July 2024 Regular Board of Education Meeting

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Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

These are busy times in the fiscal office. We always get asked the question “You still have to work in the summer?” and it’s funny sometimes to see people’s reactions when I respond and not only tell them yes, but that it is actually our busiest couple of months. We have closed the book on Fiscal Year 24 and have transitioned to operating in Fiscal Year 25. I’d like to close the Park National OSFC State Share money market account and transfer that balance to the regular Park National Money Market account. We had to keep the OSFC funds separate until that project was completely closed out which it is at this point, I don’t think there is a reason to have two money markets within Park National opened.

Interest continues to pay well and it’s a good time to carry a balance. I know in one of my previous reports we talked about rate cuts and experiencing a couple this year, the newest report is on average Fed members expect one rate cut by year-end , with federal funds rate declining to 5.1% which is up from the 4.6% they indicated in March when they anticipated three rate cuts in this current year.

We did not advance monies to the ECE or Perkins grant, we let those accounts be in the negative and put a PCR in place on the last business day of the month to show auditors we were actively trying to collect on those accounts, which we are permitted to do. We transferred $139,039.86 from the general fund to the Adult Ed fund to cover their account balance and outstanding Purchase Orders to make the 012 account zero at the end of the fiscal year. We’ll receive the remaining $4,960,031.25 for the OFCC Career Tech Expansion grant after we have accepted and approved a bid for the renovation and construction of the labs, which we will hopefully have for your approval next month.

The ARP Homeless Grant we used for the Ready Room and sharing closet is almost all spent. There’s about $2,200 remaining that is encumbered and we’ll hopefully have that completely expended soon.

Year-end shows our General Fund balance grew by $3.8M which resulted in our May forecast ending cash balance being 98% accurate.  The revenues were higher by about $86,000 overall and the expenses were $322,070 less than forecasted ($59,000 were advances initially forecasted that we did not process). The next forecast we’ll bring for your approval will be this November.

We have a handful of Journal entries for year-end for your approval.

Please take a look at the year-end financial statements and let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we can discuss them in the August meeting, or my office is always open to answer any questions you may have.

We will now shift focus to compiling the GAAP conversion and then move on to the Audit. I know Linda requested last year to have those completed and posted earlier than normal due to her retirement, I don’t expect them to be done as soon this year, I wasn’t going to request them to get them completed on an earlier timeline this year.

Kris Kowalski was the only guest

No EAP Representative

None

None

Mr. Grady was absent, but the Board discussed regional meetings that STRS of Ohio would be hosting and Mansfield will be hosting one on August 1st. The date is the only information available at this time, a time and place was not yet sent out. 

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

Our staff has been working diligently getting the building ready for the 2023-2024 school year.  Mr. Kowalski has been especially pleased with the summer custodial staff.  They have all been working very hard and are right on schedule.  Additionally, we are doing some blacktop repair in our parking lots and have added a gravel lot for additional student parking and as a location to move our storage trailers and Pioneer owned vehicles used for student training.  Finally, we are currently in the middle of completing the transition of our Industrial Electricity Lab into an Auto Tech Level One lab as part of our OFCC Expansion Project. We always set a goal to be ready for Welcome Week which is August 5-7 and it looks like we will meet that target.

I am recommending that approve an MOU with the Adult Education Divisions of Lorain County Joint Vocational School, Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center, Medina County Career Center and the Sandusky City Schools.  We will administer the Ohio Postsecondary Carl D. Perkins Grant for the consortium.  This agreement will generate a small amount of additional work for our staff but will also generate a small amount of additional funding for our Adult Education Division (5% of the allocated amount for each consortium member).

As I mentioned at our June Board Meeting, I am asking that you approve a new position at Pioneer.  We would like to hire a full-time Licensed Social Worker to serve the social and emotional needs of our students.  The position will provide more comprehensive and consistent services for our students.  As a reminder, funding for this position will come from discontinuing contracted services with local agencies which we have provided for many, many years.

I am recommending that you approve the payment of Science of Reading Stipends mandated by HB33.  Stipends are paid upon completion of ODEW created modules which take 7-21 hours to complete.  Mr. Bazley has created a payment schedule for staff members submitting completion certificates to the Board Office.  All teachers in Ohio must have the appropriate module completed by June 30, 2025.

President Theaker has asked me to place this on the agenda.  He is asking that you nominate a delegate and alternate for the OSBA Conference November 10–12 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.  Last Fall, Mr. Grady served as the Delegate and Mr. Hope was our alternate.  Also, we will be passing around a sign-up sheet for hotel reservations at the August Board meeting.  Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis so it will be very important that we know if you want us to make hotel reservations.  Any cancellations result in a $100 cancellation fee.

At a Board Meeting earlier this Spring there was some discussion regarding barriers to increased enrollment.  I mentioned that one of our largest concerns was the seating capacity of our cafeteria.  As a result, Mr. Bazley, Mr. Kowalski, Mr. Frye and I met with an architect last week to discuss the possibility of commissioning a feasibility/cost study for a cafeteria expansion.  It was shared with us that the fee for such a study would be approximately $25,000.  This doesn’t require Board action but I want to make you aware that, unless there are objections, we will move forward with this initial step.

Additionally, we are on schedule to bring a successful bid for the Career-Tech Expansion Project to the Board at its Regular August Meeting.  We are meeting with representatives from Fanning-Howey and the Board’s Construction Attorney on Wednesday to review the Bid documents.  We’ll then publicly advertise for the project and Mr. Bazely will open all submitted, sealed bids after 3:00pm on August 12.  The bids will be reviewed and the successful bid will be brought to the Board for approval at the August 19 Regular Board Meeting.

I’d like to invite you to our Annual Board Goal Setting session for the 2024-2025 academic year.  It will be conducted the morning of August 2nd from 8:00am until Noon in the Community Room here at Pioneer. This year’s format will include a wrap-up of from our Action Teams that have been working on our Strategic Objectives for the past two years as well as an introduction and goal writing for our new Strategic Objectives that are a part of 5 year Strategic Plan.  We look forward to Board Members joining the Administrative Team as we set the direction for Pioneer for the coming school year.

Important Calendar Items

• • August 2                    - Board Goal Setting Session 8:00am
  • August 5-7                 - Welcome Week
  • August 15                  - New Staff Orientation Day
  • August 16                  - New Staff Professional Development Day
  • August 19                  - Returning Teacher Day
  • August 20                  - First Day of School for Juniors
  • August 21                  - First Day of School for Seniors

I am pleased to recommend the employment of Darien Payne as the Engineering Technology Instructor at Crestline High School.  He comes to us from Newman Technology where he served as an engineer.  Prior to that he worked for Pepperidge Farms in Willard and is also a graduate of the Engineering Design Program here at Pioneer.  He did an outstanding job throughout the hiring process and we are excited to have him join Pioneer.

I also want to remind you that we have yet to find a Cybersecurity Instructor.  While we are still actively searching, we have a plan to serve students should we not locate a candidate by the start of the school year.              

All other personnel items are normal for this time of the year.

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