads, time management, extracurricular and co-curricular activities, cell phone policy and more. He also talked about meetings he is hosting with individual student councils or leadership groups at each of the district’s elementary schools.

The superintendent also provided an update on the transition to ParentSquare for all mass notifications, safety messages and building communication updates for parents, guardians and staff members. This article on the district website provides a detailed overview of the new platform and includes helpful information for anyone who might have questions about the change.

Board Action

The Board of Education often reviews and votes on a variety of actions that impact different departments throughout the school district. The following action items presented by department representatives were voted on together as part of the “consent agenda.” For specific information about any of the following items, you can find the meeting agenda and attachments here.

The following items in the consent agenda were approved by the Board of Education.

Human Resources

• 8.1 Human Resources Report
  
  • The report approves a variety of topics including retirements, resignations and appointments of different staff members. You can view the report here and find related attachments here.

Teaching and Learning

• 9.1 Recognition of Indoor Track & Field Team
  
  • This item recognizes the Anderson and Turpin boys and girls indoor track and field teams for the purpose of competing in state events through the Ohio Association of Track & Field and Cross Country.
• 9.2 Overnight Field Trip Requests
  
  • This item approves multiple overnight field trip requests, which you can view here.
• 9.3 All-Day Kindergarten Tuition for the 2025-2026 School Year
  
  • This item approves the tuition schedule for all-day kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year. Financial assistance is available to families under certain circumstances, and anyone with questions can call FHSD Central Office at (513) 231-3600. You can view the tuition schedule here.

Treasurer Update

• 10.1 Workers Compensation - Unemployment Compensation
  
  • This item approves the addenda to extend the service agreement for the administration of claims and the unemployment compensation service agency agreement with Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2027.
  • The total cost to the district over that time period will be $37,930.17, and you can view the addenda here.
• 10.2 Excess Workers Compensation Insurance 1/1/2025 - 1/1/2027
  
  • This item approves the excess workers' compensation insurance with Bridge Excess Solutions through Brown & Brown Insurance Services effective January 1, 2025 through January 1, 2027.
  • The total cost to the district over that time period will be $67,418.32.
• 10.3 Treasurer's Report
  
  • Treasurer Alana Cropper’s November report provided information on the following items:
    
    • Donations
    • Five-Year Forecast
    • General Fund Revenue
    • General Fund Expenditures
    • General Operating Cash Balance
    • Permanent Improvement Fund
    • Investment Income Snapshot
    • Past Month Reconciliation
    • Approval of Certification of Funds
  • You can find the November cash position report here.

This completes the consent agenda.

Committee Reports

Board Members provided updates on the committee meeting listed below.

• Policy Committee - First Reading
  
  • Committee Chairperson Sara Jonas provided an update on Policy 2265 titled Protections of Individual Beliefs, Affiliations, Ideals, or Principles of Political Movements and Ideology, which is compliant with Ohio House Bill 214’s requirement that school districts adopt a policy that “reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of students; to require each public school to adopt a policy regarding certain expectations related to the performance of staff member professional duties.”
• Policy Committee - Policy Approval
  
  • Committee Chairperson Sara Jonas brought NEOLA policy updates from Volume 43,  No 1 to the Board for a second and final reading. These updates were brought to the full Board of Education for a first reading at the November meeting. The proposed policy updates were approved by the Board of Education during the December meeting. You can find a list of policy updates and find attachments for individual policies here.

Board Discussion

Board Members elected Sara Jonas as President Pro-Tem for the upcoming organizational meeting of the Board of Education on January 15, 2025 pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3313.14.

Board members discussed a variety of topics including recent successes and celebrations of the Anderson High School football team, various performing arts and musical performances, efforts by parent volunteers and more. The Board also addressed recent questions from community members on different aspects of state and federal legislation. Discussions involving the evaluation process for superintendent and treasurer continued from previous meetings, and individual Board members provided their perspectives on what the body accomplished over the past year.

You can view the full discussion period which begins at 1:13:30 during the meeting livestream.

Approved Minutes

The Board of Education approved minutes for the following meetings, which you can view by clicking the link associated with each meeting. After clicking the appropriate link, you will need to then click “View Minutes” under Agenda Item Details, next to the category titled “Minutes.”

• Regular Meeting - November 20, 2024