Board Meeting Recap for November 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, November 19, 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 here.

Special Recognitions

The Forest Hills Foundation for Education thanked the community for attending its Denim and Diamonds fundraiser on November 15, 2025. More than 300 people participated in the festivities, which raised more than $147,000 to benefit students across all schools in FHSD. The Foundation thanked the many volunteers who helped organize the event and make it such a success.

FHFE also provided an update on the “Rooted in Hope and Strength” fundraising campaign, which has collected $14,038 for a grand total of $28,076 when including the generous matching funds from the J.P. Hayden Jr & Lois Hayden Family Foundation. The campaign is intended to help students find hope, belonging and connection during their transition from elementary to middle school and on to high school.

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 provided an update on several important items impacting the school district this fall. The first portion of his update concerned legislative discussions and potential changes in state law that could impact school districts across Ohio. Superintendent Larry Hook, Treasurer Alana Cropper, Board Member Jason Simmons and some community members spoke during a recent meeting of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, encouraging them to not vote for a piggyback tax provision that was included in the most recent state budget. The Commission ultimately agreed with this perspective and did not vote to change property tax collection, which would have resulted in a significant loss in funds for school districts and other tax districts throughout Hamilton County.

All Hamilton County public school districts recently signed a joint statement in response to ongoing conversations in the state legislature regarding property tax relief. The school districts agreed that the priority should be on providing property tax relief that targets those with the highest need. The letter also urged for continued local control and transparency in the process.

Additionally, Superintendent Hook shared an update on the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan. The plan was recently updated to reflect completed projects from summer 2025 and outline planned projects for summer 2026. The plan was discussed in detail at the most recent Technology and Facilities Committee Meeting, so the purpose of the superintendent’s update was to provide a brief overview of the larger projects.

The superintendent also gave the Board of Education a brief update on how the administration is monitoring progress on the district’s Strategic Plan. Some key data points that were shared based on new information from the fall semester include student survey results on feeling “welcome and connected” in school, percentage of students participating in the Experiential Career Learning Program (XCL) and student performance results on state examinations.

All schools were celebrated for achieving either gold or silver recognition for their Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports programs. The ratings are determined by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and showcase excellence in proactive measures to improve student behavior in all buildings. FHSD also received a district-level recognition of excellence.

Finally, Superintendent Hook congratulated Nagel Middle School and all six elementary schools for achieving high ratings in the U.S. News and World Report Best Schools rankings. All schools were placed in the top 10% of all schools across Ohio.

Board Action

The Board of Education often reviews and votes on a variety of actions that impact different departments throughout the school district. 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

• 7.1 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 Academic Calendar Adoption
  
  • Per Ohio Revised Code 3313.48(B), a public hearing on the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 Academic Calendars was held on October 15, 2025. The proposed calendars were approved and can be viewed on the district website here.
• 7.2 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.

Business Operations

• 8.1 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.
• 8.2 Resolution Approving Cooperative Contract (Stadium Improvements)
  
  • This resolution authorizes Southwestern Ohio EPC to advertise and receive bids, and approves procurement of a unit price contract through the EPC for the labor, equipment and materials necessary for the Stadium Turf and Track Improvements at Turpin HS and Nagel MS. You can read the resolution here.

Teaching and Learning

• 9.1 Overnight Field Trips
  
  • This item approves planned and possible overnight field trip requests which you can find here.
• 9.2 Facility Dog Internship Agreements for Anderson High School, Turpin High School and Nagel Middle School
  
  • This item was voted on as an individual action item, separate from the consent agenda.
  • The district plans to contract a facility dog through Circle Tail, Inc. located in Pleasant Plain, OH, for the purpose of providing therapeutic services/activities for the duration of five months beginning January 1, 2026. These activities will serve students at Anderson and Turpin High School students, as well as Nagel Middle School. You can view the individual contracts here.
  • Board members discussed this potential agreement in detail and were able to ask the administration specific questions about the program. Their discussion touched on topics including how the program will operate day-to-day in school, legal guidance regarding the overall concept and any liability, training processes for any facility dogs that will be allowed in the school buildings and more. You can watch the full discussion beginning 1:14:51 in the meeting livestream.
  • The Board voted 4-1 in favor of this item, with Board Member Jonas voting against.

