Vote of no confidence for Pickerington board
Union president: District refuses to address issues
The Pickerington Local teachers union issued a voted of no confidence in the district’s Board of Education, with its president saying Monday that district leaders refuse to address overcrowding, a teacher shortage and other issues.
The school board also voted Monday to censure one of its members, saying his actions and communications with teachers and the superintendent were violating board policies.
More than 99% of the Pickerington Education Association voted to issue a statement of no confidence against the district board of education, union President Brad Harris said. Pickerington schools, he said, are facing significant challenges, including overcrowding, understaffing and inadequate resources, and the Board of Education has failed to address the problems.
“Today, Pickerington schools are at a crossroad, and we need major meaningful change,” Harris said.
Board President Clay Lopez declined to speak with the media about the teachers’ vote and concerns following the meeting.
Harris, who has been teaching in the Fairfield County district for 22 years, said fewer resources stemming from a failed operating levy in 2010 gutted the district’s programs, and it never recovered. Additionally, continued growth within the district, teacher shortages and rehiring decisions have stretched school staff to the breaking point.
“Our staff is stretched as far as it can go,” Harris said. “And I’m not just talking about teachers, nurses, counselors and specialists. Our principals and assistant principals have considerable workload and are among the lowest paid in central Ohio.”
And further growth is coming to the district. The Pickerington school board heard a presentation on an internal study from district officials showing projections from five years ago indicated the district of 11,000 students is expected to gain 1,000 students by 20232025.
The study recommended hiring additional teachers and other support staff.
Harris said he was “pleased to see these recommendations” but does not believe that is “enough to keep up with the growth in our district, or to adequately address the needs of our students.”
Board Member Cathy Olshefski said money and space will ultimately be limiting factors in the proposal. While she said she disagreed with the union’s vote of no confidence, she said the board and the union are “all in this together.”
“We’re working toward the same goals. We must spend a lot of time collectively discussing the future of this district,” Olshefski said.
Pickerington school board votes to censure member, accusing him of violating communications policy, threatening superintendent
The board also voted 3-2 Monday to censure recently elected board member Mark Hensen, who the resolution said was responsible for violating board
What does the report say?
The auditor’s office examined the per-person payments Medicaid makes for 90% of its enrollees and found that Ohio spent over $1 billion in payments for people also enrolled in another state’s program. Auditors looked at a random sample of 125 people enrolled in multiple state Medicaid programs to try to determine where they lived and when.
The report makes five recommendations for the Ohio Department of Medicaid, including using more technology in the enrollment process and asking more questions in the application process to determine if someone is a new Ohio resident. The auditor’s office also urged the department to advocate for a system to bring up the information if someone is enrolled in another state’s Medicaid program.
“The data shows that public dollars were misspent due to concurrent enrollment. All taxpayers are impacted when each state is not making every effort to guard against misspent public dollars,” auditor’s office said in the report.
What does the Ohio Department of Medicaid say?
Voigt said the department was unable to confirm the conclusions of the auditor’s report because the auditor’s office did not identify the 125 cases examined, despite the department’s request for the data.
He said in the statement that the report also does not account for the federal government’s increased requirements during the pandemic to maintain Medicaid enrollment except in a few circumstances, which he said affected state’s ability to remove people from Medicaid rolls.
Voigt also said that the public assistance reporting information system already exists for states to discover whether someone is already receiving Medicaid benefits in two or more states.
Erin Glynn is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.