By: Rebecca Miller
The November 17, 2020 North Central School board meeting covered a number of reports, approvals and issues, but by far the one that took the most time and seemed the most life changing for the school system was the review of the effects of the Levy Failure.
Superintendent Bill Hanak passionately addressed the situation, expressing his belief that they must find out why people voted no and do whatever is needed to turn things around, so they will want to vote Yes for the school. “We thank all who have supported us,” Hanak said. “We want to reach out to those who voted against the levy to let us know what we need to do differently or better.”
The November 3, 2020 Election Results for the Proposed Tax Levy (Additional) for the NC School District, in the information broken down by precinct, show that 61.78% of Bridgewater voters and 63.22% of the Madison voters chose to vote against the levy.
In total, including Pioneer, Jefferson and Millcreek with Bridgewater and Madison, out of 2099 votes cast, 1,214 were Against and 885 were For the Levy. The levy also did not pass when it was on the Spring 2020 ballot.
Hanak explained, “We are losing money from the state and projecting deficit spending and running out of cash. As a result of a couple levy failures, we need to look at what can we do to curb the spending? To balance the books we are looking at between 200 and 250 thousand worth of cuts.
80% of the budget is people, the backbone of the school. If we start thinking of ways to trim that amount, it means people. We have to make cuts but we also have an opportunity to potentially put up a levy for next May.”
Some discussion was held as to what type of levy should they put on the spring 2021 ballot, including earned income option, emergency levy or permanent improvement levy. They agreed that the public needs a clear description of what the levy is for and what it will do specifically. They also mentioned the possibility of putting more than one levy, so that voters would have an option of which one to vote for, thus getting something for the school to keep going.
Hanak shared some of the things the school has already done to cut the budget, with those being: “In 2019 we replaced one AD with a ½ time AD/1/2 time teacher to reduce the administrative staff; This year we have reduced the SRO; eliminated a mental health employee; did not replace a retiree; cut an aide from ESC; cut 10% out of principal budget; we hired our new positions at 0 experience; consolidated bus route, eliminated a cafeteria position, we moved a special Ed from the Elementary School to the High School; put a Kindergarten teacher into online work; took wellness money to pay salaries; and We did the one big project, the playground. We tried to balance the budget. Its gonna be tough and there are going to be some hard choices to make,” he said. “If you take it in simple math, you would have to cut five or six people to get to that.”
Board members joined in the discussion, asking questions and suggesting things that might help with getting a levy passed. Hanak and Board members discussed ideas of how to change the vote, with the suggestions mentioned: doing a survey, door to door if possible, to find out what people want; get the word out; cut out more busses or do the levy that would put money on the purchase of busses; making the levy specifically for what people are willing to vote for.
Hanak added, “whatever it takes for the betterment of the school district. I would be willing to leave if that is what they want. If they would vote for it if he left, then he would be willing to leave. This is the people’s school, building and school district!”
Busses and Technology are needed and if money was designated to cover those two things, that would free up money for other things. Also, there are a few people who have offered to be on a committee to help with this issue. The discussion about the effects of the levy ended with an agreement to get a survey done before the December meeting so they can get a levy on the Spring ballot, with the deadline in January.
In other business, the Board heard a presentation from the owner of Great Lakes Biomedical, Kyle Prueter, to learn about options to have drug testing done amongst the students. Prueter said that drug testing is for intervention, giving the students another reason to say no to drugs.
He explained how the process works and how well contained it is. Also in his information was that 80% of parents are for it and it does not decrease participation in sports. The testing is done on site and prices are flexible to go with the budget of each school.
The Board thanked him for coming and sharing the information on his company and what they offer.
Superintendent Hanak gave the board a report on enrollment numbers, saying that presently there are 609 students, with 69 on NOVA and 52 who are homeschooled, open enrolled out to other schools are 81 with 32 of those going to Hilltop.
Also in his report, Hanak thanked Madison Township who donated $19,747.43 from their CARES Act fund to the school. To date the school has spent $89,000 and with the moneys they have gotten they have almost broken even with PPE and other covid needs. Bridgewater also gave some. He expressed his great appreciation.
The school was on remote learning this week. Despite all they are doing they ended up with 7 students and 9 adults testing positive in the past two weeks. There were over 165 kids quarantined, 37 staff have had to stay home connected with COVID. “Pre-K through 6th grade have been hit extra hard. In person learning is preferred but the staff did a great job going immediately virtual. This is not the plan for the rest of the year.
The plan is to be back in the building on December 1st if we can get our staff back healthy.” He spoke of how much time is spent doing contact tracing. Board member Anthony Burnett said that there is no shame in staying home if your child shows symptoms. And Hanak agreed that they want them to stay home if they don’t feel well. He explained that the teachers are all doing all they can to stay in touch with the students in quarantine and to keep the attendance clear.
He gave an early release reminder that those dates are set for Friday, December 18 at 1 p.m. and May 27, 2021 at 1 p.m. and that the next regular meeting is scheduled for December 15 at 6:30 in the High School Eagle room, at which time they will need to set the January Organization and Regular meeting date and time.
