Schools

Falls and Woodridge School Board Members to Discuss Sharing Services

Woodridge school board president says district is not interested in merging.

In a special board meeting Monday night, the of education appointed two board members to meet with two Woodridge board members, to discuss the possibility of pulling resources together.

Following a motion by Falls Board Member Barbara Gunter to investigate if the Woodridge district would be interested in sharing services, School Board President Therese Dunphy revealed she arranged a meeting to be held to include Falls Board Member Dale Petty, Woodridge School Board President Cheryl Hoover and Woodridge School Board Member Terry Heffernan and herself.

While Hoover tells Cuyahoga Falls Patch that her board is open to talking, she said the district does not want to engage in “discussion about consolidating the two districts.”

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“We are very concerned about state budget cuts and how these changes will impact our schools. We will be working closely with our Treasurer to analyze the data,” Hoover said. “The board will then formulate a plan that may include cuts in programming or a future levy.”

Last month, the Woodridge off the May ballot after Superintendent Walter Davis recommended the district wait to find out the final results on what state funding reductions would be made.

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The meeting between the Falls and Woodridge board members will not be open to the public. Following the discussion at the Falls board meeting, Gunter made it known she was not pleased with the intial set-up of the conversation.

“I think it would have been nice that when two board members decided that they wanted to have a discussion on shared services with Woodridge, that they had stepped forward and had that conversation with their board first,” Gunter said.

Dunphy quickly responded to her concerns.

“I sincerely hope that this conversation takes place in a collaborate manner,” she added.

Rump agreed with Gunter, and added that he did not feel the board was communicating properly.

“It’s just a sad state of affairs that we can’t all talk as five board members about something before something happens,” Rump said. “It’s not the way I know a board is supposed to operate, it’s supposed involved all board members, not just a couple or just whoever it might be that might be deposited votes at the time.”

The Falls school board also discussed the option of using a search firm to find the district’s next leader. Both the Ohio School Board Association and Finding Leaders gave Board members an overview of the services offered to the board at its March 28 meeting.

Retired local superintendent Maynard Bauer heads up the Finding Leaders firm, which is based in Valley View.

Dunphy said Finding Leader stood out to her the most, because the firm would conduct phone interviews with all candidates before narrowing done the finalists instead of just looking at candidates on paper.

“I did think that was maybe a better initial screening process,” Dunphy said.

The next scheduled board meeting is set for April 11 at 6:30 p.m.


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