May 2021 Regular Board of Education Meeting

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Treasurer Schumacher reported as follows:

This month went by in a flash.  Negotiations are complete, five-year forecast is ready to be filed with ODE, we are ready to start working on next year’s employee contracts and the school year is almost over.

We presented this almost exact five-year forecast to the EAP before negotiations and those that I spoke with on the committee agree with our presentation.  In fact, this year the OEA pulled the forecast off of the ODE website and reviewed it for the EAP.  They were in agreement with everything we said.  The only changes we made from the last version is the changes that we positively know for the salaries and the benefits.  We settled for 2-2-2.25 with a one-time $500 signing bonus.  Of course the insurance was changed to 4.7% for FY22 and 8% there on out.  As you can see we begin deficit spending in FY23 by $357,000, FY242 by $1.34M and FY25 by $2.37M.  We have pretty much flat-lined revenues for the entire forecast.  I told the negotiation teams that it is my fervent hope that when they come back to the table in 3 years, there will be a per pupil funding formula in use (preferably the fair school funding formula will be in its third year of phase-in) and the rover pipeline appeal is resolved and they will know exactly what revenues they will receive from the PUPP tax.  Should everything fall into place, traditional schools in the area will then have healthy cash balances and all will be good in the world of education.  This is the first time I have felt like we have some hope to achieve fair school funding.  Again, the 6 main topics of discussion are on pages 4 & 5 of the forecast.  Not a lot has changed – they all still discuss the difficulty of projected taxes in 8 different counties, state foundation funding, Rover Pipeline and labor relations.  Added this time is a short discussion concerning HB166 and the effect it has on drawing funds away from districts through school choice programs such as College Credit Plus, Community Schools and increases in per pupil scholarship amounts.  Pioneer is most effected by College Credit Plus. This is considered a school choice program that increases with each biennium budget and costs the districts money.  Please take a look at the last page of the assumptions that shows the True Cash Days of each year’s ending balance.  November’s forecast showed Pioneer at 216 days out and this May forecast shows Us 212 days out.  So, the cash balance forecast is staying pretty steady.

April was a pretty quiet month as far as day to day work goes, but was a very busy month as a whole.  We have received additional training for the redesign reports, I have participated in many webinars concerning the state budget and school funding, I attended the OASBO Virtual Annual Conference during the week of April 26 and we have finished up negotiations in 1 ½ days.  So, my husband took me for a relaxing weekend up to Traverse City, MI last weekend.  I came home reenergized and finished up the five year forecast last week.

There is not much to report on the monthly financials for April.  Investments have not changed.  I wanted to point out that we do have a healthy balance in the Student Wellness and Success Fund.  If you look at page 3 of the monthly financials, you will see the balance of $588,009 in that fund.  I will be making the transfers for SRO and Nurse in June which should be about $70,000.  Plans are beginning to be made to spend some of these monies in FY22.  The General Fund is rolling along as anticipated.  The only taxes yet to be collected are Homestead and Rollback exemptions from 5 counties.  Journal entries are for transfers for Cares monies in Adult Ed.

The Board received a thank you note from Margie Prater.

1. Pioneer will ensure that all policies are followed in regard to all legaland ethical standards related to the Covid-19 guidelines as set for bystate and local authorities.  Plan created for Senior Moments/Awards that is safe and accessible for all to view on May 18th 7:00pm

2. Pioneer staff and students will foster a compassionate, responsiveand inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, supportedand empowered.Meeting with Life Steps to provide additional Mental Health support for students next year.   Project Search Graduation via Zoom from Ohio Health in Mansfield.  Participated in filming in Senior IT Lab a Student of the Month from Morrow County Chamber of Commerce – Gavin Hobson – Northmor HS.  

3. Pioneer will ensure the health, security and safety of all students andstaff by responding to current best practices with local and stateagencies. Worked with Shelby Fire Department for safe filming of Senior Moments/Awards.

4. Pioneer will incentivize innovation by challenging staff and students tostep out of their normal setting in order to expose students to newand emerging trends and technology.  Several students placed in the Skills USA State competitions –Silver Medal Payton Sturts, Lucas HS- Precision Machining Technology, Silver Medal Graham Geissman, Buckeye Central HS- Masonry and a Gold Medal to Clay Hoffman, Crestview HS – Industrial Diesel– Clay will compete in the Skills USA Nationals in Virtual Competition. Performing Arts students visited Tiffin University and Horticulture students will be going to Kingwood Center to meet with personnel about care of the plants and grounds. Students participating in Drone Certification.  

5. Pioneer will sustain financial stability by optimizing current resources, exploring alternative resources, managing facilities to meet staff, students and community needs.  Will be conducting Summer School again this year for students.

