001I now call to order this meeting of the Stoman Row Falls City School District Board of Education on Monday, July 7th at 6:00 p.m. Roll call, please. East Junkens, here. Sheen. Sudonic here. Wind here. Here. Please join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Everything we do is designed to provide a future ready student- centered learning experience for every single child. Our strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience from curriculum to infrastructure to wellness and everything in between. As members of the board of education, we serve as trustees. Therefore, this is a business
002meeting being conducted in public, not a public meeting. We are grateful to serve an engaged community and therefore encourage and respect input from citizens. We expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students. We reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting. Our first item of business is public comment. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the board of education. All comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than 3 minutes. We will listen to and consider your remarks, but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions. If you are seeking a direct response or further information, we ask that you submit your request in writing. Please begin
003your remarks with your first and last name. Uh my name is Marty Simkins. I'm here because I'm questioning the credit cards again. And I'm since the excessive use of the credit cards has come to light, requests for receipts and purchases have been requested by concerned citizens and Mike Shehan in the past 2024. Uh we've come closed up everything and you've had $450,000 on assigned to those charged on that account. According to the statements, I've seen lots of hotel reservations, seminars, workshops, medical retreats, alcohol, a payment to um the workers comp, a patient to a payment to Medicaid, um um and god knows how many lawyer fees on that. So, with the concern for finances, I'm interested in the administration going to be cutting back on these costs. And the worry from the concerned citizens is
004the credit card statement is not published. it must be requested and it seems this is a pretty good way to shuffle and hide money. I believe that publishing these statements on the agenda would increase the clarity of this administration. Thank you very much. Thanks. This is my first time speaking in this location. Uh my name is Rachel Jameson. I'm an alumni of Stoman Fall Schools. Uh I'd just like to share some observations about the length of recent board meetings. Over the past few months, meetings have routinely lasted between an hour and 45 minutes to as long as 3 hours. Uh while I do believe it's critical for the board to engage in thorough discussion and careful review of agenda items, it appears that much of this time is consumed not by collaborative deliberation, but by
005repeatedly answering questions from certain board members, uh questions about information that was already provided in advance of meetings. It seems that some board members are not taking the time to prepare adequately beforehand. Rather than seeking clarification from the appropriate administrators outside of meetings, they rely exclusively on public meeting time to have their questions addressed. From my understanding, much of a board member's work, reviewing materials, asking questions, and gathering information should occur prior to these meetings so that public sessions can remain focused and productive. In fact, some members have even stated they refused to meet with the treasurer or superintendent to get answers to their questions ahead of time. I believe it would better serve the community if board members conducted this due diligence in advance. This doesn't mean that the information gathered should be hidden
006from the public. On the contrary, it can and should be shared transparently during meetings, but in a more streamlined and organized way instead of making accusations, speculating, or promoting conspiracy theories, it would be far more constructive for board members to arrive prepared. For example, if there are specific questions about budget line items, those can be directed to the treasurer beforehand, then summarized for the public during the meeting. If there are questions about personnel or staffing, those can be addressed with the HR director in advance and then reported out in a clear, factual way. Finally, keeping the focus on government's responsibilities rather than micromanaging day-to-day operations of the district would help meetings stay on track and respect everyone's time. Thank you for considering those concerns. Hi, I'm Charlotte on Derek. I just came up. I just
007want to say how much I appreciate the board members, the treasurer, and the superintendent for clearing up any misconceptions about expenses expressed by the public and a board member. I realize that the public and board member have a right to express any concerns. However, I and other constituents deserve to know the legitimate facts. I do not like to misinform people or get misinformed or get half truths. At times, I really question if there are some that want to see the treasurer, the superintendent, and the board fail. I would add that previous boards may be responsible for some of the complaints. I and others think the board, the superintendent, the treasurer are doing well. Also, it's nice to hear from the department heads and the assistant superintendent. In turn, they deserve respect. I might add the
008saying that when you point a finger, four more point back to you. Okay, I'm not seeing any further comment from the audience. Let's move forward. Um, our first item for action on the agenda is uh personnel recommendations. I wish to re recommend on behalf of the superintendent of the recommend personal recommendations as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion, questions, comments? I actually do have some comments I'd like to make. Just pull them up. I said it a few weeks ago and I feel it's important to say it again. While I fully understand and respect the importance of honoring the contract we have with our unions, we must also find a way to support the many community members who have stepped up to serve in coaching roles. These individuals devote significant
