New Superintendent Dr. Willingham Proposes Plan to Address Racism
Kenston Board of Education Special Meeting – August 20, 2024
Meeting Details: The Kenston Board of Education (BOE) Special Meeting took place on August 20, 2024, beginning at 7p.m. This Special Meeting replaced the Regular August 19, 2024 meeting that was canceled due to scheduling conflicts. The full video is posted on the Kenston Website page here ( the final video on the Kenston Youtube page is missing several minutes for this meeting due to a tech problem). View the agenda online and any attached documents here by selecting the meeting tab and then the meeting date and agenda.
Board Attendance: Tom Manning, President, Jennifer Troutman J.D., Vice President, Jim Henry, Dennis Bergansky, and Beth Krause Ph.D.
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Bruce R. Willingham Jr., Ed. D. and Treasurer Seth Cales.
Others in Attendance: Tom Gabram, Kenston High School Principal, Kenston Athletic Boosters Co-Chair Jeff Lechak, Kenston High School Athletic Director Reid Guarnieri
Reviewer Note: The time stated for each segment of the meeting indicates the time on the video.
Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance with Jennifer Troutman and Charlie Eibler, KHS 12th Grade/Senior Class President.
2.05 Min SPECIAL MEETING WELCOME AND ROLL CALL: This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
3.15 Min Approval of the Minutes The Kenston Board of Education approved that the reading of these minutes be waived and to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting of July 16, 2024 as recorded or corrected. The minutes of these meetings can be found here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 3.1 on the agenda.
3.39 Min Commendations Approved Tom Gabram commended Brooke Carlson, a KHS 9th Grade Student and the Speech and Debate National Champion in Middle School Congressional Debate. There have been 25 years of Speech and Debate at Kenston.
Mr. Manning welcomed Dr. Willingham to his first Board meeting as Superintendent.
6.45 Min Kenston Organization Update
People can donate through membership levels and/or involvement through volunteering at school programs.
12.30 Min. Kenston Building and Department Update
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Kenston High School Athletic Director, Reid Guarnieri, gave an update on athletics at the high school and walked the audience through the Bombers athletic website and other Bombers Social Media. Visual presentation begins at 21 Minutes into the video.
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Dr. Willingham, Seth Cales, Melissa Miller, and other administrators introduced their 2024-2025 new hires for Kenston. Visual presentation at 29.39 minutes includes individual names and positions.
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Administrative Committee Updates
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The Finance Committee met to discuss year-end deficit spending, the current year budget and the 5 Year Forecast due in November of 2024. There will be a presentation on this forecast at a later meeting. This will include modeling of the potential impact of the November Permanent Improvement Levy on the ballot for November of 2024.
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Jennifer Troutman gave an update on legislative bills. She highlighted three bills. The first one was HB47, which she stated requires placement of AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) in all the school buildings, as well as training on AED usage. Ms.Troutman also identified HB 147, which, among other items, deals with school ticketing, cash sales of tickets and equivalent prices regardless of purchase type, with students paying less. Finally, Ms. Troutman advised that Senate Bill 29 seeks to protect students from data collection.
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A Birthday book titled, Greenglass House, by Kate Milford, was presented to Jim Henry for his August birthday.
45.00 Min Superintendent Report
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Dr Willingham said that he was pleased with how the first day’s traffic flow went considering all the changes due to the Rightsizing plan.
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Dr. Willingham advised that he has had the chance to meet with many people, including some of the families at the meeting that night from the Kenston Families United Group, which was formed in response to the racist social media posts in July. He spoke about the need to listen and learn at this time in his tenure. Dr. Willingham stated that he is working to draft a ”sustainable and proactive plan” for the school district. He believes that the current environment at the school did not “happen overnight” and is something that has “permeated the United States for many years” and the district is dealing with this. He advised that the approach cannot be a reactive “flash in the pan” one, but must include a tiered approach, which is similar to the way discipline and instruction are designed.
