Kenston Board of Education – April 17, 2023
Meeting Details: Kenston Board of Education met in regular session on April 17, 2023 at Kenston High School, 9500 Bainbridge Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023, in the Auburn Bainbridge Room beginning at 7pm. The meeting was live streamed and a recording is available. View the agenda online by selecting the meeting tab and meeting date.
Public Comment Policy: available at two points of each meeting as detailed in 165.1 Regular Meetings and 165.2 Special Meetings.
Board Attendance: President Jennifer Troutman, Vice President Neysa Gaskins, Dennis Bergansky, Beth Krause, Tom Manning.
Staff Attendance: Superintendent Steven Sayers, Interim Treasurer Ryan Pendleton
The meeting was called to order by Mrs. Troutman at 7:00 pm. Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ms. Gaskins and Kenston student Layah Johnson.
Minutes: Approved minutes from March 8, 2023 (revised), March 13, 2023, March 14, 2023, and March 24, 2023 as recorded or corrected.
Board Reports and Informational Items
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KHS Spring Musical Director, Julie Green, introduced the musical, Newsies, that will be presented the upcoming weekend of April 21-23. Several students from the musical performed a song for the meeting.
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Adam Fender, Principal of KMS, gave a short presentation on the Career Readiness Program at the middle school. This is a quarter-long class for 8th graders. (There were technical difficulties at this point in the meeting. Neither the sound nor the slide presentation was visible.)
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After-Prom Chairperson, Jessica Corcoran, spoke about the theme for the After-Prom which is to be held on May 6th from 11-2:30am. There will be a community preview from 6-8pm that day. Tickets are $25 and go on sale the week of April 24th on the Lunchbox app. Students who are not attending prom may still participate in this event. Each year the school reaches out to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Inmates help to create the artwork and murals for after prom. She told the story of one inmate who has created murals for Kenston’s after prom for the seven years that he has been behind bars and when he is released later this year, he will return to Grafton Correctional as a project leader.
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Assistant Superintendent, Jeremy McDevitt, gave a presentation about the school’s ongoing safety preparations. He stated that people often want more information when there is heightened awareness around a local event, and he wanted to emphasize that the school’s team is working year-round to secure the campus. Mr. McDevitt and Mr. Sayers met with Bainbridge Police Chief Bokovitz after the last local event. The school has had two vulnerability assessments in the last five years, which helps to focus the school’s improvement efforts. The team has also just completed their annual review of Kenston’s Emergency Operation Plan which is submitted to the state every three years for their review. Mr. McDevitt mentioned that HB123 now requires that all districts establish threat assessment teams. Kenston has both a middle school and a high school team at this time. Mr. McDevitt also met with Region 4 Ohio Safety Director, Doug Smith.
Committee Updates:
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The policy committee met on April 11th and reviewed 30 policies with the North East Ohio Learning Associates representative. Some policies were simply up for a 5 year review and some new policies were recommended with regards to school safety, technology, and tobacco use. New policies will appear most likely in the next board meeting for a first reading.
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The KCAC committee’s work is ongoing. They are working on creating content that informs the public about the details of school funding.
Hearing of the Public on Agenda Items - none
Financial Items were approved as presented and included numerous donations to the Science Olympiad Team, acknowledgement of tax millage rates, an agreement with Minute Men to manage workers comp and a $140,000 transfer from the general fund to the KHS Athletic Fund.
Certified, Classified, Supplemental, Exempt, and Special Education Personnel Items were approved as presented and included various teacher and tutor contracts, supplemental contracts, changes in accounting personnel, resignations, and non-renewals.
New Business Items approved as presented and included approval of a volunteer softball coach, overnight trips for the KHS Volleyball and Science Olympiad Teams, ESC of Western Reserve service agreement and two professional trips.
Hearing of the Public on Non-Agenda Items: None
Treasurer’s Report
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The district hired Gallagher, a medical wellness insurance broker third-party administrator, back in March 2022. Medical spending is the second largest spending in the district and difficult to control. Mr. Pendleton stated that the work to bring on this administrator was well timed and has resulted in significant savings. He advised to stay tuned for future plan design conversations.
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Mr. Pendleton also followed up on some prior board conversations about Ohio legislation. As of April 1st, there are 44 pending school bills in the House and Senate that impact education.
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HB1 eliminates the current income tax brackets. It is a tax overhaul budget bill. Mr. Pendleton summarized the impact of this bill. It would result in a “one billion dollar annual increase for residents and agricultural property tax owners across the state of Ohio.” There would be a “150 million dollar decrease to businesses and commercial property tax owners.” There would be a one half billion dollar decrease in local tax revenues for school districts and local governments.
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HB33 is the budget bill from the governor’s office to the House where it is now sitting in debate. This is the Fair School Funding Plan.
Superintendent’s Report
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There should be a recommendation for a draft of the 2024-25 school calendar to be presented for approval at the May Board meeting. Community members who want to provide input into this process should contact the Board office as soon as possible.
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Commendations for the administrative team as staffing plans for the 23-24 school year are in place. There have been many conversations about improving efficiency without sacrificing quality. Nine positions will be eliminated without lay-offs or reductions. Those positions include one administrator, five teaching staff members, and three support staff members. The impact of these financial changes is an approximately 1.1 million dollar reduction in projected expenses. This information will be included in the five year forecast to be presented to the board in May 2023.
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The administrative team will be recommending at the May meeting, a resolution to place a Permanent Improvement levy on the ballot in November. Upon approval, a second resolution will be presented in June. Superintendent Sayers stated that the Permanent Improvement levy is “truly a need for our district”. He advised that only about thirteen percent of school districts in Ohio do NOT have a PI levy on the books and Kenston is one of them. He believes that this levy is “very important to the long term stability of our district”. He clarified that revenue from a PI levy cannot be used for salaries, benefits, or the day to day operating expenses of the district. It is to be used for items needed by the district that have a life span of five years or more such as school buses, concrete sidewalks, roof replacements, computer servers, bleachers, etc. Mr. Sayers consulted with Mr. Pendleton who advised that the school has, over 3 years, allocated approximately $575,00 from the general fund to address PI needs and this is not close to meeting the need. He gave a more detailed example of the costly replacement cycle for the school’s fleet of buses and vans as well as the replacement cycle for school boilers.
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The administrative team should have a final strategic plan available by May for the board’s consideration.
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This month is Volunteer appreciation month. Mr. Sayers stated that education is a team effort and along with of our dedicated and talented staff, many thanks go to our PTO groups, booster groups, Moms and Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas, and etc.
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He highly recommends that everybody take in some of the end of year events at the school such as the musical, various concerts planned, spring sports, etc.
Executive Session: At 8:05 pm the Board voted to enter executive session under R.C. 121.22 (G)(8)(a) to consider confidential information related to the marketing plans, specific business strategy, production techniques, trade secrets, or personal financial statements of an applicant for economic development assistance, or for negotiations with other political subdivisions respecting requests for economic development assistance. Mrs. Troutman advised that no actions would be taken upon return to regular session.
Next regular meeting: Monday, May 15th at 7pm in the Kenston High School in the Auburn Bainbridge Room.
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Name of Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
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