Fairfield Area SD board approves consent items, hears public plea for separate middle school soccer teams

The Fairfield Area SD Board of Education approved routine personnel and financial items and heard parents urge separate boys and girls middle school soccer teams at its regular meeting.

Board member Mr. Hough opened presentations by noting the state budget has passed this year, saying, "Final budget is, 59,000,000,000," and thanking community partners for Veterans Day events at Liberty Mountain, which he said hosted about 100 guests, roughly 50 veterans. He also told the board an on-site engineering review is underway for potential additional elementary parking and that options will be brought back to a future meeting.

Mister Kaylor told the board the administration will roll out a 10– to 15‑minute community survey to gather public input for district planning and to support required state submissions, saying the goal is "to gain their ideas, their thoughts, and opinions on some of the things we've already implemented, and also some things that maybe we haven't that they would like us to pursue in the future." The district will also test its new ParentSquare communications system; Missus Zipp said a practice notification will be sent to families and staff with a live test call scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Thursday to confirm contact information.

During public comment, April Asleep asked the board to approve the recommendation to form separate middle school boys and girls soccer teams. "We have 11 middle school boys who are completely committed to playing," Asleep said, adding that some girls are hesitant to play coed. Asked what roster size would be "comfortable," Asleep said 11 play at a time and suggested "13 definites and then 14 or 15 would be absolutely... ideal."

The board handled routine agenda business: a motion to table agenda item B as moot passed by voice vote, and the consent agenda (items A–M, with one exclusion noted) was approved after members verbally affirmed their votes. The meeting record shows several voluntary personnel reassignments (including changes for Kathleen Kitewinger, Michelle Moloch and Brett Barnes) and two full‑time high school learning support positions added.

The chair welcomed Courtney Bourne as the district's new elementary school principal; Bourne said she was "so excited" to join the district. The board also asked administrators Tom and Aaron to convene an executive meeting to review bullying policies step‑by‑step, saying the topic is a safety priority.

Before adjourning, the board noted an executive session on Nov. 12 for personnel and legal matters and acknowledged donations: $1,100 from an anonymous donor to clear elementary lunch balances, $200 from Jay and Kaye Melling for courtyard mulch, and $2,500 from Fairfield Youth Basketball to support boys and girls high school basketball.

The board scheduled its reorganization meeting for Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. in the boardroom and then adjourned.