Board Creates Committee to Talk Newbury Merger, Levy, Facilities
A new year brought a different board member to the helm of the West Geauga Schools Board of Education.
A new year brought a different board member to the helm of the West Geauga Schools Board of Education.
Ben Kotowski was nominated and elected president of the board Jan. 7, while William Beers was elected vice-president.
In other housekeeping business, board member Dan Thoreson suggested the board reevaluate the compensation of its members.
Board member Kathy Leavenworth pointed out the salary of members had been stagnant for a long time.
After some discussion, the board passed a resolution raising the salary of re-elected members or those members elected in the future to $125 per meeting, not to exceed 24 meetings per year. Kotowski pointed out a sitting board cannot raise its own salary and this raise applies to future members.
The current salary for board members is $80 per meeting, again, not to exceed 24 meetings per year, according to district Treasurer Karen Penler.
Superintendent Richard Markwardt gave a presentation about the Education Incites assessment pilot, which West Geauga Schools was invited to join. This is a national program designed to improve the quality of aligned-assessments at West Geauga Schools. Several districts would work on this with the possible creation of a statewide diagnostic instrument that would be aligned with state guidelines. Language Arts is the first subject to be worked on.
The Geauga County Educational Service Center is partnering with Education Incites to conduct this program.
In other board business, Kotowski suggested passing a resolution to create an ad hoc committee composed of two board members, Tom Sutton, of Baldwin Wallace University, and Markwardt to make sure the community is involved and informed about the potential Newbury territory transfer. The committee would also solicit opinions.
Beers pointed out the committee would have to communicate about the upcoming levy and that there needs to be comprehensive outreach.
Beers was not sure with a small committee, the word could be gotten out. He believes there needs to be support from the board, administration, including communications personnel, and support from Sutton, who conducted the recent survey.
Leavenworth piggybacked on Beers’ comments, adding the school district needed a comprehensive approach to communications concerning the levy, Newbury and the Facilities Master Plan.
The board passed a resolution to create the ad hoc committee.
