By Eamon Baird
TROY — The Troy Board of Education heard a three-year strategic plan for Troy City Schools and listened presentations on federal funds and future building projects during its meeting on Monday, Aug. 12.
Troy Superintendent Chris Piper discussed the three-year plan with the board which is an update on the five-year plan discussed in 2023.
“When you look at our plan mission vision the administrative team felt strongly that those should remain the same, beliefs will remain the same. Overall, the goal areas will remain the same,” Piper said.
As stated in the agenda the plan will focus on the following five strategic goals:
1. To provide a safe and healthy learning environment to meet student learning needs.
2. All students will be future-ready through content mastery and development of 21st-century skills.
3. To maintain high standards for fiscal responsibility and stewardship while developing a budget that meets the goals outlined in our strategic plan.
4. To recruit, develop, and retain highly effective staff members who are dedicated to student growth and development.
5. To engage all stakeholders through a comprehensive communication plan.
Piper said he met with teachers throughout the district in June of 2023 to generate ideas for the new strategic plan.
“We need to pay a little more attention to more project-based learning and more 21st-century skills,” Piper said. “So, I think that’s the next focus for us academically.”
“It was great that our last plan wasn’t something that just sat on a shelf. It was an active document, and I think it helped us to get to where we are today, and I think it would be interesting to stay engaged,” Board President Susan Borchers said.
The board heard a presentation from Assistant Superintendent Michael Moore about federal funding in the schools.
Moore discussed enrollment in Troy City Schools and how students could be denied enrollment if they are suspended from school for ten days or expelled in the previous school year.
“We can deny open enrollment based on our limited ability to serve other kids coming from the outside in versus resident population,” Moore said.
Moore also stressed the importance of providing students with adequate staffing.
“We want kids we want families to come to school here. We want to be a school of choice and people say ‘I want to go to Troy,’ but we also have to make sure that we have the proper staffing and proper services for kids who are resident families,” Moore said.
The board also heard a presentation from Mark Ruetschle of Ruetschle Architects in Dayton about an upcoming five-phase project for building new schools in Troy.
Ruetschle walked the board through different designs for schools in the area his company has worked on and then the conceptual designs of the buildings.
“We’re looking at a site package of Spring of 2025 to start moving dirt at those sites and the construction of those sites would start summer of 2025. The building construction in the Spring of 2026, finishing up in the summer of 2027. That is when the district would be redistricting all of their elementary schools,” Ruetschle said.
Another project Ruetschle discussed was the air conditioning project at the High School.
“Design of that has started, we’re looking for that to start in the summer of 2026 and continue through that through the 2026 and 2027 school year and wrap up summer of 2027,” Ruetschle said.
Piper discussed gifts the Troy City Schools have received during the last month in his superintendent’s report.
“It’s our favorite part of the agenda, where we can thank our community for their support of our students our programs, and our staff, you’ll see a variety of gifts there,” Piper said, giving a special mention to American Legion Post 43 which provided $7,000 for Troy City schools.
“They call in the summer and bring a check from the support of their members and ask us to divide it up amongst our schools to help provide teacher supplies,” Piper said.
The $7,000 will be divided between the six elementary schools and Van Cleve sixth grade building.
In other business, the board unanimously approved the following resolutions:
Treasurer Jeffrey Price’s financial report.
Then and now certificates.
To establish petty cash accounts for 2024-2025.
Approval of the 2024-2025 bus stop schedule.
A bid resolution to advertise and receive bids for the purchase of three school buses.
The personnel agenda.
