Board approves officers, financial reports, personnel and insurance in January meeting

The Franklin County Community School Corporation board held its regular meeting Jan. 10 and approved a slate of routine but consequential items, including election of officers, year-end financial reports and claims, multiple personnel actions and a new property/liability and workers’ compensation insurance package.

The board elected officers for 2022: Sharon Lewandowski as president, Rick Gill as president of the regular board (as nominated earlier in the meeting), Katie Holman as secretary and Grant Reeves as legislative liaison. The board also set the regular meeting schedule to remain at 7:00 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the Administration Building.

Board members approved the December and January routine financial matters: prepaid claims 10029–10055 ($166,115.90), current claims 10056–10116 ($214,554.37), and bus contractor direct deposits ($233,666.95) for a total claims run of $614,336.41. The board received and accepted the corporation financial report showing the education fund balance of $1,938,702.90 and the operations fund and other fund balances as reported at year-end.

Personnel actions approved included acceptance of two certified retirements (Nancy Hawkins and Cathy Saint John), resignations of two agricultural teachers (Cameron Fraser and Terry Hornberger), and multiple hires and extracurricular appointments including Kayla Patterson as agriculture teacher at Franklin County High School and a slate of club and sponsor assignments listed in the meeting packet. The board also approved two principal appointments recommended by administration: Shannon Nguyen (interim principal at Laurel) to begin Jan. 11, 2022 (contract through June 30, 2023) and Beth Lake to begin July 1, 2022 (contract through June 30, 2024), with the salaries stated in the packet.

Other board actions included approval of 2021 budget transfers to eliminate negative appropriations and permission for district staff to apply for small grants from the Franklin County Community Foundation.

All recorded motions were approved by voice or roll-call vote; recorded board members voting in favor where roll call was taken were Francis Brumbach, Terry Bryant, Rick Gill, Beth Foster, Katie Holman, Grant Reeves and Sharon Lewandowski.

Votes at a glance (motions recorded in the meeting minutes): - Elect officers (president, vice president, secretary, legislative liaison) — approved (roll call: Brumbach, Bryant, Gill, Foster, Holman, Reeves, Lewandowski — all yes). - Approve minutes (Dec. 13, 2021 executive session and regular meeting) — approved (unanimous). - Approve claims/financial reports (total $614,336.41) — approved (unanimous). - Accept financial reports (education fund $1,938,702.90 etc.) — accepted (unanimous). - Accept retirements/resignations as read — approved (unanimous). - Hire Kayla Patterson (agriculture teacher) and other listed extracurricular appointments — approved (unanimous). - Approve principal appointments (Shannon Nguyen; Beth Lake) — approved (unanimous). - Approve 2021 appropriation transfers in education and operations funds — approved (unanimous). - Permission to apply for Franklin County Community Foundation Small Project Grant — approved (unanimous). - Approve new property/liability and workers’ compensation insurance package (EMC and IPEP as recommended) — approved (unanimous). - Approve COVID-related procedural changes based on updated CDC guidance (as presented) — approved (unanimous).

The board’s formal minutes and claims list in the packet provide the numerical and contractual details for each approved item. The meeting adjourned after routine closing items and scheduling the next regular meeting for 7:00 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14, 2022.