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Maple Heights board approves budgets, contracts, trips and donations; enters executive session
Summary
At its Sept. 29 meeting the Maple Heights City Board of Education approved permanent appropriations, financial reports, overnight student trips, a fiscal auditing contract and other consent items; the board entered an executive session at the end of the meeting and reported no action taken.
The Maple Heights City Board of Education on Monday approved multiple routine and committee items, including adoption of permanent appropriations for fiscal year 2025–26 and several student trips, accepted a $1,000 donation from the Cleveland Browns for the girls flag football program, authorized an independent contractor for fiscal auditing services and approved its consent calendar. The board recessed into executive session late in the meeting and reported no action taken on return.
Votes at a glance
- Approval of board minutes (Sept. 16, 2025): motion approved. Roll call: Shepherd — yes; Moore — yes; Cheeks — abstain (not present for that meeting); Granger — yes; Blackwell — yes. Tally: 4 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain.
- Financial report (month ending Aug. 31, 2025): motion approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Resolution 25‑101, adoption of permanent appropriations for FY 2025–26: motion approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Approval to return advances of funds to the general fund (amount recorded on agenda): motion approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded). A public commenter later asked for clarification on why advances were made; the treasurer explained advances are used to maintain positive cash balances and are repaid when state/federal reimbursements arrive.
- Student activity funds for 2025–26: motion approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Donation acceptance: Cleveland Browns donation of $1,000 to the girls flag football program — motion approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Resolution 25‑102, independent contractor agreement for fiscal auditing services (contract identifies Veronica Reinhart in the resolution): discussion included a board member asking for the contractor’s name; the contract was approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Overnight student trips approved: DECA state competition in Columbus (Feb. 2026); Business Professionals of America state competitions in Columbus (Feb. 2026); and a College Now college tour (Oct. 2025) to colleges in Maryland and Virginia — all approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Consent calendar (employment and other items b–j, employment conditioned on successful background checks and documentation): approved by roll call (unanimous yes recorded).
- Motion to move into executive session (personnel/other items as listed on agenda): approved by roll call; board entered executive session at 6:53 p.m. The board announced no action would be taken on return.
How board members voted: roll calls in the transcript consistently list the five-member panel (President Blackwell, Vice President Shepherd, Miss Cheeks, Miss Granger, Miss Moore); individual roll‑call responses were read aloud for each vote and recorded as noted above.
Public comment and clarifications: during public participation, community members raised two items: a resident questioned an apparent typo in a contract compensation paragraph (a $75 vs. $80 per hour inconsistency) and asked why advances were returned to the general fund; the treasurer explained the advances are short‑term cash management steps when the district awaits state or federal reimbursements. A scout leader asked about recruiting opportunities and was directed to coordinate with the superintendent’s office.
Ending: the board completed required votes on financial and administrative items, accepted a donation, approved overnight trips and entered executive session with no action taken on return.