009time, energy, and passion to our student athletes. Yes, they are compensated, but they are clearly not doing this for the money. They do it because they care deeply about our kids. They should not have to live with uncertainty about the roles year after year, especially when they are doing a good job and have the support of both parents and athletes. That kind of commitment and consistency matters. I also want to be clear, I understand the urgency of getting our fall coaches approved so they can begin working with our teams, but I must also express my dissatisfication with how this entire process unfolded. We were led to believe that this new process was intended to correct procedural issues with supplemental positions that unless a teacher expressed interest in a position as outlined in the contract, the
010existing coaches would simply reapply and be rehired. What has occurred does not reflect that understanding. To make matters even more confusing, we learned last week that the majority of our coaches are not teachers. Yet, we continue to apply a process that is clearly outlined for certified staff. That simply doesn't make sense. We need a plan that reflects the reality of our coaching staff, not one that assumes something that isn't true. We owe our community transparency, fairness, and consistency in how we make these decisions. I hope we can do better moving forward for the sake of our students and those who dedicate themselves to their success. Thank you. Any further comment? Are you gonna Oh, go ahead. Um I just want to echo her sentiment as well. Um it seems that there's an attitude um that
011these aren't real jobs and that there is no formal process uh currently in place to uh hire these positions. However, we are paying them thousands of dollars in taxpayer money and I don't understand why um these do not deserve the same respect as all the other people that are employed by this district. Um these people work with our children. Some of them are closer to our children than many of their teachers. And um some of the comments that were in the recent newspaper article were um very concerning and I just want to make sure that people understand that this board takes that very seriously and we are working on a more structured and professional system of hiring for these supplementals. So going forward, we're hoping that there will be great improvement in this process. I'd
012just like to tag on to that and uh comment that I know there was some um confusion around uh specifically the cheer um team and um a notice went out that there was not going to be a parade um participation and I I first I just want to thank Dr. fooled for immediately jumping on that and getting things reinstated. Um but because our students should never be you know in the position of losing out on anything um based on uh trying the you know the the people in leadership trying to get the decisions made properly and I think that this whole process has been eyeopening for all of us and I think that we um we do want to reiterate our um our dedication to not just athletics but all of the um activities that
013the students students participate in. We do um I do uh encourage the teaching and educating the whole child and that includes our athletics and our extracurriculars and it's very very important. So I just wanted to add that too. I think you all said everything that I was thinking. So thank you each uh for those contributions. I would agree that this is something um that it is important for us to have been working on and to continue working on as we move forward. Um as you said, Miss Merlin, these are these can't be treated as if they are not real jobs. They are jobs uh that folks take on like you you know not at all most of the time concerned about the money because you spend a lot more time than you are paid for
014typically when you step up into these positions and it's for the kids and these are folks who spend a significant amount of time with the students that they're working with on extracurriculars and have a real impact. Um so it's important for us to get these right. So thank you. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, I. Melody, I. Sudonic. I. Wind. I. Okay. Our next item. I wish to recommend that the board of education approve the waiver, release, and separation agreement as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. E. Jenkins. I. Sudonic. I. W. I. Next item. I wish to recommend that the board of education approve the administration pay schedules as presented. Do I have a motion to move? second. Uh if you could provide a quick and these
015are the administration salary schedules for fiscal year 26 to 28. This is the base of a 3% raise as uh the unions certified and classified as well as our exempt staff. So this is the last group of people we are approving for their their salary schedules in that 3% raise. Okay. So so that the 3% raise is consistent through all of our staff. That's correct. Okay. Any questions? That was accounted for in the uh in the what you presented also in the forecast. Yeah. So, the forecast had a 2 and a half% across the board. So, this would just be a half a percent difference in the forecast. Yep. Just want to make sure that these weren't additions. Thank you. Roll call, please. E. Junkens. I. Sudonic. I. Wind. I next item. I wish to
016recommend that the board of education approve the following funds as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Yeah. So this is adding the student activities fund 200 uh fund 200 9029 class of 29. So they're they're on the way to high school. They're are incoming freshmen. Yep. Any questions? Roll call, please. East Junkens. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. Hi. Technical difficulties. That's security right there. Demanding another sign in. Yeah. So, I just wanted to give a update on some of the credit card uh issues that we've been having or and topics and frustrations throughout the community. So, hoping to clear up some any frustrations or answers that may uh still be out there. Okay. So, just some key words that I'm going to be talking about. Uh, a requisition is a formal internal request
