Meeting Details: The meeting was held at Kenston High School, 9500 Bainbridge Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023, in the Auburn Bainbridge Room at 6:30 pm. It was live streamed and a recording of the meeting is available here. Public seating appeared to be full for this meeting.
Board Attendance: President Neysa Gaskins, Vice President Jennifer Troutman and members Dennis Bergansky, Beth Krause and Tom Manning
Staff Attendance: Superintendent Steven Sayers and Treasurer Paul Pestello
Mrs. Gaskins called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. The roll was called and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Election of 2023 Board Officers - President
Mrs. Gaskins requested nominations for president. Mr. Bergansky nominated Mrs. Troutman.
At this point in the meeting, Beth Krause requested permission to speak regarding nominations. She acknowledged Mrs. Gaskins and Mrs. Troutman had the votes to win their elections but wanted to publicly express why she lacks confidence in their leadership. Dr. Krause detailed concerns about:
Inability to retain a superintendent or a treasurer under their past leadership
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Dr. Krause noted that in the course of the past year under the leadership of Mrs. Gaskins and Mrs. Troutman, Kenston lost both their superintendent and treasurer.
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She believes Nancy Santilli and Paul Pestello both intended initially to remain at Kenston and complete their contracts.
Lack of transparency in their leadership and a created culture of distrust
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Dr. Krause noted meetings in numbers greater than 30 that have occurred between the superintendent and the Gaskins/Troutman leadership team and expressed concern that this is unprecedented.
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Dr. Krause is also concerned that others were not made aware of the meetings and the agendas and minutes were not made available to her upon request.
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She expressed a concern that the superintendent may be required to have this many meetings such that he may not be empowered to make decisions as the superintendent and that Mrs. Gaskins and Mrs. Troutman, without the benefit of administrative or educational experience, might appear to be running the district. She believes this would be concerning to the community.
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She further expressed concern that Dennis Bergansky has made public statements that are “punitive and retaliatory” in nature with “hidden agendas”.
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Dr. Krause expressed concern that Mrs. Gaskins and Mrs. Troutman are “micromanaging the district with their own hidden agendas”.
She closed her remarks by stating, “I am watching an excellent school district be dismantled.”
There is much visible clapping from the public seating which is full.
Mr. Bergansky stated that he did not push the superintendent out, but instead, “people holding her accountable caused her to leave”. He further expressed concern that many investigations holding administration and teachers accountable for inappropriate behavior are going on and he would mention them if the rules did not prevent him from doing so. He said, “I call it like I see it.” He was concerned that Beth Krause often supported the accused without sufficient forethought.
Mrs. Troutman stated, “I think this is a completely inappropriate forum to disparage board members.” She advised that she ran for the board due to her belief that there was a lack of transparency. She advised that Superintendent Sayers had requested the meetings and that she and Mrs. Gaskins have not required them and asserted that nothing discussed has been hidden from the board. She took exception to Beth Krause’s comments and expressed concern that Dr. Krause and Mr. Manning have not been collegial in their behaviors. She suggested that perhaps the board leadership should simply rotate through the members so that there is no perception of any one person holding too much power or influence. She believes that Mr. Pestello’s departure is not the responsibility of any member of the board.
Neysa Gaskins stated, “I do not support your comments and I take offense to them.” She gives the reasons for the meetings with the superintendent as the need to support the development of a new evaluation tool as the district needs to address a better way to evaluate people.
Dr. Krause nominated Mr. Manning for the role of president and then nominations were closed. Mrs. Troutman was elected by a 3-2 vote with Dr. Krause and Mr. Manning voting no. Mr. Pestello administered the oath of office.
Election of 2023 Board Officers - Vice President
Mr. Bergansky nominated Mrs. Gaskins and Dr. Krause nominated Mr. Manning. Mrs. Gaskins was elected by a 3-2 vote with Dr. Krause and Mr. Manning voting no. Mr. Pestello administered the oath of office.
Appointments by President Troutman:
Kenston Board Committees
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Policy: Beth Krause and Dennis Bergansky
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KCAC: Dennis Bergansky and Beth Krause
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Finance: Tom Manning and Jennifer Troutman
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Superintendent Evaluation: Neysa Gaskins and Jennifer Troutman
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Treasurer Evaluation: Tom Manning and Jennifer Troutman
Appointments by Kenston Board of Education:
Ohio School Board of Education
Ohio School Board of Education November 2023 Conference
Motion to approve board appointments passed.
Administrative Committees
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Kenston Inc. - Beth Krause, Jennifer Troutman
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Curriculum - Beth Krause, Neysa Gaskins
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Technology - Tom Manning
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Safety/Security - Dennis Bergansky, Tom Manning
Board Meeting Schedule: following adjustments to the February and March schedule, the place and time of regular Board meetings was approved. See Item 6 of the Board Agenda for details.
Legal Counsel: Items were approved as presented. See Item 7 of the Board Agenda for details.
General Business: Items were approved as presented. See Item 8 of the Board Agenda for details. .
Other Business: Items were approved as presented. See Item 9 of the Board Agenda for details.
Meeting adjourned at or around 7:12pm
More information here: https://kenstonlocal.org/about-kenston/board-of-education/
Name of Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Name of Editor: Shelly Lewis
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
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