Kenston Board of Education – Organizational Meeting & Regular Session, January 8, 2024
Meeting Details: The Kenston Board of Education met for an organizational meeting on January 8, 2024 at Kenston High School, 9500 Bainbridge Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023, in the High School Auburn Bainbridge room beginning at 6:30 pm, with the regular meeting following at 7pm. Both meetings were live streamed and are available here and on Kenston’s YouTube page as one combined video. View both agendas online and any attached documents here by selecting the meeting tab and then the meeting date.
The Organizational meeting was called to order by Mr. Cales at 6:30 pm.
Appointed and Approved President Pro Tem for the Organizational Meeting: Jennifer Troutman
Board Attendance: Mrs. Troutman, Jim Henry, Dennis Bergansky, Beth Krause, and Tom Manning
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Steven Sayers and Treasurer Seth Cales
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mrs. Troutman
Treasurer Seth Cales administered the Oath of Office to Mr. Henry and Mr. Manning, newly elected/reelected members.
Nomination and Election of Board President: Mr. Manning
Nomination and Election of Board Vice President: Mrs. Troutman
Appointments to the Ohio School Board Association (OSBA) for the calendar year:
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Kenston BOE appointed Mrs. Troutman as the OSBA Legislative Liaison, Mr. Henry as the OSBA Student Achievement Liaison, Mr. Henry as the OSBA Delegate, and Mrs. Troutman as the OSBA Alternate.
Standing Administrative Committees: This item was on the agenda, but it was decided that no board action would be taken during this meeting.
The Kenston Board of Education discussed and approved the 2024 Regular Monthly Meetings and the Special Board Meetings/Work Sessions as follows:
Regular Meetings - Kenston High School/Auburn Bainbridge Room - 7:00 p.m.
February 12, 2024
March 18, 2024
April 15, 2024
May 13, 2024
June 24, 2024
July 15, 2024
August 19, 2024
September 16, 2024
October 21, 2024
November 18, 2024
December 16, 2024
Special Meetings/Work Sessions - Kenston High School/Auburn Bainbridge Room - 6:00 p.m.
March 4, 2024
May 6, 2024
August 5, 2024
October 7, 2024
Additional special meetings/work sessions will be scheduled as needed.
2025 Organizational Meeting - Kenston High School/Auburn Bainbridge Room - 6:30 p.m.
January 13, 2025
Regular Meeting - January 2025 - Kenston High School/Auburn Bainbridge Room - 7:00 p.m.
January 13, 2025
The Kenston Board of Education approved the Legal Counsel agenda items 7.1 - 7.3 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting date, agenda, and line item 7.
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Note of interest in 7.3: The Kenston Board of Education authorized the Treasurer and/or Brindza, McIntyre & Seed, LLP to act as agent for the Board of Education with respect to filing and signing real estate tax complaints and to represent the School District at Board of Revision Hearings.
The Kenston Board of Education approved the General Business agenda items 8.1 - 8.11 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting, date, agenda, and line item 8.
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Some general business items include giving the Superintendent the authority to sign for state and federal grant programs, hire staff between board meetings, accept resignations, enter into cooperative arrangements with other school districts, etc. The Treasurer is also authorized to engage in relevant financial transactions.
The Board of Education approved the Other Business items 9.1-9.7 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting date, agenda, and line item 9.
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Various authorizations for Public Records Training, OSBA Membership, Board Service Fund, Authorization to pay Ohio’s Minimum Wage, Travel and Reimbursement rates.
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The Board approved the resolution (see item 9.7 at above link to read attached document) to waive any reading of the record of any of its proceedings.
A Motion to adjourn at 6:49 was made by Mr. Manning and was approved. The Public was advised that the regular board meeting would begin at 7pm.
Observer Note: The video ended for a brief time before beginning again with the regular meeting at 7pm.
The Regular meeting was called to order by Mr. Manning at 7 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Superintendent Sayers.
Board Attendance: Jennifer Troutman, Jim Henry, Dennis Bergansky, Beth Krause, and Tom Manning
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Steven Sayers and Treasurer Seth Cales
The Kenston Board of Education approved that the reading of these minutes be waived and approved the minutes of the Regular Meeting of December 11, 2023 as recorded or corrected.
Commendations: Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Kenston Board of Education approved the following commendations:
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Kenston Board of Education members, Mr. Bergansky, Mr. Henry, Ms. Krause, Mr. Manning, and Mrs. Troutman for their service and dedication to the Kenston Local School District.
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KHS Principal Tom Gabram presented awards to KHS students, Owen Woodard, Luke Schmidt, Josh Jaeger, and to KHS teacher, Ryan Novak, for winning 2nd Place in the 2023 Ohio School Boards Association's student video contest, "Public schools are the real choice."
A Birthday Book was presented to Mrs. Troutman, titled, Attention Hijacked: Using Mindfulness to Reclaim Your Brain from Tech, by Erica Marcus.
Hearing of Public on Agenda Items: None
The Kenston Board of Education approved the Financial agenda items 7.1 - 7.7 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting, date, agenda, and line item 7.
The Kenston Board of Education approved the Certified Personnel items 8.1-8.3 and Classified Personnel items 9.1-9.2 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting, date, agenda, and line items 8 and 9.
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Mr. Bergansky expressed concern over the lower pay of the substitute teachers who are driving in to the school when compared to the rate given to teachers already in the building, and wondered aloud if this was due to lowered qualifications. Superintendent Sayers advised that the rate has been raised in the last year and a half and is moderately competitive.
The Kenston Board of Education approved the New Business items 16.1-16.2 which can be found here then selecting the appropriate meeting, date, agenda, and line item 16.
