[0:05] Oh.

[0:06] Good evening, everyone.

[0:08] I'd like to call to order the July 13th Xenia Board Meeting.

[0:13] Roll call, please.

[0:14] Yes, sir. Mr. Cox?

[0:15] Here.

[0:15] Mr. Day?

[0:16] Here.

[0:16] Mr. Ritchie?

[0:17] Here.

[0:17] Mr. Scott?

[0:19] Mrs. Williams?

[0:20] Here.

[0:20] Thank you.

[0:21] All right. At this time, let's stand for the pledge of allegiance, please.

[0:28] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

[0:31] America and to the Republic for which it stands, one

[0:35] nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:39] justice for all.

[0:45] All right. Now we need to approve tonight's agenda.

[0:49] Does anybody need anything withdrawn or pulled out of the agenda?

[0:55] No.

[0:55] No? Okay.

[0:57] Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda?

[1:00] Okay. I'll motion to approve the agenda.

[1:01] Okay. Mr. Day. Second?

[1:04] I will second.

[1:05] Okay, Mr. Cox. Second.

[1:09] Okay, roll call, please.

[1:10] All right. So to approve tonight's agenda, a first from Mr.

[1:13] Day, a second from Mr. Cox. Mr. Cox?

[1:16] Yes.

[1:16] Mr. Day?

[1:17] Yes.

[1:17] Mr. Ritchie?

[1:18] Yes.

[1:19] Mrs. Williams?

[1:20] Yes.

[1:20] Thank you.

[1:21] Thank you. Okay. Next, we're moving on to number two on the agenda,

[1:25] citizens address the board.

[1:27] Mr. Massey, do we have... Okay.

[1:29] Yes, sir. Mary Grech.

[1:35] Good evening.

[1:37] The Xenia Community Schools Foundation is here to support students with

[1:41] scholarships

[1:43] and staff with classroom grants. We have been very busy this

[1:46] summer. First, I'd like to thank Steve Brodsky, Bethany

[1:50] Futrel, and Scott Dehaven for their years of service to the foundation board.

[1:54] All have stepped down this summer to make room for new voices and new ideas.

[1:59] Next, the foundation board unanimously renamed one of our student

[2:02] scholarships as the James A. Smith Memorial Scholarship.

[2:07] It will be awarded annually. Jim Smith was a lifelong educator,

[2:11] mentor, coach, and leader. His impact on Xenia Community Schools and the

[2:15] greater Xenia community will be felt for generations. Dr.

[2:18] Smith dedicated 35 years to Xenia Community Schools.

[2:21] He served in a number of different roles, including teacher, coach,

[2:26] principal, intervention specialist, interim treasurer,

[2:29] business and finance director, and superintendent.

[2:33] With his leadership, the district experienced significant growth and improvement.

[2:37] Some of his accomplishments include opening of the Doug Adams Fitness

[2:41] Center, establishment of Veterans Field at Cox Stadium,

[2:45] transition to a middle school system, and significant improvements to

[2:49] district facilities. He retired as Xenia Community

[2:52] School's superintendent in 2004.

[2:56] Dr. Smith was also dedicated to service of the Xenia

[2:59] community. He received numerous awards from the community for his

[3:03] service. The foundation believes this is a fitting tribute to a man

[3:07] so dedicated to the pursuit of learning.

[3:11] In addition to the almost $60,000 in classroom grants

[3:15] for the 2026-2027 school year, we will be

[3:19] providing a $500 grant to each first-year

[3:22] teacher that is to be used for setting up their classroom.

[3:27] As a first-year teacher, the cost can be daunting to get their classroom

[3:31] ready for their students for the first time ever.

[3:34] Tara Palmer will oversee the above expenditure and approve the expenditures,

[3:38] which will go through the purchase order processor in this

[3:42] district.

[3:43] How are we able to do all of these things?

[3:46] Only with the support of the amazing community.

[3:49] Our next fundraiser is an All-American barbecue held at

[3:53] The Devil Wind on September 15th. Tickets include two

[3:57] beverages as well as the meal provided by Nick's Restaurant.

[4:00] So you know it'll be good. There is music and a number of raffle items,

[4:04] all to support Xenia Community School's Foundation, which, again,

[4:08] supports the schools. Tickets are $45.

[4:11] Go to the foundation website or message me for ticket information.

[4:15] Thank you.

[4:18] Thank you, Mrs. Greck.

[4:22] All right. We're going to move on to number three on the agenda, the

[4:25] superintendent's consent agenda.

[4:29] Do we need any--

[4:32] Anybody need any of those items pulled out of the agenda?

[4:38] Okay.

[4:38] No.

[4:39] Do I have a motion to accept?

[4:41] I move to accept, Mr. President.

[4:43] Okay, thank you. Second?

[4:45] I'll second.

[4:45] Okay.

[4:47] I just have one discussion on this.

[4:51] Under letter E, vol-- And we didn't need to pull it, but under letter E,

[4:55] volunteer, it does say that the following volunteers are recommended for the

[4:58] '25, '26 school year,

[5:01] which needs changed to '26, '27.

[5:05] Sure.

[5:05] And under pupil services,

[5:09] the

[5:10] high school marching band percussion instructor, that's Eli

[5:14] Shapiro, not Ed Shapiro.

[5:16] So I don't know who I need to

[5:18] tell to make those changes.

[5:20] Yeah, we'll correct.

[5:20] Oh, did you get them? Both of those? Okay, thank you.

[5:24] All right, roll call please, to accept the agenda.

[5:26] Yes, sir. So to approve the superintendent's consent agenda, a first from Mr.

[5:30] Cox, a second from Mr. Day. Mr. Cox?

[5:32] Yes.

[5:33] Mr. Day?

[5:34] Yes.

[5:34] Mr. Ritchie?

[5:35] Yes.

[5:35] Mrs. Williams?

[5:36] Yes.

[5:37] Thank you.

[5:38] Thank you.

[5:38] Mr. Ritchie, may I?

[5:40] Sure.

[5:41] I would like to introduce our new Tecumseh Elementary building principal, Mr.

[5:45] Newport.

[5:47] We had a vacancy. Mrs. Statzer decided to move closer to home, so we had a

[5:50] vacancy this summer as the building principal of Tecumseh Elementary,

[5:54] and you all just approved our new building principal. Mr.

[5:57] Newport, you want to come up and just tell us

[5:59] where you've been, where you're coming from?

[6:01] And we

[6:02] know you because you've been here for-

[6:05] I can talk here?

[6:05] Yeah, you can talk here

[6:07] Yeah. So my name is Josh Newport. Next year will be year

[6:11] 20 in education for me. It'll be my 16th year in

[6:15] Xenia schools.

[6:16] I spent the last four years as a junior high and high school principal at Greenon.

