Board of Education Update — June 9, 2026 Regular Meeting

The June 9, 2026, meeting of the Board of Education included presentations on the following topics:

Public Hearing on Retire-Rehire

The Board of Education conducted a public hearing for the retire-rehire of six employees.
 

City of Upper Arlington Update

City Manager Steve Schoeny shared an overview of a proposed new system for e-mobility safety in Upper Arlington. City staff is recommending implementing a registration system for  e-mobility devices, such as electric bikes and scooters, coupled with an education requirement for operators without a driver’s license. The proposed City legislation includes a prohibition on parking unregistered vehicles on all public property, including schools. Additionally, the Upper Arlington Police Division is working with Upper Arlington Schools to make training available during the school day for students.
 

District Highlights

Superintendent Robert Hunt, Ph.D., shared the following highlights: 

• UAHS Class of 2026 Commencement: Upper Arlington Schools celebrated the 481 graduates from the Class of 2026. Dr. Hunt publicly thanked the Board of Education for their participation in the event and wished all the graduates well as they go on to their next chapter in life.
• Last Day of School: Dr. Hunt reflected on a great end to the school year and thanked all the support organizations, PTOs and Upper Arlington Education Foundation, for making the final stretch of the school year special.
• Girls Lacrosse State Runners-up: The girls lacrosse team ended their season as state runners-up in a hard-fought game against Olentangy Liberty. 
• Assistant Principal Recognition: Hastings Middle School Assistant Principal Megan Lippert was named the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA) Zone 10 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year. Students and staff cheered as Superintendent Bob Hunt, Ph.D., Board of Education President Jenny McKenna and Board of Education Vice President Liz George Stump surprised Mrs. Lippert with the announcement at school last month. Mrs. Lippert was recognized for the incredible leadership, care and support she brings to Hastings each day. This honor now places her in consideration for the Ohio Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year award this summer.

Dr. Hunt introduced the strategic plan updates for the evening regarding progressive education and well-being. At the August meeting, the Board of Education will hear an update on year one of the strategic plan and what’s ahead for year two.

 

Progressive Education Update

Chief Academic Officer Jaclyn Angle, Ed.D., introduced Barrington Elementary School Principal Nichole Cooper, Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School Principal Angela Evans and Barrington Elementary School teacher Katie Benton to share an update on the work over the past year as members of the Progressive Coordination Team to strengthen the progressive education program in the district. 

They laid the groundwork for the year with a staff professional development day in the fall of 2025 that brought together Barrington and Wickliffe staff. They researched strong progressive education programs nationally and gathered staff input on those findings. They also worked on creating a draft identity statement and defining the purpose, values and impact of the Upper Arlington progressive education program. 

Engagement from all progressive program educators in the district and families was critical to this process. In April, the progressive program also hosted a family engagement night that resulted in meaningful feedback and strengthened partnerships among staff, families and people interested in the program. 

Looking ahead, the team will be finalizing the identity statement, expanding parent partnership opportunities, increasing visibility, aligning practices between Barrington and Wickliffe, building program confidence and planning for next year’s outcomes. They emphasized that the district is committed to continuing and strengthening the progressive education program in the district.
 

Well-being Update

Chief Excellence and Engagement Officer Denise Lutz, Ed.D., and Director of Well-Being, Prevention and Intervention Cathy Ely, Ph.D., shared an overview of four main areas in the district’s work surrounding the Culture & Climate strategic priority and well-being:

• Profile of an Engaged Learner Survey Results: This is the second year of administering the Engaged Learner Well-Being Competency Survey to K-12 students. Their responses provide each building with information to better understand its students and their experiences in our schools, and offer guidance for programming to best support them. The survey was administered twice during the 2025-2026 school year during the fall and spring. Dr. Ely highlighted a glow, or strength, for the district in the area of supportive relationships — relationships with trusted adults inside and outside of school and peers. An area with opportunity for growth is emotion regulation. 
• House Bill 123 Safety and Violence Education (SAVE) Student Act: This state law mandates suicide awareness, violence prevention and social inclusion training for grades 6-12. Dr. Ely shared that the district’s approach is to both identify risk factors for suicide and to build protective factors for resiliency.  Sources of Strength is the primary resource for grades 6-12. The Board of Education directed the district to expand the Sources of Strength program to the elementary level.
• Tier 3 Mental Health Specialists Trends and Themes: Dr. Ely shared an overview of middle school and high school concerns that mental health specialists in our schools are seeing from students. The overall themes connect to the areas of anxiety, ADHD, school avoidance, perfectionism and overachievement, depression and suicidal ideation, difficulties with interpersonal peer relationships and school culture, struggles with time management, and some disordered eating concerns. 
• Staff Well-Being Survey: Dr. Lutz shared an overview of the Reslience@Work survey for staff through PeopleBench. This is the first year that the survey has been implemented, and it was administered in the fall and spring. The survey is based on a framework of seven areas of resilience — which ties closely to the district’s commitment to continuous improvement. The building and department level Culture & Climate liaisons reviewed the staff data from these surveys to make decisions around small action steps they wanted to put in place to address the themes that emerged from the surveys. The district saw progress in four key areas of the survey over the course of the year: maintaining perspective, mastering stress, staying healthy and overall resilience. As a next step, the district will be implementing a Sources of Strength staff wellness training this fall for Culture & Climate liaisons, district administrators, building leadership team members and the City of Upper Arlington. In addition, each building or department will be asked to develop a staff resilience goal for the 2026-2027 school year connected to the Sources of Strength staff wellness programming.
   

