Students and Parents Call for Return of Cancelled AP Chemistry Class
Kenston Board of Education Regular Meeting – April 14, 2025
Meeting Details: The Kenston Board of Education (BOE) regular meeting took place on April 14, 2025, at 7:00 pm. The full video of the meeting 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.
5:15 Min 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., Dennis Bergansky, and Jim Henry
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Bruce R. Willingham Jr., Ed.D., Treasurer Seth Cales, and KHS Principal Tom Gabram
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Gianna Dallas, KMS 6th Grade student, and Dr. Krause.
10 Min Regular Meeting Welcome and Roll Call: This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
7:08 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 March 10, 2025 and the Special meeting of March 18, 2025 as recorded or corrected. The minutes of the meetings can be found here and here.
7:45 Min Commendations
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Kenston Board of Education approved the following commendations announced by KHS Principal, Mr. Tom Gabram:
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Olivia Reily, KHS 12th grade student, won the Gold participating in FCCLA’s (Family and Career Community Leaders of America) "Career Investigation" Project-Base Competition.
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Rebecca Chelbezan, KHS 9th grade student, winner of the "Youth Speak Out" essay with the Maltz Museum 2025 Stop the Hate Youth Speak Out and Youth Sing Out contest.
Mr. Gabram gave to Board Members invitations to the year end high school awards and commencement events.
14:30 Min Informational Items
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A Building Update was provided by Kenston High School Principal Tom Gabram, accompanied by a slide presentation beginning at 15:15 in the video. Highlights include:
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Mr. Gabram gave a brief update on the Program of Studies and how course offerings are selected based on time tables/1-1 student meetings/student requests. Mr. Gabram advised that these decisions take time and are challenging to make.
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KHS is working with a new scheduling software platform, and KHS is building a new framework with a modified block schedule which has also extended the scheduling time table. The next step for 2025-2026 course scheduling is to load the course schedule to the platform and see what conflicts occur. Schedules will hopefully be released the week of April 28th.
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Mr. Gabram gave an update on the No New Instruction (NNI) schedule, expectations, and how NNI is designed to support all students. Some expectations include:
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Intentional planned interventions for all students at some point, whether in modified block classes or traditional semester block schedules.
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NNI goals include review/makeup of, or enrichment on, previously learned concepts as well as regular enhancement of literacy instruction (Science of Reading based).
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Mr. Gabram gave an update on instructional goals for improved class instruction. Some highlights include:
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Baseline screenings (IXL). IXL is an online digital learning platform that can act as a pre-assessment and used to identify strengths and challenges and allow for:
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Reduction of teacher talk time and increase of teacher facilitation time for students in class.
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MTSS (Multi Tiered Systems of Supports) interventions at Tier 2 levels of student support.
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Mr. Gabram discussed in some detail taking a closer look at the student experience and how school operations such as PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) data, KHS orientation, student leadership, Bomber Beliefs, mental health supports, and career readiness preparations can help support a climate and culture for students that is healthy and growth-oriented.
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36:00 Min PTO After Prom update, accompanied by a slide presentation, was given by Jesse Corcoran, Chair of the After Prom program. The PTO is also searching for a new person to fill the chair role for After Prom. The theme for After Prom is a Bomber Boardwalk and many fun events are planned. Four attending senior students’ names will be drawn, and these students will have a chance to go home with cash prizes. The community preview for After Prom will be from 6-8 pm, with After Prom beginning at 11 pm on May 3, 2025.
43:37 Min Legislative Update: Dr. Krause mentioned events at the US Department of Education and that they have been less impactful on K-12 education thus far. She then referred further budget conversation to Dr. Willingham.
44:30 Min Superintendent’s Report, accompanied by slides. Highlights include:
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Volunteer Appreciation
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Timmons was awarded one of 11 Hall of Fame Schools by OAESA (Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators)
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The Ohio Budget is expected to come out in June. Currently there are a number of separate versions of the budget pending including the Governor’s budget, the House passed budget, and the potential Senate budget, which has not been voted on yet. The House Budget currently does not cut school funding, but it does basically flat fund it. Dr. Willingham advised that, as it currently stands, any increase would be minimal, but Kenston should see no decrease.
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Dr. Willingham stated that Governor DeWine is “pushing hard for a cellphone ban” and the school is trying to be proactive with the situation as they await more information in June 2025.
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Dr. Willingham advised that, as part of the effort to be fiscally responsible, the district is closely monitoring and adjusting staffing levels through attrition. There will be about 15 retirees district wide this year. Maintaining class sizes and minimizing teacher travel time between buildings remain important considerations in the staffing process.
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The schedule for the 4-7 grades remains a challenge and the administrative staff is working on this.
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The administrative team is bringing in a Vape detector demo unit to begin working with for the rest of this school year. Dr. Willingham advised that there can be a problem with students spending unstructured time loitering in the bathrooms, and a Vape Detector can assist with monitoring the bathrooms. The detector can assign kids numbers as they enter the bathroom, determine the length of time spent in the bathroom, detect a number of words such as “help,” detect Vaping or THC, or tampering. They have alarms that can be triggered by loitering.