[6:20] And although I value that role and that experience, I value being a part of

[6:24] this community more, and

[6:26] I am thrilled to be back.

[6:29] Glad to have you back, Mr. Newport.

[6:32] Welcome.

[6:33] Yep. Glad to have you. Congratulations.

[6:36] All right. Okay, we're going to move

[6:38] on to number four, presentation. And Dr.

[6:42] Lofton, if you want to introduce.

[6:43] Yep. So I'd like to call up to the mic Mr.

[6:47] Kopp, who's our athletic director.

[6:49] Over the last few months, I know a couple board members have had a couple questions

[6:53] about our athletic programs. So I thought it probably would be a good

[6:57] idea, since we have new board members, to have Mr.

[6:59] Kopp do a presentation to really give you

[7:03] an understanding of the breadth and depth of all of our

[7:07] athletic programs across our school district.

[7:10] So without further ado, Mr. Kopp, I'll turn it over to you.

[7:13] Awesome. Thank you.

[7:14] Thank you.

[7:15] I'll go ahead and get started. I've always said since I got here my first

[7:19] couple years, Xenia has a great story to tell from its athletics perspective.

[7:24] Building on the past with great

[7:28] athletic programs from the '50s, '60s on up, and raising the bar for the

[7:32] future.

[7:34] Just an overview of the athletic department.

[7:36] It's an education-based athletic program led by impactful

[7:39] adults working to promote sportsmanship,

[7:43] competition, and personal growth for our student athletes through sport.

[7:47] We are an OHSAA member school. The OHSAA is our governing

[7:51] body. We are a member of the Miami Valley League.

[7:54] We are 1 of 10 members.

[7:56] We sponsor 24 varsity sports. We sponsor 13 middle

[8:00] school sports. And that year in, year out encompasses about

[8:03] 450-plus student athletes, some just playing one sport, some playing three or

[8:07] four. And then we have 80-plus coaches through our seven through 12

[8:11] programs.

[8:13] I'm going to start with athletic facilities.

[8:16] Second to none in the state of Ohio.

[8:19] With the leadership of Dr. Lofton and the help of Operations

[8:22] Director Mr. Vandergriff, we've been able to touch everything in our

[8:26] district. Obviously, Warner is brand new.

[8:28] But the football stadium, basketball, volleyball gym, baseball field,

[8:32] softball field, weight room have all had upgrades in the past 18

[8:36] months. Some of those are as simple as refurbishing the dugouts

[8:40] at the softball field to adding a new video board

[8:43] in the high school gym.

[8:47] And then here's just a few pictures of some of the things that are new

[8:50] and obviously look great for our community.

[8:56] The picture on the left there is the new video board.

[8:59] Actually, that is a video board. Instead of getting rid of it, we repurposed it

[9:03] from the stadium. It was only two years old.

[9:05] So it now serves for basketball, volleyball.

[9:09] And then that's a picture when we do our signings at the high school.

[9:12] We're able to put up our kids that are signing where they're going.

[9:15] The middle picture there is, with the help of the trust,

[9:19] the We-Bucks, and fundraising efforts from the baseball coach, Brandon Sires, we

[9:23] were able to redo the infield surface of the baseball field, put nice

[9:27] brick backstop and professional netting.

[9:30] And then on the right-hand side, the baseball and softball fields both got brand

[9:34] new inning-by-inning scoreboards recently.

[9:40] To kind of peel back a little bit the expenditures and

[9:43] where the money goes,

[9:46] we run a needs-based

[9:49] budget. So what are our needs? They're critical equipment,

[9:53] such as balls,

[9:54] football helmets, uniforms,

[9:57] things like that. The athletic department pays for things that are used

[10:01] over the course of several years and can be turned back in.

[10:05] So for example, something that is not, I guess it gives an

[10:08] example, like a baseball hat.

[10:11] We're not going to put a baseball hat on a kid and say, "Well, turn that back in

[10:14] and we're going to give it to somebody the following year." So that's something

[10:17] that a baseball program can decide.

[10:19] Do they want to have the kid purchase the hat, or do they want to fundraise to pay

[10:23] for those hats?

[10:25] Similar, we're not going to put a kid in a swimsuit and then ask them to turn it

[10:29] back in.

[10:31] Things that do we turn back in, for example, football helmets.

[10:34] Now, those have to be reconditioned.

[10:37] Shoulder pads, lacrosse helmets, we send those out to be reconditioned so they're

[10:41] fresh and new even though they are put on somebody's head.

[10:44] Uniform rotation at the high school,

[10:47] every three to four years. And so that way, every time a kid

[10:51] goes through the high school, they'll either be in a brand-new uniform or a

[10:54] relatively new uniform. And when new uniforms are purchased,

[10:58] typically those uniforms are passed down to the JV

[11:02] and freshman levels.

[11:04] To give you an example of a wants versus needs for uniforms,

[11:09] I recently purchased two sets of volleyball uniforms for the volleyball team, white

[11:13] and blue.

[11:14] They wanted to have alternate uniforms.

[11:17] They wanted to have a pink uniform for Breast Cancer Awareness

[11:20] Month, and then they also asked for a black uniform.

[11:23] So I purchased the uniforms, or the athletic department did, and then they

[11:27] fundraised to purchase their wants.

[11:32] So those wants are filled by booster groups and partnerships.

[11:35] Sometimes that's the Doug Adams Trust, sometimes it's

[11:38] the Buck Card sale that you've probably seen going around.

[11:41] So just different ways that our groups bring in revenue.

[11:46] So here's an example of kind of a breakdown of where the money is spent,

[11:51] kind of based on about a $360,000 athletic department budget.

[11:56] A big chunk of that is contracted services.

[12:00] So those are our game officials, those are our workers,

[12:04] those are reconditioned

[12:07] helmets. Okay, that's a contracted service that we have to pay for.

[12:10] So about 45% of that budget ... is that.

[12:15] Then the next big piece is 28% of that budget is

[12:18] transportation. That's getting our kids safely to and from

[12:21] events.

[12:23] Smaller, but still a good amount of money, is supplies and equipment.

[12:27] This is where the money comes from to purchase critical equipment,

[12:31] uniforms, and when

[12:33] there's a surplus, potentially other items for teams.

[12:38] Then a very small portion is entry fees to

[12:44] wrestling tournaments, track tournaments, golf tournaments, things

[12:47] like that. And then your miscellaneous would be if

[12:51] a team makes it to state, like bowling made it to state this year.

[12:55] So we pay for

[12:57] their hotel, their travel, their meals.

[13:00] If coaches want professional development, that money comes out of that

[13:03] miscellaneous pot.

[13:08] So where does our revenue come from? Kind of five main sources.