017made by an employee or department to purchase goods or services. It you it usually but always requires approval before the purchase order is created. So if there's somebody um mainly secretaries do a lot of the purchasing they have to put it in a requisition and then it follows a workflow uh that so if it was one of my staff it would be um you know my administrative assistant then it goes to Felicia and then I'm the final approver on all requisitions. So, sorry to interrupt you, but um so that process of requisition approval typically involves multiple layers of approval and and multiple set multiple sets of eyes on every request. Yes. Most of the time it's the administrator or department head will be talking with the their staff or their administrative assistant to talk about
018the purchases they that they will be planning to purchase and then the requisition starts at that point and then it go then it goes like the voting level and then Dr. Gold and then me. So Dr. Gold and I are the last two on any and all requisitions approvals. I can also add that um you can't submit a requisition unless you tie it to a budget unit that's already been approved from our budgets. Thank you, Mrs. Pro. Yes. Um anytime if your budget is $100 and you're trying to put in something $150 or $1001, it will flag it. Uh at that point, you would have to move money from your said budget elsewhere to cover those funds. And then once there is enough money in that budget unit, uh then you could process. Thank you
019for bringing that up. Then a purchase order document issued by a buyer such as a school uh to a vendor detailing the type, quantity and agreed price for goods or services. It authorizes the purchase. And then we have a blanket PO. So it's a type of purchase purchase order that covers multiple purchaser purchases over a set period roughly 3 months. Uh allows for repeated orders without issuing a new PO. So a lot of the times um we'll have blanket POS for utilities or supplies. Uh this year we're going to really narrow and hone down on after those purchases are up, we're going to close them and open new ones. So uh it's a good way of tracking to see um how much we're spending in 3 months. So why do we use a credit card?
020You know, we effectively pay for approved school related expenses such as travel, conferences, subscriptions, materials, and supplies. especially when vendors don't accept purchase orders. Using a credit card also allows the district to earn rewards like cash back or points which can be reinvested to support student programs or reduce cost all while staying within the state laws and board policy. So, and I've said this before, you know, it's just a way of processing a payment. Um, you know, if a place doesn't take a purchase order, you know, we could use a credit card even though there is a purchase order. Uh, just that vendor might not accept a purchase order. It's it's rare if that happens. Uh we're finding a lot of hotels it's becoming more difficult to send a check with somebody ahead of time.
021Um so it's easier for the administrative assistant uh or the at the building or department level to make the reservation using credit card. We fill out authorization form limiting what they can and cannot spend with the credit card. Um so it's a lot easier and convenient for all parties at hand. So once again just a form of payment. Um it's not saying that they're using a credit card and it's not going against anything and it's free money. you know, it's still going against our budgets and approved appropriations that the board has approved. And then there are there's policy 6423 and administrative guideline 6423 which uh that's just a summary. I did attach the policies on board doc. So if anybody would like to read the entire policy and administrative guideline, they can do that. Um,
022but it really details what uh the district can do and what the employees can do and who can use the credit cards. Um, so just making sure that we follow up our policies and update them as we see fit and then some allowable use for credit cards. Um, I talked about travel uh in professional development conferences, workshops. A lot of workshops we do for professional development whether it's administration or teachers. I think most of it if not like 90% of it is going to be done through a credit card. Um I think we realized in the year of 2025 that it's just easier to send somebody a link versus trying to get cash or check and you receive funds faster. also meals, parking tools and mileage. And then student and classroom support, student activities, event
023registrations, instructional supplies, awards or incentives, competitions, fees, athletic events. Um, so food for us it's non-general funds. Um, you know, food for student related events, field trips, student banquetss, meals for staff when hosting professional development, food for board approved staff appreciation or recognized events. And then we have our subscriptions and memberships which if not all of them are going to be done through credit card educational professional development uh district related online tools or software with documentation of educational or operational benefit and then operational needs office supplies some emergency purchases uh technology equipment and uh fuel for districts. So if someone's taking a van out and they need gas and they have a district credit card with them, they could stop and fuel up gas. Um, you know, then we would follow the requisition process as
024well, taking the the reconciliation process. So, and now I want to just take a look and update the community and the board on the fraudulent charges. Um, in November 2024, there were fraud charges that totaled roughly $5,000 for Door Dash. Once we know once we realized these were on the statement, the charges were reported as fraud. The card was cancelled and a new card was issued. During this time, the district was not paying the fraud charges and started to acrew interest in late fees. The district ended up paying the fraudulent charges, fees, and interest while we work through getting these credited back. So, update on the Door Dash fraudulent charges. Dollar Bank sent a letter through the mail. It was sent on July 3rd, and we're waiting to see what that letter entails regarding the
