March 2025 Regular Board of Education Meeting

No discussion.

No discussion. Moved to vote.

Treasurer Bazley reported as follows:

Our interest earnings continue to pay well, we have exceeded what I expected for the Fiscal Year, I was anticipating a few more rate cuts than what actually materialized. With interest rates being as high as they have been, it made sense to have the balance that we do in Star Ohio. With interest rates starting to decrease, it is time to adjust that strategy. I met with Gabe Phillips from Meeder Investments last week and he presented a customized investment portfolio. We would essentially keep the $7,000,000 in Star Ohio for cash flow purposes and then would move about $20 million to the Meeder Investment side to spread over different assets with varying maturities to try and stabilize our interest earnings and be better protected from market volatility.

Since closing February we have moved $125,000 from the FC Bank account to our Operating account. This is the satellite bank for our Bucyrus area satellites. Our 034 fund balance has increased from last month as we will ask you to approve the transfer from the general fund to the maintenance fund along with this financial report.

We are now 8 months through the fiscal year and our general fund is tracking with estimates. The biggest variance is the miscellaneous objects and that lags behind because of the county auditor fees associated with the real estate settlements. We have started to see our real estate tax settlements come in this month, and we typically have them all by early April. Our supplies we generally spend more during the last quarter of the fiscal year.

The only journal entry we have for this month is the transfer of the $425,360 from the general fund to the maintenance fund. After the Board Meeting I will go into the Auditor of State eServices portal and certify that we completed the transfer.

There are a few energies related legislation bills in the House and Senate that could affect tax collections. Greg and I both attended a webinar yesterday produced by OASBO and OSBA with Becky Princehorn from Bricker and Graydon. The biggest takeaway is that it would not be retroactive, but could reduce the assessed value for pipelines from 88% to 25% so it would affect future improvements to the pipeline and any future pipelines. It would end up presenting yet another shift of the property tax burden onto residential and agricultural tax payers.

Budget Bill discussions are still taking place in the House. The fight is still asking for the inputs to be updated and trying to explain that not updating the inputs will again force districts to go to their tax payers for levies. While the current proposal from the governor projects to be favorable to us, it is not that way for almost all of our partner schools.

Next month, we will have a policy review regarding a clause for sick time and allowing a first-year teacher or first year employee to be advanced up to an additional 13 days (of their total 18 for the year) as long as the advanced days don’t exceed their accumulated wages. This will help our first-year staff members that may need some sick time due to extenuating circumstances outside of their control before they have had the opportunity to accumulate a meaningful balance.

Jessica Clark informed the Board the EAP would hold their retirement celebration at 3:30 pm on April 24th and invited the Board to attend the celebration. 

None

None

Mr. Vargyas introduced Meg Haney, our Medical Assisting Instructor. She has been with Pioneer for three years and she discussed the challenges and rewards that have come with coming to Pioneer to be an instructor. She introduced Nevaeh Zellner from Shelby and Kensie Pitt from Crestline. They discussed with the Board their experience in Medical Assisting and how it helped them identify their future plans of what career they wanted to pursue as well as some career paths they were  not as interested in. They also discussed with the Board the impact of A.I. on their field of study. 

Director Frye reported as follows:

Pioneer’s Student Services Department is working through a very busy time of year-

Tracking Senior graduation status

Scholarship applications

OST Testing

Application and Placement process

Associate School Counselors meeting this Wednesday, March 19th

Students will received placed/pending/waitlist letters

Placement process will be ongoing until the start of next school year- students may still apply

Junior Scheduling for 2025-2026 School Year

Pioneer honored 20 outstanding students during our National Technical Honors Society Induction Ceremony on Tuesday, March 4th. These 20 students represent the top 2% of Pioneer’s student body. Eight students were honored as two-year members and twelve students were inducted as first-year members. Retiring staff member Vickie Hunt was recognized as an Honorary Member of NTHS during the ceremony. Vickie was a part of the Strategic Planning team that started Pioneer’s NTHS chapter. A huge thank you to Vickie Hunt, Emma Jenkins and Jeremiah Howe for their dedication to this event.

