Board Meeting Recap for September 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, September 25, 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
Seventeen students from Anderson and Turpin High Schools were recognized for achieving either commended or semifinalist status in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Anderson Principal Kyle Fender and Turpin Principal Andy Jados presented each of the students with certificates to recognize their impressive accomplishments. The Board of Education commended the following students:
National Merit Scholarship Program - Commended
- Anderson High School
- Cole Clement
- William Cox
- Sean Gawronski
- Stella Hammond
- Siya Patel
- Turpin High School
- Oliver Blum
- Natasha T Bredle
- Luke Elliott
- Maya Ganim
- Dean J Keller
- Luciano "Luc" A Marotti
- Jonah S Rettig
- Katherine M Wasco
National Merit Scholarship Program - Semifinalists
- Anderson High School
- Leighton Iredale
- Turpin High School
- Thanh-Tu Buchholz
- Charlie Co
- Russ Haussman
The Board of Education also recognized the science department of Anderson High School for earning The Governor's Thomas Edison Awards for Excellence in STEM Education and Student Research. Only 40 schools in the entire state received this honor from the Ohio Academy of Science for the 2023-2024 school year. Anderson High School is the only school in the Cincinnati area that earned this recognition.
The Forest Hills Foundation for Education highlighted its campaign to raise funds to support STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) education in FHSD. You can learn more about the initiative and find ways to donate here.
The Foundation also recognized the upcoming class of inductees as Distinguished Alumni for Anderson and Turpin High Schools. Everyone, including the staff honoree, will be recognized at a special luncheon on Friday, October 4. A special ceremony will also be held during the Anderson vs. Turpin football game later that evening. Find a full list of this year’s inductees here.
Superintendent Update
Superintendent Larry Hook provided an update on the Ohio School Report Cards that were released earlier in September. Forest Hills School District earned a five-star overall rating, the highest possible on the report card. This places the district among the 68 highest performing school districts out of 607 total school districts in Ohio. You can learn more about the individual rating categories and find a link to the full report card here.
Board Action
The Board of Education often reviews and votes on a variety of actions that impact different departments throughout the school district. Two items under Human Resources were voted on outside the normal consent agenda.
Human Resources
- 9.1 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.
- 9.2 Updated Salary Schedule
- This item approves updated salary schedules for home instructor and teacher aides, as well as operational staff substitutes. You can view the updated schedules here.
The remaining 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 (continued)
- 9.3 Technical Correction to Compliance Officers Policy
- This item approves technical corrections to policies that have already been adopted through normal procedures. Regarding the Anti-Harassment Compliance Officers, the district is updating multiple policies with the specific names of the employees in those positions. You can find the employees and adjusted policy numbers here.
Business Operations
- 10.1 Resolution Declaring Impractical Transportation (Revised)
- This resolution lists certain non-public schools where transportation has been declared impractical. Families of students attending those schools will be offered payment in lieu of transportation, pursuant to state law. You can read the resolution here.
- 10.2 Change Order - Access Control Project
- This item approves a change order that was issued to modify the initial hardware selection, preventing complications with the project's plan. The change order submitted by Forward Edge is in the amount of $17,415.54.
Teaching and Learning
- 11.1 Overnight Field Trip Requests
- This item approves a number of overnight field trip requests for Anderson and Turpin high schools. You can view a full list of trips here.
- 11.2 Resolution to Contract Union Day Therapeutic School - Butler County Educational Service Center
- This resolution involves a collaboration agreement between BCESC and FHSD to provide educational services for a special education student for the 2024-2025 school year. The agreement costs $30,000 and is prorated to the start of the agreement. You can view the resolution here.
- 11.3 Resolution to Contractor Agreement for Student Services and Educational Services
- This contract agreement supports the therapeutic and educational services for a district elementary special education student in a specialized day treatment program (Wasserman Center), operated by the Clermont County ESC and Child Focus, Inc. The annual projected costs of 173 days will be $44,452.35. You can view the resolution here.
- 11.4 Butler County Educational Service Center Service Agreement
- This agreement supports educational services for Forest Hills students admitted to the Beckett Springs Partial Hospitalization Program. The typical program duration is 2-4 weeks, with a maximum of six weeks. Students (grades K-12) attend full-day therapeutic programming, with 90 minutes of educational services per day during hospitalization. The agreement is at a cost of $70 per day with a projected total cost of $10,000 per year. You can view the contract here.
Technology
- 12.1 Forward Edge IT On-Site Services Agreement
- This item approves the support contract with Forward Edge for on-site services from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2026. The aggregate annual fees payable in 12 monthly installments for the Services provided are:
- Year One - $442,925.64
- Year Two - $469,141,18
- Year Three - $496,929,65
- You can view the full support contract here.
- This item approves the support contract with Forward Edge for on-site services from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2026. The aggregate annual fees payable in 12 monthly installments for the Services provided are:
Treasurer Update
- 13.1 Treasurer's Report
- Treasurer Alana Cropper’s August 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
- Permanent Appropriations
- 2025 Insurance Rates
- Insurance Rates History
- You can find the August cash position report here.
- Treasurer Alana Cropper’s August report provided information on the following items:
Board Discussion
Board members discussed a variety of topics including the five-star state report card rating, mental health services and more. The Board also engaged in a detailed discussion related to evaluations for the superintendent and treasurer. You can view the full discussion period which begins at 1:23:27 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 - August 21, 2024
- Special Meeting - August 29, 2024
