Hello Worthington! Here's your recap of what happened at February 9th's Board of Education meeting. Below are brief summaries of the most significant discussions. For those interested in the full details, we've included links to longer articles where appropriate.
Inside Worthington Schools' New Portrait of a Learner Survey
Worthington Schools has dropped the Panorama survey it gave students since 2017 for a survey of its own, written around its Portrait of a Learner, the five skills the district wants every graduate to carry. Students in grades 3 through 12 answer 15 to 25 questions on a four-point scale, twice a year, and the fall 2025 round reached 83% of them (presentation, page 6). The answers are confidential but not anonymous, so a teacher or parent can sit with a student and talk about what they said; staff showed the board the color-coded reports that make that possible. Board members asked about translation, who can see a child's answers, and whether parents and teachers will eventually be surveyed too.
The survey by grade band, with fall 2025 completion rates and sample questions. Source: Portrait of a Learner presentation to the Board of Education, Feb. 9, 2026, page 6.
School Board Debates a Joint Meeting With City Council and Sets Its Next Goals Session
The board agreed to finish its 2026 goals at a work session folded into the April 13 regular meeting and to aim for June or July for a first joint meeting with Worthington City Council, an idea the city brought to the board in January. Vice President Stephanie Harless pitched a shared calendar and an annual comparison of each body's long-range goals; Board Member Nikki Hudson asked what two elected bodies would change when district and city staff already work well together. Superintendent Trent Bowers added a figure that bears on the question: about 60% of the district's students live in Columbus and only about 23% in the City of Worthington.
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Kindergarten age cutoff: eight families affected so far, about 30 more expected
Ohio House Bill 114 changed who can start kindergarten. A child must now turn five by the first day of school, which for Worthington in 2026 is Aug. 19, instead of by Sept. 30. Children with late-summer birthdays who would have started this fall wait a year.
Board President Amber Epling-Skinner relayed the first local numbers from a Key Communicators meeting, the district's standing feedback group of parents, residents and staff. Bowers told that group that eight currently enrolled families are affected by the change and that he expects about 30 more. "People are going to be scrambling a little bit as you try and find child care for a year that you never thought you're gonna have," she said.
Enrollment forecast: the district has peaked, and will stay roughly flat
Worthington Schools has more students today than at any point in its history, and a new ten-year projection says that is about where it will stay. Bowers told the board the district had just received an updated enrollment-projections report from its demographic consultant and posted the roughly 100-page document on the district website. The recommended forecast, on page 43, is "a gradual slight decrease" of only about 100 students between now and 2035-36, which Bowers called "a period of overall stability".
That matters for staffing. The district has tied future hiring to enrollment, and Bowers said the forecast "aligns well with our staffing plan". The same report's residency figures, which show most students live outside the City of Worthington, came up later in the joint-meeting discussion covered above.
In Other News
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In the Schools
- Columbus State visits every middle school. Representatives from Columbus State Community College are visiting each middle school in February and March for 30-minute sessions with eighth graders on college and career pathways. Bowers said eighth grade is "the perfect time," since elective and study-habit choices made before high school set the foundation.
- Free eye exams and glasses for young students. The district's elementary schools have registered for OhioSEE, a state program that provides a follow-up eye exam and, if needed, glasses at no cost to K-3 students who fail a school vision screening. The district's school health team will contact affected families.
- Worthington Estates HVAC. The board authorized the district to seek bids to replace an air handling unit at Worthington Estates Elementary.
- Personnel. The consent agenda included three certified retirements at the end of the school year, among them two district curriculum specialists (one of whom, Brian Geniusz, presented the survey data earlier in the evening) and an instructional coach; a new math teacher for Worthington Academy; after-school Title I tutors; and stipends for staff running Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) family workshops and for building a shared Algebra 1 course. The board also approved two seniors whose families moved out of the district to finish the year at their high schools.
