April 2024 Regular Board of Education Meeting

Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

March’s Financials reflect the receipt of all county taxes outside of Richland and Ashland County, we have since received those final two and at this point have received all of our property tax settlements. We will have to correct the Seneca County posting as they posted the Rover public utility tax payment to the delinquency rather than current year tax thus resulting in the fees of that settlement not being correct, they stated they’re working on correcting the issue but it’ll likely take most of April.

Our inventory has increased, and will probably increase a little more on next month’s financials as we order/ordered the tee shirts and health academy wear for next school year. This way Graphic Arts can get a head start on getting those items ready.

The Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform will hear testimony on 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, and 5/22. The first two meetings are invited testimonies and the last two are open testimonies and 5/22 will be the final meeting. The income tax repeal had their first hearing in the House and the sponsor gave testimony to the House Ways and Means committee on legislation that would eliminate Ohio’s state income tax and Commercial Activity Tax by 2030. Eliminating the personal income tax in 2021 would have resulted in a revenue loss for the state of $8.6 billion and the LSC estimates a revenue loss of $2.7 billion from the CAT in 2031 (a combination of $11.30 billion from the state budget). Both of these items will be important to watch as they both have the potential to affect the State Budget, as they cut revenue they’ll also have to cut their expenses. Even with another year of the current biennial budget this will be something to watch as if they have to cut some expenses, will they do the final phase in of the FSFP and make it current law?

The first 9 months of the State Budget in FY24 nets a positive $747 million bottom line. Total General Fund Revenue was short of estimates by $876 million and expenditures were $1.623 billion below projections.

As for March Financials, nothing out of the ordinary. March reflects us receiving all but Richland and Ashland county tax settlements. The General Fund in line with projections. The main reason for the YTD variance in revenues is the cumulative increase in the State Foundation as well as increased interest earnings. ECE and Perkins having negative balances are normal. Adult Ed is currently -$48,000 and will probably need a transfer from the General Fund at fiscal year end.

The only journal entries we have this month for approval is the transfer to the Permanent Improvement fund and some Adult Ed Salary charges to code to the Adult Ed Perkins grant.

Mark Bobo from OSBA was in attendance.  He thanked the governing board and stated great things are happening.  He hononed Mike Grady for 10 years of service and leadership.

Assistant Director Jolene Young reported as follows:

Mr. Frye apologizes for not being here this evening as his daughter is being recognized at the Willard Board of Education Meeting and wanted to be there for his daughter and family. 

1. Pioneer SkillsUSA and HOSA students competed in their state contests. 28 students traveled to Columbus to compete in State SkillsUSA Contest- 3 Pioneer students earned Bronze medals. 10 students traveled to the University of Toledo to compete in State HOSA Contest- 3 students earned Gold medals and now have the opportunity to compete at the National HOSA Contest in Houston, TX.

2. Pioneer's Industrial Diesel program recently received our ASE Recertification. This is a lengthy process and takes multiple staff members working together to complete. After the on-site visit from ASE, the review team was very impressed with the space, equipment and tools that Pioneer students are able to work with while in the lab. A few very minor suggestions were made that we will implement, but overall we are very pleased.

3. Safety of all students and staff at Pioneer is very important and continues to be an area of focus. All students and staff participated in the Statewide Tornado Drill on March 20th.

Members of Pioneer's safety team will attend a School Safety Seminar tomorrow in Ashland with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. This will focus on effectively using a Threat Assessment Model to enhance school safety.

4. Pioneer hosted Prom on Saturday, April 15th. The weather for Prom was beautiful and the event was attended by over 140 students. No incidents occurred at Prom and the students had a wonderful evening.

5. Pioneer students have many, many opportunities to be involved with opportunities to enhance their lab experience. A few of them are listed below-
   1. Carpentry students are working at the Harmony House in Mansfield on a project and will explore the opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity on an upcoming build.
   2. Culinary Arts students will attend a lunch at DLX and hear from Cameron Mitchell and his team. The students will also receive a signed copy of Cameron's new book.
   3. Mercy Hospital Systems will be at Pioneer to meet with students from our Medical Programs this week.
   4. Engineering Design Technology students are working on their EV cars for the annual race at Mid-Ohio Raceway. Students from CollegeNOW Engineering will also be in attendance with their car.