Cybersecurity Update

Chief Technology Officer Michael Voss shared an overview of a resolution for Board of Education approval to adopt a cybersecurity program. House Bill 96 requires the adoption of such a program for K-12 schools by July 1, 2026, and mandates specific requirements such as the steps for response in the event of a cybersecurity incident. 

The district has been taking steps throughout the 2025-2026 school year and will continue into the fall to strengthen cybersecurity measures — including creating a systems administrator position focused on cybersecurity, evaluating improvements for email protection, implementing systems to detect and respond to potential cyber threats, and implementing cybersecurity training for staff. 
 

Instructional Materials

Dr. Hunt shared the 2026-2027 curriculum resources list for Board of Education approval. This list represents core and supplemental curriculum resources that would be utilized across K-12 classrooms for the 2026-2027 school year. The district continues to vet all digital and print resources for alignment with state standards and student needs.
 

Ohio Direct Admission Program

Deputy Superintendent Stephanie Siddens, Ph.D., shared an agreement for Board of Education approval to participate in the Ohio Direct Admission program pilot for Upper Arlington High School and UA Online Academy students. This program is jointly administered by the Ohio Departments of Education and Higher Education to simplify and expand access to college for Ohio students. 

The program is beginning as a pilot program for the graduating class of 2027. The Ohio Direct Admission program enables participating colleges and universities to proactively offer admission to eligible students from participating high schools based on data the high school already has, such as grade point average (GPA), class rank, and/or standardized test scores. 

If a student meets a college’s requirements, then they will receive an offer of admission without even having to apply. The program can help reduce stress and paperwork for students, expand opportunities for students and help them be notified earlier (in November). 
 

Policy updates

Dr. Siddens shared 3 new policies, six policies for recission, and two policies for revision for first read, as well two policies for second read and approval. 
 

Communications from the Board

The Board of Education discussed renewing their membership for the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding for 2026-2027.
 

Master Planning / Fiscal Update

Superintendent Robert Hunt, Ph.D., and Treasurer/CFO Andrew Geistfeld shared the final master plan recommendation, the culmination of two years of a community-driven process. Dr. Hunt thanked everyone who has been involved and everyone who has stepped forward to help drive this process and develop a plan that reflects the community vision. That feedback, he noted, has led to substantial change along the way — including most recently with a new option for Jones Middle School — and has led to the final recommendation before the Board of Education for approval.  

That final recommendation, as shared at the May 27 special meeting of the Board of Education, includes:

• Burbank - rebuild with additional classrooms
• Hastings - rebuild on athletic field
• Jones - renovate/rebuild (retain original 3-story building)
• Swing space - Jones 7th/8th grades to a new third floor space at UAHS; 6th grade in modular units at Tremont during construction
• Hastings and Jones athletic fields - turf

The total cost of these projects would be offset for the community by $14 million that the Board of Education had set aside in a capital projects fund a year ago. As a result, the final recommendation proposes a $273.5 million bond issue to fund the projects, or an estimated 2.25 mill increase to the current bond tax rate. For context, the current bond tax rate is 5.7 mills. The bond issue would be combined with an operating levy of 4.9 mills. If approved, this would increase the property tax of a $500,000 home, as valued by the Franklin County auditor, by approximately $1,250 a year, or about $105 per month.

At the June 9 meeting, the Board of Education unanimously approved the phase two master plan as recommended and took the first step to place the combined operating levy and bond issue on the November ballot. With that vote, the Board approved a resolution of necessity, which serves as a request to the county auditor to do the calculations on the ballot millage. The Board also approved a letter to be mailed to all households in the community informing them of these steps.

At a special meeting later this month the Board of Education anticipates taking action on a second resolution to proceed with the ballot issue. That meeting is scheduled for June 30 at 1 p.m. at the Bob Crane Community Center.
 

Monthly Financial Update

Treasurer/CFO Andrew Geistfeld shared the monthly financial statements for May 2026. 

He also shared the 2026-2027 student fee schedule for Board of Education approval. This incorporates eliminating all student class and course fees for the next school year — a request from the Board of Education from prior years. The district will continue to collect an optional technology protection plan fee, athletic fees at the middle school and high school levels, and a parking fee at the high school level. The district will also continue to collect outstanding fees from previous years. 

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