Staff

David Gibson, Superintendent

David Gibson, Superintendent
(513) 362-5348
gibsond@felicityohioschools.org

Secretary

Kyla Redden, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
(513) 362-5348
reddenk@felicityohioschools.org

SUPERINTENDENT

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope this message finds you well. We would like to provide you with an important update regarding Felicity-Franklin Local School District.

We are quickly approaching the start of the 2023-2024 school year. We would like to give you a brief update before the year begins.

Important Dates           

  • Open House-Tuesday, August 15 5:30-7:00 pm

    • Receive Schedules, Chromebooks, and homeroom information

  • First Day of School for all students - Thursday, August 17th

  • Kindergarten start dates will be communicated by the elementary school

Academic News

  • Supply Lists (Grades K-12) can be found on our website under Documents/Parent Resources

  • New curriculum will be implemented in Spanish and  Social Studies

Extracurricular Activities

  • The fall sports season has started. Please remember to pay fees.

  • First Home Games:

    • Cross Country (August 23rd, 4:30, at Washington Twp. Park)

    • HS Volleyball (August 21st, 5:00, vs Whiteoak)

    • MS Volleyball (August 31st, 4:30, vs CNE)

    • Soccer (August 16th, 5:00pm (boys), 7:00pm (girls), vs Deer Park)

    • Golf (August 14th, 1:00, at Elks)

    • Tennis (August 16th, 4:00, vs Bethel)

New Staff

 We have many new faces starting this year. They are:

  • Casey Smith, HS Principal

  • Taylor Flight, HS Spanish

  • McKenzie Ward, HS Band

  • Summer Kremer, Grade 8 ELA

  • Carl Pigman, HS Science

  • Nate Bogan, HS Social Studies

  • Jeremy Hatfield, Grade 5 ELA

  • Nick Junker, Grade 7/8 Social Studies

  • Tracie Jewett, HS Math

  • Ashlie Wilson, K-2 Intervention

Changing positions within the district are:

  • Rene Henson - Moving to HS English

  • Samantha Waldbillig - Moving to Grade 4, Gen Ed

Please take a moment to help welcome these staff members to the Cardinal family.

Facility News

  • New cameras were installed throughout the district.  Funded by a safety grant.  Replaced domestic hot water heaters.  Paid for by an ODSA grant

  • Building Use/Facility Charges - New building use and facility charges took effect on August 1, 2023. The fee schedule and building use form can be found on our website under Documents/District/Building Use.

  • A huge shout out to our custodial staff.  They have worked incredibly hard to have our building in great condition for the first day of school.

Parent Reminders

  • Please fill out final forms as soon as possible

  • High School Handbook Changes

    • Junior High students (grades 7/8) are advised that they are not permitted to have their cell phones activated, out, or in use in any way during the school day, 7:15am-2:30pm. Junior High students may keep cell phones or personal electronics in their bookbags for after school use and to assist parents in connecting with their child from practices, events, etc. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the administration and will be extremely limited (life-threatening medical needs, such as diabetic monitoring devices, etc.).

Finance Update

The Board of Education has decided not to put an operating levy on the November ballot.  There are three major factors that have led to this decision. 

  1. The majority of our voting community, in two different failed levy attempts, have sent a message that they want the district to address deficit spending through reductions in staff and programs rather than increasing taxes/district revenue. The district has responded by reducing staff by nine full time & one part time staff member resulting in $696,000 savings annually.

  2. Over the last two summers the district has lost 22 staff members due to retirement or moving to another school district. The savings of hiring less experienced teachers has resulted in an expenditure reduction of $1.1 million over the last two years.

  3. The Governor's new budget increased our state revenue by approximately $300,000 per year over the next four years of the forecast.

These three factors have eliminated the deficit spending situation for the time being. The district will develop and post an updated five year forecast in November.

Felicity-Franklin Local Schools would like to express our gratitude to parents for your continued support and cooperation in making the school community thrive. As always, you can keep up to date by following us on Facebook, the district website, and the district app.

If you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to reach out to our school offices.

Thank you for being part of the Cardinal family!

Sincerely,

David Gibson

Superintendent