SCHOOL OPERATIONS Boardman voters to mull levy

The board retired and immediately rehired eight teachers.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Voters will be considering renewal of a three-year emergency school operating levy on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The Boardman school board voted Monday to allow the levy to be placed on the ballot as a 1.7 mill issue. The levy generates $1,411,797 annually for the school district.
The board also commended its longest-serving member, Atty. Mark Huberman, who is leaving the board Saturday after 20 years of service, and its superintendent, Don P. Dailey, who is retiring Saturday after 37 years with the district, including the past four years as superintendent. Monday's meeting was the last regular board meeting for both men.
Frank Lazzeri will succeed Dailey as superintendent, and the board will soon appoint Huberman's replacement from a pool of 14 applicants.
Reason for departure
Huberman is leaving the board because The Supreme Court of Ohio Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline said it's improper for him to serve both as a Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court magistrate and as a school board member.
The board accepted the retirements of Judith Carson, Center Middle School librarian; Jacklyn Conti, Market Street Elementary School kindergarten teacher; Brian Gallagher, Robinwood Lane School Elementary School physical education teacher; John Moore, Glenwood Middle School social studies teacher; Carl Rubino, high school art teacher; Michael Schneider, high school business teacher; Garry Smith, high school social studies teacher; and Judith Soccorsi, Stadium Drive Elementary School kindergarten teacher.
Under a provision of the district's contract with the teachers union -- the Boardman Education Association -- it then rehired them for next school year at the entry-level salary of $35,919 with no benefit cost to the district. All will get pensions and health care from the State Teachers Retirement System.
Under the same arrangement, the board brought back for a second year three more retired teachers: John Cisine, social studies at Center Middle School; Rosemarie Knott, language arts at Glenwood Middle School; and Sandra Teck, first-grade teacher at Market Street Elementary School.
Helps saves money
The arrangement gives the district additional years of service from experienced teachers and saves the district about $43,000 a year per teacher, Dailey said.
The board also hired Shana Craig and Andrew Vlajkovich for new positions as high school social studies teachers; Daniel Ewing as a high school guidance counselor; Matthew Koenig as a language arts teacher, and Shawn Hatfield as a special educator for the blind, both at Center Middle School.
The board also accepted the resignation of Sara Hendrickson, a Center Middle School language arts teacher, who is relocating out of the Mahoning Valley.