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47.47 Min. Using a presentation slide at this time, Dr. Willingham quickly reviewed the three tiers in his initial draft plan. Tier I involves and encompasses the PEAK (Peaceful Environment at Kenston) program already in place at the school, and the need to bring more diverse voices to this group was promoted. Tier 2 involves smaller groups and/or whole classes of students exhibiting the need for intervention. Tier 3 involves individualized intervention for specific student issues.
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Another component involves district and staff Professional Development. He also spoke about the importance of bringing high school students to the conversations so that they have a voice and lead the change. Dr. Willingham advised that the plan is in its initial stages and encouraged families to reach out to him
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56.10 Min. Dr. Willingham then addressed FAQs ( Frequently Asked Questions) about the PI (Permanent Improvement) Levy also on a Presentation slide. He advised that Kenston released a page on their website linked here which provides the community with additional links to a tax estimator tool and a Google question submission form.
1:01.14 Min. Observer Note: The Board called a recess here for three minutes and the video is paused for a minute or two. The video on Kenston’s Youtube page actually ends around this time in the meeting due to a technical problem, so for more accuracy and the complete video, watch the one published on Kenston’s page for which a link is provided at the beginning of this report.
1:02.40 Min. Hearing of the Public on Agenda Items
1:06.45 Min Agenda Items 8 through 17
Financial Items - Approved. These are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 8.1-8.11 on the agenda.
Certified Personnel Items - Approved. These items are available here for review by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 9.1- 9.4 on the agenda.
Classified Personnel Items - Approved. These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 10.1- 10.3 and 10.5 on the agenda.
Supplemental Personnel Items - Approved. These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 11.1-11.4 on the agenda.
Exempt Personnel Items - Approved. These are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 12.1 on the agenda.
Business Operations - Approved. Available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 13.1- 13.2 on the agenda.
Teaching and Learning - Approved. These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 14.1 on the agenda.
Special Education Items - Approved. These are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 15.1- 15.2 on the agenda.
New Business Items - Approved. These items can be found here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 17.1- 17.3 and 17.5 on the agenda.
1:14.31 Min Hearing of The Public on Non-Agenda items. Mr. Manning reviewed the rules for participants and reminded them that the board will not engage in discussion but will refer any concerns or items that need to be addressed back to appropriate members of the district who will then contact the speaker.
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Mr. Michael Eisner addressed the board and the audience to express praise for the community’s Ox Roast event, and Mr. Manning’s leadership of the Texas Hold ’Em tournament. He also expressed praise for the district’s leadership and their work to earn the trust of the community with regards to the PI levy on the ballot this November.
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A Kenston high school senior, accompanied by a number of people, both peers and adults, described some of her and friends' experiences with racism in the Kenston Schools.
She went on to say, “We talked earlier about having change, but actions do speak louder than words. I would love to see change, but I can’t truly believe that everything will change, when throughout my four years in the high school, I was told something was gonna be done about the racism that I experienced, because it’s not just in the classrooms, it’s when you’re walking to bus, it’s during sports practices. I mean, there’s obviously a lot of things that we would want done, but we can’t just fix it ourselves if we don’t trust the administration to also come behind us and fix it as well.”
1:21.50 Min Treasurer’s Report with Visual Presentation Mr. Cales spoke about the Permanent Improvement Levy on the ballot this November. He posted a slide detailing the amounts transferred each year from the general fund to pay for basic PI needs. From Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 to FY 2024, this amount has increased. He stated that $1.27 million was transferred from the General Fund to pay for PI expenses in 2024 so far. He also referred to a chart that shows the potential impact of the PI Levy on the district’s cash balance over the next four years. Mr. Cales advised that the PI Levy, if approved, will push back the need for a much larger operating levy in the future.
1:27.25 Min Motion to adjourn was approved at 8:41 pm and the video ended at 1:28.06 Min
Next regular meeting: September 16, 2024 at 7 pm.
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Date Submitted: 8/28/2024
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