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Westerville City School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet

3 h 54 min · 2 videos · 2 public speakers

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Part 1 · 1 h 27 min

Westerville schools keep overall 3.5-star rating on 2026 state report card 0:16

  • The district's teaching and learning team presented the 2026 state report card, and a presenter said Westerville City Schools maintained its overall 3.5-star rating. 0:16
  • Speakers also discussed AP test costs, work-based learning hours and the state's chronic absenteeism measure. 29:31
Item by item (12)
  1. Report card achievement, progress and gap closing 0:00
    • A presenter said the district's performance index was 89.4, compared with 89.7 last year. 2:03
    • The presenter said the district moved from 4 stars to 3 stars in the progress component, with a positive 1.68 growth index that met expectations. 3:10
    • The presenter said the district exceeded state standards with 4 stars in gap closing, and 6 of 9 subgroups met or exceeded state goals in both English language arts and math. 3:10
  2. Absenteeism, graduation and early literacy components 6:12
    • A presenter said chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more than 10% of total school hours and the state is moving toward a legislative goal of 5% in the 2030 and 2031 school year. 6:12
    • A presenter said the district earned 4 stars in graduation, with a 4-year rate of 93.1% and a 5-year rate of 96.4%. 7:57
    • A presenter said early literacy would be discussed at the last board meeting in November. 8:50
  3. College and career readiness rating overview 9:43
    • A presenter said the district received 2 stars in college, career, workforce and military readiness and that the measure is new and lagged. 9:43
    • A second presenter said the district missed 3 stars by 43 students out of 1,165 and that the cutoff for 3 stars is 63%. 11:47
    • The second presenter said 409 students did not meet one of the 12 benchmarks, and 64 of them moved into the district between 9th and 12th grade. 15:20
  4. SAT results and AP testing 19:22
    • The presenter said 906 students, about 77.8%, completed the SAT, with mean scores of 521 in evidence-based reading and writing and 514 in mathematics. 19:22
    • The presenter said the readiness benchmarks are 480 in reading and writing and 530 in mathematics, so the average student did not meet the mathematics benchmark. 20:14
  5. College credits and state law change 24:54
    • The presenter said 79 of the 409 students earned at least 2 college credits, while the benchmark requires 12. 24:54
    • The presenter said House Bill 455 allows AP, IB and CCP to be combined and took effect October 9, but the state has not said whether it applies to last year's cohort. 27:53
  6. Combined credits and work-based learning 29:31
    • The presenter said 61 students completed the OhioMeansJobs Readiness Seal but zero met the 250-hour work-based learning requirement, which the presenter said is difficult to track. 29:31
    • The presenter said combining credits would have added 8 students, and 36 more if students with an A or B had taken the AP test, for 44. 30:20
    • Asked about employer guidelines, the presenter said the state offers a manual of about 10 pages and had once offered up to $15 per hour in reimbursement to businesses. 35:21
  7. Post-graduation outcomes data 35:28
    • The presenter said post-graduation success is a report-only measure and the district outpaced the state in college enrollment and in college graduation within 6 years. 35:28
    • The presenter said the state has struggled to define gainful employment and said it would keep working on it. 40:21
  8. District career and honors diploma initiatives 41:28
    • The presenter said the district plans to launch a teacher academy and has 19 students enrolled in existing pre-apprenticeships. 42:24
    • The presenter said electric division and urban forestry students are paid just over $20 per hour, and a planned program would give up to 1 full credit per year for 250 hours of work-based learning. 44:06
    • The presenter said just north of 220 graduates said they want to work toward an honors diploma. 47:58
  9. Comparison districts and barriers to benchmarks 49:20
    • Asked which districts Westerville most resembles, the presenter named Kahana, Hilliard and Worthington, and another speaker added Reynoldsburg. 49:44
    • The presenter said the number one barrier for AP is the $95 test cost, and that a discount for economically disadvantaged students was taken away. 50:58
    • The presenter said 8th graders build a 4-year graduation plan to encourage higher-level courses. 55:38
  10. Student needs and business partnerships 59:00
    • A speaker said the district has a higher EL percentage than districts the state says it is most like. 1:00:03
    • The presenter said students in the middle who do not draw attention are going unseen in the readiness benchmark. 1:00:46
    • The presenter said the WorkWise partnership of the chamber, library, schools and city economic office meets about quarterly. 1:08:14
  11. Chronic absenteeism discussion 1:10:57
    • A speaker noted that excused and unexcused absences both count and that the benchmark is changing rapidly. 1:10:57
    • A presenter said the district's chronic absenteeism percentage is better than the state average and called the 5% goal aggressive. 1:12:01
    • A speaker said the district is required by the state to send families letters at certain absence thresholds. 1:13:56
  12. Progress measure and readiness benchmarks 1:17:58
    • A presenter said the state uses a univariate regression model for English and math and a multivariate model for other courses. 1:18:45
    • A speaker asked how private schools supported through vouchers are measured, and another speaker said not in the same way. 1:26:09

