Kenston BOE Approves Purchasing STOPit Solutions App to Help Minimize At-Risk Student Behavior
Kenston Board of Education Organizational and Regular Meeting – January 13, 2025
Meeting Details: The Kenston Board of Education (BOE) organizational and regular meeting took place on January 13, 2025, with the organizational meeting beginning at 6:30 and the regular meeting at 7:00 pm. The full video of both meetings is posted on the Kenston Website page here and on Kenston’s YouTube page here. View the agenda online and any attached documents here by selecting the meeting tab, the meeting date, and the agenda.
Call to Order by President Pro Tem, Mr. Manning at 6:30 pm
Board Attendance: Tom Manning, Jennifer Troutman, J.D., Jim Henry, Beth Krause, Ph.D., and Dennis Bergansky
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Bruce R. Willingham Jr., Ed.D., and Treasurer Seth Cales.
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING WELCOME AND ROLL CALL: This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Pledge of Allegiance
6.45 Min Organization of the Board for 2025
3.1 Nomination and Election of Board President, Tom Manning. The vote was unanimous.
3.2 Mr. Manning took the Oath of Office administered by Mr. Cales.
3.3 Nomination of Dennis Bergansky and Beth Krause for Board Vice President. Dr. Krause was elected Vice President with 3 votes (Henry, Krause, Manning) while Mr. Bergansky received 2 votes (Bergansky and Troutman).
3.4 Dr. Krause took the Oath of Office administered by Mr. Cales.
10.55 Min Board of Education Appointments - All Approved
12.56 Min Board Meeting Schedule for 2025. Approved.
14.47 Min Legal Council These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, organizational meeting date, and 6.1-6.4 on the agenda. All approved.
15.10 Min General Business These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 7.1-7.12 on the agenda. All approved.
15.36 Min Other Business These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 8.1-8.10 on the agenda. All approved.
16.36 Min Motion to adjourn at 6:45 pm. Approved.
REGULAR MEETING
Call to order by President Tom Manning at 7 pm.
Board Attendance: President Tom Manning, Vice President Beth Krause, Ph.D., Jennifer Troutman, J.D., Jim Henry, and Dennis Bergansky
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Bruce R. Willingham Jr., Ed.D., and Treasurer Seth Cales.
33.28 Min Pledge of Allegiance
33.58 Min REGULAR MEETING WELCOME AND ROLL CALL: This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
35.12 Min Approval of the Minutes The Kenston Board of Education approved that the reading of the minutes be waived, and approved the minutes of the Regular Meeting of December 16, 2024 as recorded or corrected. The minutes of this meeting can be found here.
35.38 Min Commendations for Board Members for their service to the district
40.20 Min Informational Items
Kenston Organization Update
42.15 Min Building Update
Observer Note: For more information about site navigation, Ms. Sparks does a quick visual walk-through of both sites beginning at 42.28 in the video.
54.34 Min Superintendent’s Report
-
Save the date for Cultural Humility Parent Night on the evening of February 5, 2025. Dr. James Knight will be on campus to host a program. A flyer invitation for this event will be coming out soon. Reviewer Note: More information about Dr. Knight and the cultural humility program is available in the October 21, 2024 Kenston Board of Education Observer Report.
-
Dr. Knight will also be on campus the week of January 13 to work with the student group, Student Voices for Positive Change, and on January 27 and 29 to work with middle and high school students.
-
Mr. Cales and Dr. Willingham will be meeting to complete some final recommendations on possible permanent improvement (PI) projects to bring before the board for approval in February.
-
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Kenston Board of Education will be asked to approve a contract with STOPit Solutions for application platform services to minimize/support at-risk behaviors, at an annual cost not to exceed $10,000; to be paid for with grant funds. Observer Note: See 13.2 on the agenda and here for the contract to be approved by the Board. Watch the mini-video at 58.20 in the meeting video to see an explanation of the app, how it works and how to use it. Dr. Willingham explained that this app will give kids and parents the ability to report what they see happening or what is happening to them: things such as drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal tendencies, bullying, and etc. He believes that this app will allow administrators to “be more responsive” and the app will “allow for more follow-through.” The app is also capable of linking those in need to crisis counseling and also initiating a call tree to escalate notification in more immediately serious situations. He expects that the app will initially be inundated with reports as kids test the system to see if it is truly anonymous.
-
Dr. Willingham advised that Kenston’s substitute teacher list is dwindling. Dr. Willingham has recommended contracting with the Education Services Center of Northeast Ohio to provide all substitute teacher services. See 13.1 on the agenda and here to read the details of the contract with NEO ESC.
1.06.50 Min. Hearing of the Public on Agenda Items - None
1.06.58 Min Financial Items - These are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 8.1-8.9 on the agenda. All Approved.
1.07.44 Min Certified Personnel Items - These items are available here for review by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 9.1-9.3 on the agenda. All Approved.
1.08.10 Classified Personnel Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 10.1-10.6 on the agenda. All Approved.
1.08.39 Min Supplemental Personnel Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 11.1 on the agenda. All Approved.
