BOARDMAN SCHOOLS Board president will push levy

The district needs to get a levy passed this year to avoid debt next year, school officials said.
BOARDMAN -- Robert De Marco will serve as president of the Boardman Board of Education for 2003, a year in which the board will try again to get a levy passed to avoid a debt expected to exceed $1 million.
The board's main concern this year will be finances, De Marco said.
"Our biggest things, obviously, are getting our levy passed and getting through contract negotiations in June," De Marco said. The contracts for teachers and nonclassified workers expire June 30.
Failed levy
The district's five-year 5.9-mill levy failed in November. Without the levy, cuts may be made in some school programs, said Superintendent Don Dailey.
The district is expected in be in debt by $1.1 million by the end of 2003-04 school year if additional funding isn't available.
De Marco served as the board's vice president in 2002. He replaces board member Mark Huberman as president.
The board also unanimously elected Kimberly Poma as vice president over the weekend.
The new president appointed board member Mark Fulks, who served as legislative liaison for 2002, to fill that position for another term.
Monthly meetings
In other business, the board set monthly meetings to be at 7:30 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month at Boardman Center Middle School.
It also passed motions to pay fees to renew membership in the Ohio School Boards Association and Ohio School Boards Association Legal Assistance Fund and established a $5,000 service fund to send board members to OSBA meetings this year.
The board approved the use of the law firm of Henderson, Covington, Stein, Donchess and Messenger of Youngstown to handle its legal matters.
The board also had an executive session to discuss personnel and building security issues.