Superintendent Assures Community that 4th and 5th Graders Will Not Ride Buses with High Schoolers: Each Building Will Have Separate and Dedicated Bus Routes
Kenston Board of Education Regular Meeting –June 30, 2025
Meeting Details: The Kenston Board of Education (BOE) Regular Meeting took place on June 30, 2025, at 7:00 pm. The full video of the meeting is posted on the Kenston Website page here and on Kenston’s YouTube page here. View the agenda online and any attached documents here by selecting the meeting tab, the meeting date, and the agenda.
5:58 Min Call to order by President Tom Manning at 7:01pm.
Board Attendance: President Tom Manning, Vice President Beth Krause, Ph.D., Jennifer Troutman, J.D., Dennis Bergansky, and Jim Henry
Staff in Attendance: Superintendent Bruce R. Willingham Jr., Ed.D., Treasurer Seth Cales, Kenston High School (KHS) Principal, Tom Gabram, new
New staff in Attendance: TES (Timmons Elementary School) Kindergarten Teacher Meredith Grenci, TES Music Teacher Morgan Smock, and Co-Director of Buildings and Grounds Matthew Peters
Pledge of Allegiance led by Board President Tom Manning
6:31 Min Regular Meeting Welcome and Roll Call: This meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code.
7:30 Min Approval of the Minutes: The Kenston Board of Education approved that the reading of the minutes be waived, and approved the minutes of the May 12, 2025 regular meeting as recorded or corrected. The minutes of the meeting can be found here.
7:58 Min Commendations- Approved
Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Kenston Board of Education approved the following:
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Isabella Douville, KHS 2025 graduate, won the Solo Storyteller category for the Central Great Lakes Chapter in the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Production Awards for her short documentary about the 2024 KHS Marching Band season.
14:26 Min Informational Items
16:10 Min Legislative Update: Dr. Krause expressed her appreciation for the work the district did to inform the public about HB 335. The bill’s first hearing was on June 18th and many people spoke in opposition compared to only one person who spoke in support. OSBA wrote a veto request letter to Governor DeWine asking him to veto a number of line items in HB 96, including the cash balance carryover cap for schools of 40% and the partisan labeling requirement for school board elections. Dr. Willingham mentioned that legislation regarding cell phone usage in schools did make it into the budget bill, and the school has proactively prepared for that.
22:19 Min Superintendent’s Report Dr. Willingham’s report was accompanied by slides. Highlights include:
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Projects completed outside of Permanent Improvement (PI): The turf was cleaned and sanitized. The air ducts at Timmons Elementary School were cleaned. The stadium concession stand was redone.
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PI projects status update: Status and planning for many projects were discussed briefly by Dr. Willingham with a visual list and priority schedule at 24:39 Min in the video. Projects are prioritized for school safety.
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The annual Bainbridge and Auburn 4th of July celebration will occur on July 3, 2025 beginning at 6:00 pm at Kenston High School. Fireworks begin at dusk.
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Dr. Willingham introduced new certified and classified professionals who were present to the Board:
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TES Kindergarten teacher, Meredith Grenci
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TES Music teacher, Morgan Smock
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Co-Director of Buildings and Grounds, Matthew Peters
41:00 Min. Hearing of the Public on Agenda Items - There were no speaker requests.
41:09 Min Treasurer’s Report- Mr. Cales’ presentation was accompanied by slides (no link available). He commented briefly on some Ohio legislation and the fiscal year (FY) end.
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HB 335 is currently in the Ways and Means Committee, and Mr. Cales believes that they will likely go forward with some version of it. This bill suggests the elimination of inside millage. Kenston has 4.5 mills of inside millage which equals about $5.4 million per year. For every 1 mill, Kenston receives about $1.2 million. Mr. Cales presented a slide visible at or around 42:25 in the video which shows the significant impact of the loss of inside millage on the district. The slide compares the 2029 expected ending cash balance of $2,303,324 based on trending from the May 2025 forecast with the 2029 forecasted negative ending cash balance of - $16,596,676 after removing inside millage. This would force the district and many other districts in Ohio to put on another operating levy much sooner. Mr. Cales encouraged the community to continue to contact their legislators about this bill.
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Dr. Krause reminded the room that, as the district policy does not allow a negative cash balance, the negative balance beginning in 2027 as per the chart would force the district to either 1) go back to the community for a levy earlier in 2026 or 2) significantly cut staffing and services to stabilize the cash balance. Dr. Krause advised that she understands that approximately 20,000 teachers would need to be fired across the state of Ohio to account for the loss of funding to public school districts under HB 335.
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Mr. Cales confirmed her statement advising that the cuts would need to be “drastic.”
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Dr. Willingham reminded the room that this will also impact police, fire, library and other services.
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Mr. Cales advised that the district is closing out the fiscal year in the black now which means revenues have exceeded expenses. There will be no deficit spending this year as a result of the rightsizing of the schools and accompanying staffing adjustments. Mr. Cales concluded that the district is currently in a strong financial position and is working diligently to be good stewards. However, he cautioned that Kenston could be facing significant challenges with legislation such as HB335, so he reiterated his encouragement for community advocacy on behalf of the district.
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Mr. Cales will present the comprehensive Fiscal Year-End Report at the July 14, 2025 regular board meeting.
