March 2024 Regular Board of Education Meeting

No discussion - Moved to Vote

Treasurer Bazley reported to the Board as follows:

On March 7^th, the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ruled the State Tax Commissioner’s expert’s appraisal of the Rover pipeline was the best evidence of its value for property tax purposes. The case now goes to the Tax Commissioner to assess the pipeline consistent with the expert’s appraisal. The Tax Commissioner is starting settlement negotiations with Rover in accordance with that ruling. The Lorain County Auditor’s appeal of the Nexus pipeline settlement is still pending in the Ohio Supreme Court, the issue in that case is whether a single county auditor has legal authority to appeal a settlement reached by the State Tax Commissioner. The Nexus ruling could have an impact on any Rover settlement, although it remains to be seen if any county auditor would oppose a Rover settlement. This saga may be coming to an end soon!

We’re going to notice an adjustment to our College Credit Plus deduction this year and next. North Central State missed the deadline to report their fall courses this past December and therefore our deduction was not updated, nor will it be until this upcoming August because the state only pays the colleges twice a year. Mr. Burtscher noticed it and had Mr. Nickoli reach out to NC State. We were hoping they would’ve updated it with our March payment, but the state “can’t do that because they’d then have to run new payments for the whole state”. We will see a one time adjustment to our state foundation payment in August of around $270-$280,000. In short, we’ll look $270-$280k better off this fiscal year and that same amount worst next fiscal year due to this. I raised a complaint to Ohio Budget and Management but of course only got an apology and assurance that NC State gave their new registrar training to avoid this issue happening again.

Interest continues to pay well as Star Ohio has stayed around 5.48%. Our fiscal year to date interest earnings stands at $845,554.68 overall. Higher than expected January inflation will likely push a slight interest rate cut back, the June meeting looks like the safest bet for a small rate cut. Overall trend in inflation is down, price gains aren’t waning as fast the Fed would like and will want to see more progress before proceeding with a rate cut. From what I’ve read we’ll only experience a moderate drop in rates this year. We probably won’t see the interest earnings next year the way we have this year, but as to what kind of difference that will be remains to be seen.

As far as regular business for the month of February, we received one tax settlement payment from Richland County, which was an advance that was requested. I hope to see the final payment this month or early April at the latest. The revenue variance this year compared to last is higher mostly because we did not have a tax advance in February last year, as Linda was trying to get all the banking information switched. The beginning of the year is usually slow revenue wise, but should start to pick up as we start to see real estate tax settlements start to roll in. As of our meeting, we have received settlements from Crawford, Wyandot, and Huron.

We have two journal entries for approval this month, the transfer to the Maintenance fund of $425,360 (I have the certification letter for the auditor of state ready to be emailed after approval) and the adjustment of the stipend paid to Mike Grimwood from the general fund to the ARP Homeless fund for getting the Ready Room prepared.

No Public Input

Director Clay Frye reported as follows:

Pioneer BPA students competed at the State Leadership Conference in Columbus on March 7th and 8th. Four students placed in the top 5 in the state and earned a chance to compete at the National Contest from May 9th to May 14th in Chicago. 

    Gabe Melvin, Senior, IT Support, Homeschooled, placed 5th in Computer Network Technoloy

    Jason Lambert, Senior, Cybersecurity, Goal Digital Academy, placed 4th in Server Administration

    Bradon Stidam, Senior, Cybersecurity, Shelby HS, placed 2nd in Server Administration

    Brice Browning, Senior, Cybersecurity, Celeryville Christian School, placed 1st in Computer Security - defending state and national champion

Pioneer honored 20 outstanding students during our National Technical Honors Society Induction Ceremony on Tuesday, March 5th. These 20 students represent the top 2% of Pioneer’s student body. Seven students were honored as two-year members and thirteen students were inducted as first-year members. A huge thank you to Vickie Hunt, Emma Jenkins and Jeremiah Howe for their dedication to this event.

Pioneer’s Spring Job Fair for students took place on Friday, March 15th. Over 60 local businesses, colleges and organizations were represented. All of Pioneer’s labs were scheduled for a time to bring their students with their updated resumes to make contact with possible employers, post-secondary institutions and support organizations.

Student placement and application review for the 2024-2025 school year is in full-swing. Application numbers have increased this year again. Student Services is working hard to place students at this time. Associate School Counselors will receive acceptance letters to distribute to next year’s incoming class soon. The Board and Mr. Frye discussed the percentage of applicants that will get one of their first three lab choices and then how they place those students whose first three choices were full.

Board Member Mike Grady reported as follows:

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

On a very positive note, new student enrollment is once again extremely high this year.  The overall sophomore class has stabilized compared to last year so our percentage of applications is growing. At our Priority Enrollment Date, we had 828 applications, up from 783 last year. We are currently at 883 applications, up from 830 at this time last year.  Our staff did an outstanding job this year to prepare for our sophomore visitation experience.

As I mentioned at the February Board Meeting, I am asking that you approve April 8 as a paid day off for all staff scheduled to work that day.  You probably remember that it’s the day of the Solar Eclipse for our area and local Emergency Management Agencies are anticipating severe traffic congestion, cell phone outages, and interruptions in internet services as well as other logistical concerns.

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by the Louisville office of the Army Corp of Engineers requesting permission to access Board of Education owned property to re-conduct soil sampling since this land once served as a military air base.  It was explained to me that, even though we were provided with a Feasibility Study during the 2009-2012 renovation, our site, along with others around the country, was never closed and they need access to reassess the property since so much time has passed.

Important Calendar items upcoming:

03/21/24     - All-Board Dinner

04/11/24     - Negotiations (Issues Exchange)

04/13/24     - Prom

04/17/24     - Business Advisory Council/Superintendents’ Meeting

04/19/24     - Community Service Day

                04/24/24      - Honors’ Night Program

                04/25-26/24 - Negotiations

I am excited to recommend Joy Downing and Mrs. Jennifer Verspoor as Intervention Specialists.  Mrs. Downing comes to us from the Marysville Exempted Village Schools where she has been an Intervention Specialist for the past 4 years.  Mrs. Verspoor joins Pioneer from the Lexington Local Schools where she has also been an Intervention Specialist for 4 years.  I am confident that they will both do an outstanding job of serving our students with disabilities and be very positive members of our instructional staff.

Additionally, I am recommending that you re-employ Ms. Leann Bauerdick as a Math Instructor.  An exhaustive search failed to yield a candidate that was able to come to Pioneer who we felt was also a good fit for our students and staff.

I am also pleased to recommend 3-year contracts for Shannon Sprang, our Academic Supervisor and Kevin Vargyas as one of our Career-Technical Supervisors.  They continue to do an outstanding job on behalf of our students and staff.

I am also recommending that you retroactively approve Mr. Brent Tyrell for paternity Leave for January 16 through February 5.  Brent and his wife welcomed a baby boy to their family earlier this year.

All other personnel are common for this time of year.

No Discussion - Moved to vote

No Discussion - Moved to Vote

No Discussion - Moved to Vote

After the vote, Mike Grady moved to return to Regular Session.  Bill Hope seconded and the Board voted to return to Regular Session.

Note:  Erin Stine had to leave during Executive Session.

No Discussion - Moved to Vote