Meeting Details: The West Geauga Board of Education met at 6:45 p.m. in the Board Office Community Room, 8615 Cedar Road in Chester Township. Meetings are open to the public and media. Agenda and minutes are available online. The minutes from January 9, 2023. A recording of the meeting is available via YouTube.
Board Attendance:
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Kathy Leavenworth, President
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Ben Kotowski, Vice President
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William Beers
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Mary-Michelle Coleman Walsh- ABSENT
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Christina Sherwood
Staff Attendance:
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Richard A. Markwardt, Ph.D., Superintendent
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Karen Pavlat, Treasurer/CFO
Tax Budget - Ms. Pavlat, Treasurer/CFO presented the 2024 Tax Budget. The General Fund estimated tax collections for FY 2024 will be $25,736,861 and $931,531 for the Permanent Improvement Fund. Property Assessed Valuations were $950,541,240 for TY 2022, collecting taxes in CY 2023. The effective millage rate for collection year 2023 is 27.39, a drop of over 7 mils in the past six years. The District is the lowest taxed district in the area. Last year collection percentages averaged 98.29% in FY 2022. It was reported that WG is on schedule with the original 5 year forecast.
Election of Officers
President for nominations for the next board of education president for 2023. Ben Katowski was nominated and elected to this position. He was sworn in and the gavel was passed on.
Christina Sherwood was nominated and elected vice president of the board of education.
Board Meeting Dates for the Year - approved; available here
Board Committees and other Authorizations: All resolutions for the organizational meeting were passed and will be available for review on-line as listed above.
Regular Meeting - The regular meeting began at approximately 7:10 pm
Minutes: Approved for December 12 and December 20, 2022
Agenda: no additions to agenda
Presentation: West Geauga Marching Band (WGMB) - Jason Branch and Taylor Desegri – gave a day-by-day summary of the WGMB student trip to march in London Parade.
No public remarks
Consent agenda was approved.
Superintendent’s report: Dr. Markwardt reported:
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State Board of Education required the resolution related to title 9 in sports be given to the board so that they understand the State Board of Education stance on the topic. An article in Cleveland.com explains this resolution.
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January is school board appreciation month – certificates of appreciation were awarded at the meeting. He thanked all of them for their dedication and work.
Resolutions: All resolutions presented were approved unanimously with no discussion except the two items below..
21.02 Board Reports
Mr. Kotowski asked that each member send him their list of committee preferences. He asked that each member work with the committee to establish goals for the upcoming year. He asked Dr. Beers and Mrs. Sherwood to sit on the Finance Committee. Both agreed to serve on this committee.
Item not on the Agenda - Mrs. Leavenworth asked if there was a need to continue to have two regular meetings each month. She suggested that perhaps occasionally having a second meeting as a working meeting would be a better way to go. (Observer Note: At a working meeting, the public is invited but there is typically no public comment and no formal actions are taken.) The Board decided to address this issue at the next regular meeting on January 23, 2023.
Executive session – none
Next meeting: January 23, 2023
Name of Observer: KC Henry
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Date Submitted: 1/24/2023
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