Monroe Local board reelects Tim Carpenter as president, approves 2025 appointments, budgets and standing authorizations

The Monroe Local School District Board of Education on Jan. 13 elected Tim Carpenter president and AJ Fulham vice president for the 2025 school year and approved a slate of organizational and consent items, including board appointments, district memberships, standing authorizations for the superintendent and treasurer, and routine consent agendas.

Board members nominated and voted on leadership in the organizational portion of the meeting. Tim Carpenter was nominated to remain president and was confirmed by roll-call vote. AJ Fulham was nominated and elected vice president. Missus Moore administered the voting procedure during the organizational items.

The board approved a package of organizational items by roll call, including: designation of meeting dates/times/locations for 2025; waiver of reading minutes under the Ohio Revised Code; renewal of memberships in the Ohio School Boards Association, the OSBA Legal Assistance Fund and the Ohio Education Policy Institute; establishment of a $20,000 board service fund (as stated in the meeting); approval of legal counsel appointments; and designation of the Journal-News as a newspaper of record. The board also approved standing authorizations for the superintendent and the treasurer for 2025 and adopted the 2026 tax budget (filed as required each January).

Treasurer Moore reported the district issued $15,000,000 in bond anticipation notes as part of the financing plan for the high school project and said a second issuance was being priced this month; those funds are being held in project funds outside the general-monthly report format. Moore said favorable investor interest is helping the district on pricing and that proceeds and premiums will be managed through project and bond retirement funds.

The board approved the treasurer’s consent agenda (standard monthly reports and minutes) and the superintendent’s personnel and other-business consent agendas (including resignations, retirements, extracurricular listings, approval of approximately 12 early graduates and an out-of-state indoor track trip). All motions called for the organizational and consent items carried on recorded roll-call votes.

Votes at a glance

- Election: Tim Carpenter, President — Motion: nomination by a board member; Outcome: elected (roll-call: Carpenter, Fulham, Grant, Leeds, Hagedorn — all “Aye”). - Election: AJ Fulham, Vice President — Outcome: elected (roll-call unanimous). - Approve 2025 board appointments (liaisons, committees) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve 2025 meeting dates/times/locations — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Waive reading of minutes under section 3313.26, Ohio Revised Code — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve 2025 memberships (OSBA, OSBA Legal Assistance Fund, Ohio Education Policy Institute) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Establish board service fund, $20,000 (as stated in meeting) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve legal counsel appointments (general, bond, and board litigation counsel as presented) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Designate Journal-News as newspaper of record and publish notices on district website — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve superintendent standing authorizations (items A–I as presented for calendar year 2025) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve treasurer standing authorizations (items A–K as presented) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve 2026 tax budget (required filing) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve treasurer consent agenda (monthly reports/minutes) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve superintendent personnel consent agenda (resignations, retirements, extracurriculars, coach revision) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous). - Approve superintendent other-business consent agenda (approximately 12 early graduates listed; out-of-state indoor track trip; contract for transition services for special-education students; transportation impractical resolution for one private-school student) — Outcome: approved (roll-call unanimous).

Context and why it matters: organizational votes establish board leadership and committee liaisons for the year; standing authorizations and the tax budget set operational and financial authority for the superintendent and treasurer; the bond anticipation notes and project funds are steps in the district’s financing path for a new high school and related projects.

The board adjourned the regular meeting and moved into executive session later the same evening to consider an investigation related to a public employee; no public action was taken in executive session.