Ovid-Elsie board revisits censure, weighs releasing attorney letter

The Ovid-Elsie Area Schools board will reopen a censure resolution Monday night and, in the same meeting, decide whether to make public a confidential letter its lawyers sent on Oct. 6.

The agenda for the 6:30 p.m. regular meeting lists "Reconsider Resolution to Censure" as the single item of old business. It does not say who the censure concerns, when the board first took it up, or what the board decided then. Under new business, the board is asked to "authorize the release of attorney-client privileged communication received from Thrun Law, dated October 6, 2026." The agenda gives no subject for that letter either. A censure is a formal statement of disapproval; attorney-client privilege belongs to the client, which is why a board has to vote to give it up.

The two items sit against something The Current reported last month: the only action listed on the board's Sept. 21 agenda was a vote to go into closed session over an attorney opinion letter, with no subject given. The district has not said publicly what that session was about.

The rest of the night is the district's money and its building plans. Yeo & Yeo will present the 2025-2026 financial audit, and the board is asked to approve it by roll call. The consent agenda carries August bills, the August monthly financial report and the cash and investment summary, plus minutes from the Oct. 14 finance committee meeting. Finance chair Mary Thompson is listed to report.

The board will also vote on a contract with Kingscott Associates Inc. for K-12 bond planning services. Kingscott is one of the two architecture firms the facilities committee interviewed on Aug. 11, as The Current reported, and the district has been assembling the pieces of a bond case for months — the board narrowly approved a School Bond Qualification and Loan Program application on a 4-3 vote in July. The agenda does not list the dollar value of the Kingscott contract.

For next year's seniors, the board is asked to approve an overnight trip for the Class of 2027, leaving Monday, March 15, 2027 and returning Tuesday, March 16, 2027, staying at Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky, Ohio. No cost per student appears on the agenda.

One scheduling change matters for anyone who plans to attend: the board is asked to move its December regular meeting from Monday, Dec. 21 to Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school student lounge. The superintendent's report also flags a NEOLA policy review session at 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, along with a student count update, Coffee Talks and a districtwide Veterans Day celebration. The board will discuss the superintendent's self-evaluation.

What happens next: The board meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, in the Ovid-Elsie High School Student Lounge, 8989 E. Colony Road in Elsie. Public comment at the start of the meeting is limited to items on the agenda, with a second round after new business; statements are capped at three minutes and directed to the board chair. The Current will report what the board does with the censure and the Thrun Law letter.