Category: News

Huge shoutout to Pamela Antos and Merry Guerrera for being presented as the inaugural winners of the National High School Ethics Bowl’s Coach of the Year Award!

These two incredible teachers clearly and consistently express and promotes the program’s core values: dialogue over disagreement, reasoning over rhetoric, and an appreciation for moral nuance wherever it exists.

They exemplify the Spirit of the Ethics Bowl and carry it through to their teaching and their endless support of their students.

Developing a new Portrait of a Learner was the first step in Hilliard City Schools’ strategic planning process. This will serve as our district’s North Star in the years to come. Here, a professor and parent shares what being a Resilient Learner, one of the five key competencies of our Portrait of a Learner, means to him.

Hilliard City Schools is excited to unveil its new Portrait of a Learner. Hear from Superintendent Dave Stewart and a few of our business partners about how our community came together to determine the skills our students need to be Ready For Tomorrow.

Check out the video below:

Many people have seen the City of Hilliard develop a new comprehensive plan.  According to their web page, they launched Hilliard by Design to significantly update the city’s 2011 comprehensive plan.

While we congratulate the City Leaders for creating such a forward-thinking document, we hear that some in our community need more clarification on what the city can do with land owned by the school district. The short answer is they can not buy or sell property owned by the Board of Education without the Board’s approval, nor have they ever tried to. The Board appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with our city partners on projects that impact the schools.

Currently, the Hilliard School Board of Education will continue working on the District’s Master Facilities Plan, or MFP. An MFP is the product of a data-driven process that guides capital planning decisions over the next 5-10 years. The process takes into account community and stakeholder feedback, which results in transparent decisions about:

• Educational programs
• Facility use
• Capital investment

This MFP will address many fundamental questions:

• What kind of schools will best prepare students and inspire them to achieve their full potential for the future?
• How many students will attend our schools in five years? Ten years?
• What is the correct number, size, and location of schools to best serve these students?
• Where do we need new schools?
• Which current buildings should be replaced, expanded, modernized, or repurposed?
• What is the cost and schedule to make these changes?

You can click here to access the web page to learn more about the District’s MFP process. If you want to participate in the process moving forward, please email us by clicking here.

You may have read that all Franklin County residents’ properties have been assessed this year.  This part of a regular procedure ensures fair taxation based on area changes.

In Hilliard, residential property values have increased by an average of 34%. Residents may wonder if their taxes will increase at the same rate or if the school district will gain extra funds. The answer to both is no.

A law passed in 1976, House Bill (HB) 920, protects homeowners from significant tax increases by limiting growth on taxes. While rates went up, each property owner will be impacted differently.  You can click here to access the Franklin County Auditor’s web page to search for your specific property.

HB 920l also prevents school districts from collecting extra revenue from rising property values unless approved by voters. An exception is the “inside millage,” or the 4.45 mills of property tax that Hilliard receives that grows with inflation, which may fluctuate with property assessments.

Hilliard maintains its reputation as an excellent place to live, and our top-rated schools contribute to this success. We remain committed to providing value for your investment in education. For questions about school finances, please click here for our Fiscal reports on the District web page.

On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to announce Melissa Swearingen has been selected to be the next Treasurer for the Hilliard City Schools.  The Board will vote on her contract at a special meeting on September 7, she is expected to begin in mid-October.

Mrs. Swearingen is currently the Treasurer/CFO at Delaware City School District.  Prior to this position, she was the Assistant Treasurer here in the Hilliard Schools for nine years.  She said, “I am very excited to be coming back to Hilliard City Schools!  In my time in Delaware, I have gained the knowledge and experience that allow me to come back in this capacity.  I have lived in Hilliard for 19 years, so the opportunity to serve the District in this role is something I have always hoped for.”

Board President Beth Murdoch is excited to welcome Mrs. Swearingen back to Hilliard Schools. “Her extensive experience and dedication to financial stewardship make her an excellent addition to our team. We believe her expertise will contribute significantly to our ongoing efforts in providing the best educational resources for our students.”

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from The Ohio State University and a Master of Business Administration, Fraud Concentration, from Otterbein University.  Her licensure and accreditations include Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations, a School Treasurer License, and she is a Certified Public Finance Officer.

As Treasurer for the Delaware City Schools, Mrs. Swearingen received the Auditor of State Award with Distinction for the past two years.  Her team has been recognized annually by the Government Finance Officers Association for their ACFR and PAFR award programs.  She is also a past president of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and still serves on the Legislative Committee.

She is married and in their blended family they have two children who graduated from Darby High School and one student still in the Hilliard Schools.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, live music, and traveling.

David Stewart

Hilliard City Schools Superintendent