| File Photo: Luci Gernot |
The superintendent of the Wood County Educational Service Center is stepping down at the same time an
agreement has been reached between ESC officials and school districts that challenged the center’s
billing practices.
The agreement between the center’s governing board and leaders from six Wood County school districts,
reached earlier this week, will result in a widespread audit of the center’s operations.
Superintendents from Otsego, Eastwood, Elmwood, North Baltimore, Lake and Northwood banded together in
November in an effort to negotiate better rates for services provided by the service center, and to get
explanations on how much of their payments were going toward overhead costs.
The ESC board held a special meeting Thursday, mostly in executive session, after which members approved
a memorandum of understanding with the districts.
Additionally, service center staff members were told Friday morning that Superintendent Luci Gernot would
be leaving.
Gernot could not be reached for comment Friday, but ESC board member Tim Smith said Friday it was her
decision to retire. "Today was her last day."
She was hired as assistant superintendent in 2007, and took over the top leadership role in 2009.
Officially, Gernot is on vacation and will continue to be available as superintendent to sign any
necessary documents or other official business.
School district superintendents at their monthly meeting with ESC staff Friday were told the governing
board will start a search next week for a short-term interim superintendent.
"We are actively searching to appoint an interim superintendent. We hope to have that decision very
quickly," said Smith.
He denied rumors that Gernot was forced out of office. "This is not about Luci," he stated.
"We have been very fond of Luci Gernot and the fine work she has done with the ESC," said
Smith in referencing cooperation with the districts.
"With the new approach, we decided we are going to seek new leadership," he added, noting new
innovations and programming which would "maximize our districts’ education dollar."
There has been discord for years between the districts and the ESC over costs charged for services. Last
fall, several local superintendents started shopping in neighboring counties for services available at a
lower cost, while asking whether certain operations at the Wood County ESC could be condensed to be more
efficient and therefore more cost effective.
"This is our opportunity to move ahead and be able to get back to the working together that was a
part of our way of doing business beforehand," said Marlene North, superintendent for North
Baltimore Schools, about the memorandum of understanding. "We can set this stuff aside now and move
forward with the same goal."
According to superintendents at Friday’s meeting, the memo calls for a service audit to examine staffing
levels and effectiveness of programming, and a financial audit to determine whether resources under
contract are being used as efficiently and productively as possible.
The audits are expected to take place this spring.
It won’t be known for months whether this action will result in savings to the school districts.
"Certainly we all hope for savings anywhere we can find them," said Lake Schools Superintendent
Jim Witt. "If it’s found that there aren’t any savings, we can at least say that we explored every
option.
"What we want is to make sure that services are being maximized and that the costs are the most
efficient they could be," he added.
"It’s going to be difficult right now to determine the exact dollar savings," agreed Eastwood
Superintendent Brent Welker. "We know that there’s been a lot of work done already, looking at the
various programs trying to find efficiencies. We hope to build upon that by taking a look at all the
programs."
The six districts also will receive a refund from the center’s unencumbered balance; the amount dispersed
to each district will be based on the district’s averaged contribution over the past five years. The
amount to be shared is $1.1 million, and will be parceled out over the 2011-12 school year, according to
Smith.
"Through this agreement, we’re going to provide immediate and real financial support to the six
local districts," he said. "We will do that through phased-in reimbursements and further
budgetary belt tightening on the part of the ESC."
"(That payment), in these economic times, is a big boost to us. I’m certainly appreciative of all
the hard work the two sides put forth to make this agreement work," Witt stated.
According to Gina Fernbaugh, ESC treasurer, center’s unencumbered fund balance is expected to be $3.5
million when this fiscal year ends in June.
From North’s perspective, the overall reason for the agreement is to develop a collaborative effort in
making the operations at the ESC both cost-efficient and competitive with neighboring districts, while
still providing quality educational services to Wood County students. "Having that overall
philosophy agreed upon as a foundation is a good starting point," she said Friday. "That to me
is significant."
Area school districts contract each year with the ESC, located in Bowling Green, to provide teachers for
special education programs, including preschool, psychology, autism and assorted disabilities; gifted
programs; and to receive professional development. It often is not feasible for a district to hire its
own full-time specialists; instead, districts share services and costs via the ESC.
"Local" school districts, specifically the six that banded together, are required to deal with
an ESC while city districts and exempted village schools are not.
For years, superintendents’ complaints centered on the overhead and administrative fees the service
center adds into costs charged to the districts, and the inability to get budget breakdowns of just how
those fees are used. School leaders, however, had no issue with the quality of services provided by the
ESC, and expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached.
"I don’t think anybody wanted to see a relationship that’s been in place as long as this has, go
away," said Welker.
The united front against the ESC was strictly business.
"I think we wanted to make sure anything we deal with, whether in our own districts or anywhere our
taxpayer dollars are being spent, that they are maximizing efficiencies," he explained.
Boards of education in the six districts will be asked to approve the memorandum of understanding as they
meet over the next several weeks.
"Our board has agreed in principle to that and we await their execution of the document," Smith
said.