Treasurer Update

• 10.1 Modified Tax Budget Resolution 2026-2027
  
  • This item approves a Resolution Requesting Authority from the Hamilton County Budget Commission to File a Modified Tax Budget for the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year as presented. You can view the resolution here.
• 10.2 2026-2027 Tax Budget Calendar
  
  • This item approves the 2026-2027 tax budget calendar. You can view details about this item here.
• 10.3 Treasurer’s Report
  
  • Treasurer Alana Cropper presented the October 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
    • Permanent Appropriations
    • Approval of Certification of Funds
  • You can find the October Cash Position Report here.

This completes the meeting’s consent agenda.

Committee Reports

Board Members provided updates on the committee meeting listed below.

• Policy Committee - Policy Approval
  
  • Committee Chairperson Sara Jonas brought NEOLA policy updates from Volume 44, No. 1 to the Board for a second and final reading. These updates were brought to the full Board of Education for a first reading at the October meeting. The proposed policy updates were approved by the Board of Education during the November meeting. You can find a list of policy updates and find attachments for individual policies here.
• Finance Committee
  
  • Committee Chairperson Jason Simmons provided an update on property tax relief discussions that took place during the most recent Finance Committee Meeting. He also provided information about rising costs to healthcare premiums, which impacts costs for both employees and the school districts.
• Teaching and Learning Committee
  
  • Committee Chairperson Mark Bell shared the district’s approach to tackling the college, career, workforce and military readiness component on the Ohio School Report Cards, which involves being more proactive about measuring specific data and working with students and local partners to increase involvement in a variety of programs. He also discussed new information about access to school-based mental health therapy services with two new partners being in place for the 2025-2026 school year.
• Technology and Facilities Committee
  
  • Committee Chairperson Bob Bibb updated the Board on the recent Technology and Facilities Committee Meeting, which discussed recent increases in preschool enrollment and how that might impact facility needs. There is a district team currently researching potential options to address additional preschool growth. The meeting also included new cost estimates for repairs to the Anderson High School pool. There was also an update on the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan and information shared about potential upcoming projects.

Board Discussion

Board members discussed the Ohio School Boards Association meeting that took place earlier this week. They provided celebratory updates on activities happening at different schools in the district. Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, board members expressed thanks and gratitude for the supportive FHSD community.

Board Member Simmons brought up some topics that were briefly discussed at the Technology and Facilities Committee Meeting earlier in November. He expressed a desire for the district to formulate thoughtful, responsible and robust policies and guidance around supporting student use of artificial intelligence. The district has an AI and Innovation team that directly deals with this topic and is in the process of creating guidelines that take advantage of the educational opportunities related to artificial intelligence, while making efforts to ensure students are using these tools in a responsible way that benefits their educational experience.

Congratulations were extended to the three board-members elect who attended the meeting in the audience: Jeff Nye, Erin Walczewski and Jeremy Ward.

You can click the following link to view the full discussion period, which begins at 2:14:41 during the meeting livestream.

Additional Board Action

The Board of Education voted on a date and time to hold the organizational meeting for 2026. The Board of Education is required by statute to meet during the first fifteen (15) days of January each year to organize by electing one of its members as president and another vice president—both to serve for one year. The Board is also required to set the time for holding its regular meetings, which shall be held at least once every two months.

The organizational meeting of the FHSD Board of Education will be held on January 10, 2026 at 8 a.m. at FHSD Central Office, 7946 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.

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.”

• Human Resources Committee Meeting - October 7, 2025
• Policy Committee Meeting - October 14, 2025
• Regular Meeting - October, 15, 2025
• Teaching and Learning Committee Meeting - October 21, 2025
• Special Meeting - October 23, 2025
• Finance Committee Meeting - October 30, 2025

The minutes for the Regular Meeting on October 15 and the Special Meeting on October 23 will be posted on the BoardDocs website after revisions have been completed. The Board of Education discussed changes to specific wording in those minutes to come to a consensus on the most accurate description for the record. The Board approved changes to the Regular Meeting minutes to more accurately describe specific aspects of a recent enrollment projection report, including survival ratio data for students entering kindergarten and the factors contributing to a projected decline in enrollment. The minutes for the Special Meeting were adjusted to reflect that an Ohio School Boards Association topic was proposed and did not reflect a previously held position of that organization. The Board unanimously agreed to these changes.