[13:12] Obviously, ticket sales

[13:14] from

[13:15] a middle school volleyball game that might bring in $500 to the home opening

[13:19] football game that brings in 25,000.

[13:22] So, season all sports passes, that will go on sale starting next

[13:25] Monday. There's been an influx of those going up.

[13:30] We'll probably do about $25,000 worth of all sports

[13:33] passes each year. Then advertisements and partnerships.

[13:37] For example, for football games, you will hear,

[13:41] "The Buccaneers have just entered the blazing red zone." So inside the 20,

[13:45] the local Buffalo Wild Wings has given us a dollar amount for every

[13:49] time we get in there to promote that.

[13:51] And then on the back of our home football game tickets this year, there's a

[13:55] $5 off 25 coupon for Buffalo Wild Wings.

[13:58] So they give money. They see the benefit in partnering with us.

[14:03] Then we sell spots on the scoreboard,

[14:06] and sometimes just donations. US Army donated $2,500

[14:10] just because he said, "I've got some extra money and I want to get rid of it before

[14:13] July 1st" and stopped in my office and I said, "You found your guy."

[14:17] So, $2,500 covers basically just varsity

[14:21] football officials for the year. So that

[14:24] may be a small dollar amount to some, but

[14:26] all of it helps.

[14:28] The other thing, probably my second favorite thing to do as an athletic director is

[14:32] host events for the OHSA. So with Xenia's great proximity

[14:36] and great facilities to Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, we're often asked to

[14:40] host events. So this past year, we hosted 25 plus

[14:44] tournament games in basketball, volleyball, baseball, and

[14:47] softball.

[14:49] Two years ago, we were one of only two schools in the state.

[14:52] We hosted a state semifinal football game, and we hosted a state semifinal

[14:56] girls' soccer game. So again, it's one of the great proximity, the great

[14:59] facilities, and our workers that put on a good event where people feel

[15:03] comfortable to come back to Xenia.

[15:06] Actually, the last thing is concession sales and revenue.

[15:08] Again, just for example,

[15:12] if we have a $20,000 gate for football, we'll bring in

[15:16] about $10,000 at the concession stand on Friday nights.

[15:19] So, with our partnerships with WeBucks,

[15:23] what I do is

[15:25] each summer, I'll meet with all our booster groups,

[15:29] and we'll map out a schedule and you make an X amount of dollar amount, but we have

[15:32] to have workers for each of the concessions.

[15:34] So, for example, I need 12 adults to work

[15:38] a Friday night football game from 5:30 to

[15:42] 9 o'clock, and their group makes $750 for that.

[15:45] So at the end of each season, then the WeBucks kind of

[15:49] manage the concessions, and then whatever our revenue is,

[15:53] then they will give checks. And for example, last year, just in the fall,

[15:57] it was an $18,000 check to the athletic department, which then

[16:01] about 9,000 of that was split, and I keep track of what groups

[16:05] worked middle school, high school, all the sports, and that money then goes to

[16:09] their booster groups.

[16:12] Then the athletic booster groups.

[16:13] The role of the booster group is to enrich student athlete participation by raising

[16:17] funds, coordinate events, and providing volunteer support to cover

[16:21] expenses that exceed standard school athletic budgets.

[16:24] Just like everything else, everything is more expensive now, so our groups are

[16:28] trying to do more and more to continue to give our kids the same

[16:32] level of expectation and

[16:36] of their sport that they've been getting.

[16:37] So,

[16:39] typically referred to as wants. Again, I said we run a needs-based budget.

[16:43] The wants of an athletic program typically come from the booster group.

[16:46] So our booster monies now are held at Green Giving.

[16:50] So obviously, they're their own 501 [c] [3] , so they kind of manage the money.

[16:55] I kind of oversee just to make sure that we're purchasing things

[16:59] that directly contribute to the kids or to the

[17:02] program. And then other, obviously, the Doug Adams

[17:06] Trust and the Xenia WeBucks Trust have been a great

[17:10] partner to help offset some of those costs for us.

[17:14] Highlights for the year. Again, I'll try to be quick with this,

[17:18] but baseball, boys' bowling, girls' bowling, comp cheer, football all

[17:23] captured MVL titles.

[17:25] Boys' bowling, Otis Boyette wrestling, and Corey Farm swimming all

[17:29] qualified for the state OHSA tournament.

[17:32] The comp cheer team captured the D2 Coaches Association state title

[17:36] and qualified for nationals. The varsity football team earned

[17:40] Academic All-Ohio with their 22 starters averaging a

[17:44] 3.65 GPA.

[17:46] And then boys' bowling and volleyball were district runner-ups.

[17:50] Senior running back Deontay White broke the school record for career rushing

[17:54] yards and was first team All-State for a second year in a row.

[17:57] And that picture there is our comp cheer team in

[18:00] Gahanna or Olentangy,

[18:02] where they won the state title.

[18:07] I mentioned that hosting events for me personally is the second favorite thing.

[18:10] My favorite thing is being able to recognize

[18:12] the achievements of our student-athletes.

[18:15] So right here is just a few examples of things we do or that the

[18:19] athletic department does on a daily basis To make sure that our kids are recognized

[18:23] and keep them in the forefront of the community and they know what's going on.

[18:26] So we do a student athlete of the month,

[18:28] that's sponsored by the local Edward Jones.

[18:31] Every time we have a student that signs for college, we'll do a college signings.

[18:35] We recognize athletic records and milestones.

[18:38] We do alumni updates. State-bound athletes get their own

[18:41] walkout.

[18:43] All-league athletes get graphics.

[18:45] We do a game day graphic pretty much every day for every sport, so people know,

[18:49] and those are pushed out on our social media platforms, Facebook,

[18:53] and our Twitter/X page.

[18:56] Live game updates are done

[18:59] via our social media platforms, and again, especially our football, but our in-game

[19:02] fan experience is absolutely second to none around here

[19:06] in what we provide our fans for the event.

[19:12] So here's just a snippet of some similar things.

[19:16] So senior night for softball on the left, it's a graphic that goes

[19:19] out. The one that says game day, that's just a basic boys basketball had a game,

[19:23] tells you what time they're playing, where they're at.

[19:26] The one on the right is Addy Tate was our student athlete of the month for the

[19:29] Edward Jones, Heather Daugherty Group.

[19:32] Otis Boyett captured 100 wins,

[19:35] so we recognize that. Sophomore Max Green qualified for

[19:39] the state indoor meet, and then career touchdowns, there's the graphic I

[19:43] created for Deontay. And then just as simple as bowling was going against

[19:47] Greenville on a whatever day that was, on a Wednesday.

[19:50] And then Shawn Fishwick, there's this graphic for when he signed to go to Eastern

[19:54] Michigan.

[19:56] Again, just a few other things. One of the other things, our kids

[20:00] get the best signing day

[20:04] experience from anybody around.