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

Part 2 · 2 h 27 min

Westerville board reviews 2026 state report card as district keeps 3.5-star rating 4:33

  • District staff said Westerville City Schools maintained its overall 3.5-star state rating and received 2 stars in college, career, workforce and military readiness. 5:13
  • The superintendent said the board spent the majority of its time on the state report card presentation. 1:31:31
  • The board also took up motions on minutes and the personnel consent agenda, along with a resolution for pre-construction services for the South High School Phase 7 project. 1:43:53
Item by item (15)
  1. Opening and roll call 0:01
    • The meeting opened with a roll call and the Pledge of Allegiance. 0:01
  2. Student well-being department recognition 1:26
    • The board recognized the district's Student Well-Being Department for earning national accreditation through the Council on Accreditation. 2:17
    • A speaker said the accreditation puts the district on a path to provide sustainability for prevention programs. 2:17
  3. State report card presentation 4:33
    • A presenter said the district's performance index score was 89.4, compared with 89.7 last year, and the progress rating moved from 4 stars to 3 stars. 5:13
    • A presenter said the district earned 4 stars in gap closing and graduation, with a 4-year graduation rate of 93.1% and a 5-year rate of 96.3%. 7:42
    • A presenter said the district missed a 3-star readiness rating by 43 students out of a cohort of 1,165 and that House Bill 455 now allows AP, IB and CCP credits to be combined. 15:47
  4. Superintendent's comments 1:31:09
    • The superintendent said the district is looking into scholarship granting organizations, which would allow a $1,700 federal tax credit starting in 2027. 1:31:31
    • The superintendent said the district had received 98 bus driver applications, had 11 drivers actively training and had hired 5 drivers with CDLs as permanent contract drivers. 1:34:57
  5. Public comment 1:37:35
    • A speaker at public comment asked the board to consider requiring all transportation supervisors to be CDL qualified and raised concerns about accountability for contract violations. 1:39:10
    • A speaker at public comment suggested the district outline reasons for chronic absences and invited district music groups to a community Christmas parade on December 5th. 1:41:32
  6. Approval of meeting minutes 1:43:53
    • The board considered the minutes of the September 14th, 2026, regular meeting and the September 29th, 2026, board retreat. 1:43:53
  7. Financial report, activity budgets and purchases 1:44:55
    • A district staff member reported general fund year-to-date receipts of $76.8 million and expenditures of $53.1 million and said the second-half property tax settlement was delayed. 1:45:09
    • The staff member described activity budgets added during the year and then and now purchase orders that were not opened on time. 1:46:57
    • A speaker asked about overhead for grants the district administers for private schools, and the staff member said the district receives a 4% administrative fee on state auxiliary funds. 1:51:15
  8. Personnel consent agenda 1:54:15
    • A staff member said the agenda included 19 new classified employees and 49 new substitutes, 42 of them in the Transportation Department. 1:54:30
    • The staff member said the agenda included 6 classified and 3 licensed retirements. 1:54:30
  9. Final reading of policies 1:59:17
    • The board took up a motion to approve old business items 9.01 through 9.07 as final readings. 1:59:38
  10. First readings of policies and music curriculum 2:00:08
    • A staff member said the revised homeless student policy incorporates McKinney-Vento requirements and that the district has just over 150 homeless students. 2:00:20
    • The staff member said revisions to the volunteer and sex offender notification policies add a state law prohibition on registered sex offenders serving as volunteers with extensive contact with minor children. 2:03:16
    • A presenter said draft courses of study for secondary band, choir and orchestra would add honors options for high school music students. 2:04:30
  11. Donations 2:08:06
    • A district staff member said the month's donations totaled $8,273.20, bringing the fiscal year total to $27,392.72. 2:08:26
  12. South High pre-construction services agreement 2:08:58
    • The board considered an agreement for pre-construction services for the South High School Phase 7 project. 2:08:58
    • A staff member said the award covers only pre-construction and does not commit the board to hiring the firm as its contractor. 2:09:23
    • The staff member said pre-construction is forecast to be done by the end of first quarter of '27 and the whole project by December of '27 and/or spring break of '28. 2:13:44
  13. School resource officer agreement 2:14:25
    • A speaker said that, due to staffing constraints, a police department withdrew its school resource officer and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office stepped up. 2:14:41
    • The staff member said the officer is scheduled to start January 2027 through May of 2027. 2:15:55
  14. Field trips and early graduates 2:16:37
    • A staff member requested early graduation for 27 students, contingent upon completion of remaining graduation requirements. 2:19:14
  15. Board comments and executive session 2:20:10
    • The board's next regular session was set for Monday, November 23rd, 2026, at 6 PM, and a motion was made to enter executive session on negotiations, employment and compensation. 2:25:47

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

What was said

What board members said, in order

I just have a question. How many grants do we administer for the private schools?Kristina Meyer · Board President1:50:49
Who spoke

Who spoke

Kristina MeyerBoard President

Video: posted by the district as “October 12, 2026 Board of Education Meeting State Report Card Presentation”