Board of Education Update — April 8, 2025 Regular Meeting

The April 8, 2025, meeting of the Board of Education included presentations on the following topics:

Special recognitions

Superintendent Robert Hunt, Ph.D., and Director of Student Life Spencer Smith welcomed the Upper Arlington High School ice hockey team, who won its first state championship in program history, defeating Cleveland St. Ignatius 5-2 on March 9 at Nationwide Arena. This was the first trip to the state finals for the Golden Bears after defeating Mentor 7-2 in the semifinals on March 8.

Dr. Hunt also welcomed Jim Flower from the Upper Arlington Tennis Association in celebration of a new outdoor tennis pavilion and two men who have been incredibly important to Upper Arlington High School and its tennis program.  Jim has been instrumental in the design of the high school tennis facilities and in spearheading the fundraising efforts behind the latest addition to those facilities - the Richard Fryman Pavilion.  This pavilion is named after legendary coach Dick Fryman, who was a biology teacher here as well as the head tennis coach for 20 years, leading his teams to 13 state titles and one national team title, and earning an overall record of 350-27.
 

District highlights

Dr. Hunt shared the following district highlights:

• UA Rotary Student of the Month: The Rotary Club of Upper Arlington has started a new honor, which will recognize a service-oriented junior or senior who also demonstrates admirable traits such as honesty, responsibility, courage and leadership. This month’s honoree is Alberto M., who has a long list of accomplishments such as being a Junior Director for the Upper Arlington Civic Association, an Alumni Ambassador, president of the Italian Club, a member of the varsity track team, a member of National Honor Society, a member of Spanish Honor Society and a two-time sixth-grade camp counselor. Beyond that he is also the founder and president of the high school’s Engineering and Architecture Club, which has taken on projects including designing and building sets for the musical, high-capacity storage racks for shotput and discus and even working with other schools and community organizations to design and build special items to fit specific needs.  
• PTO Appreciation: As the school year enters its final months, Dr. Hunt paused to thank the school PTOs.  The volunteers who run these groups give untold hours of time to ensure students have the best school experience possible.  Later this week, the district will be celebrating these volunteers during the final meeting of the school year with the PTO presidents council. Anyone who might be considering taking on a volunteer position in their school’s PTO can check out their school’s PTO website to learn about what positions are available.
• UAHS Academic Honors: Last week, Upper Arlington High School celebrated the academic accomplishments of juniors and seniors inducted into the National Honor Society and the Cum Laude Society. The 157 new junior inductees were welcomed into the National Honor Society, in recognition of their exceptional scholarship, service, leadership and character. They join 158 UAHS seniors who were inducted last year. In addition, 99 new junior and senior inductees were welcomed into the Cum Laude Society, joining 50 UAHS seniors who were inducted last year. This is the highest academic recognition a high school student can achieve on a national level. These students represent the top 10 percent of the junior class and top 20 percent of the senior class. The Upper Arlington chapter of the Cum Laude Society is supported by the Dr. Charles Wade Moulton Fund of Upper Arlington Education Foundation. 
• Coffee & Conversation: The Coffee & Conversation series is wrapping up this month with two opportunities — one on the evening of April 16 at the UA Hub and one on the morning of April 24 at Giant Eagle Market District. 
• Quality Profile: Our annual accountability report, the Quality Profile, is hot off the presses and landed in local mailboxes late last month.  You can also find it on the district website at www.uaschools.org/qualityprofile.

Summer projects

Chief Operating Officer Greg Thompson shared an update on summer projects, which will include: 

• Asphalt sealing and re-striping at Upper Arlington High School and Burbank Early Childhood School
• Concrete repairs at Barrington, Wickliffe and Greensview elementary schools
• Roof repair and maintenance projects at the Transportation offices and districtwide as needed, including slate repairs at Tremont and Barrington elementary schools
• Fascia repairs at the Graf Center
• Fence and retaining wall work, as well as work on existing masonry, at Barrington Elementary School
• Safety improvements such as a secure entrance at Burbank Early Childhood School and Knox Box upgrades for Fire Division access to buildings in the event of an emergency
• Renovation work at the Transportation office
• Demolition of the old UA Senior Center near Tremont Elementary School

The summer will also include annual maintenance work, custodial cleaning, grounds work, painting and more. 

Facilities Master Planning update

Dr. Hunt shared that the third round of building team meetings are taking place April 8 and 9. At these meetings, the building teams are reviewing themes from the community feedback survey and receiving information about cost estimates for the revised draft options and providing feedback. The Facilities Task Force, a team of community experts, will be meeting next week to review the options and cost estimates.

Following these meetings, the community will come together for the next round of community engagement sessions on May 12 and 13 to provide feedback on the revised draft options, which will include estimated costs, potential timelines for construction and placement for students during construction. An online survey will follow those meetings to gather additional feedback from the community.

Dr. Hunt also shared that the district will be re-evaluating the timeline for phase two of the master planning process, due to the complexity of the options and the need to engage the community into the fall to determine the best path forward for the schools. More information on any changes in the timeline will be coming in May.

Policies

Deputy Superintendent Stephanie Siddens, Ph.D., presented two policies for first read: Policy 5223 Release Time for Religious Instruction and a Student Voice Policy. Dr. Siddens also presented a set of policies for second read — including two by-laws and a number of policies updated due to either changes in state law or minor edits. 
 

Enrollment projections

Chief Talent Officer Pete Scully shared the annual update on districtwide enrollment projections. The projection report was prepared by Cooperative Strategies. He summarized the key takeaways from the updated projections:

• Growth projections are generally consistent with the 2023 projection, and the districtwide 10-year enrollment growth projection is stable.
• The 2023 live birth count was lower than expected. This has an impact on the elementary enrollment projection beginning in 2028. We will monitor whether this is an anomaly or a future trend.
• The impact of adding all-day kindergarten in 2021-2022 has stabilized and is now consistently predictable.
• EdChoice scholarships have not had a material impact on enrollment and do not appear to be growing significantly over two years.

Other agenda items

Other agenda items for Board of Education approval include:

• Job descriptions for two positions, both of which were previously sourced through outside contracts — Transition Coordinator and Career Development and Service Learning Specialist
• Student handbooks for 2024-2025: the Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, the Student Life Handbook and the Online Academy Handbook

Department of Education certification request

Dr. Hunt shared information with the Board about a request from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW). At the direction of the United States Department of Education, the ODEW is requiring superintendents to certify that their districts are in compliance with federal laws prohibiting discrimination. While the certification requires acknowledgement that federal funds are contingent upon compliance with all federal nondiscrimination laws, there is a specific focus on Title VI and race in response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (“SFFA v. Harvard”), which prohibits preferential treatment based on race in college admissions. SFFA v. Harvard arguably extends to any program or hiring practice which provides preferential treatment to any protected class.

He shared that the district will be working with its legal team on this request.
 

Treasurer’s update 

Treasurer/CFO Andrew Geistfeld shared the release of the 2024-2025 Financial Update, which is available on the district website. He also shared the monthly financial statements for March 2025. 

Geistfeld also provided an update on the state biennium budget process. The House will be taking up a revised budget proposal that incorporates state funding for schools. This proposal would create a bridge school funding formula instead of the Fair School Funding Plan and includes a provision restricting cash carry-over balances for school districts. The latter, he shared, would significantly impact school districts in terms of the typical cycle of a property tax levy.

You may visit our Upper Arlington Schools Board of Education page to access the April 8 meeting agenda and video. To view the meeting presentation, please click here. For meeting dates and more information about the Board of Education, please visit www.uaschools.org/board.