Exempt Personnel Items - None
1.09. 04 Min Business Operations - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 13.1-13.3 on the agenda. Approved.
1.09.42 Min Special Education Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 15.1 on the agenda. Approved.
1.10.17 Min Old Business Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 16.1 on the agenda. Approved.
1.10.38 Min New Business Items - These items can be found here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 17.1 on the agenda. Approved.
1.11.01 Min Hearing of The Public on Non-Agenda items
-
Michael Spradling went to the podium to discuss the issue of bullying. He expressed his belief and concern that despite Kenston’s positive website statements to the contrary, bullying has been a “longstanding issue” and “ingrained as socially acceptable behavior, especially within the football teams.” He reminded the Board that the problem has been so significant, a Facebook group of approximately 500 members formed to address the issue with the administration. While he expressed relief that Dr. Willingham will “provide fresh eyes” on the issue, and he believes that the new actions taken are a positive step, he further believes that they must remain in “permanent implementation,” and that the Board, Administration, and Student Body must begin to take accountability in a number of ways. He concluded by expressing his personal understanding that while bullying is a problem that may never entirely go away, he believes that it is rampant at Kenston, and policies that punish those who defend themselves are ineffective and counterproductive.
-
William Eisner questioned why the district does not fly the state flag. He noted that both the President and the Vice President of the Board were sworn to uphold the Constitution of the US and the Constitution of Ohio in a room where only the American flag is present. He expressed his belief that it would be more “opportunistic” for the outside poles, which can fly two flags, to fly the American flag and the state flag, rather than the American flag and the flag of the school district.
1.17.01 Min Treasurer’s Report
-
Mr. Cales said that there was a tax budget hearing prior to the organizational meeting tonight. He stated that every year the district’s tax budget is presented to the Geauga County Auditor at a hearing to be held in February. Submission of the tax budget allows them to collect funds from the community as agreed upon in levies. Reviewer Note: The tax budgets of the school districts of Geauga County are presented not just to the County Auditor but rather to the County Budget Commission, which consists of the County Auditor, Treasurer, and Prosecutor. The Budget Commission conducts the school budget hearings each year; at last year’s hearings, Prosecutor Flaiz explained that the Budget Commission is required by law to determine if tax levy dollars collected by school districts are “properly authorized” and “clearly required.” Please see the Observer Report on Kenston’s 2024 school budget hearing for more information. After the Budget Commission approves a school district’s budget, either as submitted or with changes imposed by the Budget Commission, the amount of tax levy dollars to be received by the school district is determined; taxes are ultimately collected by the County Treasurer’s Office. The 2025 Budget Hearings for Kenston, along with Cardinal and Chardon Schools, are scheduled for February 19, 2025 at 9:00 am in the Auditor's Appraisal Conference Room, 231 Main Street, Chardon, Ohio. The 2025 Budget Hearings for Geauga’s remaining school districts, Berkshire and West Geauga, will be on February 20, 2025 at 9:00 am at the same location.
-
This tax budget acts as a starting point for the appropriations for the coming Fiscal Year (FY). The current FY25 will end on June 30, 2025, and FY26 will begin on July 1, 2025.
-
The tax budget examines the unencumbered balances, estimates the taxes to be collected for the general fund, and for other funds such as 500 funds, title funds, and other such federal funds etc, and estimates the expenditures. This gives a final unencumbered balance. Mr. Cales advised that this acts as a bellwether for where the district is trending now, where FY25 will end up, and what is anticipated for FY26. This tracks closely to the Five-Year Forecast put out in November with some updates.
-
The Budget shows the various debt obligations for the district:
-
Budget shows Statement of Fund activity for the general fund, two bond funds, and recently passed PI Levy funds including two years of actuals and what is anticipated for FY 26.
-
The school budget hearing will be livestreamed on the Geauga County Auditor’s website. Reviewer Note: At the Budget Commission meeting on January 23, 2025, Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder stated that the school budget hearings will not be livestreamed on the Auditor’s website. He clarified that virtual attendance access to the school budget hearings will be available to the public via Microsoft Teams, which requires a meeting invitation with a Meeting ID and Passcode. Meeting invitations with this information can be obtained by emailing Auditor’s Office Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan at pmcmahan@gcauditor.com. The district just concluded its FY 24 audit report which will be posted to the district’s website soon.
-
The district is expanding the capabilities of its SCView, financial software for entering requisitions and purchases, and implementing a module that calculates mileage reimbursements. This creates more efficiency and allows for less time spent on paperwork.
-
In regard to the PI Levy, the district will get half of the $1.2 million this school year and then the full $1.2 million the next FY. Transparency will be built into the process of how this money is spent.
1.26.13 Min Motion to adjourn was approved at 7:53 pm.
Next regular meeting: February 10, 2025 at 7 pm
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Date Submitted: 1/21/2025
The League of Women Voters of Geauga is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. They do not support or oppose individual candidates or parties. Learn more about the LWVG at www.lwvgeauga.org.