[20:07] They have the video board, all the things.

[20:11] It really is second to none with what they get and the notoriety.

[20:17] One last thing I'll say, this one, I don't know if you saw this.

[20:19] For one week in the fall, I did something called Cartoon Series.

[20:22] So when we played at Greenville for football, amazing

[20:26] what you can do with some graphics now.

[20:28] So I would take a regular picture and, for example, touchdown Xenia

[20:32] Gabe Stephan, and obviously that's a cartoon, but I made all these graphics,

[20:36] so when we scored, they would come out like that.

[20:39] So we had two regional qualifiers that week for cross country, so they

[20:43] got a cartoon. That's when volleyball qualified for districts.

[20:47] So just another way that we try to be unique and promote our

[20:51] student athletes in a different way that maybe other schools around here are not

[20:54] doing.

[20:59] Then Xenia Athletics opportunities and experiences.

[21:02] The top left-hand corner was our in-school duel that

[21:06] we did

[21:08] in early January or late January, early February,

[21:12] where we did senior day during the school day, and we tied it in with

[21:16] our PBIS program where kids could come watch and a

[21:20] huge success,

[21:22] wrestling team's begging for that to happen again.

[21:25] The middle top picture was our first ever comp cheer

[21:29] meet that we hosted, and you can see that was a Sunday, and

[21:33] that's about 10:00 o'clock in the morning, the place was packed.

[21:36] The far right picture is actually one of our middle school students at

[21:40] the Benner Field House when our eighth grade played in the finals.

[21:44] And again, obviously, Benner's one of my favorite places, but it was a really cool

[21:48] environment. And then the bottom two are what we do for our state-bound athletes.

[21:51] We do a clap out where the band leads them around the school, and

[21:55] their classmates can come out and wish them luck.

[21:58] And then we give them a police escort to the city

[22:02] lines to recognize their accomplishments.

[22:07] And again, here's some other things.

[22:08] There's the comp cheer team at Nationals at Disney.

[22:13] The middle picture is a great shot from a football game with the fireworks,

[22:17] and then the baseball team was able to play at Dayton Dragon Stadium.

[22:22] So just sometimes unique experiences that they may not get to

[22:26] do somewhere else.

[22:30] And again,

[22:31] our student athletes have a long history of success at Xenia High School level and

[22:34] beyond.

[22:36] Just in the last decade, and this rivals give me Mason, give me

[22:39] Moeller.

[22:41] We've had a state championship bowler.

[22:43] We've had a kid drafted into baseball draft.

[22:45] We've had two kids

[22:48] swim in the Olympic trials, one while he was still in school at Xenia, then one

[22:51] who, Daniel Majchrzak, did it twice, 2021 and

[22:54] '24. Majchrzak was a national champion at

[22:58] Cedarville, transferred to Indiana, where he was an All-American.

[23:03] So obviously Samari Curtis, winner of Mr. Basketball.

[23:06] There's only been 33 of those ever.

[23:09] We had an All-American wrestler at the college level, Desmond Diggs.

[23:13] And obviously just recently, we had Gavin Gearhart drafted

[23:17] in the NFL draft.

[23:19] A two-time All-American incoming freshman, Kane Lewis.

[23:23] He'll be a freshman. That'll be

[23:26] a name to watch and follow.

[23:29] We've had student athletes qualify for the state tournament in boys bowling, girls

[23:32] bowling, boys wrestling, girls wrestling, boys swimming, girls swimming, and track

[23:36] and field. Basically, every individuals event you can do that.

[23:40] And we've had athletes place at state in boys bowling, girls bowling, boys

[23:44] swimming, and track and field.

[23:46] League titles in basically every sport.

[23:49] Over 100 student athletes have went on to continue their academic and athletic

[23:53] careers at the next level. And then we've added two new sports,

[23:57] boys lacrosse, which became permanent 2023, and then girls wrestling.

[24:02] And we are the only school in the Miami Valley that has boys

[24:05] lacrosse, and it's been Coach Bartley.

[24:08] Both Bartleys have done such a great job that we now have a club middle

[24:12] school team because it's an emerging sport for sure.

[24:18] This number will change a little bit as kids stop participating, but

[24:22] going into this fall, 30 Xenia alumni currently continue

[24:26] their academic and athletic careers in college in 13 different sports across nine

[24:30] states.

[24:33] And then here's just a

[24:34] snippet of some of our best. And if you're not familiar, top left, that's Daniel

[24:38] Mahalsky.

[24:40] The one in the purple jersey, that's Gavin Gearhart, the one that just got drafted.

[24:44] Samari Curtis, 2019 Mr. Basketball.

[24:47] Evan Atkins, state champion bowler in 2016,

[24:51] and when he was bowling there in 2016, he had the all-time

[24:55] record for the highest three-game series.

[24:59] He bowled a strike in his first game, his first 11 balls.

[25:03] If you know anything about bowling, 12 is a perfect game.

[25:05] So he tells a great story that after his ninth straight strike at the

[25:09] state meet to the best bowlers in the state,

[25:12] everybody in the place stopped just to watch him.

[25:15] So 10 and 11 were strikes, and I said, "Well, what'd you get on

[25:19] 12?" He said, "Seven." So bowled a 297.

[25:23] His second game, his first 10 balls were

[25:27] strikes. And then I said, "What'd you get on his 11th one?" "A seven." So he went

[25:30] on to break the state record. Since has been passed, but great

[25:34] story, great kid, great family. Bottom left is Kane

[25:37] Lewis.

[25:39] He was in Las Vegas. He's the one coming up, two-time All-American, fifth and

[25:43] seventh in Greco and freestyle.

[25:46] Jalen Moore, who plays Division 1 soccer at, I believe it's

[25:50] Jackson State now.

[25:52] There's Deontay White, our

[25:55] record holder in rushing. And then Tori McPherson, whose mom

[25:59] teaches at Warner. She was an all-conference softball player at

[26:03] Tiffin this year. And then the last picture, an oldie but a goodie, is

[26:07] Vaughn Broadnax.

[26:10] State champion wrestler, and then played fullback at Ohio State,

[26:13] and I think it was six years ago, he was voted the best football player in

[26:17] Ohio State history to ever wear the number 38.

[26:20] So

[26:21] he oftentimes is good to come back and do the first game coin flip.

[26:25] Great guy. Lives in Indianapolis.

[26:28] And then last but not least, I was able to bring Gavin

[26:32] Gearhart to Rotary two weeks ago just to

[26:36] give him his story, his path. You can see

[26:40] his highlights. His first-ever three-time captain, and UC

[26:43] history. He is very well-spoken, very

[26:47] appreciative of his time at Xenia. Said, "I'm a homebody.

