Austintown board elects officers, OKs administrative authorities and intergovernmental agreements

The Austintown Local School District Board of Education on Jan. 13, 2026, completed its organizational business for the year, electing board officers, approving routine administrative resolutions and authorizing several intergovernmental and vendor agreements.

Kim Smrek was unanimously elected board president and Don Sherwood was unanimously elected vice president after the board opened and closed nominations for each office. Both officers took the oath of office administered during the meeting.

The board approved a set of standard governance and finance actions used to operate through the year. Those approvals include adopting Robert's Rules of Order for meetings; authorizing the treasurer to make disbursements for payroll, bonds and accounts payable when due and to invest funds within board-adopted policy; designating the treasurer as the board records officer and as the designee for required public-records training; and establishing a $4,000 service fund to reimburse member expenses incurred in performance of duties outside the district.

Trustees also approved a procurement resolution reserving board approval for purchases of goods or services in excess of $15,000, with an emergency exception allowing the president or vice president to authorize purchases when meeting dates would otherwise delay necessary purchases.

Several appointments and delegates were named: Fred Markham will serve as the board's representative to the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA); Katie Burdes will serve as the student achievement liaison to OSBA; Dawn Sherwood was appointed delegate to the OSBA Capital Conference and Kim Smrek as the alternate delegate.

The board authorized the superintendent to temporarily hire staff when vacancies occur between meetings and to accept resignations between meetings; both resolutions were approved unanimously. The board also approved retaining legal counsel on an as-needed basis and continuing participation in listed state and federal grant programs during 2026.

Intergovernmental and vendor agreements approved included an agreement with the Mahoning County Solid Waste Management District, a proposal from Unique Therapy Services to assign three registered behavioral technicians (RBTs) to support three kindergarten classrooms for Jan. 5–May 22, 2026, and memoranda of understanding with Youngstown State University and Kent State University to participate in College Credit Plus for the 2026–27 academic year (July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027).

The board directed the superintendent to notify the Ohio Department of Education that Austintown will be an open-enrollment district for the 2026–27 school year and set the board's regular 2026 meeting schedule for the third Wednesday of each month.

Votes on the listed motions were recorded as affirmative by the members present. Where motions referenced statutory authority in the transcript (for example a provision of the Ohio Revised Code related to board compensation), the meeting record provided a garbled citation; the board nonetheless authorized compensation pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code as stated in the motion.

The meeting transitioned to the regular session agenda after a brief recall to order; consent agenda items recommended by the treasurer and superintendent were approved by consent.