Board of Education Regular Meeting

Tammy Jacobs provided a presentation to the Board that included background history about after-school programs - stating that studies show that it can cut down crime rates by 50% and helps develop children. Kids enjoy the benefits, and so do parents. The program keeps kids out of trouble and engages kids in stem activities and physical activities.

Locally - the Coshocton City School District's program is named GEARS which stands for Growing Educated and Responsible Students. She explained that applications were sent home with every student with an August 31 deadline to apply.  It was on a 1st come-1st served basis. 119 applications were received. The program is currently serving an average of 80 after and 31 before-school students.

Ms. Mann told her she has heard great things about this program and warned others not to come through the school grounds at 5:30, you won't get through. Tammy stated that she is working on trying to get rid of some of the congestion. Board  President Phil Hunt asked about how kids are being transported. Mrs. Jacobs stated that at this time it is all parent pickup. She has worked with Jake Conrad about possibly providing transportation. She stated that they may be able to provide transportation in January.  Dr. Hire thanked Tammy and shared that she started the program earlier than surrounding schools. The entire board shared their gratitude for her hard work.

Mrs. Kayley Andrews presented at 7:29 p.m. She stated that District Leaders were looking for a district-wide vision and as a group, they came up with REAL Redskins. Aaron Mencer created a video to be shown at the introduction to the students. The elementary school will be having a pep rally next Tuesday. They will present REAL Redskins to the kids and have posters coming that will be hung in various places throughout both school buildings. She stated that everyone has the same design and continuity throughout both buildings. She then presented the video to the Board. 

Mr. Kevin Yoder presented on this topic. He explained about the increase in costs this year, per sport, for officials. The MVL sets these costs. Arbiter also increased their fees. Officials are saying they want another raise again next year. This is based on what leagues around us are paying. Currently, we pay $90, and LCL is paying $140. This has changed over the years. 

Officials are leaving - the #1 reason is fan behavior. Officials control what they are going to do. Officials are turning games back in for higher-paying games. The state uses Arbiter - that's how officials sign contracts and how officials are paid. So we pay the official fee plus the Arbiter fee. Arbiter increased their fee this year. We were told this after budgets were submitted so the additional fee is not in our current budget.

Mr. Yoder started looking at ticket prices. He stated that there are 3 options  1) to increase ticket prices, 2.) The Board picks up the increased cost, and 3) cuts budgets for the teams. He stated that we are already at a bare minimum. We cannot control the costs of reconditioning equipment and replacement requirements, game balls, are dictated by the state of Ohio. We are required to use them. We don't buy cloth, which means we buy zero uniforms or extras. It would be difficult to cut the things that are necessary to play games. They share with boys and girls where they can, we pass down when we can. Hosting the Ridgewood and River View games at home will help this year. Mr. Yoder compiled ticket price comparisons from everyone in the league. He looked at other leagues as well. He asked why they don't set ticket prices. In IVC and LCL bordering leagues, prices are $7 and $5, This includes the schools around us.  River View went to $7; for adults and $6 for student tickets. He stated that Jana and he are working on the last 5 year data on ticket sales. He likes one price of $6 for all varsity and $5 for all lower levels. He is waiting to get all data before bringing a proposal to the Board so he can head off financial concerns.

Hometown ticketing - Mr. Yoder stated that many districts are going to online ticketing. Maysville is planning on it next year, John Glen is starting this winter. Crooksville is offering both, and Tri-Valley is using both but both are looking to transition. In the lCL the only school that does not have online is Newark Catholic. Dover charges presale $7 prior to game day on the day of the game $9 and at the gate $10. Hometown Accountability is 100%. He receives a report from Jana with the # people, and the # tickets sold, and the game tickets and money balance. There is no worry about Jana carrying cash or someone coming in during events to take cash. President Phil Hunt asked if we have game ball sponsorships. He remembers that when he was in school that would cover part of the costs. He supports the ticket increase but this could defray some of the costs. Kevin said he would have to look into that. They could possibly get pictures for that game. For example, if a football costs $110, the sponsor could pay $200 and get a picture before the game. Mr. Yoder said he would look into what other schools are doing and how they are going about it. Mr. Hunt stated that if sponsorship were $500, $110 could go toward the price of the ball and the balance toward the cost of officials. Dr. Butcher asked about the Huddle. Mr. Yoder stated that Huddle will provide a report on subscriptions. Dr. Butcher asked if there were many yet. Mr. Yoder will look into it.  At this time there is a delay in the streaming - the internet is not connected. Dr. Hire asked board members for feedback about Kevin bringing back a proposal. Mr. Yoder shared that the District has not raised ticket prices for years but we have reduced them. Mr. David Shutt stated that this isn't about a proposal, it is about implementation. He told Mr. Yoder that he has provided enough support.  Mr. Yoder mentioned working to certify our kids to get involved in officiating and that this is a real problem state-wide. Mr. Yoder continued, mentioning facilities. He mentioned that his priority is the scoreboard. It has to be at the top. There are no bulbs to replace, when the lights are out, they are LED panels that need to be replaced at $14,000 each. He is working to get hard numbers and begin fundraising and hopes to replace next year. He went on to say that we need to update our track and tennis courts. He stated that he is working with some private citizens in Coshocton to help with that and fundraising to help resurface the courts. Mr. Hunt agreed with the need to look at all facility needs and wants to see the list of things that need to be prioritized. He suggested a work session for the Board to discuss these items.

