Hillsboro City Schools board OKs new handbook for high school, middle school

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education approved a revised handbook and voted on other matters for the end of the current fiscal year and for the upcoming fiscal and academic years during their Monday, June 15 meeting.
 
The board signed off on the 2026-27 high school/middle school parent/student handbook, which superintendent Tim Davis said includes updates to graduation eligibility and a change to the schools’ Chromebook policy.

“There are a few changes to the graduation eligibility, dealing with fees to have those paid before grad practice, also dealing with failing a grad class the fourth nine-week quarter or second semester of a CCP [College Credit Plus] course,” Davis said. “They would not be able to walk and graduate, and they would be able to be a summer grad if they did that. 

“We've had some College Credit Plus students that have failed classes, and then within a week they want to take a PLATO course [online] to kind of bail them out to allow them walk through graduation. We’re changing that, that if they fail it, they can graduate in the summer.”

Davis also discussed the Chromebook policy, as he said they will be “scaling back” the devices for use primarily on school property. Several years ago, the district implemented a one-to-one policy for high school and middle school students to use the computers at both school and at home. The district later limited sixth graders’ access to in-classroom only.

“We are trying to scale back the Chromebooks, and we're going to go with more of a class set, so the students don't take them home every day, so that we don't get them lost, so we don't get them destroyed,” Davis said. “That's something that we're now trying to go back to. The experiment didn't work as well as we’d hoped, so we’re swinging back the other direction.

“If they need them, they can check them out like a library book, instead of everyone having to have them and taking them home to charge and throwing them in a book bag and taking them to track practice and basketball practice. They'll still have textbooks, and they will still be able to use them in class. We just are not making everyone take them home anymore, which has kind of been a lot of the issues with the wear and tear.”

The handbook will also contain revisions to the attendance policy “to comply with new law about chronic absenteeism,” Davis told the board. According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, school districts are required to “adopt preventative measures for chronic absence into their local policies” by Aug. 1. Under House Bill 96, a student “missing at least 10 percent of the minimum number of hours required in the school year” is considered “chronically absent.”

Other handbook updates include “a new middle school bell schedule,” Davis said. 

Also on Monday, Davis reported that the district is “in the midst of summer cleaning” in all of their buildings, which also includes waxing floors, painting, a roof replacement project at the middle school, paving and other maintenance projects.

In another report, board member Beverly Rhoads discussed the Great Oaks Board of Directors’ June meeting, where the 2025-26 school year strategies and goals, along with their outcomes, were reviewed. 

During the public participation portion of the agenda, board members heard from a citizen who asked the district to consider allowing her granddaughter, who lives outside the district, to attend classes at the high school during the 2026-27 school year. Board president Bill Myers said they would issue a written response.

The Hillsboro City Schools board also took action on the following measures, each by a 5-0 vote:

• The board authorized the permanent appropriations for fiscal year 2027, which are currently estimated at $48,118,826.62. Those include: General Fund, $36,692,000; Bond Retirement, $1,700,000; Permanent Improvement, $750,000; Food Service, $2,225,000; Special Trust, $8,050; Endowment, $5,000; Public School Support, $127,500; Custodial Funds, $67,650; Employee Benefits Self Insurance, $3,000,000; Classroom Facilities Maintenance, $31,234.90; Termination Fund, $600,000; Student Managed Activity, $257,000; District Managed Activity, $420,000; Auxiliary Services, $300,000; Public School Preschool, $225,000; Data Communication Fund, $19,291.40; IDEA Part B Grant, $670,000; Title I Disadvantaged Children, $800,000; Title IV Safety, $66,421.02; IDEA Preschool Grant, $19,679.30; and Miscellaneous Federal Grant Funds, $135,000.

“We're preparing for the year starting July 1, and this is what I'm estimating the amounts to be that we'll spend,” district treasurer Ben Teeters said.

In response to a question from board member Larry Lyons, Teeters said that the amount of appropriations “mirrors” the district’s five-year financial forecast. 

