September 2020 Regular Board of Education Meeting

1. ROLL CALL
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Minutes

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

2. PLEDGE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

3. MOMENT OF SILENCE
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

4. CONSENT AGENDA
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Minutes

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Motioned: Mrs. Margie Prater, Board Member

Seconded: Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-President

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

4.1 Approve August 2020 Board of Education Meeting Minutes
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

4.2 Adopt Student Activity Fund Purposes and Budgets

4.3 Approve Activity Reimbursement Schedule for Club Advisors for the 2020-2021 School Year

4.4 Approve Contracted Services for 2020-2021
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that contracted services for the 2020-2021 school year be approved.

  • Dr. Michael Patton, Social Worker

4.5 Approve Updates to Job Descriptions

4.6 Approve Revision to Course Name
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that the following revision to course name be approved:

  • Finite 1 changes to Math Applications
  • Finite 2 changes to Math Modeling

4.7 Adopt Resolution for Red Ribbon Week
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

4.8 Approve Local Professional Development Committee

4.9 Accept Donations
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that the following donations be accepted:

  • America's Farmers Grow Communities; generous monetary donation of $2,500.  This donation will be used for the Wynford FFA student activities.
  • Greg Dodge, Shelby; generous donation of dust collector with an approximate value of  $240.  This item will be used in our Construction One Level program.
  • Gorman Rupp Company, Mansfield; generous monetary donation of $350.  This donation will be deposited in the Principal's fund and used for student activities during the 2020-2021 school year.
  • Michelle Deskins, Dental Clinic Coordinator, Third St. Family Health Services, Mansfield; generous donation of disposable dental supplies with an approximate value of $400.  These supplies will be used for simulation purposes in our Dental Assisting Career-Technical program.

5. FINANCIAL REPORT
Linda Schumacher, Treasurer

Minutes

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.

 

Motioned: Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-President

Seconded: Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

6. APPROVE FINAL FY21 APPROPRIATIONS
Linda Schumacher, Treasurer

Minutes

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).

Result: Approved

Motioned: Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-President

Seconded: Mrs. Margie Prater, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

7. RECOGNITION OF GUESTS
Gregory Nickoli, Superintendent

8. EAP REPRESENTATIVE
Sandy Grau, EAP President

Minutes

Superintendent Nickoli introduced Crystal Escalera.


9. PUBLIC INPUT
Gregory Nickoli, Superintendent

Board Policy Section 0164


10. CORRESPONDENCE
Gregory Nickoli, Superintendent

11. PRESENTATION
Shannon Sprang, Supervisor

Minutes

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


12. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT REPORT
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board Member

13. LEGISLATIVE LIAISON REPORT
Mr. Mike Grady, Board Member

Minutes

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.”


14. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Gregory Nickoli, Superintendent

Minutes

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 14th. 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 23rd, 5:30pm - To be conducted virtually
    • Parent-Teacher Conferences – October 8th and 13th at 4:30pm
    • End of First Grading Period – October 16th
    • OSBA Capital Conference – November 7th-10th – 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

15. PERSONNEL REPORT
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that the following personnel recommendations be approved:

  • Approve employment of Certificated personnel.
  • Approve Salary adjustments of Certificated personnel.
  • Approve Continuing contracts of Certificated personnel.
  • Approve employment of Career Coaches.
  • Approve Supplemental contracts of Certificated personnel.
  • Approve Stipend contracts of Certificated personnel.
  • Approve employment of Substitute Instructors.
  • Approve resignation of Part-time Classified personnel.
  • Approve employment of Part-time Classified personnel.
  • Approve Supplemental contracts for Classified personnel.
  • Approve employment of Substitute Classified personnel.
  • Approve employment of Adult Education personnel.

Minutes

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Result: Approved

Motioned: Mrs. Margie Prater, Board Member

Seconded: Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

16. ADOPT 2020-2021 BOARD GOALS
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that the 2020-2021 Board Goals be adopted.

Minutes

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Result: Approved

Motioned: Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board Member

Seconded: Mrs. Margie Prater, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

17. APPROVE AGREEMENT WITH MOESC FOR TITLE IX SERVICES
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Recommendation of Superintendent Gregory D. Nickoli that the agreement with Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center (MOESC) for Title IX Services be approved.

Minutes

No questions or discussions.  Sent to vote.

Result: Approved

Motioned: Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-President

Seconded: Mr. Bill Hope, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX  

18. ADJOURN MEETING
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board President

Minutes

Result: Approved

Motioned: Mrs. Margie Prater, Board Member

Seconded: Mr. Bill Hope, Board Member

VoterYesNoAbstaining
Ms. Robyn Almanson, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Mary Dixon, Board MemberX  
Mr. Mike Grady, Board MemberX  
Mr. Bill Hope, Board MemberX  
Mr. John Kime, Board MemberX  
Mr. Dennis Long, Board MemberX  
Mrs. Margie Prater, Board MemberX  
Mr. Richard Prater, Board Vice-PresidentX  
Mr. Royden Smith, Board MemberX  
Mr. Douglas Theaker, Board PresidentX  
Mrs. Mary Jean Theaker, Board MemberX