[26:50] I've always been in Xenia. I'll always live in Xenia." So he's getting ready to

[26:54] leave here in the next week or so to go to Minnesota and compete for

[26:58] a spot for the Vikings.

[27:02] So that's just a

[27:04] snippet of

[27:06] all the great things going on with the athletic department.

[27:10] Andy, can you talk a little bit more about just the partnership with the Doug Adams

[27:14] Trust and the collective impact that that partnership has had

[27:18] on our students and our athletic programs over the years?

[27:22] Yeah.

[27:23] The start of the trust predates me, but for those of you that don't

[27:27] know,

[27:30] Doug Adams played for Xenia in the

[27:33] mid late '60s, went on to play at Ohio State,

[27:37] was a part of the national championship team with Woody Hayes.

[27:39] Went and played for the Cincinnati Bengals, and then died in

[27:43] a tragic biking accident in the early '90s, and I might have that date

[27:47] wrong.

[27:49] His parents lived right behind the stadium,

[27:52] and

[27:54] Mr. Ritchie might be able to tell me what year they came, and they said, "We would

[27:57] like to start, Xenia Schools has been so beneficial for Doug.

[28:01] He was very fortunate, and we would like to start a trust in his

[28:05] name."

[28:06] My understanding is the initial dollar amount was $1 million,

[28:10] and since then, an additional million has been put in, and obviously,

[28:13] it's being managed in a money market.

[28:17] So over $2 million over the course of two decades

[28:21] has went to directly impact our kids.

[28:24] And for example, the scoreboards, the baseball

[28:28] and softball scoreboards. We need a safe environment for

[28:32] the kids to play in, but

[28:35] an any by any scoreboard would be more of a want than a need.

[28:38] So the trust

[28:40] gave money for that. Obviously, the name of the stadium is Doug Adams Stadium, and

[28:44] I think it was an initial $250,000 donation to get the

[28:48] turf started in 2015. So for example, the comp

[28:52] cheer team,

[28:53] and I learned something about cheerleading when we qualified for

[28:57] nationals, is you can't wear your uniform that you won the

[29:01] state championship in to nationals.

[29:03] When I say you can't, you can, but they just don't do that.

[29:06] So they had to get new uniforms, and they had to pay for flights and all

[29:10] those things. So the trust stepped up, and they footed the

[29:14] bill for all brand-new comp uniforms for nationals.

[29:18] And still my understanding, I'm not sure we get to wear those again.

[29:21] I think that's a one-time thing, so that's okay. We'll find a way.

[29:25] We'll do a second comp cheer. We'll host another one because obviously, those

[29:28] uniforms are expensive. But the trust has

[29:33] had their hands in, they've helped out with band. They've helped out with Mr.

[29:36] Ritchie's-

[29:38] Science. Yeah, they helped us with science equipment one year.

[29:40] Yeah.

[29:41] Yeah.

[29:41] Yeah. So even though initially it was tailored towards athletics,

[29:45] they've been able to spread their tentacles a little bit and help everybody.

[29:49] And for sure, since I've been here, they've helped every athletic program.

[29:54] Pete Stephan's kind of the gatekeeper of that.

[29:57] Him and I work great, and my coaches kind of know,

[30:01] if I can't do it, we'll figure out a way.

[30:04] Just let me and Pete work through it, because he does get asked for a lot.

[30:07] But it's been a great

[30:11] partnership.

[30:13] A lot of times some of my AD buddies will be like,

[30:16] "Well, you got that trust." It's perfect, right?

[30:20] Because we have something that nobody else has.

[30:24] And then I'd be remiss if I didn't at least touch on the We-Bups, which is one of

[30:27] the best-run businesses in Xenia,

[30:30] and they have set up their trust, and they are helping.

[30:34] They want to help out with some track equipment.

[30:36] They purchased $13,000 worth of

[30:40] ... cheer tumbling mats four or five years ago, or three years ago.

[30:43] So both of those groups have been instrumental in

[30:47] helping offset the cost and the burdens of

[30:50] giving our kids a first-rate experience at the high school level.

[30:59] Thank you.

[31:01] Any questions for Mr. Kopp?

[31:04] Just one question, sir, for my own curiosity and sake.

[31:09] How many years of use do you get out of the average football uniform before

[31:13] it has to be replaced?

[31:14] So, great question. Actually, the football uniforms are actually a

[31:18] lot older than some of our other uniforms.

[31:21] So we have three sets of football uniforms.

[31:23] Again, we need a home and away. A want would be a third

[31:27] or an alternate uniform. So, the black uniforms were

[31:31] purchased in 2019.

[31:32] Mm-hmm.

[31:33] So they're going to go on their seventh year

[31:36] of use.

[31:38] And then the white and blue are going to both be going on their fourth year.

[31:42] And that is a big expense, and a lot of times, again,

[31:46] because I have a good relationship, good partnership with the Touchdown Club.

[31:50] Mm-hmm.

[31:50] When we bought the white and the blue,

[31:54] they bought the pants,

[31:56] I believe, going off memory. I bought the jerseys.

[31:59] So it helped offset the cost. And again,

[32:03] I would say in-game experience. Now, the helmets were purchased, a

[32:07] second set of helmets was purchased by the trust.

[32:12] But three sets of uniforms, two helmets, we spread those out, that

[32:15] actually extends the life of those uniforms.

[32:18] Mm-hmm.

[32:18] Those black uniforms in six years have probably only been worn 9 or 10

[32:21] times. So, the white has to be worn, at least the jersey,

[32:25] away.

[32:26] Mm-hmm.

[32:26] But by having an extra set of uniforms, especially in a football situation where

[32:29] there's wear and tear,

[32:31] an extra set of uniforms actually extends the life of those uniforms.

[32:35] Thank you very much.

[32:36] I just want to make a comment. I'm impressed by many

[32:40] things.

[32:41] One of the things that I'm impressed with is your enthusiasm for what you do,

[32:45] and I'm also impressed by your wants and

[32:49] needs things. That is a life lesson that kids

[32:53] need to learn across the board. So I'm impressed.

[32:56] Great job.

[32:58] Thank you.

[32:59] I have a couple questions. First of all, I just need to

[33:02] comment on the picture of Vaughn Broadnax.

[33:05] We graduated together and we were good friends.

[33:08] And he was a great athlete, and I was like...

[33:11] So one year my sister said, "You should go out for wrestling."

[33:15] I was like, "Oh, okay, I'll try that." Well, Vaughn and I wrestled the same weight

[33:19] class. Let's just say I never wrestled a varsity meet.

[33:24] And

[33:25] he liked grinding my face in the mat.

[33:27] And I was like, "Okay,

[33:29] Vaughn, ease up." All right.

[33:32] Number one, would you share that presentation with us?

[33:35] Yes.

