October 2024 Regular Board of Education Meeting

Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

Nothing out of the ordinary as far as monthly financials for September goes. Our revenues are up over last year, the biggest difference being our state funding and interest earnings. Our expenses are also on track, the biggest difference of current year to previous year is the adjustment on our foundation due to the whole NC State fiasco. They did a one time clawback of those funds from us this year due to NC State not reporting correctly last year. Mr. Burtscher did tell me they are reporting for those CCP classes this year.

Our State Foundation is updated to current year data for our enrolled ADM, Economically Disadvantaged, English Learners, Students with Disabilities FTE. Our Career Tech Education data numbers will be updated with our December payment.

We have encumbered all of the funds that we could for the OSFCC Career Tech Construction Expansion Grant. We had to have them encumbered by 9/30/2024 and send back any funds that were leftover. We ended encumbering all but $374,647.86 (5.7%) of our total award of $6,613,375. We tried our best to get everything encumbered, but didn’t want to order items that we wouldn’t adequately use just to spend those dollars.

You should have received an email from Julian & Grube with a link to a Fraud Questionnaire, please complete this if you would like to, if you do not complete it the auditors assume there are no concerns of fraud. The auditors will be here next week starting on Monday. I’m hoping by the time they leave they will have the field work mostly complete and majority of the audit complete.

Interest is still really good.  The Fed cut interest rates by 50 basis points in September, the first rate reduction since March 2020. The central bank’s federal funds range is now in a range of 4.75% to 5%.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Perkins and ECE grants have all been closed out and the Final Expenditure Reports complete. The ARP Homeless Grant was also completed and closed out, we were able to spend all those monies on the “Ready Room” which will continue to provide an area for our kids in need to get ready as well as hygiene supplies, clothing, etc. that some of our students might not get otherwise.

The presumption with the state budget is that the last two years of the Fair School Funding Plan will be included in the next state biennial budget. The question is will the inputs change, any movement on any of the studies that were completed, Will DPIA be adjusted, or any change to the Guarantee? Aaron Rausch had mentioned that if the legislators were going to do anything different from the FSFP they would have had some indication that would be the case by now and the legislature is behind the eight ball in terms of getting a different funding model in time for the budget cycle at this point. There is also a sense that the legislature will do something about property tax, the question is what will happen and if they will adjust the 20 mil floor. The OEPI (Ohio Education Policy Institute) released an analysis on October 14^th on home valuations over the past 20 years, the analysis showed that recent reappraisals are far outside the historical norms and are best viewed as an anomalous short-term issue, and reinforces the need for a targeted, short term approach.

Next month we will our Records Commission meeting at 5:30 pm and our Finance Committee (Doug Theaker, Bill Hope, and Dennis Long) meeting at 5:45 pm prior to our Board Meeting.

Director Frye reported as follows:

Parent-Teacher Conferences were held on Thursday October 3rd and Thursday October 10th. Staff met with parents who were able to travel to Pioneer and staff also made phone calls to parents who could not make it to Pioneer but wanted an update on their student. During Parent-Teacher Conferences, Pioneer’s School Counselors held a CCP meeting for parents/students. Conferences were well attended and the CCP meeting was attended by more parents than previous years.

Fall Advisory Committee Dinner/Meetings will be hosted at Pioneer this Thursday, October 24th. Dinner will be prepared and served by Pioneer’s Culinary Arts students. One of our goals this Fall has been to update our Advisory Committee lists and add new members. During the afternoon of Pioneer’s October 11th Staff Inservice Day, lab instructors and academic teachers visited businesses that would be potential candidates to add to their Advisory Committees. 

Pastries for Parents is scheduled for Friday, October 25th from 8:45-10:00am. Families/friends will be welcomed in the Pioneer Arena while sharing pastries and coffee. After the pastries, families/friends will accompany their students to the lab and see what the students have been working on this school year.

8th Grade Tours will kick-off at Pioneer on Monday, October 28th. 8th grade students from each of our 14 partner schools will visit Pioneer and be led on tours by Pioneer’s Student Ambassadors. Tours are scheduled to conclude on November 5th. 

Pioneer’s Industrial Diesel program had the unique opportunity to get a close look at some military vehicles recently. Members of our local military brought vehicles and students were able to climb in, on, and under the vehicles to get a close-up view of the engine systems and compare them to vehicles they normally work on in the lab. Great opportunity that our students don’t get every day.

