Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education celebrates perfect state assessments, new student board rep

The accomplishments of 29 students who received perfect scores on state test scores were celebrated at the Monday, Sept. 21 Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education meeting, as the board also welcomed their new student representative for the 2026-27 school year.

Fifteen of the students earning a perfect assessment for 2025-26 state testing and their families attended and were recognized by superintendent Tim Davis. Each student received a certificate from the superintendent and a handshake from all of the administrators present, including the board members. 

As noted by Davis, two of the 29 students — Lennon Garman and Carson Licea — received two perfect scores each. Garman’s perfect scores were on the fifth grade science and English language arts tests, while Licea earned perfect tests in fourth grade math and English language arts. Licea was not in attendance Monday, but Garman was on hand to be recognized.

Also accepting their certificates Monday night at the meeting were Harrison Allard (third grade math), Claire Barton (third grade math), Gabriel Crum (third grade math), Natalie Mills (third grade math), JaLyah White (third grade math), Wyland Burton (fourth grade math), Tori Davis (fourth grade math), Tessa Simbro (fourth grade math), Johnathan Leggett (fourth grade math), Jaxon Shepard (fourth grade math), Astrid Wainscott (fourth grade ELA), Ben Bryson (fifth grade math), Raelynn Bennett (fifth grade ELA) and Malachi Powell (high school Algebra I).

Those not in attendance who earned perfect state assessment scores were Declan Augsperger (third grade math), Declan Theobald (third grade math), Victoria Lawson (fourth grade math), Guyton Carroll (fourth grade math), Jagger Chambers (fourth grade math), Luciana Herrick (fourth grade math), Adalina Milburn (fourth grade math), Alayna Hacker (fourth grade math), Hayden Smith (fourth grade math), Cecela Brock (fourth grade ELA), Brantley Martin (fifth grade math),  Kennedy Horne (seventh grade math) and Alex Wilson (high school biology).

“This is just a testament to not only your students, but to you as parents as well, supporting the academics, doing all the hard work, preparing your kids every day,” Davis told the families. “It's also a testament to our teachers and staff to prepare them for what they need to know for the state assessments. 

“That's a lot of hard work for our young kids, and it's a testament to parents and our staff. It's great for our district as well, and I just want to thank you for bringing them tonight and the job that you're doing with your kids because we're extremely proud of them. We're proud of our staff and we're proud of the district, and that involves everybody. It takes a community to raise our kids, so we want to say thank you for that, and keep up the good work.”

At the start of the meeting, district treasurer Ben Teeters administered the oath of office to senior Madison Karnes, who will be serving as student representative for the 2026-27 school year.

“We’re glad and excited to have you on board for the year,” board president Bill Myers said. 

“Congratulations to Miss Madison,” board member Tom Milbery added in his report. “I’m glad to have you here this year.”
 
In her first report to the board, Karnes discussed several upcoming events at the high school, including the Ohio Legislative Leadership Conference for FFA members Sept. 22; senior night for Hillsboro’s soccer teams Sept. 24; Ag Day for FFA on Oct. 8; and the “Haunted Hoco” themed homecoming set for Oct. 17.

Recent events included fundraisers, pee wee volleyball and cheer camps and the September FFA meeting, Karnes said, while the senior class is also working on an alternative to their usual parking lot designs.

“This year, instead of doing senior parking spots, the seniors plan on doing ceiling tiles instead, which will help replace some of the old tiles,” Karnes said. “That’s something that's a lot cheaper, and it would be for $20.” 

In the superintendent’s report, Davis continued the discussion of state assessments by reviewing the state report cards, which were released by the state the previous week. The district received three and a half stars overall (out of five stars), which is “exactly where we were last year.

“We were four stars out of five in achievement,” Davis said. “The area that we’ll have the most to work on is progress, which is a two star for the district. Gap closing was a four. Graduation rate was a five. Early literacy is a three, and then college and career readiness is a four.

“The progress is when you do well in one year and if you drop off, that means you didn't make the same growth according to the state assessment, so we have some grade levels that we didn't do so well in from the year before, so that kind of gives us a lower report card grade. That is something that we're looking at and trying to fix.”

The school grades included Hillsboro Intermediate School, five stars; Hillsboro High School, three and a half stars; Hillsboro Primary School, three and a half stars; Hillsboro Early Childhood Education Center, three stars; and Hillsboro Middle School, two and a half stars.

“We’ve got a plan to work on some of our deficits, but again, very excited for the things we're doing as far as making adjustments, looking at data, knowing where our kids are and still performing the way we want to,” Davis said. “There's some things that we know we're working on this year, changes that have been made, so very pleased with that.”

In other discussion, Davis congratulated the district transportation department for their “great job” ensuring all evaluation drills have been completed by the district’s bus drivers. 

Davis also recognized another student, HHS junior Aiden Campbell, who has been chosen as a member of the Ohio Attorney General’s Teen Ambassador Board for the 2026-27 school year.

“It's a great honor for not only him but also our district, so we’re very proud of him for that,” Davis said. “Hopefully he will be able to come to our next board meeting and kind of give us a little rundown on that.”

In other reports, board member Jerry Walker used his time to comment on the quality of the high school’s facilities, including the soccer field, tennis courts, gym and auditorium, all of which he said he visited for recent events.