• The board also approved the final appropriations for fiscal year 2026, which totaled $48,236,329.02, up from $47,710,139.23 in 2025.

“These are the amounts of each fund that we have that we can spend up to these dollar amounts,” Teeters said. “We haven't spent this much money, but we have to put it out there so that we can meet all the obligations of the school district for the year.”

• The board authorized purchase orders over $25,000 for fiscal year 2027, including: American Electric Power, $550,000; AT&T, $53,000; Ennis & Britton LPA, $43,000; Auditor of State, $35,000; Gordon Foods, $660,000; RD Holder, $200,000; Hillsboro Public Utilities, $96,000; United Dairy Inc., $130,000; FlexTG, $75,000; Multi-Vendor, $100,000; Pike Natural Gas, $200,000; and Rumpke, $43,000.

• The board approved grants for fiscal year 2027, as the listed amounts include Title I — Improving Achievement of the Disadvantaged, $783,752.13; Title IIA— Improving Teacher Quality, $99,656.01; IDEA Part B — Individuals with Disability Act, $635,449.85; Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment, $66,421.02; IDEA Early Childhood Special Education, $19,679.30; and Early Childhood Education, $212,500.

• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated, all for the 2026-27 school year: certified, Emily McCarty (speech therapist, one-year contract); classified, Tabatha Beverly and Madisyn Cox (cooks) and Haley Norman (paraprofessional); volunteers, Larry Scruggs (HS basketball coach) and Nichole Shawhan (all buildings); Orton Gillingham, $45/hour, Tara Davis; and supplementals, Brianne Abbott (MS girls volleyball coach), Melissa Boysel and Michele Williams (Camp Joy coordinators, split), Hannah Brandyberry (HS reserve girls soccer coach), Jennifer Chaney and Mark Koller (elementary student council, split), Jason Fox and Lindsay Inman (fall site supervisors) and Alexia Sheppard (HS assistant girls soccer coach). 

• The board accepted the following resignations, all effective with the end of the 2025-26 school year otherwise noted: special education supervisor Kim Beam (retirement); teachers Marcy Boyd, Jordan Clark and Willie Hollingsworth; and cook Teresa Cox (effective Sept. 1, due to retirement).

• The board approved changes of status effective with the 2026-27 school year for Aleah Darbyshire, from paraprofessional to elementary secretary, and for Tara Garman, from MA+15 to MA+30.

• The board approved the financial reports as presented. Teeters reported a May 2026 general fund cash balance of $12,460,644, up from $11,490,553 in May 2025; expenses of $2,926,272, down from $5,452,057 last year; and revenues of $6,706,691, up from $2,038,442.

“The revenue is higher this year, for this month, because we received our real estate taxes in May, and last year we received them in April,” Teeters said.

• A transfer of $214,500 between two line items was approved.

“This is the balance that we owed to pay off the last part of the auditorium for last year, because I've been running the account in the red for me to close out at the end of this year,” Teeters said. “We need to transfer $214,500 from the general fund to cover that, and we only have one more payment left on the auditorium.”

• The board approved the liability, fleet and property insurance with Southern Ohio EPC from July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027 in the amount of $165,595. According to Teeters, that is an increase over last year’s $156,223 but includes “some additional coverage and raised our limits.”

• The board approved the fiscal year 2027 Final Forms Support Services agreement with Miami Valley Educational Computer Association (MVECA).

• The board approved Preston Bakke and Talon Bennett as class of 2026 graduates.

• The board approved the following Hillsboro Christian Academy staff members, per the request of the HCA head of school: summer aides for June and July at $20 per hour, Candice Baker and Heidi Massie; and HCA tutors for the 2026-27 school year, Kristi Rhodes (Title I) and Emily Schelling (intervention specialist).

• The board accepted an anonymous $2,200 donation in support of the high school track program and a $50 donation from Sarah Stapleton toward the Tomahawk food truck summer program.

• The board approved an out-of-state field trip for the high school girls basketball team to Crestview Hills, Ky., which had already occurred June 10.

• The board agreed to hold their July 20 meeting at 8 a.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m. start time.

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