By Noell Wolfgram Evans

Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education meeting

Kimpton Middle School

August 18, 2025

The Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education met for a sometimes contentious meeting at Kimpton Middle School on Aug. 18. In attendance were President Pamela Wind, Vice President Kari Suhadolnik, member Antoinette East-Jenkins, member Mike Sheehan, member Tina Merlitti, student representative Avery Swanson, Superintendent Felisha Gould and Treasurer Patrick Goclano.

The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. and all in attendance were invited to rise and offer the Pledge of Allegiance. Following a reading of the vision statement by Wind on the purpose and structure of the meeting, Gould offered a superintendent’s report. She first thanked the staff and everyone involved with the opening of school convocation. She then stated that all parents should have received a link to the school dashboard in advance of the Aug. 19 start of school. Gould next invited several students to the stage to be recognized for their recent achievements.

First up was the speech and debate team and their coach, Jimmy Miller. Miller introduced four students who participated in the national competition. Out of over 200 students participating in the national event, in their respective categories Joshua Jordan finished 48th, CeCe Lattime and Otis Schoenberg placed 33rd and Jackson Moore finished in 11th place. In honor of their achievements, Gould presented the team with a check for $2,000.

FCCLA Coach Megan Armstrong spoke about the accomplishments of her team at their national event. At the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America event, Stella Haines and Sophia Pecoraro finished in the top 10 in the interior design competition. Kamryn Martin and Anisha Baura took the top spot in the promote and publicize category.

Finally, teacher Jessica Martinez put the spotlight on her students who recently competed at the Invention Convention. There were 900 students competing in this event and three Stow students finished near the top, earning several awards, including a 529 scholarship. Jace Renner invented the Quiet Cup, Beloved Olofinsawo brought the Super Strainer and Lula Gentithes shared her invention, the Grip-No-Slip Hair Tie.

The final student to be recognized was Swanson, who will be the student representative to the board this year. “I am very grateful to help make decisions that will affect all students in a positive manner,” she said.

Wind offered congratulations to all of the students and thanked their parents, coaches and school staff for the work and time they put into each activity.

Kimpton Principal Steve Deitrick was then provided an opportunity to speak about the school. He shared that the focus is on continuous improvement and staff and student wellness. As part of this focus, the school has seen a preliminary improvement in their state ratings. In the Achievement category, it moved from a 3-star rating to 4 stars. For Gap Closing, it moved up 2 places to a 5-star rating. In scoring, the 8th grade math scores improved by 10% (up to a 56 passing rate).

He also shared that last school year, suspensions were down by 10% from the previous year while Positive Referrals (offered by staff when they see a student helping others) were at 291.

Deitrick then provided an overview of the out-of-classroom opportunities provided for students, families and the community. He also introduced Vice Principal Evelyn Haught.

Following the viewing of a welcome back video for Kimpton students, Sheehan asked for two points of order. The first was a question on listed dates in the agenda. It was stated that one was a regular meeting and the other a special meeting of the board. He then asked that item 10 be stricken from the agenda as he believed it was added improperly. There was some discussion around rules and precedents. A brief recess was entered into so that any students could leave if they desired. Following the recess, the public was invited to make any comments on any of the items that were to be voted on that night. No one rose to speak.

Gould then requested that the board approve a consent agenda that included the approval of the Contract for Services-ESC of the Western Reserve for the 2025-2026 school year. Sheehan questioned what the contract was for, and Gould offered that it says all buildings but is primarily to provide electricity to the field house. Also in the agenda was a contract for Services-ESC of NEO Service Agreement for Hearing Impairment Services and for Visually Impaired Services for the 2025-2026 school year, a contract for Services-Asian Services in Action Service Agreement for the 2025-2026 school year, a contract for Services-ESC of NEO-Capstone Academy for the 2025-2026 school year, a contract for Services-ESC of NEO-Interpreter Services for the 2025-2026 school year, a contract for Services-Reserve School Applewood Centers Service Agreement for the 2025-2026 school year, a contract for Services-Harbor Education Services, LLC Leap Program Service Agreement for the 2025-2026 school year, an approval to pay teachers from four area universities who will act as mentors this school year, and the bus stop location and route map.

The consent agenda also requested permission to give listed Stow and Munroe Falls police officers written authorization to carry a firearm and any operationally necessary law enforcement equipment within a school, approval to the schools to dispose of certain equipment, and the acceptance of donations from a resident and the Rotary club.

The consent agenda was passed unanimously. Gould also requested the board approve an agreement with the Summit County Board of Elections to offer Kimpton and Woodland schools to be used at no charge for a pre-election meeting and as polling stations on Nov. 4. This measure was approved by all members.

The treasurer’s consent agreement was next on the agenda. Goclano first asked the board to approve the July 21 and Aug. 4 meeting minutes. He also presented a new format for financial reports and annual reporting.

