With defeat of levy $400,000 of cuts needed by end of school year
The Ledgemont Schools Board of Education voted Wednesday night against initiating a territory transfer to Cardinal Schools, leaving many parents wondering so now what.
The Ledgemont Schools Board of Education voted last Wednesday night against initiating a territory transfer to Cardinal Schools, leaving many parents wondering what’s next.
The move drew applause from the dozens of parents, students and residents who crowded into the school cafeteria, but left board members with few options.
Earlier that evening, they learned their counterparts at Cardinal Schools voted 3-2 against accepting a territory transfer from Ledgemont.
Board member Rick Loveland voted against approval of the meeting agenda because it contained the resolution of support for initiating a territory transfer of Ledgemont Schools to Cardinal Schools.
The Geauga County Education Service Center would initiate the proposed transfer, which would be contingent upon the forgiveness of Ledgemont’s more than $2.3 million solvency assistance fund debt.
Loveland cast the lone dissent.
The Vote
When the board got to agenda item XII, board President Cathleen Hadley-Samia made a motion to vote on the resolution. After a nearly 30 second pause, board member Jim Cozens eventually seconded the motion, opening the resolution for a vote.
Hadley-Samia called for discussion and again there was another long pause.
Thompson Township mother Danielle Lewis interrupted the silence and asked Cozens why he seconded the motion. Cozens told her there would be time to voice her opinion at the end of the meeting.
Another angry resident asked board members to speak up and said the audience couldn’t hear them.
“We can’t hear you. You’re sitting here in front of us, so if you’re going to talk, talk,” the woman said. “Talk so we can hear you. Don’t whisper.”
When Hadley-Samia told the woman she had not said anything, the woman shot back, “You’re talking to him, I can see you talking.”
The board president then called for a roll call vote and, one by one, board members finally spoke up.
“Very regretfully, yes,” said Hadley-Samia.
“No,” Loveland said.
“No,” Barbara Raikes followed.
Cozens abstained, but not before reading a prepared statement.
“My family feels the administration, the teachers, the staff at Ledgemont are second to none,” the father of twin ninth-grade boys said. “They all do exceptional things with very little.”
Cozens said he and his family have been a part of Ledgemont since his boys were in first grade, and understands that time frame pales in comparison to generations of people in the district.
“Unfortunately, the community has historically not supported this district and a lack of support has put us in the position we’re currently in,” Cozens said, adding he has heard complaints about school administrators since the time of former Superintendent John Marshall.
“Our current administration has brought grants, funding, partnerships and programs into this district. This administration did not create the problems that we’re experiencing,” he said, complimenting administrators for being proactive and looking into a territory transfer for the benefit of district children.
He also mentioned a newspaper article from the 1990s that discussed merging Ledgemont with another district.
“This is not a new issue,” he said, adding he has spoken to many people for and against the proposed transfer.
Cozens conceded he did not know whether students would be better off at Cardinal.
“I’d like to think so, but I don’t know,” he said.
As to whether the elementary school building would remain in Thompson Township, again, he said he did not know.
“We’ve been told it will be, but Cardinal’s going to need to pass a levy in 2017. Will their voters support it?” he asked.
Cozens also noted Ohio’s school funding mechanism was ruled unconstitutional many years ago and, in more than three decades, state legislators have not fixed the problem.
“Open enrollment and for-profit schools are taking a toll on small schools such as ours,” he added.
“I continue to struggle with this issue, therefore, I abstain from voting,” he concluded, to a round of audience applause.
Said Carol Geisman, “Regretfully, yes.”
As the vote was deadlocked at 2-2, with one abstention, it failed for a lack of majority.
Why Cardinal?
During public comment, Lewis asked why Cardinal was chosen over all other school districts, especially when it would need to pass a levy in 2017. She also said she was told by a Cardinal board member Wednesday that the Middlefield-based district is planning on taking out a 15-year, $2.7 million loan to make repairs to its school and administration buildings.
“If they’re headed down the same road, why are you folks trying to send our kids there, where they’ll have to be uprooted all over again?” asked Lewis, adding three Cardinal board members said a Ledge-mont official had told them Madison Schools “does not want our students.”
Geisman said Cardinal was chosen, in part, because board members felt it had the same demographics as Ledgemont whereas Madison has a “very different demographic.”
“We felt that our kids might not be accepted as well at Madison,” she explained.
Geisman also said the turnout at the Nov. 5 board meeting was “fantastic,” but the vast majority of meetings are sparsely attended.
“So, people need to be involved; I agree 100 percent,” she added.
Geisman also said the board looked at Chardon Schools, Grand Valley Schools and others, and those districts were either too far away or not interested.
“There’s not a good choice,” she added. “I’d be happy to keep the school open if somebody could write me a check for $2.5 million. We’ve been trying to pass a levy for how many years now?”
Said one woman from the back of the room, “That’s a positive attitude.”
“I would love to have a mansion and a Lamborghini, and an Aston Martin, but it’s not in my budget,” Geisman said. “We need money to keep the lights on and buy the books, and the computer programs and pay our teachers. That doesn’t just happen. We have to pay them.”
One resident asked whether those residents who voted for a failed 4.49-mill additional property tax levy voluntarily could pay more taxes — or make donations — for the schools.
Cozens urged those residents to contact Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha.
“Instead of arguing, I’d just like to know what is the plan now?” asked another resident. “Do you know what cuts might be made? Moving forward both boards voted no, so now what?”
‘So Now What?’
According to Ledgemont’s five-year forecast, with the Nov. 4 defeat of the additional property tax levy, the district will be $400,000 “in the hole before the end of the school year,” Treasurer Belinda Grassi said.
“We needed that levy to pass, regardless of what happened with the territory transfer,” she explained.
Grassi said more cuts will have to be made this school year, although she could not identify them.
“We have to balance the budget before the end of June,” Grassi said. “So, obviously, we will have some major things coming down the pike here that people should have reflected upon before they went to the polls.”
She added, “This is going to be very, very difficult.”
Geisman noted the district is not at state minimums for busing and teaching, so those could be areas facing cuts.
One resident asked if fundraising was an option and proposed “yes” voters each pledging money to raise the immediate shortfall.
“But that doesn’t alleviate our issue for the following school year,” Grassi noted.
The treasurer also explained the five-year forecast changed drastically after the Geauga County Budget Commission rejected the district’s proposed movement of inside millage to a special debt retirement fund.
But even if the millage transfer had occurred, Ledgemont would still be in debt approximately $170,000.
In response to a question about whether the district had a “backup plan” for a territory transfer with another district, Cozens said, bluntly, “No, we’ve exhausted that possibility.”
He added, “We’re going to turn it over to the state and ask the state what they would like us to do.”
Geisman also noted it is against the law right now to close a school because a district cannot afford to keep it open.
“It’s up to the local community to support its schools,” said Hadley-Samia.
“Why doesn’t the community vote for education because education is needed in life?” said one Ledgemont student.
Answered Geisman, “Exactly. We’ve been asking that for many years.”