Dan Burtscher presented Pioneer CTC's School Report Card in detail and explained what all goes into the scoring system 

No Legislative Liaison report. 

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

On October 9^th we hosted Pioneer’s Fall Business Advisory Council. Since October is Manufacturing month, we invited approximately 30 representatives of manufacturing companies in our region.  18 companies were represented by 21 individuals.  We heard from Team NEO which is the Economic Development Organization representing Northeast Ohio of which Richland County is a part.  We also heard a presentation by Pioneer Workforce Development Coordinator Karrie Davisson about YouScience, a product Pioneer is purchasing for all of our Partner Districts to use in their high schools.

As previously reported, enrollment is very strong this school year.  Our only program on the RIF list this year is our Meat & Animal Science Program which will continue to be combined.  This has been the case for many years due to the nature of the work done in the lab.

With the retirement of Eric Winbigler, Homeland Security Instructor, we began researching a possible change of focus for the program.  After some discussion with other Career Centers and research by speaking with local first responders we are planning to give the program a broader First Responder focus.  The program will still include a law enforcement component but also include EMT and Fire Fighter components.  The program will not include the EMT and Fire Fighter I and II credentials but will include entry level training preparing students for post-secondary training in those careers.  Mr. Paullin, in our Adult Education Department, is looking to add an EMT program at that level so students will be able to obtain their credentials at Pioneer immediately after graduation. We will continue to offer our Criminal Justice Program for those students who wish to move directly into law enforcement

I am asking that you approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Education Association of Pioneer regarding hours worked for overtime calculation on paid holidays.  As you might recall, overtime calculation was a part of the discussion during our most recent negotiations.  During that time, we clarified language to state that overtime pay, time and a half, would be paid only for time worked beyond hours actually worked.  We failed to consider paid holidays during our discussions so this MOU remedies that omission.

I hoped to be able to provide you with greater detail on the progress of our cafeteria expansion study, however, after a Zoom Meeting with representatives of Fanning-Howey, they are still working on the details.  This past Friday, they presented some ideas for the expansion but in looking at their suggestions, they weren’t in line with our needs. 

October 24^th brings significant changes to the procedures that we are required as a part of SB29 which was signed into law last summer.  We will be sending out a notification to all parents that we regularly monitor their student’s activity on school-owned devices and networks and will be required to notify them within 72 hours if their student’s activity is “flagged” for anything that might be inappropriate.  Also, as a part of SB29, we are required to ensure that any software programs or online portals that we use do not share, sell or otherwise distribute student information.  This requirement affects all new or renewed contracts or logins that require the user to agree to any “terms and conditions.”  This will likely slow down our implementation of new software because it will require a legal review before utilization.  It may also mean that we can no longer use programs should the vendors be unwilling to include the required language in their contracts.

CALANDAR ITEMS

• • October 24                      - All-Advisory Committee Dinner Meeting
  • October 25                      - Pastries with Parents
  • Oct 28 – Nov 6               - 8^th Grade Tours
  • November 20                  - Ralph Phillips Business Partner of the Year Dinner
  • November 11                  - Veteran’s Day Celebration
  • November 10-12            - Ohio School Boards Association Capital                                                                 Conference & Trade Show

I am asking that you accept the retirement resignations of Bill Dicthl, our Graphic Arts Instructor and Ellen Shifley, an Intervention Specialist here at Pioneer.  Mrs. Shifley joined the Pioneer staff in 2017.  During her nearly eight years, she has served our students with disabilities with care, compassion and professionalism.  In addition to her work with students she has shared several outstanding instructional strategies with other staff members.  Her hard work is greatly appreciated and she will be missed as she moves on to the next phase of her life.

Mr. Dichtl joined Pioneer’s instructional staff in 2009.  He has been fully devoted to his students and to the staff at Pioneer and our Partner Districts since his first day on the job.  Not only is he a patient, dedicated instructor but he has built a program that is relied on by many of our Partner Districts to produce high quality documents with a quick turn around time and he has always done so very professionally.  Mr. Dichtl expressed, in his letter to me, that he would be interested in returning to his position should the Board see fit.

All other items are common for this time of year.