54:35 Min. Hearing of the Public on Agenda Items
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Corrie Menary spoke about an issue with scheduling. She highlighted Kenston’s 5 star rating for its Ohio report card. However, she pointed out that the district’s measured performance metric as it relates to AP tests puts Kenston in the bottom quartile of Ohio for this measurement. Ms. Menary expressed concern that removing the AP Chemistry class, and thus the AP Chemistry test, one on which students historically perform well, will only result in lowering the school’s performance on this metric overall. She stated that at least eight incoming and high performing seniors were planning to take this class, and she believes that to eliminate it is a disservice to them.
59:05 Min Treasurer’s Report accompanied by slides beginning at 59:13 in the video. The presentation slides can be found here. Highlights include:
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Mr. Cales discussed the General Fund’s projected expenses by object (e.g., salaries and wages, benefits, supplies) for Fiscal Year 2025.
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June 30 estimated cash balance is estimated to be about $8.9 million for the end of this fiscal year, compared to about $8.3 million at the end of the last fiscal year.
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Current cash flow revenue exceeds forecast by $368,843. Cash flow expenditures exceed forecast by $4,770. Current projected ending balance exceeds forecast by $364,073.
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Mr. Cales compared projected historical cash balances from fiscal year 2021 (the highest at $10.73 million) to fiscal year 2025 (the second-lowest at $8.96 million).
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Mr. Cales identified the purpose of Title I funds. The fiscal year allocation for 2025 Title I-A funds is $111,809. At 1:07 in the video, Mr. Cales breaks down how those funds are allocated.
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Mr. Cales discussed HB 96, the House version of the budget bill passed on April 9th. Mr. Cales highlighted some items.
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This version of the bill “creates a maximum cash balance carryover of 30% of the previous year’s General Fund expenditures and allows the county budget commission to reduce the school district property tax rates based on the district’s carryover balance.” Mr. Cales expressed concern that this artificial cap will force school districts to “go on the ballot earlier and more often than they would otherwise.”
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It “removes the county prosecutor from the county budget commission and makes the president of the board of county commissioners a member instead of the prosecutor.”
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It “reduces the five-year forecast to three years.”
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Mr. Cales advised that HB 96 creates a level of uncertainty for the upcoming May forecast as the Senate will not vote on the bill until June 2025.
1:18:30 Min Agenda approval items 9-18 . As the Board President announced at the beginning of the meeting, these items have been reviewed by Board members before the meeting and most are passed quickly and without discussion. Some items of interest have been highlighted by this observer.
Financial Items - These are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 9.1-9.8 on the agenda. All Approved.
Certified Personnel Items - These items are available here for review by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 10.1-10.8, and 10.10 separately on the agenda. All Approved.
Classified Personnel Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 11.1-11.5 on the agenda. All Approved.
Supplemental Personnel Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 12.1-12.4 on the agenda. All Approved.
Exempt Personnel Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 13.1-13.2 on the agenda. All Approved.
Business Operations - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 14.1-14.3 on the agenda. All Approved.
Teaching and Learning - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 15.1 on the agenda. All Approved.
Special Education Items - These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 16.1 on the agenda. All Approved.
Old Business- None
New Business Items-These items are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 18.1-18.7 on the agenda. Approved. Highlights include:
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2026-2027 school calendar here. Subject to minor changes
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First reading - KHS - New Course Request: Game Development
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First Reading- KHS - New Course Request: American Sign Language
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First reading - Board policies.
1:29.45 Min Hearing of The Public on Non-Agenda Items
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William Eisner expressed concern that the school district is “faltering” in how it is maintaining itself. He noted that he sees destroyed bathrooms, loud, disrespectful students in the Hub, and a middle school that could be the “site for a horror movie.” He asked Board members to come see the buildings in their day-to-day reality.
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Four students, Ariel, Ryan, Ben, Sienna, and one parent, Rachel Peterson, individually expressed their concerns that the AP Chemistry class has been removed from the schedule with little notice to the students planning on taking it. Students and parents feel that this class is very important for STEM students and has been a success both for students and for the district and should not be cut even if it does not meet the enrollment numbers. Students felt that the two alternatives to the class that were offered were not feasible. One was an independent study in AP Chemistry while attending an Honors Chemistry class. A second option was a CCP (College Credit Plus) class offered at a local college, which would involve a 30-45 minute drive both ways. Ms. Peterson expressed concern that there was mixed messaging and too little transparency involved in the cancellation of this class and requested that its cancellation be reconsidered.
1:53.15 Motion to adjourn was approved and the meeting was adjourned by Mr. Manning at approximately 8:50-9pm (video ended before time was called).
Next regular meeting: May 12, 2025 at 7 pm. There is a retiree’s reception beginning at 6:30pm outside the KHS Auditorium.
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Video Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date Submitted: April 21, 2025
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