As part of the discussion on these documents, Sheehan asked for the costs the district is paying to Savvas and Newsela. Gould asked what he wanted to know exactly, as Savvas is a company that has many different curriculum aspects to it. Sheehan said he wanted it all, and he wished to know if the district was using the free or paid service from Newsela. Goclano offered to pull those numbers by the end of the week.

Goclano then asked the board to approve Policy 6140, which needs to be approved each year and deals with who can make deposits with the banks the district does business with. The introduction of this policy brought about a spirited debate with Sheehan wondering why it hadn’t been brought up earlier in the calendar year. Goclano said it should be part of the planning meeting every January and would be included on that agenda going forward. Sheehan questioned who else should be given permission to talk with the district’s banks. Wind said that was outside of the board's operating responsibility and, after some back and forth, she called for a vote on the policy. Sheehan challenged that move and sought to call the question. This request was voted down by all members except Sheehan. A motion was then made to adopt the policy. All members voted in favor except Sheehan.

Wind then asked all board members to consider moving two meeting dates. The first to accommodate the Capital Conference, which some board members and staff would be attending. The second meeting would need to be moved to accommodate a change in timing of a state mandated report. Sheehan questioned the moves and wondered if it would be easier in the future to move the board meeting schedule from twice a month to just once. 

Wind recalled that this was the meeting cadence at one time but that the board could not conduct their business in a timely manner and ended up with many special meetings. There was an agreement to revisit this idea during the next schedule planning meeting.

Sheehan then asked Goclano why the district was not actively engaged in Ohio Checkbook, citing a board resolution from 2015. Goclano offered to look into the process. Wind asked Sheehan if he had read the resolution in question. Sheehan stated he was basing his request on the minutes from the prior meeting. Goclano offered to find the original resolution and circulate it to the board by the end of the week.

Under policy updates, Sheehan called into question the amount being spent for administrators and staff to go to events. Gould cautioned that the general number in that budget line included things like athletic teams travelling to away games, professional development and the trips the students who were at the meeting earlier took for their competitions. Sheehan said he had talked to teachers recently in two different states about their professional development process. According to his conversation, their districts pay for classes while they pay travel and lodging. He wondered if they should not look at the same practice. Suhadolnik said, “are you asking teachers to pay for their own travel and lodging for professional development?” Sheehan responded, “yes, that’s what they do.” “I just wanted to get it on the record,” Suhadolnik replied. Wind suggested that as a board member, Sheehan could certainly suggest policy changes, but cautioned that he work with legal counsel to ensure that they “were legally correct and met our collective bargaining agreements.”

Goclano spoke on a change in how they would be tracking outstanding lunch fees going forward. The decision was to convert it from a lunch fee to a school fee when the total reaches $1,000. This prompted a discussion about how the district currently contacts families regarding outstanding lunch fees, how to manage their use of the federal free school lunch program, and if any policies could be changed that would provide leverage in collecting funds prior to participation in school events. East-Jenkins said “we have to figure out a way to not harm the students.” 

As the discussion continued, all were in agreement that no student should be denied a lunch. Goclano also said that Nutrition Services was “very self-sustaining” and estimated they had a million dollars in the bank.

Gould then shared changes to the school cell phone policy. In January of 2026, state mandated changes to cell phones in schools takes effect and Gould has been working to develop a policy that helps meet students needs, works toward the mandated changes and is in line with the other schools in the six school compact district.

Swanson shared that the changeover will be hard because “there is an anxiety over ‘what if something happens’” during the school day.

Gould also shared a presentation showing how parents can go onto the website to opt their children out of certain topics being taught to them during the school day. This process, she explained, was also outlined in the dashboard. Sheehan said he has been contacted by families who could not find the form and a family whose child was excused from the classroom but who still was exposed to the material in question. Gould asked to be put in contact with the family to discuss what happened. 

Sheehan then questioned why the legal fees in the district were trending so high and asked what could be done. Goclano said that legal fees were currently between $20,000 and $40,000 a month. Gould reminded the board that a significant portion of that was union negotiations. Wind also stated that the enormity of federal mandates also has prompted an increase in legal discussions.

Wind then invited audience members to make general comments. Amy Messmore-Jones congratulated the student winners from earlier in the meeting, thanked the board for their work, felt it was “ridiculous to ask educators to pay for their own education and travel,” and stated that no child should go hungry. Marty Simpkins next spoke on spending in the district. She gave each board member a series of credit card statements that had what she believed to be issues with spending and payments. She called for more oversight. Donna Silver rose to share her concern over the condition of Lakeview. She was particularly reacting to a letter from her grandson’s teacher that the air conditioning was “inoperable.” She asked the board to look into the situation. Cynthia Curtain introduced herself as a newly appointed judge. She believed there should be more education around “tag-along consequences” for certain crimes and offered to speak to middle school and high school students. Faith Greer had a concern over the school lunch issue and wanted to make sure it doesn’t lead to kids skipping out on lunch.

After Greer spoke, Wind then put forth a motion for the board to go into executive session and the general meeting was then adjourned.