MINUTES OF THE MARGARETTA BOARD OF EDUCATION (BOE) REGULAR MEETING OF FEBRUARY 27, 2023.

Margaretta Board of Education met in regular session at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 27, 2023 at the Margaretta Board of Education, 305 S. Washington Street, Castalia, Ohio.

Regular Board Meeting
Mr. Sutorius, Board President, then called the regular meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. requesting roll call by Mrs. Keegan:

Mr. Hula:
Mr. Schoenegge: Mrs. Tucker:
Mr. Warner: Mr. Sutorius:

Present. Present Present Present Present

The Pledge of Allegiance was then recited after roll call.

Approval of the Minutes
Motion by Mr. Warner, and seconded by Mr. Hula, to approve the minutes from the Regular BOE Meeting held on Monday January 23, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Board and Staff Reports
Townsend Community School’s (TCS) Report and TCS Margaretta Sponsor’s Report
Mr. Ryan Bohn, TCS Principal and Superintendent, stated that the current TCS student enrollment was 519 and already have 41 graduates this school year. He also informed the board with new HB554 legislation, which allows TCS and other dropout prevention schools to establish alternate sites in adjacent counties. TCS has signed a lease with Pontifex in Fremont to utilize the facility as an alternate learning site. Mr. Bohn will bring the details to the Margaretta board for approval once they are all finalized. Mr. Bohn also reported that their board has selected ADENA as their construction company for their summer renovations of the building. He stated that they are using ESSER funds to improve the safety of the building with bullet proof doors and less glass walls and are structuring rooms to be more conducive for learning and safety in mind. He also stated that Wednesday, February 22nd was National Bus Driver Appreciation Day, and as such he wanted to thank all the bus drivers and bus aides for all their important work.

Mr. Steve Keller, TCS Compliance Officer, was excused from the meeting due to the boys’ basketball practice as he prepares for District Semi Finals on Wednesday. Mr. Kurt reported that we communicated the quarterly legal update to TCS, had our monthly TCS/Margaretta meeting, been reviewing our TCS bus routes for next school year, etc. Mrs. Keegan also mentioned that ODE informed Margaretta that the TCS annual audit had begun with the first site visit on the 23rd of February. Margaretta will be a part of the process and review the end results of the audit.

Public Participation
Ms. Lori Brodie, Northwest Regional Liaison to the Auditor of State (AOS) presented the AOS Award for excellence in financial reporting in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and compliance with applicable laws for the fiscal year 2022. Ms. Brodie stated that only 8% of the entities that are audited by the state of Ohio (out of approximately 5,900 state audits performed) will win this award. She stated some of the criteria for receiving this award such

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as; no audit findings, no major deficiencies, no ethics referrals, no account reconciliation issues, audited statements filed within 150 days, basically a ‘clean’ audit, etc. She congratulated the district for this award and presented the certificate to Mrs. Keegan.

Mrs. Kim Miller asked if the board has ever considered going to school uniforms to address the school dress code issues. Mr. Warner stated that it hasn’t been brought up in a long time as a concern. Mrs. Miller also asked if the board has ever thought about eliminating phones at the schools, similar to what Perkins and Huron has done. Mr. Sutorius stated that the board will discuss the matters.

Mr. Gary Smith was questioning the reason for the Intervention Specialist teaching job posting and what was prompting the posting. Mr. Kurt explained again that due to several employees leaving (in late summer of 2022) and specifically an Intervention Specialist teacher (and others), we filled them with retire/rehire or part time solutions for 2022-2023 school year. This year we hired a half a day Preschool teacher and a half a day Intervention Specialist and are now looking to fill the Intervention Specialist position as a fulltime position for next year.

Mrs. Audra Rooker, Bowling Coach, wanted to thank Mr. Kurt, Mr. Grahl, and Dr. Theis for supporting the bowling team and the board for making it possible. She reviewed how the team did in the tournaments. She stated that she had students that were District Qualifiers, and mentioned that Grant Brake finished 12th and Mariah Fields finished 18th in the District Tournament. She thanked everyone for the opportunity to have this team compete. Mr. Sutorius and the other board members thanked Mrs. Rooker and extended congratulations to the team.

Introduction of Additional Items to the Agenda None

The Financial Report and Schedule of Bills
Mrs. Keegan presented the schedule of bills, bank reconciliations, fund balances, etc., that were included in the Board’s packages for review. Mrs. Keegan stated that the revenue through January results was a total of $8.8M and expenses of $10.4M resulting in a decrease to the general fund balance of $(1.6)M. The beginning cash balance in the total general fund as of July 1, 2022 was $0.6M and the seven months into the fiscal year generated a final General Fund cash balance of $(0.9)M (or $(1.8)M, without the general fund reserve of $944K).

