4/26/2012 - South Side Leader
     

GREEN — Starting July 1, the Green Local School District will switch to EZ Pay’s online payment system.

At the Green Board of Education meeting April 23, District Treasurer Eydie Snowberger said the move will represent a decrease in costs for parents who pay school fees online.

With EZ Pay, she said, users will pay a $2 fee per transaction. Currently, the district uses a service called Pay For It, which charges users a fee of 4.75 percent.

“Let’s use tuition [as an example],” Snowberger explained. “For a kindergarten student, [parents] pay $160 a month. So in the old system, they paid $7.60 as a fee to use a credit card. Well, now, they will pay $2. So every month, they would save $5.60.”

The website is a way for parents to pay fees to the school in lieu of paying in cash or with a check.

“The only way we take cash or checks for tuition is in two payments — one lump sum in the beginning and one in the middle of the year,” Snowberger said. “If they don’t have the money like that, they can go in the system and pay every month.”

According to Snowberger, there are a number of fees parents can pay online.

“They can pay a lunch account, student fees, pay-to-participate fees or parking passes,” she said. “We can put things on there like if we have a fundraiser for prom, you can actually buy your ticket online.”

Snowberger said the district will pay $495 annually for the online service, which is the same as the current rate. However, she added that rate is scheduled to decrease as more neighboring school districts use EZ Pay.

Board member Lynn Wiggins asked whether balances remaining from Pay For It would transfer to EZ Pay and Snowberger said they would.

In other business:

• The board unanimously accepted a donation of $5,000 from the Park Auto Group for Green High School’s annual Top 25 Banquet.

Green High School Principal Cindy Brown said the Top 25 Banquet, which honors the school’s top graduating students each year, began in 1998.

“The Park Auto Group has been involved for all of those 15 years,” she said.

• The retirement of teacher and coach Dan Gourley was unanimously accepted by the board. Gourley, who currently is coaching the Green girls track team, has been with the district since August 1981.

“What a great career he’s had here,” said board President Bob Campbell. “He’s had a lot of impact on a lot of students — not only the athletes, but class-wise and everything else. He truly is one of those educators and coaches and confidantes and everything else that you know someday is going to have to leave, but you don’t ever look forward to that day. We certainly wish him all the best and thank him for all that he’s done.”

• The board unanimously approved a contract for services between the Summit County Educational Service Center and the district to provide salary and benefits as well as any other costs incurred in the employment of school psychologists and occupational therapists for the 2012-13 school year.

The total cost is paid using Title VIB grant funds.

“This is just a standard action,” Campbell said.

• Also unanimously approved by the board was a contract for $120,000 between the district and Epiphany Management Group for technology support between July 1 and June 30, 2013.

“That’s a cost savings of almost $90,000 from last year’s contract,” said Superintendent Mike Nutter.

• The “Graduation Certification List for the Class of 2012” was unanimously approved by the board. The 321 students on the list are certified to receive a diploma contingent upon completion of the necessary requirements for graduation as set forth by the Ohio Department of Education and the district.

• The board unanimously approved a contract with PSI Affiliates Inc. for registered nurse services from June 25 to July 26 at a cost of $1,481.

“This is for our extended school year program, and we do need a nurse there with those kids,” explained Nutter.

• The following students were recognized as students of the month: Wyatt Westover, Greenwood Early Learning Center; J.T. Merrill, Green Primary School; Haley Lagenfeld, Green Intermediate School; Andrew Hujar, Green Middle School; and Jasmine Reale and Michael Simile, Green High School.

In addition, the following 10 students were honored as ComDoc Developing Leaders of Tomorrow: Jeffrey Austin, Bryanna Austin, Sarah Susman, Jonah Scarcella, Kelsey Jones, Kevin Bayonnet, Ryan Kramanak, Gabriel Gladwell, Kristen Trowbridge and Salonas Ayad.

• During the March 26 board meeting, Nutter had announced that changes to the district’s grading scale for fourth- through 12th-graders were scheduled to be voted on during the April 23 meeting. However, Nutter said, the issue has been tabled until the next Green school board meeting, which is scheduled to take place May 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Central Administration Building in the City of Green Council Chambers at 1755 Town Park Boulevard.

“That will give us more time to explain it, not only to the board, but to the parents,” he said.

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