Mr. Vargyas introduced Molly Reiderman, a current Culinary Arts student and Carmean Award nominee, to the board and discussed what a great student she is and about the wonderful cheesecakes she makes and is known for. Molly told the Board upon graduation she wants to go to college to be an X-ray technician and hopes to own and run a bakery on the side. She stated her passion for cooking and baking comes from a desire to make people happy and put a smile on their face. 

Board Member Mike Grady reported as follows:

After a lengthy recess, the General Assembly reconvened last week. The general assembly has not passed any bills into law this year.

Last Wednesday, Governor DeWine delivered his State of the State address. The governor called on school districts to prohibit student use of cell phones in the classroom. He asked the legislature to enact a statute that will add career planning to high school graduation requirements.

The State Board of Education discussed the licensure band changes in the 2023 passed budget bill. The bill reduces the grade level band for teaching licenses from the current three to two: Preschool through eighth grade and seventh through twelve grade.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

projected enrollment for next year is still coming in. We have currently placed 749 Sophomores for next year. This would bring our total enrollment to 1,414 total students with 1,108 being on-campus. se continue to be exceptional numbers. We will be welcoming our new students and parents at the Pioneer New Student/Parent Orientation on May 8th. Students and parents will have the opportunity to visit the Career Technical Labs and learn more about Pioneer and their programs.

At the end of the month, I will be checking enrollment very closely to determine if I need to send out Reduction-In-Force (RIF) letters. Although things are looking very good, if needed, RIF letters will be delivered by me to the union and teachers by April 30th.

RIF’s are not acted on until a later board meeting, so I will keep you posted on any reductions that might be necessary. Until that time, Student Services and instructors will continue recruitment efforts.

I am asking that you approve a Memorandum of Understanding to offer a middle school career exploration class at Wynford Middle School. We will be contracting with Wynford for several periods a day for one of their teachers to provide this instruction. This is very much a win-win agreement because Wynford will invoice us at the end of the year for all funds directed to Pioneer so it will not cost them anything and Pioneer will receive all Career-Tech weighted funds in exchange for providing supervision and guidance to the instructor and the program. We will also provide the program with some low-cost software. I believe this is a program that our other Partner Districts will have an interest in offering in future years.

I am asking you to approve a job description for our new LPN Coordinator/Instructor. This is the next phase in offering an LPN program that we hope to open to area adults in January and to our high school students for the 2025-2026 school year. Of course this is pending approval by the Ohio Board of Nursing.

Upcoming year-end administrative activities and calendar items

• 04/17/24        - Business Advisory Council/Superintendents’ Meeting
• 04/19/24        - Community Service Day
• 04/24/24        - Honors’ Night
• 04/25-26/24   - Negotiations
• 05/01/24        - BEST Awards @ Colonel Crawford
• 05/07/24        - Project SEARCH Graduation 1:00 pm
• 05/08/24        - Sophomore Orientation
• 05/10/24        - Senior Moments
• 05/17/24        - Student Appreciation Day
• 05/23/24        - Last Day for Students
• 05/23/24        - Adult Education Graduation
• 05/24/24        - Staff Recognition Breakfast/Teacher Work Day
• 06/03-06/24   - Pioneer Summer Camp

It is with great regret that I recommend that you accept the retirement resignation of Mr. Dan Foss, our long-time IT Support Instructor and recent Cybersecurity Instructor.  Mr. Foss has been an outstanding instructor with a wealth of IT knowledge and will be greatly missed.  You might remember that he brought back a national champion from last year’s BPA National Competition.

It is also with much regret that I am recommending that you accept the retirement resignation of Mr. Dave Such, our Auto Tech Instructor.  Mr. Such has done at outstanding job at Pioneer for 18 years and is extremely well respected in the auto repair field throughout our area. 

Both of these outstanding instructors will be greatly missed.

All other Personnel items are common for the month of April.

Entered into executive session at 7:13 pm.  Mr. Douglas Theaker exited executive session at 7:51 pm.