At the last Board meeting, Superintendent Aireane Curtis shared several potential financial savings that she and District Treasurer Katie Hoffmeister have uncovered. The first item deals with several services currently provided by an outside Educational Service Center (ESC). By receiving that service through the ESC Crestwood is currently aligned with, cost savings can be achieved, although the exact figure hasn’t been determined. In addition, the pair has investigated the online services the district currently has. According to Mrs. Curtis, they’ve identified, “what we are using and what we are not,” in order to remove services not widely used. If there are only a few teachers or students using a particular resource, the plan is to transition them over to a similar application. Mrs. Curtis noted that proposed changes as outlined in the two-page document she presented to the Board amounted to more than $373,000 in savings.
In addition, Mrs. Curtis recommended adjusting the beginning and ending school times at the Primary and Intermediate Schools by an estimated five to twelve minutes. This minor change would allow more time for the bus service to complete transportation for the students in the high school at the start and end of their day. Often, especially during the winter months, busing is delayed, meaning that staff members must stay later, which is an additional cost to the district. “These changes are fiscally responsible, but not harmful to our kids,” Mrs. Curtis noted.
In similar news, Mrs. Curtis noted that the district has utilized five calamity days. If inclement weather causes the need to take an additional calamity day before the scheduled end of the year on Thursday, June 5th, she noted that all students would have already received the mandated hours of instruction, so that missing one day wouldn’t require extending the school year. She does recommend, however, that the final day of classes remain June 5th for students from grades 7 through 12. She proposed that students in the kindergarten through 6th grade be released one day early (on Wednesday June 4th). Staff would report to work in order to complete necessary training. By conducting training on a day when staff are already scheduled to be on site will omit the need to pay them to return for training during the summer months.
Lastly, Mrs. Curtis raised an issue she and Ms. Hoffmeister had been recently informed of by the Portage County Water Department. According to County representatives, water meters installed by a supplier under the direction of the Village of Mantua in 2020 were installed using improper ‘multipliers’. According to Curtis, they explained that the meters calculated 1/10 the charge (as opposed to 100%). According to the PC Water Department, the amount owed by the district is $53,000. When Curtis asked if the County knew of this discrepancy when they proposed installing a water tower on district property last fall, she was told that they did.
In addition, billing details show that the three meters at the Administration Building showed more water used than the more heavily-occupied buildings. When their staff toured that building with Crestwood’s team to check both the efficacy of the meters and for potential leaks, they discovered a small issue in the cafeteria, but noted that the slow leak was not significant enough to account for the usage reported. Since no additional charges have been billed to the district yet, and the school wasn’t involved in installing the meters in question, the Board recommended waiting for further clarification on actual water usage before potentially enlisting the help of an attorney to resolve the matter.
The next regularly scheduled School Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 8th at 7 pm at 10880 John Edwards Drive in Mantua. As always, residents are encouraged to attend or watch the preceding online via www.crestwoodschools.org.