Other events to note-

Job Fair- over 70 businesses participated

Ohio State Mansfield STEAM event- 40 PCTC students participated

SkillsUSA/HOSA State Competitions- close to 50 students will compete in Columbus

Purple Star Breakfast- students who are impacted by having family members serving in the armed forces

Mr. Grady reported as follows:

Last Wednesday, Governor DeWine presented his State of the State Address.  The Governor advocated for a number of his proposals from his previously submitted budget including his request for a mandatory school cell phone ban; expanding Ohio history and life skill curriculums; and integrating drivers' education into high schools.

The past two weeks, the House Finance Committee heard from a slew of superintendents and treasurers regarding House Bill 96, the house’s version of the state budget.  The House Education Committee has also listened to testimony from superintendents, treasurers and board members about HB 96.

State Rep. Adam Bird, a lawmaker from suburban Cincinnati, recently introduced House Bill 145 which would increase the amount of minimum instructional hours.  For grades 7-12: The current minimum of 1,001 instructional hours would increase by 53 hours to a total of 1,054 hours a year. Representative Marilyn John is a co-sponsor of this bill. 

And, finally, as you may recall, the State of Ohio spent about a billion dollars on vouchers last year.  According to the non-partisan Legislative Service Commission 19% of those vouchers went to students from families earning more than $140,000 per year.

Superintendent Nickoli reported as follows:

MOU WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
I am pleased to recommend a Memorandum of Understanding with Habitat for
Humanity of Richland and Crawford Counties. We have been asked to participate
in a project located here in Shelby. Our Carpentry and Homeland Remodeling
students will have the experience of building a home from the ground up.

REVISIONS TO JOB DESCRIPTIONS
I am asking you to approve a revisions of the Job Descriptions for our High
School Support Secretary and EMIS/Student Services Secretary and Field Tech
positions. With recent retirements and a transfer of positions, we took the
opportunity to revise these job descriptions to more accurately reflect the daily
responsibilities of these positions.

MOU WITH BUCKEYE CENTRAL FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL CAREER
EXPLORATION
I am recommending that you approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Buckeye Central Local Schools to provide a middle school career exploration
class. It mirrors the agreement that we have with the Wynford Local Schools. I
met with the Buckeye Central Superintendent, Treasurer and Middle School
Principal on Tuesday, March 11 th to finalize plans and begin preparing for the
2025-2026 school year. The Buckeye Central Board of Education approved this
agreement at their regular Board Meeting last week.

NEW AND REVISED BOARD POLICY
We have a number of policy items which were provided to you for review at our
February Board Meeting. The items included are all based on the
recommendation of NEOLA, our Policy consultant and I have met to review these
policies with our NEOLA representative.

REVISION TO SPECIAL EDUCATION MODEL POLICIES
I am also asking you to approve a revision to the Special Education Model policies
that were approved at the February Regular Board Meeting. Unfortunately, just
days after our last Board Meeting, NEOLA issued a recommendation that Boards
approve this revision.

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION FOR DONATION
As is the practice of the Board, I am recommending a Resolution of Appreciation
for a sizeable donation to Pioneer. ArceloMittal of Shelby generously donated
$10,000 to be used to support Pioneer’s Community Service Day. We are very
grateful for their generosity.

CALENDAR ITEMS
03/19/25 – OSBA Central Region Spring Conference
03/26/25 - All-Board Dinner
04/09/24 - Business Advisory Council/Superintendents’ Meeting
04/12/25 - Prom
04/23/25 - Honors’ Night
04/25/25 - Community Service Day

PERSONNEL
I am pleased to recommend the three (3) year contracts be extended to the
following administrators: Clay Frye, Director of Operations; Jolene Young,
Assistant Director, HS; Don Paullin, Director of Adult Education; Jeremiah Howe,
Career Tech Supervisor; Dan Slaughter, Career-Tech Supervisor; and Matt Parr,
Satellite Supervisor. They are all doing an exemplary job in their respective roles
and we make, what I believe to be, the highest performing Administrative Team in
Ohio.
I am also recommending that you accept the resignation of Scott Spitler, Lucas
Engineering Foundations Instructor who has accepted a teaching position with the
Fredericktown Local Schools along with their Head Football Coaching Position.
All other personnel are common for this time of year.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
I am recommending that the Board enter into Executive Session to consider the
appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or
compensation of an employee or official.

No Discussion. Moved to Vote.

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No Discussion. Moved to Vote.

No Discussion. Moved to Vote.