ComMentor Summer 2022 Final - Flipbook - Page 5
Chief Financial Officer’s Article Continued:
passed a PI levy back in 1988 that generates about $1
million per year for capital improvements. (In terms of
inflation, $1 million in 1988 would be like $384,408 today.) As you know, we have aging school buildings, but
we have maintained them extremely well over the years
and they are in great shape. Proper maintenance on our
buildings has been a top priority because it is directly
tied to student and staff safety. Historically, the district
has thoughtfully planned for PI projects on a five-year
cycle to best manage the spending. But, it clearly takes
more than $1 million a year to maintain our 16 properties with projects as big as roofing, paving and windows
replacements to as small as painting and cleaning. As a
result, we have been appropriating general fund monies
to accomplish the necessary improvements per the plan
each year and that is contributing to the deficit spending. Since beginning in this role, I have focused a lot of
time on this topic. Looking at research from Carnegie
Mellon, in a paper titled Addressing Inadequate Investment in School Facility Maintenance, we found we
should expect to spend about 2% of a property’s value
per year in order to maintain it properly. In Mentor
Schools, this would equate to about $5 million. At this
time, we are discussing better ways to fund the district's
necessary PI projects and that may eventually include
the need to ask the community for a new PI levy so that
we may continue to adequately maintain our schools
and facilities.
Finally, you may have heard about the federal government’s COVID-19 relief funds for school districts, also
known as ESSER funds. This money was available for
schools, regardless of what the district’s COVID-19 protocols were, as long as a plan was submitted. In Mentor,
we chose to primarily use the ESSER funds to hire additional teachers, who were tasked with providing targeted interventions for students in need of extra support.
This decision was made specifically to help address the
achievement gaps some students experienced as a result of pandemic learning. We plan to use more of the
ESSER funds in this same way this coming school year as
well.
Our primary goal of educating students in a safe learning environment always comes first. As Chief Financial
Officer, I am committed to continuing to find creative
ways to control costs, look for ways to improve efficiency and find additional revenue so that Mentor Schools
can make the very most of your taxpayer dollars as we
work toward that goal. Again, I would encourage you to
take a look at our website to learn more about the finances of Mentor Schools. Thank you for your continued support.
-Bill Wade, CFO
Students from Ridge Elementary School stood to be recognized at the Cardinal Connect Luncheon as
participants of the partnership between the schools and Mentor Public Library’s library card initiative.
As part of Ohio’s In-Demand Jobs week, Mentor Public Schools hosted the Inaugural Cardinal Connect, Business Partnership Luncheon in May. The event recognized
support provided to Mentor Public Schools by community partners.
“We are fortunate to have so many excellent community partners who support
our schools in a variety of ways and as we think about the future of those relationships, one important element is our showing appreciation to business and community partners who have gone above and beyond, especially in the past year,”
Kristen Kirby, Director of Community Relations said.
As part of the event, Mentor Public Schools gave Business Partnership Impact
Awards to several organizations of the community that exemplify collaboration
and generosity with Mentor Schools. Recipients included Classic Auto Group,
Mentor Public Library, Laketran, City of Mentor, and Cardinal Credit Union.
Dr. Joe Glavan, Director of Career Technical Education And Business Partnerships
for Mentor Public Schools shared, “Due to the extensive support from our community partners, students are provided opportunities to ensure that we focus not
just on curriculum in the classroom, but more importantly, how it applies in the
world outside of it. Now more than ever it is imperative that our students leave
these halls not only college prepared, but also career ready.”
In order to prepare students to meet real world challenges head on, Mentor intends to expand opportunities to immerse more students in real world experiences. Mentor Public Schools is committed to provide increased real world learning
experiences on a K-12 level to help inspire Ohio’s next generation.
To assist with this, Mentor Schools has created a new initiative, Cardinal Connect.
Cardinal Connect is a web-based platform that will allow community members to
more easily connect with the school district.
Dr. Glavan added, ‘With our Cardinal Connect initiative, we will be able to partner
with businesses to a degree that has not been done before on an educational level
in northeast Ohio. Through purposeful collaborations, we hope to expand partnerships that benefit students from elementary school all the way through high
school and beyond. Through a simple form on Cardinal Connect, businesses will be
in the driver seat to let us know how they would like to partner and what opportunities they believe would be mutually beneficial. Cardinal Connect was created
with the idea that when business, education, and government collaborate effectively, we all benefit. ”
Businesses interested in learning more about partnering with Mentor Public
Schools can visit www. cardinalconnect.mentorschools.net.