[33:35] Could you? Okay. Now-

[33:37] I have it in hard copy, but I can also send it to you electronically.

[33:39] Yeah, that would be good, thanks. Now you mentioned, I didn't know what you meant,

[33:43] you said the season all-sports passes, there's an influx of those.

[33:46] Do you mean a higher demand?

[33:49] Yeah, and I think what has happened after COVID, I think people are just kind of

[33:53] looking where they can get the most bang for their buck, and $250

[33:57] to get in. Ticket prices have gone up, and that's not something we set.

[34:00] Those ticket prices are set by the league.

[34:03] Commissioner.

[34:03] So I think I've pushed to try to, "Hey, get it now."

[34:06] Yeah.

[34:06] So I think people realize that this 250 bucks is a lot better than me spending $36

[34:10] every Friday night-

[34:11] ... at home games, and then-

[34:13] ... $32 to get into basketball games.

[34:15] Okay. And when it comes to uniforms, you said every three

[34:19] to four years.

[34:20] Yeah.

[34:20] That's across the board, every sport?

[34:22] That's high school. Yes.

[34:23] Yeah.

[34:23] That's high school. So like I said, yes, there is a rotation.

[34:27] To be transparent, I talk to football like, "Hey, you're about

[34:30] up." And it's also interesting as you're on this side of it,

[34:35] we typically get Nike uniforms, and Nike's a multi-billion dollar business for a

[34:39] reason.

[34:39] Mm-hmm.

[34:40] We get these uniforms, and then after two years, you can't buy

[34:44] the same uniform, or you can't get the one that looks similar.

[34:46] So football has kind of just said, "Hey, we like our setup now,"

[34:50] because we're probably not going to buy three sets right away.

[34:54] We would do one set of uniforms.

[34:56] So yes, it is across the board where it is a three to four

[35:00] time

[35:01] rotation. So, for example, baseball got new uniforms last year from me,

[35:07] and he decided they wanted alternate uniforms.

[35:09] Or if you're a baseball guy, they have these things called City Connect uniforms.

[35:13] Like the Reds wear all black on Friday nights, I think it is.

[35:17] So he got all black uniforms that said Xtown,

[35:20] so that's kind of our City Connect. Again, something unique for our kids.

[35:24] But that was a want, not a need, so that purchase came through the

[35:28] booster group.

[35:29] Okay.

[35:30] And back in the day, they used to ask the board to work a football game concession

[35:34] stand.

[35:36] If you ever need a-

[35:37] Are you volunteering?

[35:37] Pardon?

[35:37] I said are you volunteering?

[35:39] I would volunteer.

[35:41] Yeah.

[35:41] I'll sign you up on a day, I'm sure.

[35:43] Yes. Okay. All right. Well, thank you very much. Do you have a question?

[35:49] No, I don't think so. I think some of the questions had

[35:53] originally come up asking about costs for various sports,

[35:57] including, you talked about it with cheer,

[36:00] and how they have

[36:03] four or five different uniforms, and we only

[36:08] are able

[36:09] to supply the needs and the one uniform per

[36:13] year and such. So I think all the questions have been answered.

[36:19] Yeah. Okay, thank you for coming tonight.

[36:21] Thank you, Mr. Kopp.

[36:22] Thanks.

[36:22] Thank you.

[36:23] Awesome.

[36:28] And I would just like to say, in retrospect, welcome to Xenia, or back to Xenia,

[36:32] Mr. Newport.

[36:33] Thank you.

[36:33] Good to have you here.

[36:35] Okay, next we're going to move on to agenda item number five,

[36:39] the treasurer's financial report for the month ending June 30th, 2026

[36:45] Do you want to do a first and second? Sure. Or do you want me to dive right in?

[36:49] No, we'll go ahead and approve.

[36:51] I'll motion to approve.

[36:52] Okay. I'll second.

[36:54] All right. Mr. Day first, Mr. Cox second. First from Mr. Day, second from Mr.

[36:58] Cox on the floor, and I'll go ahead and jump in.

[37:00] This is an exciting one because at this point, you don't have any roller coaster

[37:04] of the fiscal year in terms of timing when property tax values

[37:08] come in, the books are closed, and you get, I think, the best

[37:12] snapshot of how you've done not only for the whole

[37:16] year compared to your latest financial forecast, but you also get to

[37:20] see the diversification of our income in

[37:23] terms of what comes from local, what comes from the state, and how it affects the

[37:27] general fund. You get the most,

[37:29] I'd say, reliable data here because, again, when we look at the financial

[37:33] reports the next couple of months, you're going to have just a few months of state

[37:36] payments coming in, but you'll have your first property tax payment coming in.

[37:40] So it kind of skews it as you go throughout the year.

[37:42] So when you get to the end, it evens things out nicely. So let's jump right in.

[37:46] Compared to our last financial forecast in February,

[37:50] we're at 100.3% of revenue, so just a little bit over

[37:54] what we expected to bring in. In terms of expenditures, we're

[37:58] about 96.6% of what we expected

[38:01] to spend in our general fund budget

[38:05] there. And you can see where the investment balances are at

[38:09] the end of the month. And again, we'll have our next financial forecast

[38:13] next month at the August board meeting, and we'll get the July

[38:16] financial report that'll be aligned to that as well.

[38:19] So we'll be well into fiscal '27 by that point.

[38:22] Here, we take a deep dive look into all the different types of revenue.

[38:26] Again, you're going to find on the first page of the financial report, they're

[38:30] going to be grouped into broad categories based on the latest financial

[38:33] forecast. And here you've got much more finer detail of the different

[38:38] types of

[38:39] revenue that comes into the general fund.

[38:41] There you can see our comparison graph that we have been using to see how we

[38:45] are doing as we go throughout fiscal '26.

[38:48] Flip the coin over to the expenditure side.

[38:51] With 100% of the fiscal year under our belt, we have

[38:55] got 80.86. So why the difference between almost

[38:59] 81% there versus the

[39:02] almost 97% on the front page? The front page is set to our forecast,

[39:06] which is what we expect to spend as a budget.

[39:09] Deeper into the report at fiscal year end, you set all the funds to what the

[39:13] board's level of spending is, the appropriation level.

[39:15] And we've talked about that before.

[39:17] There's usually a small amount of contingency between what the

[39:20] board says, "Yes, you've got this authority to spend and make available

[39:24] in the budget," versus what we actually intend to spend.

[39:27] That just provides a little bit of cushion, if you will, for contingency.

[39:30] A boiler goes out, some other type of problem like that may occur.

[39:34] So that's the difference between those percentages there.

[39:38] Again, here we've got our expenditures for the general fund.

[39:41] You can see how those compare to where we thought we would be at the end of the

[39:45] year.