Mr. Grady discussed the Health Orders by Governor DeWine and noted that K-12 schools are still to wear masks through the end of the school year.  SB1 contains language that would require high school freshman to take at least 1/2 unit of financial literacy.  The Senate Finance Committee has heard many testimonies from the Superintendents, Treasurers and Board Members.  No plan has been released from the Senate.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

As usual, this is a very busy time of the year with all the end-of-year responsibilities including partner school award assemblies and graduations.  The Pioneer Awards Assembly was recorded and will be broadcast tomorrow evening at 7:00pm.  I’d like to recognize our Media Communications Program and Instruction Lynette Moritz for the great work they did to produce the video.

Once again, our students were awarded over $3 million in scholarships this year!  It is so rewarding to see our students recognized for their excellent work!!  In addition, we will be hosting our Prom on Saturday, May 15 in the Arena.

We will be doing the administrator year-end reviews in the next couple of weeks.  Most Administrators have been evaluated this year using the Ohio Principal Evaluation System (OPES) that is similar to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES).  Our year-end administrator work session is scheduled for May 31, 2019 at Ontario High School.   At that time we will review our 2018 – 2019 progress, review our Strategic Plan, share staff requests, and  begin to plan for the 2019-2020 school year.  Additionally, we will be scheduling our Board Goal Setting Meeting for August.  Mr. Tom Applegate will once again be joining us on August 9^th at a location to be determined.  You will receive an invitation including the time, date, and location of the meeting and an Agenda of the activities for the day later in the Summer.

I have provided three notices of reductions in force and grace periods (labs split out with or without prep period pay depending on enrollment numbers) for next year.  These are the notices that were delivered:

PROGRAM                              TEACHER       TYPE OF LETTER       DESCRIPTION

Elective                                                Cindy Markley              RIF      Position Abolished

Meat and Animal Science          Phil Johnson                 RIF      Combined

                                                                                                With no 1/8 pay

8 – 1st year

4 – 2nd year

Performing Arts                         Anne Kurtzman             RIF         1st Year Grace

                                                                                                Split WITH 1/8 pay

9 – 1st year

14 – 2nd year

Horticulture                              Sandy Grau                   RIF      1st Year Grace

                                                                                                Split WITH 1/8 pay

4 – 1st year

9 – 2nd year

 

 

 

Although these RIF letters are delivered by April 30^th, all enrollments for these programs will be reviewed prior to the October Board of Education Meeting and final recommendations will be made at that time.  At this time, Performing Arts and Horticulture would be removed from the list.  The on-campus projected enrollment sits at 1,254 and we will continue to accept applications through the summer.  It should be noted that the reduced Elective Position will be replaced by an Intervention Specialist position that I will speak to when I talk about Personnel. 

As a follow-up to a question that was asked at last month’s meeting regarding the enrollment of other career centers around Ohio I can share that many are seeing a significant decline in the numbers for next year.  I spoke with 9 other Superintendents last week and each indicated concerns about their numbers for next year.  I think our enrollment results speak highly for the reputation of Pioneer in our Districts and the work we did to transform our recruitment process to a Virtual experience for our potential students. 

We are planning to offer Sociology and Psychology as electives next year and, given that it has been many years since they have been offered, we felt it necessary to update the courses of study.  Mr. Adam Galley will teach these courses and has worked to provide content that is current and engaging to our students.

We have a second mediation video conference scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:30am.  Linda, Mike Grimwood, Jeff Payne and I will be joined by District Legal Counsel Desmond Cullimore in the Board Conference Room for the event.  Should any tentative agreement be reached, it will be brought to the Board for approval.  It will also need to be approved by the OFCC and the Attorney General’s Office.

May 18 – Senior Moments/Awards Video Released via Youtube (7:00pm)

May 27 – Last Day for Students

May 28 – End-of-Year Breakfast / Teacher Work Day

June 1 – June 4 – Staff Committee Work Days

June 4 – Administrative End-of-Year MeetingWeek of June 7 – Summer Hours Begin (Continues for 8 weeks)

I am recommending the hiring of Daniel Slaughter and Jeremiah Howe as Career-Technical Supervisors.  Allison Schuster as an Intervention Specialist

Retirements of Dan Dornbirer, Leanne Bauerdick, and Rob Banichar.

All other personnel items are common for this time year.

 

Royden Smith made the motion to enter into Executive Session at 7:59 pm; Bill Hope seconded.  Returned to Regular Session at 8:36 pm. No action taken after Executive Session.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Superintendent Nickoli noted that in order to be competitive and find temporary and substitute employees, an increase was needed in non-union employees.

No more questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Superintendent Nickoli noted that this is an additional wellness service already provided by Dr. Patten.  This agreement will allow us to service more students.

No more discussion or questions.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Superintendent Nickoli told the Board that all bids for this project came in over the allowed 10% and Pioneer will be rebidding this project in January of 2022.

No more questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.