4.3 Temporary Appropriations - This is our annual Temporary Appropriations resolution in order for us to be able to operate and pay the bills until the final appropriations are brought to the Board and approved. Final FY25 Appropriations will be presented at the September Board meeting.

4.4 Liability Insurance- SORSA - We unfortunately are not immune to the mess that is property/liability insurance market right now. Our SORSA renewal came in at $100,288 compared to last year's $86,326, which is a $13,962 increase (16%). Utica was a provider that ballparked a quote that would've been around $40,000 higher in premium than SORSA. Liberty could have been competitive at the expense of a lower Liability limits than we have with SORSA and with a $100,000 windfall deductible. The increase we are seeing is in line with what some other districts I have spoken to are seeing as well. 

The fiscal office is busy right now as we prepare to button up FY24 and prepare to close the Fiscal Year as well as get ready for FY25 which will start next month July 1^st. Our investment income continues to perform strong and Star Ohio annualized rate sits at 5.46% which is up compared to last year at this time of 5.38%.

Pioneer Career & Technology Center achieved the Auditor of State Award for FY23. A Liaison from the Auditor of State’s Office will come tomorrow to present the award to us. I did not want to ask the Liaison to a Board Meeting as this was earned by Linda and the rest of the staff, I didn’t want it to seem like I was getting credit for something that happened totally under Linda’s watch.

We have done drawdowns for several of the Grants.  As usual, the Perkins and ECE grants have been drawdown for the negative balances. We will do another drawdown before June 30^th for the amount those accounts are negative, you are allowed to have an account be negative as long as you are actively trying to collect on it, which is having a PCR in place. This eliminates the painstaking process of advancing to the grant funds and then returning the advances to the general fund. At year end we will present the transfer of funds to Adult Ed to cover their deficit for the Fiscal Year.

The biggest difference in revenue from May 2024 compared to May 2023 is that we received the Homestead and Rollback from Richland County in May this year compared to June last year and our Interest earned for the May 2024 compared to last year being about $50,000 higher. The General Sale/Loss of Assets were proceeds from the Auction conducted by Charles Miller on our behalf.

For your approval this month we also are presenting the request for and Amended Certificate of Available Resources from the County Auditor’s office.  This is to prove to the Auditor we did not over-appropriate or expend more than we have. The biggest change is the addition of the 495 fund which is the Career Technical Construction Fund (OFCC expansion grant).

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Not only is it hard to believe that the 2023 – 2024 school year is over, it’s amazing to reflect back on how well it went.  We finished the year off in outstanding fashion with our Spring Adult Education Graduation, an exciting Student Appreciation Day and our End-of-the-Year Staff Breakfast.  Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Theaker for attending the breakfast and to Mr. Theaker for providing some concluding comments to an outstanding year. 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 2024 – 2025 school year.

Pioneer staff, led by Mr. Kevin Vargyas, hosted our third Summer Camp for students in 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grades in our Partner Schools.  120 students got to experience hands on activities in our Culinary Arts, Carpentry, Graphic Arts, Horticulture, Media Communications and IT Support labs.  The week concluded with a visit to Pepperidge Farms in Willard where they learned how Golfish, Milanos, Chessman cookies.  Family and social media responses indicated that it was a tremendous success. 

As you may recall, during the pandemic schools were granted permission to change the requirements for substitute teachers.  At Pioneer, we changed our requirements to more closely mirror those required of our Career-Tech Instructors.  Last year, that same permission was granted, and now, with Board approval, we can make it permanent.

As I mentioned, we held our Spring Adult Education Graduation at the end of May.  We had nearly 400 family and friends in attendance.  Our enrollment this year more than doubled as we had 112 student complete programs.  Also, we are making our way through the LPN process.  We are still awaiting approval from the Ohio Board of Nursing.  On a positive note, we have 45 individuals who have expressed interest in our first class.

After conferring with Mr. Bazley, Mr. Frye, and some of our Student Services Staff, I would like to begin the process of hiring a Licensed Social Worker at Pioneer.  We spent nearly $80,000 last year to contract for these services.  Hiring this position directly will give our students full-time access to the help they need and a consistent person for them to meet with.  With this addition in mind, I’ll be bringing a job description to you at the July Board Meeting.

We are asking you to approve the Schematic Drawings for our CTE-Grant addition/renovation.  Our drawings have been submitted to the OFCC and, once approved there, our project will be ready to go out to bid.  We’ll work with Fanning-Howey and Desmond Cullimore, our attorney to prepare the bid documents and move on to the next phase in the project.  

I am recommending that you approve the employment of Cassie White as our newest English Instructor.  Mrs. White comes to us, highly recommended, from Northmor High School.  She has previously taught Sophomore English and their College Credit Plus classes.  As you might know, CCP credentialed teachers are difficult to find so we are especially excited to have her join Pioneer.

I am also recommending that you rehire Mr. Dave Such as our Auto Tech Instructor.  After posting the position and interviewing candidates we were unable to find an instructor who with adequate experience or that the interview team felt was a good fit for the students at Pioneer.

We are also are currently still searching for a Cybersecurity Instructor and an Engineering Technology Instructor.  Career-Tech Instructors have historically been difficult to find and with increasing wages in certain fields, it is becoming and even greater challenge.

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.

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