[39:46] And then we look across all of our funds here.

[39:49] Again, those are all set to be

[39:53] equal to what the board's level of appropriation is in all the different

[39:56] funds that we had throughout fiscal year '26.

[40:01] And then I've got a summary of all the transfers that were made from fund to fund.

[40:05] As a reminder, you've given me board authority at the

[40:07] January board meeting to make fund-to-fund transfers

[40:12] as needed, then notify you at the next board meeting. I've done that.

[40:15] I just kind of tightened things up for the whole year and kind of put a

[40:19] bow on it at the end, put them all on one summary slide there.

[40:23] So those are those. The new ones that happen during the month

[40:27] of June would only be the bottom couple.

[40:30] That is where we take money that is brought in from the tournaments.

[40:34] It has to live in a special account, the 022, until the end of

[40:38] the year when we close the books and say, "Okay, how much do we owe to

[40:41] OAHAA? How much did we spend on tournament workers

[40:45] specifically?" And then whatever dollars are left over from those tournaments

[40:49] get moved over to the athletics fund there.

[40:53] So as we take a year-end review look of all the fiscal year '26,

[40:57] again, these are the same graphs that are in the monthly financial report.

[41:00] But I want to highlight them here because it gives you, I think, one of the best,

[41:03] if you really want to know where's the money coming from, where's the money going,

[41:07] look at your June 30th fiscal year-end graphs, and you've got a

[41:11] really good picture with an entire year all in one

[41:15] chart. And you can see there, property taxes bring in about a little over

[41:18] 38%. You've got your personal utility property tax.

[41:22] So think about the utilities and the taxes they pay, right under 3%.

[41:26] Income tax, 9.5%. And then you've got state money, whether it's

[41:30] coming in for school funding or it's where

[41:34] they pick up their portion of property taxes like the

[41:37] homestead and other rollbacks. You can see how that is.

[41:42] As we look at the year, what are kind of the big things that have been happening

[41:45] there? We've continued our push to continue moving forward with

[41:49] as many ACH, that's electronic direct deposit versus

[41:53] printing and then mailing a paper check.

[41:56] So from fiscal '25 to '26, we went up from 76%

[42:00] ACH to 85% on average. That's

[42:04] 216 fewer paper checks. Again, my whole goal has been that

[42:08] it's more cost-effective to make a direct deposit versus

[42:11] printing it, ink, postage, and then managing

[42:15] to make sure that, "Hey, did this check, was it cashed by the appropriate person?

[42:18] Could it have been intercepted in the mail?" We have lots of security things in

[42:22] place for that to keep things on the up and up.

[42:25] But again, putting the money directly in, just like all employees are on direct

[42:28] deposit, we're moving to put as many vendors as possible on direct deposit as

[42:32] well. On the credit card side

[42:35] You can see there comparing what we've put out in terms of accounts payables.

[42:39] That's where a vendor presents an invoice. We pay them.

[42:42] A little bit more than 6,000 invoices processed last year.

[42:45] On the credit card, about 1,500. Again, it's the exact same

[42:49] purchasing process. It still has to be approved, go on a requisition, make a

[42:53] purchase order. All the documentation has to be there.

[42:56] It's more for convenience. Let's say that a building needs to

[43:00] go out and they need a supply for school the next day.

[43:02] They don't have time to order it, and it's something fresh, like they're going to

[43:05] have a reception, and they'd like to have cookies for a parent-teacher

[43:09] conference. Something like that, you wouldn't necessarily want to order that or

[43:12] have that stale. You'd want something fresh there.

[43:15] So those would be good examples of a good use for a credit card there.

[43:19] And we've managed about $3.2 million of grants

[43:23] during fiscal 2026.

[43:26] So moving on, again, we can look at expenditures in a couple different ways.

[43:30] We'll look at those in both of these slides here. One is by the function.

[43:33] So think of the function as what is it that we're hoping

[43:37] to accomplish? What's being taken care of?

[43:40] Versus objects, which will be in the next slide, which is what is

[43:44] actually being purchased. Are you paying someone's salary, paying for

[43:48] insurance and retirement benefits,

[43:50] paying for purchase services like electricity?

[43:53] And you can see there the bulk of ours is almost 60% on instruction,

[43:58] another 10% on pupil support, 2.3% on instructional support.

[44:02] So vast majority of that is going to be for supporting

[44:06] students in the classroom. You've also got that same thing going on with

[44:10] transportation. It's moving kids to and from school, as well

[44:14] as maintenance and operations, keeping them in warm, safe, dry buildings.

[44:18] And we can also look at the expenditures by objects.

[44:21] You can see about 56.6--

[44:24] 56.4%, excuse me, in salaries, about 21% in

[44:28] benefits,

[44:30] and some smaller percentages for supplies and equipment.

[44:35] Any questions that I can answer for you about the June

[44:39] 30th, 2026 financial report?

[44:48] Not nearly as excited as you were for athletics.

[44:52] Oh, we're excited.

[44:54] Under general fund expenditure by object-

[44:57] Yes

[44:57] ... the equipment was three-

[44:59] Yes

[45:00] ... I know equipment's pretty unpredictable, but what-

[45:03] So equipment's unpredictable for a couple of reasons.

[45:05] One, you might have a piece of equipment that goes out.

[45:07] Two, depending on the quantity and the amount of equipment, it may need to be

[45:11] changed from a 500, which is a supplies, to an equipment object

[45:15] for the purposes of inventory for the annual financial reports.

[45:19] In which case, it goes from one bucket to the next.

[45:22] Which is why the big increase there.

[45:24] Yes.

[45:24] Okay.

[45:25] Thank you.

[45:26] You're very welcome. Thank you for asking.

[45:30] Any other questions

[45:32] for Mr. Massey?

[45:36] No?

[45:36] I don't think so.

[45:37] No? No. Okay.

[45:39] All right. So I've got a first on the floor from Mr. Day, a second from Mr.

[45:42] Cox to approve the June 2026 financial report. Mr. Cox?

[45:46] Yes.

[45:46] Mr. Day.

[45:47] Yes.

[45:48] Mr. Ritchie.

[45:49] Yes.

[45:49] Mrs. Williams.

[45:50] Yes.

[45:50] Thank you.

[45:51] Thank you.

[45:53] Okay, we'll move on to number six, Dr.

[45:56] Lofton's updates for July.

[45:58] I do not have a report at this time.

[46:00] Okay.

[46:01] Thank you.

[46:03] Okay, number seven, closing items.

[46:07] Any announcements, Mrs. Williams? We'll just go around the table.

[46:10] No.

[46:12] Okay. Mr. Cox? Not tonight. Okay.

[46:17] I would

[46:19] just like to say, I know Mr. Cox attended one night to our church's Celebrate

[46:22] America 250, but people love the Xenia High School Big Band.