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Kenston BOE approved Indoor Track as a new Non OHSAA Club Sport for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Kenston BOE approved the appointment of Neysa Gaskins as the Auburn Career Center representative for a one-year term beginning on January 1, 2024.
Hearing From Public on Non-Agenda Items
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The Board heard from Mr. Dan Tutolo (a former candidate for the school board) of Tall Tree Trail. Mr. Tutolo stated that he became aware, during campaigning, that “...among the population, there is some lack of trust with the district.” He stated that he intended to address some of those issues in the coming months, but this evening, he specifically wanted to address community concerns regarding the wind turbine. Mr. Tutolo made the following statements:
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The turbine was operational by December of 2012 and it was promised to save the district $160,000 a year.
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There is currently no record of this savings that is publicly available.
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In March 2023, the Board stated that they were unaware of the savings figure and that maintenance costs for the turbine were $25,000 annually.
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Mr. Tutolo is concerned that the district has not been transparent regarding the turbine’s cost savings, if any. He then contacted the manufacturing company to consult on the district’s project and research the history of the project.
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There used to be a website called Kilowatts for ed that was posted by the manufacturer’s consultant and provided live data on the turbine. This data was actually used for an alternative energy class taught at Kenston in the recent past. The website was then shut down in 2015 due to lack of support. However, the manufacturer still monitors the turbine and is willing to hand over the data for a cost.
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Although the savings cannot be calculated by examining electric bills, the manufacturer advised Mr. Tutolo that the district has the equipment that automates electric usage and this equipment is capable of using and providing the savings data.
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Mr. Tutolo told the Board that the consultant advised that Kenston knows how to set up this equipment and can get data from the turbine, and the consultant believes that the turbine should be producing the savings as promised if maintained properly. However, neither the consultant nor the manufacturer will discuss anything further with Mr. Tutolo without the Board’s authorization.
Mr. Tutolo then advised that he had submitted a proposal to the Board earlier this afternoon seeking that authorization with three objectives in mind:
1. Create an historical account of the accomplishment of obtaining the wind turbine.
2. Create a manual that describes how to obtain data, how to set up calculations to generate reports, and how to carry out regular maintenance.
3. Seek proposals from the manufacturer and consultant regarding the cost to assist Kenston in getting the data flowing again.
Mr. Tutolo concluded by stating that he would like to see Mr. Bob Lee “vindicated” for his effort to bring the turbine to the district, and that Mr. Lee’s contribution to the district should be “memorialized.” Mr. Tutolo also expressed his hope that his own personal effort would go some way to restoring some of the trust in the district if he were able to fulfill the three objectives above.
Mr. Manning advised that they would follow up with Mr. Tutolo.
Treasurer’s Report
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There was a tax budget meeting earlier today and the district will go before the Geauga County Budget Commission on February 27th or 28th of this year. Those dates are still being finalized. This tax budget consists of initial and temporary financial appropriations that will allow the Budget Commission to go before the taxpayers and advise them of the district’s justification for collecting the budgeted amount of dollars.
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In February or March of 2024, Assistant Treasurer Matt Hosler will do a presentation to the Finance Committee regarding the wind turbine. The finance team has also planned a Wednesday meeting with Mr. Tutolo in order to share information that has been collected thus far. The district does have monthly projections and historical data on costs and savings with plans to share more information with the public.
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In the future, Mr. Cales plans to do a quick presentation/update at the board meeting each month (during the time of the treasurer’s report) to share how the district is tracking year to date, what the spending looks like compared to other years, and what spending is forecast The objective of this presentation is to provide greater information and transparency to the community regarding district spending.
Mrs. Troutman expressed her thanks to Mr. Cales for his efforts to push more information out to the community in an ongoing and educational way as opposed to just during times of levies, etc.
Superintendent’s Report
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Kenston High School and Middle School held the 2nd annual Fred Snook Memorial Speech and Debate Tournament on December 16th, 2023. Fifteen schools attended and Kenston placed 2nd of the fifteen. A Kenston student, Jake Spencer, was a State Qualifier in the category of Humorous Interpretation.
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Winter Sports are in full swing. The Kenston Invitational Wrestling Tournament was a huge success with 28 teams attending. Mr. Sayers expressed thanks to all who helped with this tournament, including Mr. Manning.
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The Kenston Hockey team completed a clean sweep in a weekend of games and remains undefeated.
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This Saturday, January 13th, 71 middle and high school teams from three different states will travel to KHS to compete in STEM based learning challenges for the Science Olympiad. They all hope to advance to the state tournament which will take place on April 22nd, 2024.
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There will be no school on Monday, January 15th, for Martin Luther King day.
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The third Kenston Conversation Day will be held on January 25th at South Franklin Circle from 1:00 - 2:00 pm. This event is open to the public and all from the Auburn and Bainbridge communities are welcome to attend.
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Kenston Middle School will be presenting The SpongeBob Musical, Youth Edition, on Thursday, January 25th and Friday, January 26th at 7:00 pm, and Saturday, January 27th at 2:00 pm.
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The incoming kindergarten class of 2037 parent meeting will be on January 29th, at 7:00 pm at Timmons Elementary.
Mrs. Troutman wanted to advise that the Mock Trial teams will be “scrimmaging” in Columbus for the first time on January 14th. She also wanted to give a shout out to transportation who was busing them on a Sunday. The final competition will occur on January 27th.
Mrs. Troutman also wanted to express thanks to science teachers, Dr. Maggie Colicchio and Mr. Joseph Intelisano, Coach Eva Edwards and Asst. Coach Ron Kupiec for their efforts in the Science Olympiad.
Motion to adjourn approved at 7:45pm.
Next regular meeting: Monday, February 12th, at 7:00 pm in the Kenston High School Auburn Bainbridge Room.
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date Submitted: 1/20/2024
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