The Tiffin City Schools Board of Education completed its organization business during an organizational meeting at the middle school, taking a series of routine governance actions including officer elections, committee appointments, a 2025 meeting calendar and a standing authorization for the superintendent to sign contracts up to $25,000.

The board moved quickly through nominations and roll-call votes to fill the president and vice president roles and to close nominations. Mr. Duffy was thanked on the record for accepting an officer position. Committee assignments were made for finance, policy and governance, legislative liaison and student-achievement liaison; board members volunteered for or were assigned to those roles during the meeting.

Why it matters: these items set the board’s leadership and governance structure for the coming year, determine who will represent the district in negotiations and external committees, and give the superintendent limited authority to complete routine contracts without bringing each small contract back to the full board.

Key decisions and details

- Meeting calendar: The board adopted a 2025 meeting schedule of regular meetings on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m., with the exceptions of May (May 19) and December (Dec. 15). A motion to accept the proposed dates was made and the board approved the calendar.

- Officer elections and committee assignments: The board conducted nominations and closed nominations for president and vice president; roll-call votes were taken and officers were installed. Committee assignments for finance, policy and governance, legislative liaison and a student-achievement liaison were made and board members volunteered to serve in those roles during the meeting.

- Superintendent signing and standing authorizations: The board approved a standing authorization for the superintendent to act as the district’s agent on federal, state and privately funded projects and to sign contracts on behalf of the district up to $25,000. The authorization was discussed in the context of ensuring transparency and accountability and was approved by roll call.

- Delegation for contract/negotiation communications: The board approved a motion delegating negotiation communications to the superintendent, assistant superintendent, treasurer and a board representative. The motion passed on a recorded roll call, which the chair described as passing 3–2. On the record, Mr. Williams voted no and a second member recorded as “Mister Verizon” voted no; the chair stated the motion passed 3–2.

- Board of Education Code of Ethics: The board adopted a Board of Education Code of Ethics that had been distributed by email and in hard copy. The board discussed using the document as a best-practice guide for board conduct and noted the intent to have board members acknowledge the code on a recurring basis similar to other district acknowledgments.

- Personnel, partnerships and job descriptions: The meeting recorded notice of support-staff resignations and discussed a clinical-education agreement involving Bowling Green State University; the board approved an education agreement related to clinical education and associated partner arrangements (details not specified in the meeting transcript). The board also approved an updated ground-keeper job description; human-resources review and role adjustments were discussed as part of that approval.

What the board did not decide or where details were not specified

- Several items were described in general terms in the meeting record (for example, the text of some committee charters and several contractor or partner details). Where the transcript did not provide full contract language, dollar amounts (beyond the $25,000 signing cap), or the full text of agreements, those specifics were not stated during the meeting and are not asserted here.

Votes at a glance

- Adopt 2025 meeting calendar: approved (motion/second recorded; roll call indicated approval).
- Election of officers (president and vice president): nominations closed and officers installed (roll-call votes taken; specific tallies not recorded in full in the transcript).
- Standing authorization for superintendent to act as district agent and sign contracts up to $25,000: approved (roll call recorded).
- Delegation of negotiation communications (superintendent, assistant superintendent, treasurer, board representative): approved, roll-call result stated as 3–2 (Mr. Williams and a member recorded in the transcript as “Mister Verizon” voted no).
- Adoption of Board of Education Code of Ethics: approved (roll call recorded).
- Approval of education/clinical-education agreement involving Bowling Green State University and associated partners: approved (details not specified in transcript).
- Approval of revised ground-keeper job description: approved (roll call recorded).

Other meeting context and next steps

The board discussed testing different audio/equipment options to improve remote viewing of meetings. The chair announced the next regular meeting will be Monday, Jan. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the middle school and set a 5:45 p.m. work session on that date. Several housekeeping items (minutes of prior meetings, support-staff resignations and routine administrative motions) were approved or noted during the session.