By Noell Wolfgram Evans

The Tallmadge Board of Education held their regular January meeting on the 21st at 6 p.m. in the Tallmadge High School community room. In attendance were Council President Mike Passarelli, Vice President Chad Davis and Council Members Todd Loughry and Kim Polatas. Also attending were Superintendent Steve Wood, Treasurer Jeff Hostetler, Director of Curriculum Courtney Davis, Tallmadge Middle School Principal Jeff Manion and Director of Student Services Roy Zeman.

Following the standard items for opening the meeting – the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, welcoming visitors and the approval of the December meeting minutes – a theme emerged: the current fiscal state of the district.

The first action item for the board was the consideration of a Resolution of Necessity. This would allow the board to continue exploring putting a request for a 5.6-mil levy on the May ballot. Hostetler explained that this was the first step in a two-step process. If the board chose to pass the resolution, it would next go to the county auditor to be certified. When that certification was returned, the board could at that time vote on proceeding with the levy option. 

Hostetler noted that there is a Feb. 4 timeline for submitting the request to the county office to be included on the May ballot. Chad Davis asked if the board would be “cemented in” if they approved this resolution. Hostetler assured the board that this was only moving the process forward and, with that, the board approved the resolution unanimously.

There was a second funding resolution before the board, as well. This would put a request for a 0.75% earned income tax on the May ballot. Chad Davis said he was not prepared to support the resolution at this time and didn’t think any other members were, as well. Passarelli said the resolution would be tabled until they could have a working session with the full board.

“Obviously we are in financial need right now,” Hostetler said as he provided the financial report. 

Starting in February, he will begin making revisions to the district’s 5-year financial forecast. The goal is to show a positive balance in Fiscal Year 28. If that can not be achieved, he said they would need to undergo a financial reconciliation process with the state.

“Essentially, if you can’t cut your way out of a Financial Watch, then the state puts you into Financial Caution, and the next step would be a Financial Emergency,” Hostetler said. 

Polatas asked if the revised 5-year forecast will show all of the cuts that will need to happen if the levy doesn’t pass in May. Hostetler said it would, but added that if the levy was added to the ballot and did pass, the forecast could be revised again.

The financial report was then approved unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was the decision to rescind district policies EDEB and EDEB-R. These policies were implemented in 2018 to allow students to bring their own devices into the classroom. Now that the district issues each student a Chromebook and the state has restricted cellphones in schools, the policy has become obsolete. The decision was unanimous to rescind it.

Next, Wood walked through a number of personnel changes. He asked the board to extend the sub contracts for Carol Gager and Jackson Queen, to accept the resignation of James Wade and to approve a number of sports and arts appointments. The board did this unanimously and without comment. Wood noted that one of the responsibilities Wade had was to drive one of the three district plows. He said that, given the financial situation, that position would not be filled and would be covered by maintenance staff.

Courtney Davis provided the curriculum update. The district is currently reviewing the social studies and math resources. This is not to see what new materials should be purchased, she said, but to “build consistency across grade levels and find ways to be creative in how we fill in any gaps.” She also said that members of the Authentic Learning Committee had been working recently with local coaches and some of this work would be shared at the Feb. 13 professional development day. One of the key learning topics on that day will be the incorporation of AI tools across the district. Chad Davis asked if the district was currently subscribing to any AI resources and offering those to teachers. It was determined that all teachers have access to Gemini and Notebook as part of the Google suite of classroom tools.

Next, Zeman shared that the district received the state findings from its Special Education profile and “passed with flying colors.” He shared that they are working on Medicare billing for the services provided to certain students. This prompted a broader discussion on access costs, particularly for the support and services offered to students who live outside the district. Zeman also noted that on March 1, enrollment will open for next year’s kindergarten class.

Manion provided an update from the middle school, giving special thanks to the bus and plow teams and letting everyone know that all of the school doors will soon be inspected by a professional door inspector.

Wood next provided his report, starting with a reminder that the “magic number” for the closure of schools is a windchill of at least -15, in addition to the conditions of the roads. “I do worry about our high school kids driving,” he said.

He then shared the initial list of proposed cuts that will take place next school year if a levy doesn’t pass in May. Those include:

Wood noted that the reduction in teachers is a function of pending retirements.

Polatas said that she hoped that people who already complain about class sizes understand how they will only grow without public support.

Wood also shared that students attended the career tech showcase at Kent State University, where they could see the 30 different programs that are available across the six-district compact. He also offered praise to the girls basketball team and the wheelchair basketball team for stellar seasons to date. Wood shared with the board that two former students have returned to the district to speak on their microbiology and sports careers.

With the administrative reports completed, members of the public were invited to speak. Barb Mays asked who was monitoring comments on Facebook, suggesting it was important to know what people were saying so they could know how to better “educate” them. As an example, she recently heard that the bathrooms in the high school were locked because the levy in November didn’t pass. Wood denied that this was true. He did say that only one student at a time can use the bathroom, but that was because the school has a “major vaping problem.”

Jon Bryan, a member of the Tallmadge Teachers Association and fifth grade teacher, took a moment to remind people that if they were upset about the district’s financial situation, they should not direct that at the teachers. 

“Your anger should go to Columbus,” he said. “They shortchanged us by giving a billion dollars to the voucher program while we work with 2022 numbers.”

There was also some discussion as to other districts that are using an earned income tax as a funding source. Wood noted that they had and that Twinsburg and Wadsworth were the nearest districts that were doing this.

Bryan also made special mention of teacher Matt Hagedorn, who was recently named Midwest Health Teacher of the Year. Following this, the meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.