Volusia County Schools Calendar 24-25
Hillsboro City Schools board OKs 2024-25 district calendar
The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education officially approved the 2024-25 district school calendar and heard updates on recent school events and student accomplishments during their Monday, Feb. 19 meeting.
As previously reported, a hearing on the district calendar was held in January. The board approved the 2024-25 district school calendar as presented Monday.
“The exact same calendar has not been changed since we presented it in January, so we are going with the presented draft that was explained,” superintendent Tim Davis said.
Next school year will begin Wednesday, Aug. 14, with the week of Sept. 2 off for the Highland County Fair. Other days off for students include Nov. 1, the day after beggars’ night; Nov. 27-29, for the Thanksgiving holiday; Dec. 20-Jan. 3, for Christmas break; Jan. 20 and Feb. 17, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day, respectively; and April 18 and 21, for spring break. The last day of school is set for May 21, with graduation scheduled for May 25.
Professional development days will be held Aug. 7-8, Oct. 18, Dec. 20, March 14 and May 22 — held at the end of each quarter, as noted by Davis last month — with several days also marked for parent/teacher conferences. Also with this school calendar, the end of the second nine-week grading period will be Dec. 19, which is the last day before winter break, as Davis pointed out in January.
Superintendent Tim Davis
In other discussion, Davis and student representative Maddisen Mikkelsen recapped a variety of recent and upcoming events, primarily at the high school.
Mikkelsen said that the high school’s “HHS On Broadway” fundraiser, held Feb. 16, was a success. The event was presented to raise money for the upcoming HHS production of “The Sound of Music,” set for March 22-24.
“Any student involved in the musical can choose a song that they have to know from a musical and sing it as part of the dinner theater performance,” Mikkelsen said. “We have people donate desserts, and then when people come to watch it, they can leave a monetary donation. This year, we had a raffle, so we sold raffle tickets as well for a silent auction.
“The performers did really, really well, and everyone had a great time. One of our directors, Mrs. Jacky, let us know that we have a lot of generous hearts that donated this time.”
Although Mikkelsen didn’t mention it in her report, board member Beverly Rhoads pointed out that Mikkelsen and her sister “did a number and were very good.” (Mikkelsen said after the meeting that she and her sister performed “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun” and that the students were challenged to perform selections from musicals from 1980 or earlier this year.)
The symphonic choir is also getting ready for a field trip to Chicago March 1-4, according to Mikkelsen.
“The HHS symphonic choir would like to thank the board for approving the Chicago trip,” Mikkelsen said. “Everyone attending is very excited about it.”
The senior class is accepting donations of pet food and litter, cleaning supplies, etc. for the Highland Humane Society until Feb. 27. To get involved, contact Mrs. Cindy Asmus or Mrs. Stephanie Haines, she said.
Mikkelsen also spoke about the senior wall at the high school, which is located in the history hallway, she said. The wall has been painted and is adorned with “posters of the senior superlatives” and “bulletin boards for information.
“It looks really, really nice,” she said. “We’re just waiting on the final logo for the center — that’s the same as what we’ve designed on the senior class shirts — and then it’ll be finished. It’s the first one on the right in the history hallway.”
For another senior announcement, Davis said the annual senior showcase will be held March 22 from 8:30-10 a.m. at HHS, and he encouraged area businesses to participate.
“It’s a chance for our students to connect with the community for jobs, whether it’s interns, summer jobs,” Davis said. “If anybody in the community would like to be involved in that, please reach out to Mrs. [Jessica] Rhoades and Mrs. [Tina] Young.”
In his report, Davis gave a recap on recent winter sports updates, as the season is “dwindling down,” he said.
For swimming, HHS had Allison Browning, Cameron Burkard, Ryan Howland, Robbie Schneider, Carson Scott, Jacob Seaman and Cooper Swope compete at the district meet Feb. 16 in Athens.
“All of them swam well,” Davis said. “No one is advancing [to state], but it was a good season with a lot of PRs. The swim team is really improving.”
The girls basketball season concluded Feb. 17 in the sectional finals against Jackson with a 74-63 loss. Peighton Bledsoe and Blake Herdman earned All-Frontier Athletic Conference honors.
The boys basketball team is scheduled to play at Miami Trace Tuesday, Feb. 20 in their first tournament game. Tate Davis and Jack Howland were All-FAC, with Davis named the FAC Player of the Year.
“It’s been an exciting weekend for our family,” the superintendent (and father of Tate) said.
The boys and girls bowling teams are also set to compete in sectionals this week, Davis said. The boys bowling team won the FAC title, and Andrew Tomko was named to the All-FAC team, according to Davis.
Davis also expressed congratulations to several art students — Chelsea Adray, Glen Allen and Logan Peters — for being selected to the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Teen Art Expo.
“Their artwork was chosen to be displayed in the Expo, so that is awesome,” Davis said. “Congratulations to them. March 26-31 will be when those are displayed.”
