Chardon BOE Discusses Possibility of a Continuous PI Levy for the November 2025 Ballot
Chardon Board of Education Special Meeting – December 17, 2024
Meeting Details: The meeting was held at 5:00 pm, at the Chardon Board of Education building adjacent to the Chardon Middle School at 428 North Street, Chardon. Here is the link to the available Meeting Agendas and Minutes. Click on the meetings tab on the right to access the Agendas and Minutes. Board meeting videos are also available through Chardon Geauga TV (GTV). The video for this meeting is available here. Topics discussed will be noted by the time that they appear in the GTV video for easy reference.
0.21 Min ROLL CALL AND SPECIAL MEETING WELCOME Special meeting was called to order. This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.16 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Attendance: Board President Karen Blankenship and Board Members Andrea Clark, Todd Albright, James Midyette, and C.J. Paterniti
Staff Attendance: Superintendent Dr. Michael Hanlon, Treasurer Deb Armbruster, Asst. Superintendent and Curriculum Director Dr. Ed Stein, and Asst. Superintendent of Business Affairs, Steven Kofol.
Pledge of Allegiance led by the Board President and a Chardon Middle School 8th grader.
Mission Statement - Read by Dr. Hanlon
Hearing of the Public for Agenda items Only - No public comments.
Observer Note: In order to comment at Chardon Board of Education meetings, members of the public must sign up to do so before the meeting starts. There are two opportunities for public comment. The first one is on agenda items, and the second one is not restricted to the agenda.
Adoption of Agenda - No motion was made to adopt the agenda. Mrs. Blankenship advised that the meeting was called purely for discussion and that no actions are to be taken other than the adoption of the minutes of the last meeting.
Pursuant to Board of Education Policy 0165.1,E, both the Superintendent recommended and the Board of
Education approved the minutes and approved waiving the reading of the minutes for the December 16, 2024 meeting.
3.25 Min 3.2 Discussion on Capital Conference attendance
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Mrs. Blankenship attended 4 sessions at the Conference focused on the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). She also explored the website created by the State of Ohio which offers strategies for AI use in education. She believes that Ohio is ahead of other states in leading the way for the adoption of AI information and usage. Ohio has policy recommendations as well for AI usage, and Mrs. Blankenship mentioned some of the ways that other Ohio school districts are wading into AI usage at various speeds. Mrs. Blankenship expressed her belief that AI is scary but intriguing and is here to stay. She believes that the district needs to start actively thinking and talking more about the direction the district will take with AI. Some districts are also working with their communities on topics around appropriate AI usage
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Mrs. Clark shared how Chagrin Falls was working with their teachers on AI use and policy. As a district, Chagrin Falls is moving forward and training staff and students in the use of AI from 4th grade on. She spoke about an AI platform currently being explored called Magic School AI. She learned of efforts and policies created around transparency of use, citing of sources, and preventing cheating; for example, student documents are required to be created in Google versus Word, as Google can track when information is copied and pasted from AI.
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Dr. Hanlon advised that many of the policies approved at the Chardon board meeting the day before involve guidance on AI usage. Professional Development for staff on student AI usage is in the planning stages. Administration and staff are already using an AI Platform called SchoolJoy for curricular and instructional purposes. There was discussion and input from Dr. Stein about SchoolJoy as a “more robust” platform for curriculum use, and it may be rolled out in a few selected classes as a test drive with parent involvement.
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Mr. Albright initiated a discussion about the possibility of a leveled playing field for students as they are introduced to working with AI, such as access to the internet, etc.
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Mr. Albright briefly mentioned various ideas from sessions he attended at the conference and passed around brochures from the conference to share. There was some discussion about entirely student-driven broadcasting programs. He spoke briefly about a session in which he learned about how many students who are homeless but not identified as such because they are not under court jurisdiction. These students are known as “couch surfers,” and often need services that schools can partner with retail communities to provide.
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Mrs. Clark discussed a software addition to Boarddocs that adds helpful features.
43.55 Min Discussion regarding options to Fund Additional Capital Improvements
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Dr. Hanlon opened the topic by advising that the Board wished to have further discussion regarding the need for capital improvements beyond those presented and approved by the Board at the November 2024 regular meeting.
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Dr. Hanlon spoke regarding the presentation to the Board in September by the architectural firm, TDA, which revealed 3 tiers of improvements needed by the facilities of the district, with tier 1 being the most immediate, with work anticipated in 1-2 years. The visual of these tiers begins at 46.20 minutes in the video.
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Everything on Tier 1 is not being addressed by the current permanent improvement fund, and there was some discussion about how various projects were funded and other possible sources of revenue. There were also discussions about the level of improvement needed for safety versus cosmetic reasons and having the community be on the same page/have the same vision for the district facilities. Mrs. Blankenship said she believed that while COVID monies were very helpful, had the last bond issue passed, some of the more immediate needs would have been taken care of.
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Dr. Hanlon advised the Board that some of the Tier 1 needs can potentially be addressed by supplementing the current PI fund with monies from the general fund, and that all Tier 1 needs can be addressed with funds from a continuous PI Levy. Addressing the needs of Tier 2 and 3, which involve more construction and renovation, would most likely require bond issues.
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Dr. Hanlon suggested that new construction and renovation remain off the table for now until the district can build community capacity for that. Mrs. Armbruster noted that a continuing Permanent Improvement Levy of 2 mills would allow the district to push 1 mill from the PI fund back to the general fund, allowing the need for a new operating levy to be potentially pushed back to 2028-29 from its current date of 2027 (allowing for no other changes in funding).
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Dr. Hanlon noted that if the discussion is going forward for a considering a continuous PI Levy on the ballot, he would need to go back to the architectural firm responsible for the original tiered list in order to put together a meaningful plan and decide on a meaningful monetary amount to address the Tier(s) of need. He felt that a November ballot date for a PI Levy would be doable.
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There was additional discussion about attempting to place a levy on the ballot in May but this was deemed to be too rushed and unlikely to succeed.
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Dr. Hanlon and Mrs. Armbruster will work on assessments and figures and then return with information to the Board to plan for the next steps. Members of the Board would then like to plan opportunities to engage the community in dialogue about the possible PI Levy.
2.27.21 Min Motion that the Board of Education of the Chardon Local School District adjourn at 7:27 pm. Approved.
Board agendas and minutes are available online.
Next meeting is the organizational meeting scheduled for January 6, 2025. The next regular meeting will be voted on at the organizational meeting.
Remote Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date submitted: 1/23/2025
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