“I think it's appropriate for us to recognize that we do have high-level facilities, and I'm very impressed with that,” Walker said. “It’s self-congratulatory, but I'm pretty impressed, and I think the community is also.”

Milbery reported that AI is “the big forthcoming” issue discussed at the policy committee meeting.

Board member Beverly Rhoads asked the board to “consider attending” the upcoming Ohio School Boards Association’s Southwest Region fall conference.
 
In other discussion:

• The board approved the financial reports as presented. Teeters reported an August 2026 general fund cash balance of $11,203,819.82, up from $9,827,264.37 in August 2025; expenses of $2,827,864.61, up from $2,388,697.14 last year; and revenues of $3,333,362.11, also up from $1,641,833.51 a year ago.

“Our revenue’s up this August because we received some money from the state for the reduction of property taxes,” Teeters said. “The state reimbursed us.”

In his report, board member Larry Lyons referred to that reimbursement, as he said “next year, that goes away, and we don't know what's going to replace it. 

“That's one of the things that the legislative group continues to look at, what are we going to do when they discontinue that guarantee,” Lyons said.

• The board approved the following individuals for the contracts and positions indicated: 

— DLC, Debbie Howard and Shania Rhonemus;
— Mentor, Jamie Holland;
— LPDC, Carissa Brandenburg, Sandra Kniffley, Shannon Wright and Shannon Yochum;
— Sub Classified, cook/secretary Starla Hurst, bus/van driver John Moore (retroactive to Aug. 15), custodian Kyle Muse (retro July 1), and aide/secretary Keeley Schurman;
—Volunteers: for HES, Sue Boatman, Alan Carroll, Laina Carter, Teddy Carter, William Dixon, Donna Fadeley, Sarah Fullenkamp, Hailey Hirt, Emily Holbrook, Katherine Kackley, Erica King, Stephen Limbacher, Jorge Lopez, Britney McCollum, Maranda McDonald, Ali Meyer, Samantha Mlodecki, Travis Mootz, Emily Pohlman, Wendy Setty, Rebecca Shawhan, Megan Skeens, Bryan Smith, Sara Surber, Cassandra Dee Tagg; bowling coach, Kyle Clemons; for all buildings, Lisa Dugan, Jackie Gerald, Shianne Lister, Glenna Mojita;
— Sub certified: Alexandria Pontius, Molly Townsend, Karla Williams; 
— Classified: technology assistant Camden Closson, step 4 (retro Sept. 9);
—Certificated: teacher Christal Best, BA150 step 5, one-year contract (retro Sept. 1); and
—Supplementals: MS wrestling coaches Kordell Ford and Ben Miller; HS varsity swim coach Stephanie Haines; HS varsity boys bowling coach Shane Ison; MS boys basketball coach Blake Kibler; HS girls varsity wrestling coach Bruce Messer; MS Washington DC trip coordinator Brandi Miller; HS varsity girls bowling coach Jeff Miller; HS boys varsity wrestling coach Ben Pence; and HS assistant wrestling coaches Jeremy Ratcliff and Chad Vaughn.  

• The board accepted a lengthy list of donations, including:
— For robotics, The Alley Neighborhood Grille ($1,650), Bell City Wealth ($200), Eagles FOE 1161 ($15,000), Eagles FOE 1224 ($1,500), Esoteric Club ($250), Hillsboro Elks Lodge #361 ($500),  Hillsboro VFW Post 9094 ($2,000), McCarty Associates ($100),  Merchants National Bank ($250), Nourse Chillicothe Automall ($400), Old Town Ink ($40), William and Kim Granger ($200), PM Title LLC ($50), Terry’s Grocery and Pizza ($800), Turner and Son Funeral Home ($200), Dan and Karen Reed ($500), Weastec ($200);
— For high school baseball, NCB ($2,500); and
— For school supplies, Xenia Grace (supplies valued at $30) and Vitu Inc. (supplies valued at $1,200).

“I want to thank all of our donors for robotics,” Davis said. “They are going to be taking a couple trips to go to competitions, and that stuff is not cheap. We want to thank the support from our community.”

• The board approved a transfer of $200,000 from the 001-7200-910-0000 line item to the 035-5100-000-0000 line item “to cover severance pay,” according to Teeters. 

• The board accepted the resignations of sub teachers Kimberly Cochran, Jennifer Maynard and Sydney Mycroft, all effective Sept. 1; sub aide Kendal Fawley, effective Aug. 21; and Jordan Rhude from DLC, effective with the 2026-27 school year.

• The board approved a leave of absence for teacher Ryan Reilly, effective Sept. 23-Oct. 7.

• The board approved a change of status for Samantha Mlodecki from BA step 0 to BA 150 step 13.

• The board approved Vicki Whitman as an aide at Hillsboro Christian Academy (HCA) at a rate of $20 per hour, effective Oct. 1, at the request of the Hillsboro Christian Academy Head of School. 

• The board approved Ayden Cumberland as an early graduate.

• The board approved an out-of-state field trip for the high school FFA to attend the National FFA Convention, Oct. 21-24 in Indianapolis, Ind. In a separate motion, also approved was an out-of-state trip for the high school robotics team to Louisville, Ky., Dec. 5-7.