025fraudulent charges. And um all fees and interest charges totaling $2,628.30 have been credited back, which is um which is really nice to see. So, that was on this last statement. Um so, I went through the charges and I put where you would see those fraudulent charges on the statement. So the first one is our June payment and then you have those months that we were received a fee or a finance charge and then our cashback rewards. So it was nice to that they were easily identifiable to uh to to note those and then moving forward the district has reduced the number of credit cards to the following users and departments. So up there we have five department um heads that will have credit cards and then we are al also going to have one for
026someone to check out if they are going out on professional development um or if they are going to run into a store and they need to use it for a uh purpose. Uh and then by the end of this month we will have a credit card handbook uh which will outline policies and procedures to those who will use a district credit card. just so everyone is well aware of what it entails of having a district credit card in hand and what you should and shouldn't be doing. Okay. And that's all I have for that and I will be more than happy to answer any questions that came about during the presentation. So now that you've revised the policy, how many card holders do we have? five. Okay. And so if if someone checks out that
027traveling credit card, shall we say, um what's the expectation for kind of returning it? I assume that's fairly quickly. Yeah. Per board policy says within 3 days, but if they're going to be going out, um you know, I don't I would expect it to be as soon as possible. No later than 3 days. um if it's going to be a Friday, that's understandable. Um if they're going out to purchase something at a local store, um you know, the next day should be pretty easy to get back. And then they also will be signing in and out of the card so we know who has a card. Uh so it's easy to track down purchases if purchase if questions arise and we are unable to determine a purchase. I just want to clarify as far as
028transparency goes in and these credit card statements, the items that would be charged on a credit card still appear in our check register as as expenses and it's not something that's hidden in a in a bill. Correct. Yes. And you took the the words out of my uh my mouth with the next thing I was going to be talking about. So, yes. Oh, sorry. Yeah. So, it it's out there. It's public. It's just a matter of if we were to separate what what got a check, what was paid with by the PO, what was paid with by a credit card, that's the only difference of what these charges are. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. So, um if there's no more regarding this, I will kind of move on to still talk about some of the
029credit card stuff. Okay. Um so, I'd like to take a moment to follow up on some of the credit card transactions discussed by Mr. Sheen during the June 16th meeting uh and reiterate that all transactions tie out to a check. So which still have to follow the requisition to a purchase order uh and then reconciliation on that. Uh so with that set out I will address some of the transactions. Um and hopefully this will provide clear answers. So I'm not going to read all of them. I wasn't able to watch and get all the transactions Mr. Sheen uh asked about at the June 16 meeting. I just ran out of time. Um so out of this time that I did have he had about 40 transactions. Um and some of them that he raised concerns
030were were a lot of you know student activity accounts, principal accounts and some of them were general fund. Uh you know we we do still want our educators to go and do professional development as well as our administrators. Um so some charges on December 19th uh for a charge of $269. It was uh PL24002088 um in the amount of 26845. That was a legitimate expense on 1219 2023 PL24002329 [Music] in the amount of 1402. Yes, that was a legitimate expense on 1219 2023 PL24002346 in the amount of 35250. Yes, that was a legitimate expense. So, I took the time to really go through all this and what Mr. Sheen was reading off of was a public records request that was sent to myself and the board. This requesttor took the credit card statement and highlighted
031transactions on the um document the statement and then submitted that back as another public records request for the PO invoice and receipts. So uh what Mr. Sheen was reading a lot of were um charges on were transactions on the credit card that that requesttor uh highlighted. Um so a lot of the stuff that going through the public records request of supporting documentation and comparing it to the transactions that were mentioned on June 16th um you know it more than like 90% of them are for um title student activities principal funds and athletics events. Uh some of the charges Mr. Sheen questioned um was about not utilizing some of the stow or Monroe Falls businesses was for title our family community night. We had ordered Jets pizza and Geonos. Um so we ordered two pizzas from
032Jets and two pizzas from Geonos. That's something we could look into as the credit card policy is making sure we're utilizing our stone and Monroe fall dis uh district businesses before we go outside. Um but sometimes we can't always do that. you know, some uh places that we prefer are outside of the the community. And then just a quick reminder that G is in Monro Falls. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. Jets was the only one that was outside. So, Mr. Sheen had made that point that it wasn't Stow, but yes, it's in Falls. Yeah. So, 50% of that order was purchased in a uh district. Yes. And then Mr. Sheen also questioned a charge on 429 2024 uh for Signup Genius. And Signup Genius is an annual membership that central office uses, not uh the
033the business department. It just fell under the BIS business department's uh roles of what they would purchase. And we use that to register for fingerprints and any parents to come and um finish their application for enrollment. So, it's what might appear as one person always buying something, there's more to the story so that if we just take time and ask questions ahead of time um while in advance for this stuff, it would make more sense. Uh also, if we have some meetings, we could clarify a lot of this information because it does look like that card holder is buying a lot, but real in reality, business services, overseas, transportation, food service, technology, and maintenance. So there's a lot of people who could be utilizing those district credit cards. So the statement could just be deceiving.