In an unrelated update, Davis said that the “old building construction plans” for the district have been loaned to the Highland County Historical Society for a display.
The only other report to the board was from Rhoads, who discussed the two most recent Great Oaks Career Campuses Board of Directors meetings.
In January, the board named their leadership for the year, including chair Mary Cleveland (Princeton), vice chair JB Stamper (Wilmington), parliamentarian Ron Friend (Fairfield Local), legislative liaison Terry Gibson (Lockland) and ACTE liaison Bill Ferguson (Hamilton County ESC).
The board was also sworn in for 2024, with Stephanie Anderson (Mt. Healthy) and Annie Droege (Mason) seated as new members, Rhoads said.
In January, the Great Oaks board also voted to accept a Talent Ready Grant of $98,582, an Ohio Work Ready Grant of $77,731 and Super Rapids Grant for $696,428.57.
During the February meeting, the board heard the preliminary numbers for sophomore applications for the 2024-25 school year: Diamond Oaks: 459; Laurel Oaks: 487; Live Oaks: 566; and Scarlet Oaks: 853.
The board approved the 2024-25 campus calendars and also approved a resolution related to bids for improvement projects at Scarlet Oaks (rooftop unit replacement and a space renovation) and Laurel Oaks (Welding and Fabrication Lab expansion and Law Enforcement addition).
In other updates, Rhoads said she attended the Ohio School Boards Association’s Southwest Region executive meeting in Franklin and reminded the board that the Southwest Region spring conference is set for March 7 in Xenia.
Also on Monday, the board made the following approvals, each by a 6-0 vote unless otherwise noted:
• The board approved the financial reports as presented. According to district treasurer Ben Teeters, the January general fund cash balance was $9,851,922, up from $7,764,025 in January 2023. Expenses were $2,801,204, up from $2,539,185 a year ago, and revenues were $2,335,449, also up compared to last year’s $2,244,952.
“We’re running even with what we had last year,” Teeters said.
• The board approved a 2023-24 amended permanent appropriation resolution to account for a recent donation.
“We amended the appropriations because we had a donation from the Glenn Barrett estate to put in the school funds,” Teeters said. “It’s to be at the discretion of the school of what they want to spend it for, so to create that fund, I had to put on new appropriations so we could spend it.”
• The board approved three buses (Bus 2 with 172,000 miles, Bus 4 with 185,000 miles and Bus 27 with 230,000 miles) for scrap.
“Bus 27 went out to bid, and we rejected the bid on it because we were going to use that to purchase electric school buses for the district,” Teeters said. “The grant for the electric school buses fell through, so then Mr. [Ron] Ward, the Transportation Director, had two extra buses. Rather than bid them out, we decided to go ahead and scrap them because we’re not getting a higher bid for selling them than we were for scrap.
“To save the process time, we’re scrapping them instead, and we’ll strip them down and get the parts off we need.”
• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated: — Supplemental: Heith Brown, MS boys track coach; Penny Carter, MS girls track coach; Wyatt Condo, HS reserve baseball coach; Caleb Crawford, HS assistant baseball coach; Fawn Girard, MS girls track coach; Stephanie Haines, HS assistant girls track coach; Bud Marsh, HS varsity boys track coach; Duston Richards, HS assistant baseball coach; Rob Snavely, HS varsity girls track coach; LaRue Turner, HS boys tennis coach; and Ben Young, MS boys track coach. — Volunteer: Chrystal Aber, Ann Burwinkel-McKenzie, Mark McKenzie and Nancymae Ogden (HHS); Cayse Cameron and Justin Scott (baseball coaches); and Bud Marsh (indoor track coach).— Sub classified: Alora Coburn, bus driver (retroactive to Feb. 6); Jessica Messer, cook (retro Jan. 10); and Dawn Paul, cook, clerical and custodian.— Sub certified: Cierra Bolender, Kyle Cutter (retro Jan. 26), Makayla Graff, Rhonda Hausmann, Jason King, Jessica Messer (retro Feb. 2), Emily Pinkerton, Cathy Savage (retro Feb. 8), Krista Savage, Haley Whitt (retro Jan. 16) and Hannah Willey.
• In a separate motion, the board voted 5-0 to approve Scott Haines as HHS assistant boys track coach, with board member Larry Lyons abstaining.
• The board approved Kelsie Miller as an early graduate.
• The board accepted the resignation of paraprofessional Connie Kaufman, effective Feb. 13.
• The board approved leaves of absence for special education supervisor Kim Beam (effective Jan. 24-March 6) and teachers Ryan Reilly (March 17-31) and Garrett Ross (Feb. 5-March 4).
• The board approved a standard annual resolution for continued membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
• The board accepted a $100 donation from A Tip of the Cap Mushrooms (Craig Tomko) toward robotics and a $5,000 donation from the Eagles toward girls softball.
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