Jeremy Ward for Forest Hills

09/06/2026

Great weekend around Forest Hills!

Saturday morning I volunteered with Jeff Nye for Forest Hills and Tom Hodges for Anderson Township Trustee pouring b**r at Anderson Park District Oktoberfest.

Great crowd, we were busy right away, the Anderson Art Collaborative Color Dash had people thirsty! I even saw Erin for FHSD and Luke helping to officiate the wiener dog races! Thanks to our parks for putting on such a great event and thanks to all who volunteered.

Sunday I got another chance to talk with voters around Forest Hills about the upcoming election and how crucial it is for public schools in Ohio. I appreciate so many taking time out of their holiday weekend to chat.

"Tend to the garden you can touch"

09/04/2026

Important announcement about Tonight's football start times, including changes to elementary night ⬇ ⬇

Due to expected warm weather, the Anderson Raptors home football game will have a delayed start tomorrow and will kick off at 7:45 p.m. Please help spread the word, especially as we are excited to welcome many of our younger students for Elementary Night!

At this time, the away Turpin football game at Walnut Hills is scheduled for the original 7 p.m. kick off.

08/26/2026

Yesterday I reached out to Senator Louis W. Blessing III to express my appreciation for his op-ed (linked below).

If you haven’t read it yet, please do, as it gives great insight into why so many Ohio public school districts currently face financial distress.

In the op-ed Senator Blessing explains why he, an elected Republican, will support the Cincinnati Public Schools Levy. His thoughtful explanation includes looking at the last 10-15 years of Republican control in the statehouse and the history of funding Public Education in Ohio. This examination stands in stark contrast to Hamilton County Republican Leadership, who rushed to social media to once again take shots at teachers, teachers unions, Democrats, even CPS students and their families instead.

I applaud Senator Blessing for his willingness to have these tough conversations. He takes a hard, honest look at his own party’s budget decisions and how those decisions have created financial uncertainty for a staggering number of Ohio school districts.

While we have been endorsed by different political parties, when we get beyond the talking points and rhetoric Senator Blessing and I reach the same conclusion:

Ohio must be a better partner to its public schools.

Opinion: Ohio's funding choices have left CPS few good options.

08/16/2026

Hi all, I wanted to quickly say welcome back and thank you to the Forest Hills staff. Apologies for posting this here however I am unable to attend Convocation due to a scheduling conflict with 1st Bell Zoology. 😉

Thank you for doing what we do, in all of the wildly different roles needed to allow a school district to serve ~6800 students and their families. Whatever your role, it matters to kids.

I am honored, truly, to have the opportunity to work alongside the rest of this board of education and Suzanna Davis to support you.

This work is important. This moment matters.

Have fun this year!

-Jeremy Ward

07/28/2026

With our neighbors Cincinnati Public Schools in the news for trying to address their budget issues, I wanted to remind our community that Forest Hills is not insulated from these issues.

By 2029 more than 20% of Ohio school districts (124 of 611) are projected to face a negative cash balance. One must go back to the 2012 recession to find similar numbers.

I won't pretend to know what specific challenges CPS faces. However, when 1 in 5 districts in Ohio faces this issue, it seems pertinent to look at the supermajority in Columbus and their priorities in determining the budget as the common denominator.

Abandoning the bipartisan Fair School Funding Plan, routing 1+ billion taxpayer dollars annually to private / charter schools via vouchers, granting 1.5 billion dollars in corporate tax incentives for data centers in FY25 alone, and providing $600 million for a privately owned professional football stadium are all choices made by those who control the state budget. When you combine these choices, it paints a picture of elected officials who do not share priorities with most Ohioans.

I do not envy the choices the CPS Board of Education may soon be forced to make. Until elected officials in Columbus controlling the budget prioritize educating the ~1.8 million children attending Ohio's public schools, more and more school districts in Ohio will be forced to make the same awful choices.

Columbus City Schools is not alone in its financial challenges. Districts ranging from large urban ones to small rural ones are facing shortfalls.

07/17/2026

FHSD is looking for bus drivers! Come try driving a school bus on July 25!

06/08/2026

05/15/2026

Proud to introduce HB 874, the Charter School Sponsor and Operator Rating Act, which brings new transparency and accountability to community charter schools with my colleague Representative Sean P Brennan.

Here’s what it does:

• Requires school report cards to include links to sponsor and operator websites, plus their performance ratings• Makes operator details public including whether they are nonprofit or for-profit• Strengthens oversight by requiring annual evaluations of all sponsors• Establishes annual report cards for both sponsors and operators

Bottom line: HB 874 aims to give families, educators, and policymakers clearer insight into who is running Ohio’s community schools and how well they’re performing.

05/12/2026

Today, the 10th District Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear an appeal on the EdChoice voucher lawsuit filed by over 300 public school districts in Ohio.

In June 2025, a Franklin County Common Pleas Judge ruled the voucher program unconstitutional on 3 counts. The state has appealed, resulting in today's proceedings.

In 2025, over 1 Billion dollars was diverted from public schools in Ohio into this program.

See below for more information, including how to watch today's proceedings:

The constitutionality of Ohio's school vouchers will once again be challenged by more than 300 school districts before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

05/01/2026

I am incredibly excited to welcome Suzanna Davis to Forest Hills!

Thank you to the community who showed up to help during this process! Once again I am moved by how generous Forest Hills is with its time and energy. I sincerely appreciate how much of the community made it a point to pitch in however they could. This felt like a group effort, and I am thankful and proud to have been a part of it.

The Board of Education is thrilled to announce it has selected Suzanna Davis to serve as the next superintendent of Forest Hills School District!

The superintendent search was rooted in intentional, focused community input at every stage, and the Board Members appreciate the collaborative process that helped them make this critical decision with the best interests of students, staff and the entire community in mind.

The Board started contract negotiations and has reached a tentative agreement with Mrs. Davis, which the Board will vote to approve at our regular meeting on Tuesday, May 5, at 4:30 p.m. at Mercer Elementary School. The community is encouraged to attend this meeting for an opportunity to meet FHSD’s future superintendent and welcome her to Forest Hills! There will be an informal meet-and-greet opportunity at 4:45 p.m. in the Mercer cafeteria.

Read more on the Superintendent Search webpage of the FHSD website: https://www.foresthills.edu/board-of-education/superintendent-search/