Board Meeting Recap for August 2025

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, August 20, 2025 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 the district’s YouTube page. The stream was interrupted due to technical difficulties, but the first portion of the meeting can be seen here and the second portion here.

Special Recognitions

The Forest Hills Foundation for Education discussed its impact on programs during last school year, which included nearly $230,000 to various initiatives across all schools and grade levels. FHFE also announced dates for the following highly-anticipated upcoming events:

• Distinguished Alumni and Staff Luncheon on Friday, October 3, 2025
• Denim and Diamonds Fall Fundraiser on Saturday, November 15, 2025
• Forest Hills 5K on Saturday, May 9, 2026

You can learn more about the Foundation’s initiatives and find ways to support their efforts by visiting the FHFE website at https://fhfe.org/.

Superintendent Update

Superintendent Larry Hook discussed a multitude of preparations that have taken place this month in advance of the first day of school. Teachers, support staff and administrators participated in several professional development and planning meetings to make final adjustments for the school year. Approximately 700 staff members attended the welcome convocation on Monday, August 18, 2025 at Nagel Middle School.

Mr. Hook also shared information about the different activities and programs in place to make sure students are able to make a smooth transition to the new school year. All elementary schools host back-to-school events that typically involve party activities and offer families a chance to meet with teachers and staff while getting to visit the school and ease any back-to-school nervousness. Nagel Middle School uses the WEB (Where Everybody Belongs) program model to support new students in summer orientation events as well as regularly throughout the school year. The high schools also support students new to school with orientation programs and year-long activities through Link Crew.

Additionally, Superintendent Hook provided updates on the roll out of a new transportation routing software and recent efforts to address technical issues with the program, the district’s adjusted cell phone restrictions at the high school level and newly released rankings from U.S. News and World Report which place both Anderson and Turpin High Schools in the top 5% of all public high schools in Ohio.

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 find related attachments here.
• 8.2 Technical Correction to Compliance Officers Policies
  
  • This item approves updated Anti-Harassment Compliance Officers in multiple Board of Education policies related to this topic. You can see the list of policies and the list of officers here.

Business Operations

• 9.1 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.
• 9.2 District Wellness Policy Triennial Assessment
  
  • This item approves bus stops for the 2024-2025 school year and delegates the authority to designate or relocate subsequent school bus stops to the Superintendent or designee. You can view the bus stop listings here.
• 9.3 Resolution Authorizing Southwestern Ohio EPC to Receive Bids (School Bus Purchase)
  
  • This resolution approves the district’s participation and authorization of the Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council to advertise and receive bids for school bus purchase as shown in this attachment.
• 9.4 Contract for Before & After School Program 2025-2027 (M.E. Lyons YMCA)
  
  • This contact permits the M.E. Lyons YMCA to operate a Before & After School Program in each elementary building in the Forest Hills School District. The program operates before and after school and provides a valuable service to many families. You can read the contract here.
• 9.5 Lease Agreement (Seven Hills Church)
  
  • This item approves a lease agreement between the district and Seven Hills Church to operate in a portion of Anderson High School, under specific terms which you can read here.

Teaching and Learning

• 10.1 Agreement with ASM GLOBAL/Northern Kentucky University
  
  • This item approves an agreement to secure the Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University as the venue for 2026 graduation ceremonies for Anderson and Turpin High Schools. You can view the agreement here.
• 10.2 Overnight Field Trip
  
  • This item approves an overnight field trip listed in this attachment.
• 10.3 Outdoor Education Program (Camp Kern)
  
  • This item approves the dates, times and fees associated with the spring 2026 outdoor education program at Camp Kern. You can see specific details here.
• 10.4 Hamilton County Educational Service Center Contract for Services - IHM 2025-2026
  
  • This item approves an agreement for contracted services at Immaculate Heart of Mary School, which you can view here.
  • These are federal/auxiliary funds that are allocated to IHM for these purposes and for which FHSD simply serves as the flow-through agency.
• 10.5 Resolution to Contract Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Institute, Inc.
  
  • This item approves an agreement between FHSD and Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Institute, Inc. (COTI, Inc.). COTI will provide appropriate Occupational Therapy Services, per the students’ Individualized Education Plans. The contracted services are from August 2025 and continue through May 2026 with Ohio Valley Voices at a total cost of $180,600.
  • You can view the agreement here.
• 10.6 Resolution to Contract with Ohio Valley Voices 2025-2026
  
  • This resolution supports the placement of one special education student for services from August 2025 - June 2026 with Ohio Valley Voices at a total annual cost of $47,000. You can view the resolution here.

Treasurer Update

• 11.1 Treasurer's Report
  
  • Treasurer Alana Cropper presented both the June report and July report, which 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
    • Transfer and Advance of Funds
    • Travel Allowance
    • Board Service Fund
    • Permanent Appropriations and Amendments
  • You can find the June Cash Position Report here and you can view the July Cash Position report here.

This completes the meeting’s consent agenda.

Additional Action

The Board of Education selected Wendy Strickler as a delegate and Jason Simmons as an alternate to represent the district at the Annual Business Meeting of the Ohio School Boards Association, which will be held on November 17, 2025 at 2:30 p.m.

The Board also appointed Wendy Strickler to serve as the Student Achievement Liaison for 2025.

Board Discussion

The Board discussed the state biennial budget and thanked the community for their involvement and engagement with FHSD’s efforts to share information throughout the budget process. Members also reminded community members to participate in an engagement survey being conducted in partnership with FHSD, the Anderson Park District and Anderson Township.

Thanks and appreciation were shared with all FHSD families, parents, guardians, volunteers, staff and community members who participated in summer programs for students and who have ramped up involvement in the weeks leading up to the start of the school year.

Regarding the Superintendent and Treasurer evaluations, the Board shared that they piloted their new evaluation tool at a recent special meeting and they intend to conduct further evaluations in December for both roles.

Board members also revisited a discussion that took place last spring and at the beginning of the summer regarding the book selection process for school libraries. There is the possibility that they revisit this topic at a working meeting in the future.

Efforts at the Board level to break down the district finances and other key data into easily digestible resources for community members are in process. They also briefly raised the topic of community business advisory support.

You can click the following link to view the full discussion period, which begins at 1:02:09 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.”

• Technology and Facilities Committee Meeting - June 9, 2025
• Special Meeting - June 9, 2025
• Regular Meeting - June 25, 2025
• Regular Meeting - July 10, 2025
• Special Meeting - July 28, 2025