Board of Education Update — December 9, 2025 Regular Meeting

The December 9, 2025, meeting of the Board of Education included presentations on the following topics:

Lou Sauter recognition

Superintendent Robert Hunt, Ph.D.; Treasurer/CFO Andrew Geistfeld and the Board of Education recognized Lou Sauter for his four years of service on the Board of Education. 

OMEA performing arts recognition

The Board of Education honored 20 students who have been selected for 2026 Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) All-State Ensembles for band, jazz band, choir and orchestra, as well an additional 18 orchestra students who were selected for the OMEA All-Region Orchestra. 

District highlights

Superintendent Robert Hunt, Ph.D., recognized the UA Rotary Student of the Month — Kennedy B., an Upper Arlington High School senior. Kennedy is involved in a wide range of groups and activities at the high school.  She participates in the Sources of Strength group as well as Link Crew and Student Council.  She is on the staff for the Arlingtonian and is part of the track and field team.  Kennedy is also an accomplished artist — she has received honors for her visual artwork pieces as well as her singing.  Kennedy plans to go to college next year and major in ecological sciences with a minor in studio art.
 

Strategic planning update

At the beginning of the year, the Board of Education formally approved the new Excellence & Innovation 2030 Strategic Plan. As we close out the year, the district administrative team highlighted recent work related to the implementation of the plan.

Culture & Climate

• Amplify Student Voice Committee: The Amplify Student Voice Committee recently launched, with a focus on providing student feedback and creating meaningful action. Ellen, a student leader on Amplify, shared that the district received over 85 applications and, from there, selected 34 middle school and high school students for the committee. In November, they had a leadership summit, building connections, learning new skills, reflecting on leadership within the community, and beginning to define the work of the  committee.  Thanks to a generous grant from the UA Education Foundation, Coach Roy Hall Jr. from the Driven Foundation and Ohio State University joined the group to share his passion for servant leadership and how understanding that every day is a gift and an opportunity to give of yourself to someone else who may be in need.  Coach Hall will be joining the Amplify committee three more times in 2026. The group’s first project is defining the UA Student Experience, which will be a district-wide study on what it’s like to be a student in Upper Arlington City Schools.  They are developing a survey for students in grades 6-12 and focus group questions for grades K-5, with a plan on launching data collection at the end of January through February.  
• PeopleBench staff survey: Chief Excellence & Engagement Officer Denise Lutz, Ed.D., shared an update on the first administration of a new staff survey, called PeopleBench. Dr. Lutz focused her presentation on results regarding staff resilience at work and how they compare with the PeopleBench benchmarks based on over 10,000 responses from staff working in the K-12 sector across the United States. The data measures resilience at work through seven different themes: Living Authentically, Finding Your Calling, Maintaining Perspective, Mastering Stress, Interacting Cooperatively, Staying Healthy and Building Networks. The district exceeds or is very close to the national average in all areas. Each building and department is looking at their specific staff data, and districtwide liaisons in this area helped develop professional learning around sharing the data in their buildings. The focus is on creating small action steps.

Engaged Learning: The district is wrapping up a school year calendar survey, gathering feedback from staff and students/families on upcoming calendars and possible innovative options for the future.

Connections

• Facilities master planning: Phase two of facilities master planning is continuing this fall, with a focus on community feedback. A scientific community survey has gathered 494 responses, and a community-wide survey remains open through Friday, December 12 at www.uaschools.org/facilities.  Next steps include gathering a Financial Advisory Board to consider the scope, implementation schedule, funding and potential need for an operating levy. This will be followed by feedback opportunities in the spring and a recommendation to the Board of Education in May or June.
• Coffee & Conversation: So far this school year, the district has held three Coffee & Conversation events that have all been well-attended. Another is coming up this Friday, with a focus on technology in our schools. 

Policy updates

Deputy Superintendent Stephanie Siddens, Ph.D., shared 10 policies up for first read, and 15 policies for second read and approval.

Board of Education Organizational Meeting

The Board of Education approved holding their organizational meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 13, 2026, in Council Chambers of the City’s Municipal Services Center, 3600 Tremont Road. The regular meeting will follow.

Treasurer’s updates

Treasurer/CFO Andrew Geistfeld shared the monthly financial statements for November 2025. He also shared a legislative update on four House Bills related to property taxes that have now been approved by the Senate. The bills have not yet been passed to the governor.

He also noted a delay in the 2024-2025 state audit of the district due to the government shutdown, and he shared updated 2025-2026 SACC tuition rates and new 2026-2027 rates for Board of Education approval.

You may visit our Upper Arlington Schools Board of Education page to access the December 9 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.