[46:26] They played every night for half an hour.

[46:29] And every night, we would have crowds of like 5 to 700, but people

[46:33] would say, "Now they're really from a high school, not from a college?"

[46:37] And Mr. Sell really works them.

[46:40] Anyway...

[46:41] And I

[46:43] noticed on Cox today, I told Mr. Vandegrift this, the

[46:47] new blue looks really good. I don't know if you guys have noticed on the

[46:50] elementaries, they're getting rid of the faded blue and putting up...

[46:56] And then,

[46:57] Mrs. Williams, Mr. Cox and I spent perhaps the hottest day of the summer-

[47:02] At the city's July 4th, what's it called?

[47:06] The White Block Party.

[47:07] White Party. Yes.

[47:07] Yeah.

[47:08] Block Party. Yes. It was about 105 degrees, I think, feel.

[47:13] We had a little board table there.

[47:16] My wife calls it an average day in Alabama.

[47:18] Oh.

[47:19] So anyway, that's all I have.

[47:22] Mr. Day?

[47:26] I think I have

[47:27] the...

[47:29] There's no

[47:31] updates on the city side. We

[47:36] had the block party and the firework

[47:39] show, which was excellent, and

[47:43] I don't think there's any major activities coming up.

[47:47] I will, though, read real quick for the

[47:51] record,

[47:53] George Leinenheimer sent his

[47:56] summary on the Greene County Career Center.

[48:00] So I'll just read his message. He wasn't able

[48:04] to be here tonight.

[48:07] But he said that he'd like to thank us once again

[48:11] for allowing me to continue serving as your representative on the Greene County

[48:14] Career Center Board of Education.

[48:17] It's an honor to represent our district, and I appreciate your continued trust and

[48:19] support.

[48:22] So I want to share a few updates on the Greene County Career Center.

[48:25] Effective July 1st, our longtime superintendent, Mr.

[48:28] Deskins, transitioned into a new role as the executive director

[48:32] of advancement. This newly created position will focus on fundraising

[48:36] and developing partnerships to support the continued growth of

[48:40] GCCC

[48:41] As we all know, school funding can be unpredictable, so this position will allow us

[48:45] to proactively seek donations and cultivate relationships with individuals,

[48:48] businesses, and community partners who are willing to invest in career and

[48:52] technical education.

[48:54] With Mr. Deskins' transition, I am pleased to announce that Mr.

[48:57] Brian McKnight has been appointed as the new superintendent of the Greene County

[49:01] Career Center.

[49:02] Brian has served for many years and brings a wealth of experience and leadership to

[49:06] the role. I'm confident he'll continue the strong tradition of excellence that has

[49:09] been established at GCCC.

[49:12] I also wanted to highlight several exciting developments over the past year.

[49:16] Thanks to a generous donor, we have doubled the size of our welding

[49:19] program, allowing us to serve more students and better meet workforce

[49:22] demands. In addition, Greene County Career Center recently purchased

[49:26] 24 acres of property across the road from campus.

[49:30] We are currently evaluating the best ways to utilize this land to support future

[49:33] expansion and educational opportunities.

[49:36] At this time, I do not have finalized enrollment numbers for the upcoming school

[49:40] year, as enrollment is still being completed.

[49:42] I will provide a full enrollment update during the August board meeting.

[49:45] As always, if you have any questions or would like additional information about the

[49:48] Greene County Career Center, please feel free to contact me by email, phone, or

[49:52] text. I'm always happy to help. So that's from George,

[49:57] the representative to the Greene County Career Center board.

[50:02] And that's it.

[50:03] Okay.

[50:04] I did want to say,

[50:06] I meant to say this earlier, but I know a couple of the other board members went to

[50:10] see this movie. My wife and I went. I don't know if anybody has seen the movie

[50:14] "Young Washington," which was excellent, about our first president,

[50:17] George Washington. And several things, as a public school teacher, I just wanted to

[50:21] say, several things really made me think.

[50:24] But one point that stood out was the fact that when George's dad passed away, he

[50:28] was 11 years old,

[50:30] and he was no longer able to continue his formal education.

[50:34] It was cut short due to family finances and

[50:37] circumstances. He was, of course, tutored privately.

[50:41] He was our only Founding Father who did not attend college.

[50:45] But I just thought about now what opportunity kids have in America.

[50:49] While in the classroom of a public school for 37 years,

[50:53] every August was like, I didn't know who would be sitting in my classroom when

[50:56] school started. And I know as a Christian, I used to pray

[51:00] every year for each student that would come into my classroom, and I would have a

[51:04] positive influence. So I just think

[51:08] the power of public education is that we serve any and every student who

[51:11] walks through our doors, and that's the beauty of public

[51:15] education. It's the cornerstone of our democracy, I feel like, and

[51:19] I'm just proud to call myself a public school teacher and supporter.

[51:23] So that movie, when Washington's education was cut short, I was like, "Well,

[51:27] it's a good thing we don't do that in America anymore." Absolutely.

[51:32] All right. We are going to convene

[51:35] or go to recess for executive session at this time to discuss legal.

[51:40] Motion.

[51:41] A motion to... Sure.

[51:45] Yeah.

[51:46] I'll motion to-

[51:47] Okay

[51:47] ... recess for-

[51:48] And I'll second

[51:49] ... executive session.

[51:56] Roll call.

[51:57] All right. So motion to recess to executive session at 7:21

[52:00] PM. A first by Mr. Day. A second by Mr. Cox. Mr.

[52:04] Cox?

[52:04] Yes.

[52:05] Mr. Day?

[52:06] Yes.

[52:06] Mr. Ritchie?

[52:07] Yes.

[52:07] Mrs. Williams?

[52:08] Yes.

[52:09] Thank you.

[52:09] All right.

[1:22:07] All right. At this time, it's 7:52 PM, Monday, July 13th, and I'm

[1:22:11] calling the meeting to convene.

[1:22:15] Okay.

[1:22:16] All right. We are going to vote now to adjourn the meeting

[1:22:20] tonight. So do I have a motion?

[1:22:23] So moved.

[1:22:23] Okay, Mr. Cox. Second?

[1:22:26] Second.

[1:22:28] Mrs. Williams, second.

[1:22:29] All right, so a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:52 PM, a

[1:22:33] first by Mr. Cox, a second by Mrs. Williams. Mr. Cox?

[1:22:37] Yes.

[1:22:37] Mr. Day?

[1:22:38] Yes.

[1:22:38] Mr. Ritchie?

[1:22:39] Yes.

[1:22:40] Mrs. Williams?

[1:22:40] Yes.

[1:22:41] Thank you.

[1:22:41] All right. Thank you, everyone.

July 2026 Regular Meeting XCS Board of Education

Transcript