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Poland school board approves change to the district realignment plan
POLAND
The board of education Monday approved a change to the district realignment plan that went into effect two years ago.
Parts of both the McKinley Elementary and Poland Middle School buildings will remain open next school year. The plan as originally approved in 2015 had McKinley shuttering and its students moving into the middle school.
Superintendent David Janofa said the modified plan – in which one floor of McKinley will remain in use for fifth-grade students and staff – is because the middle school building is not large enough to accommodate grades five through eight, and because this plan allows the grade levels to be separated into their own areas.
That component of the district realignment plan goes into effect at the start of the 2017-18 school year. At that time, the two schools’ offices will be consolidated into one located in the middle school, and visitors will have to acess the buildings from the middle school.
The realignment effort began in 2015 with the elimination of an elementary school and realignments of the grade levels at the other elementary buildings. The plan is a response to declining enrollment.
In other business, the board approved abolishment of Title I tutors, special education tutors and support staff at the end of the school year. While the measure is routine – those staff members are noncontracted employees whose services are automatically non-renewed at the end of each school year – the district is looking at cutting back on those staff in the future.
Janofa said the district is in the process of evaluating those positions and likely will reduce them by roughly 25 percent to save money.
“Right now, we’re looking at how many of those people we can bring back based on” the district’s financial situation, he said.
The board received an update from Treasurer Janet Muntean about the financial situation, which district officials say is a difficult one. The treasurer’s office last year identified a worrying trend: that the district’s expenditures are exceeding revenues, with that gap projected to grow over the next few years.
Muntean reported that the district’s latest five-year financial forecast shows the district is on track to have a negative fund balance by fiscal year 2019. One factor in that is that House Bill 49, the state budget bill that was recently approved by the Ohio House of Representatives and likely will be passed by the Senate, would reduce Poland schools’ state funding by $270,000 per year in fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
In other business, the board recognized the 18 district employees who have retired or will retire this school year. Among them are the district treasurer who retired last year, two principals, numerous teachers, a tutor, secretary (the longest-serving retiree, Janet Decker, at 35 years in the district), attendants, a monitor, food service workers, preschool employees, and bus drivers.
The board also approved a $1.3 million contract with the Mahoning County Educational Service Center for the 2017-18 school year. The ESC provides a number of services to school districts in the county, such as special-education services.