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New Copley-Fairlawn school board members sworn in



The three members elected in November to the Copley-Fairlawn City Schools Board of Education were sworn in during the board’s first meeting of the new year Jan. 9.
Superintendent Brian Poe welcomed James Borchik, Steven Coon and Paul Lynn, all former teachers, and offered a preview of what the future holds as he acknowledged January is School Board Recognition Month.
“On behalf of all the students, staff members and families of the Copley-Fairlawn City Schools, I’d like to express the sincere heartfelt thanks for the many hours that are going to be spent providing guidance and support to continue to improve our district. I think sometimes folks don’t realize the amount of time that the five of you are and will be spending in face-to-face conversations in the grocery stores, on the telephone, as you walk in your neighborhood or someone just stops you when you’re out and about,” he said. [For more on the new board members, see related story on Page 1.]
“We realize you have numerous commitments in your personal and professional lives and you’ve chosen to find the time and you’ve done that of your own volition to help create a vision, assure accountability and be staunch advocates for the continued success of each and every child in our district,” Poe added.
The board’s agenda included a number of annual organizational items.
Board member Paul Cevasco was elected president and Borchik was named vice president.
Outgoing president Kenneth Calderone was appointed to serve as the board’s legislative liaison, Cevasco as the liaison for academics and student achievement, Borchik as liaison for community relations, Coon as liaison for buildings and grounds and Lynn as technology liaison.
Cevasco will serve as the board’s delegate to the Ohio School Boards Association’s annual business meeting. Borchik will be the alternate.
The board also approved meeting dates for 2018. They will continue to meet in the Copley High School main conference room on the third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. Exceptions to the third Tuesday are April 16 and June 26.
In other action, the board approved:
• accepting donations, including $1,552 from an anonymous source for the food service program and $250 from the Piper Jaffray Charitable Giving Program for the Makerspace program at Fort Island Primary School; and
• hiring numerous athletic coaches, including high school head coaches Ray Fantozzi for baseball, Tony Davis for boys track, Johnnie Legrair for girls track and Mark Ullman for boys tennis.
In other business, the board held a private executive session to discuss evaluation of personnel, with no action taken afterward.
Also at the meeting, the board honored students of the month for November 2017: Diego Guerrero for Arrowhead Primary School, Alexandra Panzner for Fort Island, Lucas Byers for Herberich Primary School, Kylea Stoner for Copley-Fairlawn Middle School and Breea Shephard for Copley High School. The athlete of the month was Jared Mattei from Copley High School.
The board’s next meeting is set for Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. in the main conference room at Copley High School, 3797 Ridgewood Road.