Board Meeting Recap for February 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, February 21, 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
The district recognized 28 students who met the scoring criteria at the January 27, 2024, FHSD Science and Innovation Expo and qualified to advance to the UC Regional Science and Engineering Expo, potentially taking them to the State Science Day in Columbus in May 2024. Congratulations to these students for their achievement! You can see the list of honorees here.
The Forest Hills Foundation for Education highlighted recent partnerships with local businesses including LaRosa’s Pizza, Biggby Coffee, Mercantile on Main, Chic and Honey Boutique, Big Ash Brewing and Goodfellows.
Through the end of the month, you can recognize someone and send someone a belated Valentine as a way to support FHFE. You can click here for more information about these community partnerships and to find a link to donate to FHFE.
FHFE also reminded community members to save the date for its highly anticipated Forest Hills 5K, which will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at Nagel Middle School. This is the 15th year FHFE has hosted this event!
FHSD’s Parent Academy nights on February 28 and March 18 are sponsored by the Forest Hills Foundation for Education. You can find February’s topics and registration information here, and details about the event in March here.
Superintendent Update
Superintendent Larry Hook provided an update on upcoming capital improvement projects for the school district. He detailed the strategic planning efforts that have been underway for several months to ensure FHSD is as fiscally responsible as possible and completes necessary work to maintain safe and secure buildings, while extending the lifetime of all facilities.
Relying on an exhaustive independent review of FHSD facilities, as well as internal historical knowledge and expertise, the district developed a Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan that details anticipated projects over that timeline. Superintendent Hook explained that the district is being aggressive this summer in targeting high-priority projects and acknowledged that the plan itself is designed to evolve and adjust over time. Each year, the district will analyze work that has been completed and make necessary adjustments to the timeline for upcoming projects.
FHSD has created a dedicated webpage to provide the community with information and updates related to the Five-Year Capital Plan. You can visit that webpage here: www.foresthills.edu/departments/facilities/ongoing-projects/
Superintendent Hook recognized the athletic teams and student-athletes who are preparing for playoffs and state tournaments and wished them luck! He also updated the Board on the Ohio High School Athletic Association and their recent decision to add additional divisions for next school year. Football already had seven and now more of the sports will also have seven divisions (Volleyball, Basketball, Softball and Baseball). Boys and Girls soccer will have five. This will allow state competitions to be closer aligned by student population. You can find more information on the OHSAA website here.
Superintendent Hook also presented a resolution for the district to voluntarily renew membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) for the 2024-2025 school year. You can read the resolution here, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Education.
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 covers a variety of topics including retirements, resignations and appointments of different staff members. You can view the report here and related attachments here.
Business Operations
- 9.1 Facilities and Technology Update
- This section, which is not part of the consent agenda, served to update the Board of Education on the district’s Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan. You can learn more about the strategic planning efforts, see which projects are scheduled for the upcoming summer and read the full five-year plan here.
- 9.2 Residency Waiver
- This item approves a residency waiver for an Anderson High School student. Per Board policy 5111, if a student is a senior in high school and his or her parents move out of the school district after the commencement of classes, the student may continue to attend in the district for the remainder of the school year, subject to the approval of the Board of Education.
- 9.3 Contract for Landscaping Services - GroundSystems, Inc.
- This item approves a contract for landscaping services with GroundSystems, Inc. serves all district properties and is effective January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. The cost to FHSD is $134,994.87.
- You can read the contract here.
- 9.4 Resolution to Approve Cooperative Purchasing Contract for Roofing Improvements
- This item approves a cooperative purchasing contract for roofing improvements at Anderson High School, Turpin High School, Mercer Elementary, Summit Elementary, and Central Office for a cost of $2,382,071.00.
- You can read the resolution here.
- 9.5 Resolution to Approve Cooperative Purchase Contract for Turf and Track Improvements
- This item approves a cooperative purchasing contract for turf and track improvements at Anderson High School for a cost of $1,109,089.00.
- You can read the resolution here.
Teaching and Learning/Curriculum
- 10.1 Overnight Field Trip Requests
- This item approves several overnight field trip requests for students.
- You can view the proposed trips here.
- 10.2 Foreign Exchange Student - Turpin High School
- This item approves the enrollment of a foreign exchange student at Turpin High School for the 2024-2025 school year.
Teaching and Learning/Student Services
- 11.1 Agreement with Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services (HCDDS) 2024-2025
- This agreement between Forest Hills School District and Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services (HCDDS) is required for the Board of HCDDS to provide services to students from Forest Hills for the 2024-2025 school year. This agreement is for one year, for the district to pay for services for students who attend Rost or Fairfax Schools. HCDDS services are of high quality and meet the needs of these children with very intensive needs.
- You can view the agreement here.
- 11.2 Hamilton County Educational Service Center Contract Addendum - IHM 2023-2024
- This item approves a change to previously approved contracted services for a non-public school (IHM) at a cost of $367,135.60 (decrease of $32,661.20 from original contract). Note: These are allocated federal/auxiliary funds.
- You can view the agreement here.
Treasurer Update
- 12.1 Treasurer's Report
- Treasurer Alana Cropper’s February report provided information on the following items:
- Donations
- Statement of Board Accounts
- General Fund Receipts
- General Fund Expenditures by Function
- General Fund Expenditures by Object
- Permanent Improvement Fund
- Monthly Bank Statement
- Amendments to Permanent Appropriations
- Advance of Funds
- Treasurer Alana Cropper’s February report provided information on the following items:
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.”
- Budget Hearing/Organizational Meeting - January 4, 2024
- Regular Meeting - January 17, 2024
