June 30 date contingent upon forgiveness of Ledgemont debt
“This is long in coming, but I want everybody to know that our board is very, very happy to have you as members of the Berkshire school district.” – BOE President James Koster
Berkshire Schools took the final step in sealing the deal to combine with Ledgemont Schools.
The merger will happen June 30, 2015, assuming the State of Ohio forgives Ledgemont’s solvency assistance fund debt.
On Monday night, Berkshire Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the territory transfer of Ledgemont Schools to Berkshire.
“Once the board takes a vote, the Ledgemont schools and the Berkshire schools become one,” board President James Koster said. “I point out that we need to take all actions as necessary . . . to have an effective territory transfer of property as well as programming and anything else making us whole.”
Koster and fellow board members John Manfredi, Tim Honkala, Lee Imhof and Kim Brown then all voted “yes” in support of the resolution, which also directed district Treasurer Beth McCaffrey and Superintendent Doug DeLong to take all actions necessary to complete the territory transfer.
“Welcome everybody that’s from Ledgemont,” Koster told the roughly 15 people in attendance, including Ledgemont Schools Board of Education members Rick Loveland and Barbara Raikes.
“We are all part of Berkshire,” he added. “This is long in coming, but I want everybody to know that our board is very, very happy to have you as members of the Berkshire school district.”
With acceptance of the territory transfer, the board also voted to remove a 0.25-percent earned income tax issue from the May 5 special election ballot.
“Just so everybody understands, we had to put this issue (on the ballot) before certain dates as required by law,” Koster explained. “Because of the territorial transfer, we do not have to increase our income tax at this point in time.”
Board members for both schools had voted Jan. 26 to request the Geauga County Educational Service Center to initiate the territory transfer.
Following a 30-day referendum period, in which a majority of voters in either district could have opposed a transfer and forced the issue on the November election ballot, the Geauga County ESC voted Feb. 28 to make the transfer effective June 30.
DeLong discussed the actions being undertaken to ensure a smooth transition with Ledgemont:
- Berkshire coaches will visit Ledgemont on March 12 to meet with students interested in participating in fall and winter sports.
Information will be provided on the various athletic programs, including when each sport begins practice.
Berkshire Athletic Director Brian Hiscox said he has conveyed the message that Ledgemont coaches interested in coaching at Berkshire should send him their information.
“If anything comes open, they would be the first people we would look at for that position,” he told the board.
- DeLong will be meeting with Deborah O’Connor, executive director of the Geauga County Public Library, to discuss the library station housed at Ledgemont Schools.
The library station will continue after the territory transfer is complete, he added.
- PTOs from Burton and Ledgemont elementary schools will meet March 13 to talk about “things that they can do together,” DeLong said.
All Ledgemont student demographic information has been received and is being entered into the Infinite Campus software program.
Infinite Campus is a secure online tool that schools use to track and manage student information such as class schedules, grade reports and attendance records.
“My goal is to mail each parent in Thompson and Montville their codes for Infinite Campus so they can go in and look at Infinite Campus, before there are any grades or anything like that,” said DeLong. “But they can go in and look at their son or daughter’s schedule, and they can see who the teachers are, how the day works out for their child.”
Transportation Manager Suzanne Steinhoff said she intends to visit Ledgemont and speak with representatives from Community Bus Services, which provides contract transportation services to the district, about busing and transportation issues.
In other business, the Berkshire board recognized Dennis Battles for 30 years of service representing students in the Berkshire and Ledgemont districts as a school board member.
Battles served eight years on the board at Ledgemont and 22 years on the board of the Geauga County Educational Service Center.
DeLong also provided an update on the Kent State University-Geauga campus proposal to consolidate Berkshire, Cardinal and Newbury school districts.
He said he recently met with Cardinal Superintendent Scott Hunt and Newbury Superintendent Michelle Mrakovich to discuss whether a new school would be a ninth grade through 12th grade building or a seventh grade through 12th grade building.
“We did not get to any definitive answer at this meeting,” DeLong said. “It’s tough because you’re trying to coordinate between three districts with three different views on what should happen with that.”
He added, “We’re still meeting with them, but it’s kind of tough when you’re in the room and trying to get down to specifics.”
Manfredi said the districts are scheduled to share more financial information at a meeting early next month.
Former school board member Roger Miller reported that Auburn Career Center is moving ahead with the iSTEM early college/high school program.
“If anybody ever has a chance to stop by and see the Fab Lab we’ve been putting together, it’s really awesome,” he said. “It’s got some cool 3-D printers and stuff. It’s a really, really neat setup, so there’s stuff that’s happening in there.”
The board also approved a one-year contract for high school Principal Steve Reedy for the 2015-2016 school year.
