School board votes to approve district plans

The Chardon School Board has voted unanimously to approve the district’s grade-level and facilities reconfiguration plans outlined earlier in February.

In a letter to staff sent Feb. 21, Chardon Schools Superintendent Michael P. Hanlon Jr. lauded the board’s Feb. 20 decision and confirmed plans to act swiftly to ensure the reorganization’s success.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to restructure our school district and move away from what has been familiar in our community,”

Hanlon’s letter reads. “However, it was necessary in the face of declining enrollment and continued erosion of funding from the State of Ohio. Further, it was difficult to not default to the knee-jerk response of simply cutting staff and programs, but rather to try to find a way to preserve educational opportunities for students by operating more efficiently.”

As Hanlon outlined for the district’s constituents in a Feb. 12 e-mail overview of the proposed reconfiguration, Chardon Schools will take the following steps:

• Close Hambden Elementary School

• Repurpose Maple Elementary School for the district’s pre-kindergarten program

• Use Munson and Park elementary schools for kindergarten through thirdgrade students

• Use Chardon Middle School for grades four through seven

• Use Chardon High School for grades eight

It’s unclear at this point what will become of Hambden Elementary School once it’s shuttered, said Chardon Schools’ Communications Director Ellen Ondrey in a Feb. 21 phone interview.

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It’s unclear at this point what will become of Hambden Elementary School once it’s shuttered, said Chardon Schools’ Communications Director Ellen Ondrey in a Feb. 21 phone interview.

“It’s not going anywhere at the moment,” she said. “But it’s not going to be used.”

She added that, because its equity is part of the district’s permanent improvement budget, any money raised from its sale, should the administration decide to put it on the market, would have to go back into that checkbook and couldn’t be used as operating dollars.

As far as whether the building will remain shuttered, get torn down or sold, nobody knows for sure at this point.

“None of those decisions have been made,” Ondrey said.

As far as some decisions having been made, Hanlon’s letter also specifies administration assignments, including Rhonda Garrett as principal at Park Elementary, Mat Prezioso as principal at Munson Elementary, Chardon Middle School Principal Tim Velotta and Assistant Principal Adam Tomco and, at Chardon High School, Principal Doug Murray, along with assistant principals Ryan Bandiera and Doug Higham.

Hanlon also reports current Maple Elementary School Principal Kelly Moran “will assume a key role in the transition of staff, students and curriculum throughout the reconfiguration process.”

“Additionally, Dr. Moran will be directing our literacy programming, working in concert with Dr. Ed Klein, Assistant Superintendent, to develop and implement a comprehensive literacy plan (K-12) to achieve our mission,” his letter reads. “The logistics involved with transitioning staff throughout our district to new assignments are involved, but achievable. Steve Kofol, Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs, is developing plans, including moving staff belongings, instructional materials, furniture and instructional technology.”

He added that the district’s technology coordinator, Bill Nells, is working with faculty and staff to upgrade Chardon School’s 1:1 Chromebook initiative, whereby students in grades three - 12 incorporate the use of Google Chromebooks into their coursework.

Hanlon encouraged affected staff members to “begin immediate;y purging outdated materials and supplies that are no longer necessary in order to make the move more efficient.”

“It is our goal to have staffing assignments, and the logistics associated with those assignments, communicated by the end of March,” he writes.

Hanlon’s letter also makes it clear that the district is not out of the woods yet and may face more cutbacks in the wake of another failed levy bid in May.

“I want to emphasize that passage of the operating levy on May 8 is still vital to our continued stability as a district,” He states. “Reconfiguration does not solve all of the issues we are facing and failure of the levy will force additional cuts beyond those we have discussed to this point. Those additional cuts will need to be implemented at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year. We encourage all staff to be educated regarding the importance of the levy.”

Although administrators haven’t identified any specific cuts to be made, Ondrey said they would likely include extras like art and physical education classes, along with anything the state doesn’t mandate. She said families with children who are involved in sports would also likely face payto-play fees.

As both Hanlon, Ondrey and numerous Chardon Schools constituents have often affirmed, the district’s reconfiguration plans are not the result of the Chardon Schools’ failed levy bid in November. Rather, it is part of the district’s master plan — Vision 2020 — which Hanlon introduced in 2015.

“We are not closing these buildings because we didn’t pass the levy,” Ondrey said.

Hanlon said the main things he wants are to preserve the high quality education the community expects and retain as much programming as possible in light of declining of attendance and funding and that Chardon Schools’ faculty, staff and administration now all face the challenge of making these things happen.

“Now it is up to us to continue the important planning for the 2018-19 school year,” his letter reads. “It is up to us to ensure our students and community continue to benefit from the exceptionally high quality of education that we deliver in Chardon Schools. It is up to us to respond to the heartfelt concerns shared by some parents concerning reconfiguration in a way that lets them see that their children will continue to receive the best possible educational experience we can provide.”