Windham – Windham Board of Education (BOE) met for their regularly scheduled meeting last week with all but one member in attendance. The board approved the usual — minutes, expenditures, and financial report. Superintendent Aireane Curtis said, they are placing a replacement 1.5 mills on the ballot in November. Residents can look for it under Issue 29 on the ballot. The board will hold informational meetings on the levy, so people will have an understanding about it, dates will be forthcoming. This is a replacement levy and will be less than what property owners were paying.
Superintendent Curtis also announced that the food pantry has partnered with the Ben Curtis Foundation (BCF) out of Kent, Ohio. The BCF will provide the pantry with 500 meals a month. These meals will be packaged, so young kids will be able to carry them home from school.
The district has 516 students enrolled this year. That is up from 475 last year. Curtis says, that number will fall some, she knows a family has moved and hasn’t withdrawn their kids yet. She thinks the increase is because parents are more comfortable with their kids being in a smaller school, so they open enrolled to Windham. Right now, the district has about 75-80 kids open enrolled out of the district and 51 open enrolled in.
The state report cards are out; rankings have not been listed. Windham did well in kindergarten – third grade reading readiness. The district is holding its own in other areas. Curtis said it is hard to accumulate points because of the district’s size. Windham does offer ACT tests during school, so that everyone can take it. They also offer tech classes and CCP classes. All of these give the school credit, but because of their small size, it only helps a little. Curtis said, the school’s state report card is in line with all other schools its size.
Curtis was also notified from State Farm that they were still in the running for the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant. The district’s student food pantry is in the running for a $25,000 grant. They are one of the 200 chosen from a field of 2000. The grants are awarded to the applicant that receives the most votes. Voting will begin on September 23, 2020 and end on October 2, 2020.
Treasurer Adam Hines said, he attended an Ohio Department of Education (ODE) virtual meeting about funding. They ODE doesn’t think schools would see a reduction in state revenue this year or next, but in two years, they expect a shortfall. Hines reported he received the Casino Revenue money. It’s paid out twice a year. The district received half of what it usually receives. They usually receive about $13,000, this year they received $6500. Hines said, it made sense, since the casinos were closed a good part of the year.
Hines also made the board aware of a valve leak on one of their refrigeration units. The estimate to fix it is $13,000, if they wait too long, then they will have to replace it and that is very expensive. The BOE voted to get the system fixed. The district paid $3600 for the inspection of it and are also talking about having Katherine Thomas (KT) inspected.
The district opened for in-person classes on Monday, September 21st, after three weeks of online classes due to a staff member being infected with COVID and possible exposure of other staff members too. Those exposed needed to quarantine for 14 days.
In other BOE news, the board agreed to leave Portage Area School Consortium for property and casualty for fiscal year 2022. Hines reported that he found another insurance policy for significantly less money. They also approved donations for the food pantry from various sources, approved tuition reimbursements for staff and approved the contract with Jefferson County Educational Service Center for their online school that the district is using. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