Athletic Director Greg Waidelich announced the Fall 2020 Recognition of Student Athletes:
Zack Hayes – Golf, 1st team BBC and Honorable Mention District 7; Mason Sanford – Golf, 2nd Team BBC; Colin Patten – Golf, BBC Honorable Mention; Alexa Dominguez – HS Cross Country, BBC Runner of the Year and Regional Qualifier; Joe Burt – HS Cross Country, 2nd Team BBC; Darbi Stewart – HS Cross Country, 2nd Team BBC; Kendal Bonney – Volleyball, All State Honorable Mention, BBC Player of the Year and Division IV District 7 Player of the Year; Madison Brown – Volleyball, 1st Team BBC and Division IV District 7 1st Team; Kassidy Faler – Volleyball, 2nd Team BBC and Division IV District 7 2nd Team; Lauren Balser – Volleyball, BBC Honorable Mention; Alexia Miller – Volleyball, BBC Honorable Mention; Erin Elser – Volleyball, BBC Honorable Mention; Coach Stacy Roth – Division IV District 7 Coach of the Year.
BBC Scholar Athletes are Zack Hayes, Colin Patten, Mason Sanford, Sam Wheeler, Colton Hicks, Makayla Meyers, Kendal Bonney, Madison Brown, Erin Elser, Kassidy Faler, Lauren Balser and Alexia Miller.
In his report to the board, Waidelich shared that he agrees that the students are doing a great job of getting on zoom when they need to be. Concerning games, all are postponed till Nov. 23 with girls basketball is scheduled to play Wayne Trace that night, but that might be changed.
They are still doing vouchers for Winter Sports, but not pre-paid, and will have assigned seats for basketball games as it will help social distancing. Those will be assigned by seniority. Cheerleaders will be doing only home games. JH will try to play in varsity court as often as possible to have a bigger place to spread out for the spectators.
He is waiting for survey results about winter sports and OHSAA will meet with the governor and let us know what the results were and what their plan is. He has not heard of a season with no spectators and Mr. Hanak said that he would rather they have that than not play at all if given the option. All games will be live streamed.
Concerning contact tracing, almost every team has been affected by that, both students and coaches, making it hard to even practice. They are practicing safety measures and they are doing health checks.
Elementary Principal Andy Morr reported that the first 9 weeks assembly was held about a month ago and with COVID, masks, and social distancing it looked different but the results were the same. They recognized the students for their academic achievement. It went well even though they were limited to each class at a time. They taped the assemblies and parents got to watch them. Parent Teacher conferences were a few weeks ago and were held by zoom or phone calls and it went well. A couple parents appreciated the effort.
Veteran’s Day was different there as well. Each staff did something to help the children recognize the veterans and what they have done. He said that the big news was that the building closed down this week. He has been so pleased with how his staff has handled it. They had a zoom on Monday for expectations, and were all encouraged. It is going quite well. They had a pick up by the families on 17th and all in all everyone is doing a wonderful job.
“I want to get back to face to face,” he said. The attendance was outstanding the first nine weeks. Council member Anthony Burnett commended them for the two livestreams done for Veterans Day, which were well done, and thanked them for doing that.
Mrs. Marcia Rozevink, JH/HS Principal also spoke about their Awards Assembly on Oct. 27 for Jr. High. They wore masks and were spread out all over the bleachers, 48% of 8th and 38% Of 7th grade on honor roll. There were a good number (59% 8th grade and 71% of 7th grade) who had No Detentions for the whole quarter. The 8th graders got to take a virtual tour of Four County.
Winter sports pics were taken on Tuesday, November 10th. First round of Evaluations were done last week so no more till after Christmas break. PT conferences were far fewer than usual in Jr. High. Nov. 2 had 18 conferences total, eight families involved and Nov. 9 they had 29 with twelve families. Zoom worked well, but a lot of people must not have wanted to do it because it wasn’t in person. As far as Attendance is concerned, she is averaging only about 13 students who are not checking in each day. Quarantined students are being counted present if they log in and do the work.
The treasurers report, given by Eric Smeltzer, was approved with Smeltzer saying that at this point, they are managing to stay above water in the budget. The minutes for the October 20, 2020 regular meeting were approved along with the following Consent Agenda:
- Employment of Bradley Taylor as Cafeteria Substitute, pending records
- One Year Supplemental contract held by Classified employees for Jalen Dancer E.D.#4 as JV Boys Basketball Coach
- NwOESC Teacher and Paraprofessional Substitute List dated October 29, 2020 for the 20-21 school year
The Board went into an Executive Session to discuss personnel and employment with no action taken.
The following information is from an email, written by Treasurer Eric Smeltzer, to clarify some of the discussion concerning the levy effects:
“The North Central Local School District Five-Year Forecast is currently showing deficit spending for the next five years. FY2021 a deficit of $50,559, FY2022 a deficit of $206,357, FY2023 a deficit of $397,654, FY2024 a deficit of $595,167, and FY2025 a deficit of $799,604. We deficit spent last Fiscal Year by $91,110.”
“The Board and administration have been diligently working to cut in areas that we can for the current Fiscal Year. We have also received a large amount of grant funds during the pandemic which will help us to offset the current year deficit and hopefully not deficit spend, but these funds have only been given to us for one year which does not help with the next four. Without having a levy passed in the spring, the Board and administration will have to determine where cuts can be made in the amount of $200,00 to $250,000 to have enough funds remaining in the bank at the end of the current Five-Year Forecast.”
“Even with the passage of the levy in the spring, the Board and Administration will continue to strive to save money in areas where we can when with attrition and cutting in areas that are no longer needed or sufficient. The current Board and administration has a goal of setting up the district to operate for the next 10, 15, 20 years.”
“We all want the students to have the best academic and extra curricular experiences that we can provide to them. This can happen when the School Staff, Administration, Board, and citizens of all our communities strive to come together as one.”
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
