Ledgemont’s $287,973 Dilemma

June 24, 2015

There is $287,973 left in the Ledgemont Schools account under the Francis Spatz Leighton trust.

Leighton — daughter of Joseph Orstein, a Jewish farmer who immigrated to America from Poland during World War II — was a Thompson High School graduate who passed away in 2007 in Arlington, Va., at the age of 87.

In her will, she named Thompson Township and the school district as beneficiaries of her estate, which included cash and property in several states, including her family’s 124-acre farm on Phillips Road in Thompson Township.

But come July 1, Ledgemont Schools will cease to exist, all of its property — and most of its students — transferring to Berkshire Schools.

That has created a quandary for Chardon attorney Bill Hofstetter, who was appointed in 2011 to oversee a trust created for the two beneficiaries.

The township ultimately assigned its interest to the Thompson Township Park Commission, which, after certain expenditures, has $424,830 remaining in its account.

On June 10, Hofstetter met in a work session with township trustees, school board members and members of the township park commission for nearly two hours to discuss potential solutions and uses for the money. The public meeting was held inside the Thompson Ledges Park building on Thompson Road.

Hofstetter said people are concerned about what will happen with the money left in Ledgemont’s account.

Improvements already made to the Burrows Road school library and property bought using trust funds, such as the purchase of Chromebooks, will be transferred to Berkshire, he explained.

However, the beneficiaries have an opportunity to combine their funds to purchase property that would provide access to effectively land-locked property the park commission owns behind the old high school, he said.

Hofstetter previously sold the farm Leighton left for use as a wildlife refuge, recreational area and clubhouse, because of its remoteness and impracticality, among other reasons.

When he learned about available properties in the immediate proximity of Ledges Park, Hofstetter questioned whether the combined trust funds — totaling more than $700,000 — could be spent to allow “something resembling Mrs. Leighton’s original objectives to be accomplished.”

“It could benefit the same people, there could be educational opportunities for nature things, that could be operated by either the school, which will soon be Berkshire, or the park commission, or the trustees,” he said.

If that does not happen, Hofstetter said the funds would continue to be held in trust until requests are made that comply with Leighton’s intentions.

As to the soon-to-be-extinct school board, any approval of expenditures might require the blessing of the probate court. Court approval also might be required to identify a substitute beneficiary.

“There’s an opportunity to do something really neat here. If there’s any need for parks for educational opportunities like this in Thompson, I can’t imagine that it would be ever easier to move forward on it than it would be right now,” Hofstetter reiterated, acknowledging, however, there could be other opportunities available in both communities.

“These properties, over time, will go someplace else or continue to be underutilized,” he said.

Park commission member Fred Green, whose family donated 14 acres of the land-locked park land, noted the park commission would be required to spend some of its money to add onto the Ledges Park building.

“We have a mandate under the trust to create the Francis Spatz Leighton Nature Center,” he said, adding commission members have met with Geauga Park District naturalist Dan Best to develop plans for a nature center that would benefit the former Ledgemont students from the area.

Green estimated creation of the nature center could cost upwards of $100,000, leaving roughly $300,000 for land acquisition, if it were purchased in conjunction with the nature center.

“If we have this nature center in place, it would facilitate using park properties in the different locations for nature study for the kids, like Francis Spatz Leighton wanted,” he said.

Montville Township resident Robin Stanley said the real question is who is the successor beneficiary to Ledgemont Schools.

“Is that Berkshire Schools or is that the children of Montville and Thompson?” she asked. “I think, as a Ledgemont person, I’m not really sure that Francis Spatz Leighton wanted the Berkshire school board to be making decisions over those funds.”

She suggested forming a committee of elected members from the two townships, similar to a process the county fair board follows.

Thompson Township Trustee Erwin Leffel suggested the Berkshire school board appoint an oversight committee comprised of a former Ledgemont board member, a resident from Montville and Thompson townships, a school administrator and a Berkshire teacher.

That committee would determine how the $287,973 would be spent at the Burrows Road school, consistent with the trust, Leffel said, adding although everything would belong to Berkshire, the money wouldn’t leave the community.

Berkshire Schools Board of Education President Jim Koster said Berkshire does not want and has no desire “to touch this money.”

If the trust funds were transferred to Berkshire, board members informally have agreed the money would stay in the former Ledgemont district to benefit the children of Thompson and Montville.

Koster also suggested when the former high school building is sold, Berkshire could sell less than the entire property to allow access to the land-locked park land.

Thompson Trustee Frank Sirna and resident Chuck Lausin both wondered how long the Burrows Road school would remain open, especially with a potential consolidated school district on the campus of Kent State University Geauga.

“I think we need to focus back on one thing . . . and that is the desire of Francis Spatz Leighton and why she left what she did to the community,” Lausin said.

From a personal standpoint, Hofstetter said if disbursement of Ledgemont’s money is limited to the Burrows Road school, “you are unnecessarily restricting a great opportunity.”

“As long as whatever is done is open to students from Montville and Thompson townships, that would have been constituents of Ledgemont, I think that would satisfy that (trust),” he said.

Hofstetter advocated for the Thompson trustees to be court-appointed to be the “body that speaks for the students” because they soon will become the only elected body accountable to residents. They would be in the best position to carry out Leighton’s intentions relative to the Phillips Road farm, he reiterated.

But Thompson resident Kathy McClure questioned whether all other opportunities could be explored if the only representation is the Thompson trustees and park board.

“I’m just saying maybe we can think a little more creatively and maybe look at this in a little broader term, if there were more people of a different ilk that were part of the plan,” she said.

Said Hofstetter, “I am a pollyanna, for those of you who don’t know me. I would much rather say to all of you, this is one heck of an opportunity and shame on you if you don’t figure out something really cool to do with this. And, if it resolves to political infighting over who’s going to get this or that, that’s really a shame.

“There’s not going to be six hundred and some thousand dollars available for this sort of thing, to my knowledge, for many, many year or if ever again.”

The meeting adjourned — without any consensus between competing interests about what to do or how to proceed.