June 2023 Board of Education Regular Meeting

Treasurer Schumacher commented on the following:

4.2 Temporary Appropriations – This is our annual Temporary Appropriations resolution in order for us to be able to operate and pay the bills.  Final FY24 Appropriations will be presented at the September Board meeting.

4.3 Medical, Dental & Vision FY24 rates – The first proposal from Jefferson Health Plan was a 10.83% increase.  I was interested in decreasing that to 5% and we ended  up at 4%.  They always give me the warning about not taking enough of an increase and then having to have a huge increase in a later year.  I do believe after this year we will need to be more aware of where we stand with our reserves.  In FY24, we are hoping to decrease the reserves by $237,000. This is only a projection. We currently have $1,740,000 in Reserves; and are only required to have $674,000 in Reserve with JHP.  We are not using a large amount of the excess reserving, so we will still be in very good shape. Funding slightly under the projection has worked the past couple years. Over-time, we just need to make sure we do not underfund by too great a margin. Once the gap widens, the reserves can be at risk of one large event, and then it can be difficult to re-correct the direction of the funding (as reserves get low).

4.4 Liability Insurance – SORSA – I really don’t believe we can get better coverage anywhere else.  Plus, some of the little added benefits we receive like free playground inspections, free boiler inspections and the Legal Helpdesk.  This also includes our Cyber Liability coverage which people are paying a lot of money for now.  Our premiums only increased by .99% from last year.  Last year we paid $85,601 and this year we will pay $86,326 – an increase of $725.00.

No further questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Treasurer Schumacher discussed the following:

I have sent the request to change the direct deposit account for the Pell grants to Park National and have not yet heard anything back.  The gentleman I last emailed the request to said he forwarded to the correct people as he is now on a different committee. We are waiting for one more $200 clearance on PNC and we will then close that account. We now have a little over $17M in Star Ohio and our investment income is looking the best it has as long as I have been Treasurer!  The annualized rate for Star Ohio is 5.38%.

We have done drawdowns for several of the Grants.  As usual, the Perkins and ECE grants have been drawdown for the negative balances. The Student Wellness and Success Funds will be spent at year-end, so we will be done with Fund 467.  The remainder of SWSF comes from the State Foundation Payment and we will be accountable on an annual basis for the spending of those monies.  Fund 499 is a new Safety Grant authorized through the Ohio Attorney General’s office.  We have received these monies and have used them to enhance to ongoing camera and security alarm systems.  We have not received the invoices for these monies yet.  The GEER funds will be all spent at year-end but $19,155 and all of that is encumbered and will be paid in July.  We can then submit the FER for the GEER grant and we will be completely done with that one.  Also, at year-end, we will present the transfer of funds to Adult Ed to cover their deficit for the Fiscal Year.

On 6/6/23 we just received the Richland County Homestead and Rollback payments.  Just in time to start collecting the second half real estate payments.  We received close to $102,000 in rollbacks for Richland County.  Nothing else different in the General Fund transactions for May.

For your approval this month we also are presenting the request for and Amended Certificate of Available Resources from the County Auditor’s office.  Not too many changes.  We closed out the Adult Ed Covid grant, hope to pay the new safety grant before year-end and increased the ECE Grant to cover FY23 expenses.

Mr. Grady reported that the House has approved their version of the Biennial Budget and the Senate has passed their version of the Biennial Budget.  It looks as though the House will not accept the Senate version.  Therefore, their will be a conference committee to work out a final budget to present to both legislatures.  Governor DeWine always has the last say with his line item vetoes. 

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

Not only is it hard to believe that the 2022 – 2023 school year is over, it’s amazing to reflect back on how well it went.  It was so nice to see our staff and students in labs and classrooms doing what we do best!  The administrative staff is now beginning to prepare for next year. I appreciate their hard work in preparation for what I know will be an outstanding 2023 – 2024 school year.

Pioneer staff, led by Mr. Kevin Vargyas, hosted it’s second STEM Summer Camp for students in 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grades in our Partner Schools.  Nearly 80 students built and flew their own personal drones, built robotic dogs, and assembled and launched model rockets.  The week concluded with a visit to Ohio’s Bird Sanctuary.  Family and social media responses indicated that it was a tremendous success.  We are already in the planning stages for next year’s camp.

For several years, Pioneer has had an RCT stop twice each day to assist students in getting to and from school each day.  This effort has been funded in partnership with the City of Shelby and North Central State College.  Due to low ridership other partners are discontinuing their financial support of this route.  Pioneer will continue to fund this service to our students using a Demand Response route.  Thank you to Jean Taddie and RCT for their willingness to partner with us to make this continued service possible.

A reminder to Board Members that their review and evaluation of Treasurer applications is due by Wednesday, June 21^st at noon.  The subcommittee will meet on Friday, June 23^rd at 10:00am at MOESC to review the preliminary responses and select candidates for a first round of interviews next week.  Final interviews will be conducted by the full Board at the July Board Meeting.

Please be reminded that the Regular July Meeting of the Pioneer Board of Education will be on July 12, 2023 at 6:00pm.

I am recommending that we purchase a used school bus from the Shelby City Schools.  Our bus mechanic, Caleb Alt and our Head of Maintenance, Mike Grimwood have examined the bus and have recommended its purchase.

I am recommending that we abolish the Webpage Design and Programming program.  That program was replaced by our Cybersecurity program in our Course of Study.  We continued that program during the 2022-2023 school year to allow our returning Seniors the opportunity to complete the program the started as Juniors. 

I am recommending that you accept the resignation of Mr. Kyle Burris as an Intervention Specialist.  Mr. Burris has accepted an administrative role with the Ridgedale Local Schools.  We wish him the best in his new position.

I am also recommending that you employ Mr. Preston Foy as an Intervention Specialist.  Mr. Foy comes to us from the Colonel Crawford Local Schools where he was a highly successful Intervention Specialist and Track Coach.

Additionally, I am recommending the employment of Mr. Gabe Kennedy as a Social Studies Instructor.  Mr. Kennedy joins Pioneer after spending several years with the Clear Fork Local Schools.  He is also their very successful Baseball Coach. 

Both Mr. Foy and Mr. Kennedy have indicated that they intend to continue their coaching careers at Colonel Crawford and Clear Fork respectively.  We are very supportive of our staff members who are also coaches at area schools.  They are wonderful representatives of the amazing teachers at Pioneer.

I am also recommending Mrs. Karen Rowe as our newest Distribution Center Clerk/Bus Driver.  Mrs. Rowe comes to us from the Willard City Schools where she was a long-time and highly skilled bus driver.  This addition will enable us to provide more opportunities for our students to visit area businesses and job sites.

Finally, I am recommending the employment of Mr. Jerry Mingus as our In-School Detention Monitor.  Mr. Mingus was most recently a Professional Tutor at North Central State College. 

Each of these candidates completed our rigorous hiring and interview process and will make tremendous additions to the Pioneer Team. All other personnel items are normal for this time of year.

We will enter into executive session for discussing the evaluations of the Superintendent and Treasurer and the self-evaluation of the Board of Education.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

No questions or discussion.  Sent to vote.

Entered into Executive Session at 7:49 pm.  Returned to Regular Session at 7:57 pm.