Treasurer’s Report New Business
Motion by Mrs. Tucker seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, on Resolution number 22-23-48, authorizing the Treasurer to make Inter-Fund Transfers of funds for the fiscal year of 2023. Mrs. Keegan stated that with the first half tax advances coming in, she needed to transfer 75% of the Nexus dollars to the New Facility Reserve and clean up a small balance in a state grant account; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Hula seconded by Mrs. Tucker, on Resolution number 22-23-49, to approve expenditures that have exceeded the $3,000 threshold of the “then and now” provisions of Ohio Revised Code Section 5705.41(d). Mrs. Keegan stated that this Then and Now occurred given the inspection company came in to inspect the diving board and decided to also complete the bleacher inspection during that visit. Therefore the bleacher inspection occurred earlier then in

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the past and so the purchase order was not yet in place at the time of the inspection; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, on Resolution number 22-23-50, to authorize Ohio School Council (OSC) to advertise and receive school bus bids on the district’s behalf for the Spring, 2023 bidding cycle; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker seconded by Mr. Warner, on Resolution number 22-23-56 accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Erie County Budget Commission for the purpose of property tax collections year 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Informational
Excess Cost results – Mrs. Keegan reported out on the total excess cost net results and explained how the process works. She stated that the District has billed out $392K in excess cost and other districts have in turned billed us $150K, which nets a revenue of $242K for the school district.

Mrs. Keegan then explained that while Excess Cost is for open enrolled students in and out of the district, Catastrophic Cost Recovery is our high cost students who are Margaretta residence. Mrs. Keegan wanted the Board to know that we are beginning the Catastrophic Cost Recovery process for the fiscal year of 2022 and will be completed in March.

Superintendent’s Report New Business
Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mrs. Tucker, on Resolution number 22-23-51, to approve an MOU agreement with Terra State Community College for the purpose of providing opportunities for students to enroll in the dual credit College Credit Plus (CCP) Program for the 2023-2024 School Year. Mr. Kurt reminded the board that we enter into these CCP agreements with colleges that are within a 30 mile radius; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Hula seconded by Mrs. Tucker, on Resolution number 22-23-52, to approve the renewal of a contract with the Northern Ohio Educational Computer Association (NOECA) for the purpose of providing the District Computer Support services for the two year period of
July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. Mrs. Keegan also stated that this contract is a savings of $14,520 per year from the 2022-2023 school year level; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, on Resolution number 22-23-53, to approve the contract with NWOCA/Northern Buckeye Education Council (NBEC) to provide the High School wireless internet access services to the district for the two year period of July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2025. Mrs. Keegan also stated that this contract is a savings of $17,430 per year from the 2022-2023 school year level, due to the current year having a hardware refresh cost included; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker seconded by Mr. Warner, on Resolution number 22-23-54, to approve the contract with Education Alternatives located in Elyria for the purpose of providing

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Educational Services to a student placed in their unit for the 2023-2024 School Year; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Hula, on Resolution number 22-23-55, to approve the contract with LearnWell Academics Hospital Instruction for the purpose of providing Educational Services to a hospitalized student effective retroactively to January 14, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker seconded by Mr. Warner, to approve the high school track team out of state spring break trip to Virginia Beach on April 5th to the 9th; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Hula, to approve Austin Porter for graduation, as all graduation requirements have been met; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Informational Nexus update
Mr. Kurt stated that the Board of Tax Authorities (BTA) upheld the Nexus settlement decision. The Lorain County Auditor, Mr. Snodgrass, now has 30 days to appeal that decision, which that appeal window should be closed on March 13th. While we wait to see what happens with Mr. Snodgrass, we have asked Mosser, our Construction Manager at Risk (CMR) to rebid the GMP2 bid to complete the interior and perimeter footers and foundations and to update the entire cost of the PK-12 new school project to see the impact that economics/inflation has had on the cost of our project. He also stated that we are trying to keep the project moving forward while we wait for Mr. Snodgrass’ decision and trying to get ahead of the larger Ohio projects material orders, like Intel. Mr. Kurt stated that the next Lorain County Commissioners meeting is scheduled for March 7th, which Mr. Kurt and Mr. Ted Kastor are tentatively planning on attending. The hope is that at that meeting the Commissioners will not approve any additional appropriated dollars to pursue the appeal to the higher courts. Mrs. Keegan also stated that she along with Mr. Kurt and Mr. Kastor scheduled a conference call with Bricker and Eckler, our attorney, (Becky Princehorn) and Mike Sudsina, our Municipal Advisor, to discuss the Certificate of Participation (COPs) bond issuance for the new school as well. Again, the team is trying to complete as much of the work ahead of the appeal window closing, so as to be able to move quickly if we get a favorable answer from Mr. Snodgrass on or before March 13th.