Mr. Hunt stated that Kevin provided a segway, then went on to say that he mentioned that the new roof made him aware of how expensive the changes were. He stated that we started out with x then y and z were added and it became really big. What other things are there that we may need to prepare for? Mr. Hunt wanted to get everyone's thoughts - Jake, Dave, Terri, and everyone involved to work together with the board to prioritize. He is asking to look if we wait 15-20 years down the road, we have a lot of new things and cool stuff that we have put money behind but he thinks it is time to get some figures. Maybe a work session to really dig into it. Doesn't want to bring in a contractor, but once we have numbers we have to look at if we may need a new levy. He stated that we need to look at the house the administration is in. That building is not young. He is remaining optimistic that we will have positive effects from Intel, maybe a little bump in student enrollment dollars. we should be prepared. He asked for input. Sam thinks it is a good idea. Dr. butcher thinks a good work session - Dr. Butcher is not in favor of putting more money into the administration office. He wishes we would have set money aside to do something. These are all things to have in a discussion. The renovations we have done, needed to be done for safety purposes. It comes to a point that we need to make a change. Mr. Dave Shutt mentioned that he does not think the community is going to look down on improvements. We are here for the long term. We are setting good foundations. Committees are needed. Todd Johnson really likes where Phil is going with this. We cannot forget that the high dollars at the HS are unseen plumbing, water, and sewer, and will be a huge expense at some point in time. The pipes are aging. Mr. Johnson requested that when considering projects. please consider what you cannot see, please remember to consider this. Dr. Hire said he would do a little reset to the conversation, stating that a  work session will be good. We were looking at all of this at one time, the estimate was $5-$6M.  Comparing to how much it was to get the new building and then we asked -why would we spend $5 or $6 million if we could get a new building. Knowing what is happening with OFCC and its funding - How much is it really going to cost to do all of that? Plugsmart did the analysis. None of it was cosmetic. A good discussion will be good for the community if we start deciding which direction we want to go. The last option the facility commission came up with to keep costs down was to build the new building but not demo the HS. Leave it as it is. We need to be careful about putting too much into the old HS and Board office unless we plan to stay in it. Todd and Jake will need to go around and touch every part of our properties get prices and have a good five-year plan. At this point, we are taking care of what we have to. We have not had the money to tuck away, but as long as you have aging buildings we will incur these costs. Dr. Butcher thanked Todd for his input and stated that he was the person that knows most about the HS building.

Terri Eyerman discussed the details with the board related to bus driver trip rates that were removed from their pay rates during negotiations. She then continued to discuss the same trip rate that is in place for substitute drivers that has not been removed. The transportation of our students relies heavily on our substitutes and their willingness to sub for CCSD relies heavily on their pay rate. She mentioned concern over the trip rate for subs when they know that our drivers now receive their regular rate of pay and this is becoming an issue.  She state that if the Board was in agreement and wanted to make an immediate change, it would take a Board recommendation to make a motion, second and vote at this time - or, they could wait until the next meeting if they prefer to wait and it could be added to the November agenda.

Dr. Butcher mentioned how important it is to get kids to and from school. He thinks we should be paying more than anyone else. He does not think this will break us, we need to stay ahead of it. Sam was in agreement. Phil agrees as well when you look at our school. Schools are becoming competitive, almost business-like if we are the last to react. If we can stay with pack

This became a voting item. The vote is recorded on this item.

Sam made the motion to do away with the $15 trip charge for subs and pay them their hourly rate for trips. Dr. Butcher all voted yes.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 13.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 13.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 13.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 13.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 13.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 14.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 14.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 14.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 14.0.

There is a new person at ESC facilitating the Business Advisory Council.

We are working with the Coshocton Port Authority and Lynn Jacobs at Ohio Means Jobs to come up with a Business Advisory Council for Coshocton County. Soft Skills and durable skills are needed, There will be no quarterly meetings but we will have monthly meetings and invite people in. The group met at Frontier Power for 1st meeting to open up communication and bring awareness. It was exciting to have all school districts involved and there was a good turn out and are excited to see it continue. Business there indicated that we need to teach more customer service, 21st century soft skills.

Maslowski and Amy crown will be Co-Chairs for levy campaign and Denell Skelton will be the Treasurer. The renewal is for continuing  and we don't want to lose it so we don't lose homestead and roll back incentives for our taxpayers.

Wanted to share a little bit about America Succeeds and provided a handout. Flip to page 10 on document. You can see that durable skills are coming out with different names, but you can also see on these documents that there are 10 major competencies and breakdown into. There will be jobs not even created yet but competencies will remain the same and what type of skill sets that employers want to see in their candidates. Emphasize you have to be able to move quickly, change jobs and be ready to have skill sets. We are heading in the right direction by Portrait of a Learner and these competencies. 

Dr. Hire showed slides on workforce with single skill and degree. What is happening is we need to think about being agile - reskilled retooled, re-set, so normal projection will be relearn a new skill, (looks like a series of waves on an upward trend).

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

The vote for this item is recorded on item 15.0.

Barbara Green should be Barbara Breen.