Money & Spending
- Donations. The board accepted about $31,600 in gifts, led by roughly $16,000 from Dairy Queen and Ron Overstreet for ice cream at school functions, about $7,100 from the Thomas Worthington and Kilbourne ice hockey boosters, and about $5,600 from the WKHS Breakers Club. Smaller gifts included $1,000 to Slate Hill Elementary in memory of Aaron Pound, $1,000 in games and books for Worthington Park Elementary, a 3D printer for Worthingway Middle School, and $384 for supplies at Slate Hill.
- Federal and county money. Treasurer TJ Cusick said the federal budget passed since the last meeting held special-education (IDEA) and Title I funding flat; "flat funding is better than less funding," he said, given proposals to cut both. The Franklin County auditor moved the property-tax due date from January to March 2, which Cusick called good for taxpayers but a cash-flow squeeze for a district that relies heavily on that money; the January financial report's only major variance is roughly $10 million in property-tax revenue that arrived later than budgeted.
- State revenue running ahead. Cusick noted Ohio's own monthly report shows tax collections up about $1.1 billion, or 6.9%, over last year, roughly 3.5% above the state's forecast. The legislature held school-funding inputs flat last summer citing a lack of resources, and the district "certainly will lobby" for a mid-budget adjustment next June.
Boards & Community
- VibeCheck sessions. Board members reported from the district's VibeCheck student feedback sessions at both high schools. Thomas Worthington students worked on improving student-to-student communication, with storytelling as the starting point; Kilbourne students took up discipline and consequences and gave feedback on the "story exchange" conversations held in the cafeteria, which upperclassmen who arrive late or leave early tend to miss. Members credited Director of School Community Engagement Toya Spencer's work with students and building administrators.
- PTAC needs scholarship readers. Hudson said the Parent Teacher Advisory Committee's scholarship review cycle is coming and encouraged anyone without a senior this year, and with the time, to volunteer.
- Science curriculum review. The Academic Achievement and Professional Learning committee is reviewing elementary science curriculum and will bring a presentation to the board. Harless said the new materials map where science concepts also appear in the district's CKLA language-arts program, so teachers can build on what students have already met.
Notable
- Kilbourne's new media center opens. Board members attended the grand opening of Worthington Kilbourne High School's renovated media center, with a student council program, remarks from Assistant Superintendent Angie Adrean as a former principal of the building, student-led tours and a guest speaker on artificial intelligence and how people think.
- The big snow. Harless thanked the staff who cleared lots and worked through "the biggest snow that we've had in almost 20 years", and Epling-Skinner passed along a detail from the district: a national shortage of the low-temperature road salt that works in deep cold, which she said may explain some road conditions.
- Students on stage and on the ice. The Kilbourne band was selected to perform at the Ohio Music Education Association conference downtown, its first appearance in four or five years; Thomas Worthington's hockey team reached the CBJ Cup final at Nationwide Arena; and Thomas Worthington students staged The Wedding Singer.
- Joy Film Festival. The Worthington Alliance of Black Families and Educators' film series continued with a free screening of Selma on Feb. 21 at the McConnell Arts Center, Davis announced.
What came next
- Monday, Feb. 23 — Regular board meeting with the financial forecast update.
- Monday, March 9 — Regular board meeting with the CKLA and Amplify curriculum update.
- March 16 through 27 — Second administration of the Portrait of a Learner survey, per a district email to families.
- Monday, March 23 — Regular board meeting with a technology update; the board also awarded the Worthington Estates air-handling contract that night.
- Monday, April 13 — Regular board meeting followed by the board's second goals work session, as set at this meeting.
- Tuesday, April 21, 7:30 a.m. — Worthington Libraries community breakfast.
- Joint meeting with City Council — Not yet held as of the board's Sept. 28, 2026 meeting, when a date was still being proposed.
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Thanks for reading this summary of the Board of Education meeting, you can watch the original full video here