Mr. Kurt then informed the board that he will be bringing a revised school calendar for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school year that will move the graduation ceremony to Sunday at 7:00 pm versus Saturday, given the Saturday date has a conflict for the State track meets.

Mr. Kurt then passed out Ohio School Council (OSC) Certificates to the board related to Margaretta’s annual savings from participating in their utility programs. OSC documented that Margaretta had annual natural gas program savings of $33,252.59 in fiscal year 2022 and anticipated savings of $38,000 in electricity through Power4Schools program.

Personnel Actions
Motion by Mr. Hula seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to approve FMLA and unpaid leave requests; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

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Certified
Motion by Mrs. Tucker seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to approve the resignation of Steve Keller Jr. as Assistant Principal effective July 31, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Hula, to hire Steve Keller Jr. as CBI teacher for the 2023-2024 school year, pending all state and local requirements are met; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner and seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to hire Michael Roberts as MS/HS Assistant Principal, effective August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2026, pending all state and local requirements are met. Mr. Kurt welcomed Mr. Roberts to the team. Mr. Roberts then introduced his wife and three children, who he said are excited to become Margaretta Polar Bears! And he thanked the Boardfor this opportunity; RollCall: Mr.Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker and seconded by Mr. Warner, to hire Business Teacher, William Minshall IV, for the 2023-2024 school year, pending all state and local requirements are met; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner and seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to hire Steve Keller and Brian Ringholz as event workers for the 2022-2023 school year; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Schoenegge and seconded by Mrs. Tucker, to approve the retirement of Jeanine Adams, music teacher effective at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Mr. Kurt informed the board that she has 26 years at Margaretta and a total career of 38 years. Mr. Warner stated that she was a great teacher and will be missed, with the rest of the board agreeing; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker and seconded by Mr. Hula, to approve the hiring of the following coaches for the 2023 spring Field and Track: Luke Weyer - JH Boys Coach, Marnie Hallett-Szymanski -JH Boys Assistant Coach; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Classified
Motion by Mr. Warner and seconded by Mr. Hula, to approve the resignation of Kory Herman, Assistant Treasurer - Accounts Payable effective March 3, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker and seconded by Mr. Warner, to approve the resignation of Melissa Vassallo, District Secretary, effective February 17, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Hula and seconded by Mrs. Tucker, to hire Melissa Vassallo, Assistant Treasurers - Accounts Payable, effective February 20, 2023; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

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Motion by Mrs. Tucker and seconded by Mr. Warner, to approve the hiring of Steve Gravenhorst, 2023 Track and Field Varsity Assistant Boys Coach, pending completion of all state and local requirements are met; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner and seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to approve the JH Assistant Volunteer Track Coach, John Zang, pending completion of all state and local requirements are met; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Hula and seconded by Mrs. Tucker, to hire Audra Rooker as a bus aide effective February 27, 2023; Roll Call: Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner and seconded by Mr. Hula, to enter Executive Session to discuss the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion or compensation of public employees; Roll Call: Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Mr. Kurt remind the board of all the upcoming tournaments starting on Wednesday, March 1st with the boys basketball team playing Cardinal Stritch at 7:30 p.m. and then on Thursday, March 2nd with the girls basketball team playing Harvest Prep at 6 p.m. and then on Friday, March 3rd District Wrestling Day 1 at Rossford High School at 4 p.m.

The Board entered Executive Session to discuss the appointment or employment of public employees at 7:12 p.m. with Mrs. Keegan, and Mr. Kurt remaining in the Executive Session.

Motion by Mrs. Tucker, seconded by Mr. Schoenegge, to return to open session; Roll Call: Mr. Warner: aye, Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Motion by Mr. Warner seconded by Mr. Hula, to adjourn the meeting having no further business to come before the Board; Roll Call: Mr. Hula: aye, Mr. Schoenegge: aye, Mrs. Tucker: aye, Mr. Warner: aye, and Mr. Sutorius: aye.

Adjourning at 8:00 p.m.

Next Regular Meeting will be Monday, March 27, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. at the Margaretta Board of Education, 305 S. Washington Street Castalia, Ohio.

Respectfully Submitted

_________________________ Brian Sutorius
Board President

______________________ Diane Keegan
Treasurer

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