MANSFIELD — Clairie Huff-Franklin, an Ohio Department of Education representative, presented the Mansfield Board of Education with a state-mandated report card on Tuesday night.
The report was not favorable, but the results were not a surprise for board members.
“I didn’t necessarily expect to do better than a ‘C,’ but I didn’t expect anything lower either,” board president Renda Cline said.
According to the report, the district received a “C” grade in its Performance Index, a “D” in value added for students with disabilities and an “F” in Indicators Met, Annual Measureable Objectives.
The district also failed at overall value-added, value-added for gifted students and four- and five-year graduation rates.
Despite receiving discouraging news, Huff-Franklin emphasized the district will not be placed under academic distress.
“This was never meant to be a ‘gotcha.’ It’s a tool that you can use,” Huff-Franklin said.
The 67-page report was divided into two sections, strengths and challenges.
The districts strengths, presented as seven bullet points, included a favorable Five-Year Financial Forecast originally released in October 2015. The forecast revealed a positive General Fund cash balance of $10.8 million as of June 30, 2017, and $11.7 million as of June 30, 2018.
Another strength listed was the district’s framework for providing professional development aligned to literacy and math academic goals for grades kindergarten through 8th grade. Another strength was the district’s relationship with community organizations to improve student achievement.
Among the challenges were 11 bullet points, including lack of a consistent employee evaluation system in the district, lack of a comprehensive capital plan and the lack of systems and practices designed to build and develop a diverse, high quality staff.
Superintendent Brian Garverick is ready to meet with the ODE’s team to go over recommendations.
“I look forward to meeting with them. But there were no surprises there,” he said after the meeting.
Mansfield schools district treasurer Robert Kuenhle presented the district’s five-year financial forecast, which included projections if the district’s two renewal levies up for election in May 2017. The board approved the forecast.
“It will be a total of $8 million in renewal levy money. If that doesn’t pass, we’re back to having a financial planning committee,” Kuenhle said.
As expected, the board ratified agreements with the Mansfield Schools Employee Association and the Teamsters Local Union 40. The agreements will become effective July 1, 2015 until June 30, 2018.
According to the school district’s spokesperson Larry Gibbs, because of the school’s fiscal emergency status, the agreements are subject to ratification of the state-formed Financial Planning and Supervision Committee at its April 7 meeting. The financial committee will also vote on the financial forecast presented by the district’s treasurer.
