March 2020 Regular Board of Education Meeting

No questions. No discussion.  Sent to vote.

We have a large claim that was paid back in 2019 and then Medical Mutual took the money back. I don’t have any idea why, and we have Grady Enterprises working on this to get it paid again. It was Medical Mutual that paid it and then took it back. It was right about the same time we switched from Medical Mutual to Mutual Health Services for our TPA services. No one has figured out what Medical Mutual was doing, but we are trying to get the claim paid as soon as possible.

Investments aren’t looking so good yet. We have a CDAR coming due Thursday and the best they can do on the CDARs is 1.10%. In an article in SBO Quarterly (OASBO magazine), two investment agents say, “For the current and upcoming fiscal year, it is advised to temper expectations of interest earnings on investments. We are not in the same rate environment as the past few years. You cannot use the old playbook for this year’s game because the game has changed. Set expectations lower.” Feds just lowered the rate to 0%.

070 Capital Projects Fund - I am hoping this case is settled soon as we have incurred over $12,000 in legal expenses just in January and February.

We received the first advance from Richland County on our real estate taxes. County Auditor Dropsey has changed the procedures for advances and is now requiring anyone who would like an advance to issue a formal letter to the Auditor requesting the advance. This is for each and every advance. Previously, when one school would call and request an advance, advances would be made to all schools.

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HIGH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT FOR 2020-2021

On a much more positive note, new student enrollment is high again this year. The overall sophomore class that we are recruiting from is smaller than in past years but our percentage of applications remains high. Currently, we have 706 applications which puts our projected enrolment at 1,263 for the 2020-2021 school year. Thanks to our Student Services Department for their diligence in recruiting. The whole staff and student body worked very hard and did an outstanding job this year during Sophomore Visitation and the enrollment period.

REVISION TO BOARD POLICY

The NEOLA Board Policy changes are a result of last Fall’s Legislative Actions. NEOLA recommends that the Board specifically recognize each job category for which it intends to employ staff members. Also, the Ohio Revised Code has changed licensure requirements and expanded optional uses for Substitute Teachers. Additionally, there is some clarification as to the use of school busses and CDL Random Drug Testing. These Board Policies changes keep us up-to-date with ORC requirements.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

We have been working with our Partner Districts to stay on top of the changes to Ohio’s Graduation Requirements. One of those options is for students to earn seals. There are nine State-Defined Seals and three Locally-Defined Seals. All of the State-Defined Seals are able to be earned at Pioneer but we want to ensure that the work our students do here compliments and is accepted by our Partner Boards of Education. The Locally-Defined Seals are: Fine Arts Seal, Community Service Seal, Student Engagement Seal.

OSBA CENTRAL REGION SPRING CONFERENCE

Central Region Meeting of the Ohio School Boards Association was held on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at the Villa Milano Banquet and Conference Center in Columbus. Pioneer was well represented by Dick Prater, Dennis Long, Robyn Almanson Mary Jean Theaker, Doug Theaker, and Mary Dixon who was recognized for her outstanding service It should be noted that our Precision Machining Program, represented by Chris Karl was also recognized.

PANDEMIC RESPONSE PLAN

You have at your place settings 3 documents that were or are about to be shared with our staff and students. The first was a letter that went out last Thursday, just prior to Governor DeWine’s announcement that he was closing schools March 17 through April 3. The second document (green) highlights items for our Staff and the 3rd (yellow) are the instructions posted on our webpage and social media sites.

CALENDAR ITEMS

Ralph Phillips Business Partner of the Year Dinner

Canceled. Hope to reschedule in the Fall

Pioneer All-Board Dinner

Canceled for the 2019-2020 school year.

Washington D.C. Trip

Canceled for the 2019-2020 school yea

No questions. No discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions. No discussion.  Sent to vote.

Executive session was not needed.