50:41 Min Agenda approval items 9-18 . As the Board President announced at the beginning of the meeting, these items have been reviewed by Board members before the meeting and most are passed quickly and without discussion.
Observer Note: Video times are not noted on the quickly occurring motions and approvals below unless changes are mentioned or significant discussions occur.
Financial Items - All items and accompanying documents can be found here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 9.1-9.13 on the agenda. All Approved. Items that may be of interest include but are not limited to:
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2025-2026 School fees for TES and KMS available here
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2025-2026 School fees for KHS available here
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Auction of Equipment: The district is still seeking an auction house with the most favorable terms per Mr. Cales. If the items are not successfully sold, then they will be declared obsolete.
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Resolution to Establish Fund 035 - Termination Benefits Fund. Terminology change/clarification indicated by Tom Manning: 9.8 now reads, “A resolution establishing a Termination Benefits fund (FUND 035) under section 5705.13, subsection (B) of the revised code authorizing and directing the transfer of money to that fund from the general fund.”
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Advances and transfers of funds for fiscal year 2025.
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Final appropriations for all funds (001-599) of the district for fiscal year 2025 and the final appropriations certificate of estimated resources. Reviewer Note: At the June 30 Budget Commission meeting, County Auditor Chuck Walder stated that Kenston will have to “run off of existing monies” (i.e., they can’t spend any revenue from the new fiscal year) until their fiscal year-end revenue certification is approved by the Budget Commission. Presumably Kenston’s fiscal year-end revenue certification will be considered by the Budget Commission at its next meeting on July 21, 2025. The June 30 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report will be available at https://www.lwvgeauga.org when published.
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Temporary appropriations/certificate of estimated resources for all funds (001-599) of the district for fiscal year 2026.
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Student Activity Statement of Purpose and Budget for the 2025-2026 School Year for multiple activities.
Certified Personnel Items - These items and accompanying documents are available here for review by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 10.1-10.5 on the agenda. All Approved.
Classified Personnel Items - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 11.1- 11.8 on the agenda. All Approved.
Supplemental Personnel Items - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 12.1-12.6, 12.7 (approved separately) on the agenda. All Approved.
Exempt Personnel Items - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 13.1 - 13.6 on the agenda. All Approved.
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Note that the new Co-Director of Buildings and Grounds Matthew Peters was introduced by Dr. Willingham during his report above.
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Contract renewals for the following administrators as recommended by the Superintendent:
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Reid Guarnieri, KHS Athletic Director (effective July 1, 2025)
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Kristen Hasenohrl, TES Assistant Principal (effective July 1, 2025)
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Matt Hosler, Assistant Treasurer (effective July 1, 2025)
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Christine Illner, Transportation Director (effective August 1, 2025)
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Larry Klimkowski, KMS (Kenston Middle School) Assistant Principal (effective July 1, 2025)
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Melissa Miller, Special Education Director (effective July 1, 2025)
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Administrative and Exempt Administrative Support Staff Personnel Handbook and step placement for the 2024-2027 Contract Years available here.
Business Operations - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 14.1-14.5 on the agenda. All Approved.
Teaching and Learning - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 15.1-15.3 on the agenda. All Approved.
Special Education Items - These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 16.1-16.18 on the agenda. All Approved.
Old Business- None
New Business Items-These items and accompanying documents are available here by selecting the meeting tab, meeting date, and 18.1-18.2, 18.3-18.4, 18.5-18.9 (each grouping includes separate approval) on the agenda. All Approved. Items of interest may include but are not limited to:
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The Kenston Board of Education approved an Addendum to the Treasurer's Contract as agreed upon for Seth Cales for the period of August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026. The amendment to the Treasurer’s contract with changes can be found here.
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The Kenston Board of Education approved the Treasurer's Contract as agreed upon for Seth Cales for the period of August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2031 (please see attached resolution & contract). The Treasurer’s contract is available here.
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Substitute Pay rates
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Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Kenston Board of Education approved a contract with Bainbridge Township Police Department to provide police detail assignments on the Kenston Schools campus for the 2025-2026 school year at a cost not to exceed $72,000. Further specifications can be found here.
58:08 Min Hearing of The Public on Non-Agenda Items
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Seth Heritage of Auburn Road explained that he had heard that the newest bus schedule changes would now allow for 4th-5th graders to travel on the same bus as high schoolers and he was concerned about this situation. Dr. Willingham assured him that while bus schedule changes have been made, and the middle school would be starting earlier next year, there are still separate and dedicated middle school and high school bus routes. Mr. Heritage also spoke about a new afterschool weightlifting programming for all ages. It was mentioned that this is or will be in conjunction with Kenston Community Education. The speaker said this weight lifting program has begun at Kenston, and he questioned if there would be someone to escort the children from Timmons Elementary to the high school where the program is occurring. The Board suggested a discussion after the meeting. Observer Note: This program appears to be the Bomber Powerlifting Club according to the Kenston Community Education website.
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Dr. Willingham reminded the room/community that they can also email him with any questions or concerns that they may have.
1:03.41 Min A Motion was made and approved to adjourn at 7:59pm per Tom Manning and the meeting video ended at 1:03.45 min.
Next regular meeting: July 14, 2025 at 7 pm.
More information here: Board of Education | Kenston Local Schools
Video Observer: Jacqueline Berger
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Date Submitted: July 2, 2025
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