The Sycamore Community Schools Board of Education considered a $40 academic consumable fee and a $75-per-sport extracurricular fee at its July 23 regular meeting, charges that would affect Symmes Township families when classes resume in August.
The fee items, listed on the board's published agenda, include waivers for students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Students enrolling after the start of the second semester would pay $20 for consumables; those entering after the fourth quarter would owe nothing. The $75 extracurricular fee would cover junior high and high school athletics as well as performing arts programs including marching band, winter drum line, flag corps, junior high and high school drama, Octaviation, chamber orchestra, and jazz band.
Policy and contracts
The board also considered formal adoption of the full Neola policy manual, completing a multi-year transition from OSBA policy templates.
Four special education and student services contracts were on the agenda: Applied Behavioral Services, Western Nursing Services, Cincinnati Center for Autism, and Ohio Valley Voices, a Loveland-based organization licensed by the Ohio Department of Education that serves children who are deaf and hard of hearing. An agreement with the Warren County Educational Service Center and a Fortinet firewall cybersecurity contract were also before the board.
The meeting, which began at 8:30 a.m., included a personnel consent agenda, final appropriations for fiscal year 2026, temporary appropriations for fiscal year 2027, and an executive session to evaluate the superintendent.
New leadership heading into fall
The July 23 agenda follows leadership changes the board approved at its July 8 meeting. Natalie Jimenez, the outgoing Blue Ash Elementary principal, was named Director of Curriculum and Instruction for grades K-6. Danielle Gray, a 27-year education veteran who served as assistant principal at Maple Dale Elementary, becomes the new Blue Ash Elementary principal. Taryn Barker was appointed Director of Special Education for grades 7-12, and Angela Faulhaber takes the curriculum director role for grades 7-12.
Back-to-school dates
Sycamore's 6,051 students return on staggered start days: August 13 for pre-K, grades 1-6 (last names A-K), grade 7, grade 9, grade 12, and students new to the high school; August 14 for grades 1-6 (L-Z), grade 8, and all grades 9-12. A combination current expense and permanent improvement levy is headed to the November 3 ballot after the board approved a resolution to proceed in May; the district has not yet published the levy's millage rate or estimated cost to homeowners.
