No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Treasurer Schumacher reported as follows:

If you remember in August we briefly discussed the claims for JHP.  From July to august our reserve went from $1.7M down to $1.5M.  I look for this to decrease even more due to the claims we have had recently and expect to thave in the next couple of months.  We will keep an eye on the reserve.  It is still very healthy at this point.

In July, we also discussed the CDAR that came due and if you remember, we rolled that into the Park National Portfolio into callable pieces and a small share into commericial  paper.  We had the last CDAR come due on September 10 and that has been cashed and placed in the MMS at park National for the time being.

You will notice a new fund 510.  This is for Cares Act monies.  As of August 31, there was $574.00 in that fund which belongs to the Adult Ed department.  In September, we received $57,764.00 to be used by the high school.  We also received a total of $500,000 into the new fund 599, which is monies received by the Adult Education department from the Federal Government as part of the Cares Act.  Mr. Paullin is still checking to see if we will be able to use all of this in accordance with the regulations.

As you can see the food service fund is running in the red already, but with a full month of lunches in September, that should start to climb back out of deficit. With all indications for the year and without the cushion that we had 3 years ago, we should expect to have to have to supplement food service out of the general fund at year end.

We have collected all counties taxes.  The only items we are waiting on is the Homestead and rollbacks from Richland, Ashland, Seneca, Crawford, Huron and Marion.  Wyandot and Morrow are in.

We received $32,767 from Casino monies.  This is down from the $70,000 and $65,000 deposits from FY20.

We are receiving the same amount from the State Foundation funding as FY20. 

The last CDAR that came due in July really boosted our interest for the year, but with everything now pretty current, we should see a leveling out of interest income.

Really the only major difference this year from any other year is the appropriation to the Permanent Improvement Fund.  We normally appropriate $400,000 per year, but with the roofing project and the 2 new vans, we have appropriated $700,000.

In the General Fund we have appropriated over $1.6M additional expenses.  In the line items for Purchased Services, Supplies & Materials and Miscellaneous, we have added a total of $435,000,  another $330,00 in benefits, an additional $100,000 for General Fund transfers (which includes Food Service) and the usual personnel increase (which this year includes some extra severance for retirements).

Superintendent Nickoli introduced Crystal Escalera.

Science Teacher, John Yohe, spoke about the new elective Science course on Drones.

Mr Grady discussed the Cupp-Patterson Bill for Ohio school funding.  He reports that the hopes are to have this passed in the next three months.  In the meantime, Representative John Patterson has introduced a new bill which he says, "will combine property and income taxes along with a calculation of a district’s wealth level to determine a district’s true capacity to raise its fair share.”

Supertintendent Nickoli reported as follows.

"I am proud to report that we have had an outstanding opening to the school year.  Our students and staff are working hard to remain in compliance with the orders from the Ohio Department of Health and our local health departments.  I am sure that all schools shared concerns about how this year would go but I can attest to the care and professional way that everyone at Pioneer has responded.  I would say that our Reopening has been a resounding success." 

We are asking you to approve the Board Goals for the 2020 – 2021 school year. Those of you who were able to attend saw the five goals that were formulated at the meeting on August 14^th. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Theaker, Mrs. Dixon, Mr. Prater, and Mr. Hope for attending and working to set the direction of the District for the 2020-2021 school year. 

Just a reminder that the Central Region Fall Conference is this upcoming Wednesday at 5:30pm and will be conducted virtually.  You received the link in your Board Packet email and you have a printed copy of the link and directions for how to access the meeting at your places.

The MOESC contract that I am asking you to approve is for Title IX services.  As you may recall, the federal government made late and significant changes to the Title IX requirements for all schools this summer.  We have our staff trained and prepared to implement and we are otherwise meeting all requirements.  Mid-Ohio offered this service to its client Districts on an as-needed basis so that should we need an outside participation to avoid a conflict of interest it would be available.  There is no obligation and we will only be charged for services requested.

On Tuesday, September 29 a team from Pioneer consisting of myself, Linda, and Mike Grimwood along with our attorney, Desmond Culimore will be travelling to Columbus to participate in a mediation session with the companies associated with our previous HVAC system.  This session was requested by attorneys from LG in response to the approaching court date and may result in a tentative agreement and conclusion of the case.  I’ll keep you posted on the results of the discussions.

We have provided you with a number of Board Policy updates from NEOLA, our Board Policy Advisor.  I am providing them to you for review this month and will be recommending them for approval in October.  As you may be aware, Ohio’s Legislature removed letter grades from School Report Cards in response to last year’s Covid-19 school closure. The Ohio Department of Education did, however, release most of the same data last Tuesday.  I have created a “virtual” school report card showing you Pioneer’s resulting letter grades had an official report card been issued.  You can see from our results that we improved, in some areas by a significant margin in all but one category.  I am proud to say that we would have received A’s in four of our graded categories, we would have remained a B in one category, and we would have improved from a C to a B in the sixth category.

There are some exciting upcoming events scheduled for later this month and in October.  We would love to have you attend any of the following (please let me know so I can look for you):

• • OSBA Central Region Fall Conference – Sept 23^rd, 5:30pm - To be conducted virtually
  • Parent-Teacher Conferences – October 8^th and 13^th at 4:30pm
  • End of First Grading Period – October 16^th
  • OSBA Capital Conference – November 7^th-10^th – To be conducted virtually (Agenda to be provided in October)

• Mary Lee Barr, Director of Operations, has reviewed requests to move across on the salary schedule as well as requests for continuing contracts.  They are in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code and Board Policy.  All other Items

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussions.  Sent to vote.