034So it seems like it might uh end up looking like certain people that have them now are spending even more because those aren't spread out across, you know, a larger amount of people. So um you know, when they when they the new statements come out, it's not going to be that one person is spending more. It's just one person has responsibility for more um accounts. That is correct. I wanted to clarify um there's there's a fair amount of um food and beverage types of expenses on that list. It sounds like most of that is for um student events. Yes. And there was there were some purchases out of general fund prior to what me and Mrs. Bro put in place when she was uh interim superintendent when we really tried to put a kibash to
035general fund spending for food and uh beverages. So that was over a year ago then that we limited that. Um also I wanted to to clarify when we talk about meals out at conferences um that by state law that money cannot go toward any alcoholic beverages. Um, so that uh I know that that I've been to conferences and had this discussion, but I wanted to make sure that it's out there publicly that folks who go to conferences and have a perdeium rate for their meals are informed of that limitation, that there will be no alcohol um reimbursed by the district and are informed of that and told procedures for making sure that there is no alcohol on their receipts that they're turning in to the district for reimbursement or they're using the credit card for
036Yep. And that's also outlined in the board policy and the administrative guidelines as well. And we also are going to be looking at our uh PDM rates to make sure it's a little bit easier uh and are up to times with uh you know it being 2025 that doesn't really keep up with inflation. Mhm. But yeah, anytime someone is using a district credit card or getting reimbursed and you are at a restaurant that does have alcohol in the name, um, doesn't mean you can't go there. Just means you cannot get reimbured for alcohol or purchase it on the district credit card. It's best to just not have it on the receipt. So, what would happen if um if somebody made a mistake on that account? Um, does your office review those and and then how
037would you deal with it if there were if if there was an oversight there? Yeah. So, if it was if someone did have alcohol charges on the receipt, um, if it was a reimburseable amount, we would just deduct that from the amount. But if it was on the district credit card, that employee would then have to pay that amount for the alcohol. Okay. And the employee would be likely referred to Mr. for love for a discussion and then they would look at, you know, you would maybe not have access to the district credit card moving forward, right? So, I assume that if if it's caught um that somebody is not using the card appropriately, there's measures in place and consequences that then follow for any type of inappropriate use. Yep. And that also is uh
038stated in the board policy administrative guideline and also in the handbook that would include uh using the card for anything even if it was a technically allowable charge if they didn't have the proper requisition or or PO in place that would still be a inappropriate use. Yeah. So in general anybody is liable for the expense if there is not a PO or requisition in place. So, if you if I purchased something and I didn't have appeal or requisition in place and we never got one approved, like I would be then held liable for that expense. Thank you. And usually once people I always re reiterate that at the beginning of the school year and it kind of like reminds people like make sure you know put the wreck in, make sure it's turned into a
039PO and then you know on all purchases Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Galano. You're welcome. Okay. Next, I will entertain a motion to go into executive session uh under 121 22G1 to consider the employment of a public employee or official. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. E Jenkins, I. Sudonic, I. Wood, I. We are in executive session at 6:37. There will be no action afterward other