Sunday, June 10, 2012
Would you vote for a school levy? Take our poll.
Clarification: With treasurer Rick Berdine's recent five-year forecast, the district is facing a $9.9 million shortfall through fiscal year 2016. It’s no secret that the Lakewood City Schools will need to ask voters to pass a new school levy in 2013. Through fiscal year 2016, the district is facing a $9.9 million shortfall — the result of several factors, including massive state cuts and dropping home values. Superintendent Jeffrey Patterson said recently that the last levy — passed by Lakewood voters in 2010 — has been “negated by the state cuts." School officials are getting ready to ask voters to pass another levy. What’s not yet known is how many mills the district will seek from voters. Christine Gordillo, the district’s spokeswoman, …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Treasurer: “The levy dollars we expected aren’t here. That’s why a new levy just has to happen.”
In one of his last acts as Lakewood’s treasurer, Rick Berdine laid out the school district’s updated five-year forecast to the Lakewood School Board on Monday night. As expected, the school district's financial picture isn’t exactly pretty. But it’s also not as bad as officials had anticipated during the last forecast in October. After Berdine laid out the five-year plan, the school board OK’d Superintendent Jeff Patterson’s plan to trim millions from the budget. Berdine said among the reasons for the shortfall are falling property values — which means fewer dollars the district can collect from levies. State cuts — to the tune of $6.3 million — haven’t helped either. “It’s nobody’s fault,” Berdine said. “The levy dollars we expected aren’…
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Berdine comes from the Lakewood City Schools.
Lakewood's loss is Brecksville/Broadview Heights' gain. That's what they're saying to the south, as Rick Berdine is expected to be hired by the Brecksville-Broadview Heights schools as that district's new treasurer. The longtime Lakewood treasurer, who announced he was leaving the district last summer, is expected to be officially selected at Wednesday's board meeting in Brecksville. Mark Jantzen, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights board of education vice president, told Brecksville Patch that the district was in need in a treasurer/chief financial officer. Berdine will replace Karen E. Obratil, who announced her retirement from the district in February. Obratil spent 11 years with Brecksville-Broadview Heights and will soon be headed to …
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Whitehall City Schools chief financial officer to join district in October 2012.
After searching for several months, the Lakewood Board of Education selected a new treasurer for the Lakewood School District on Thursday. Current treasurer of Whitehall City Schools Timothy Penton will begin his new gig in Lakewood in October 2012. Penton will replace Rick Berdine, who in June announced his resignation as of Dec. 31, 2012. Starting in October, Penton will work closely with the current treasurer to ensure a smooth transition, according to the release, and take over the post on Jan. 1, 2013. Penton is eager to begin his work for the district, noting in a statement that he looks forward “to making Lakewood my home and serving the Lakewood City Schools as its Treasurer/CFO.” “I very much look forward to working with …
Friday, December 9, 2011
School board selects finalists Thursday to replace Rick Berdine at the treasurer's post.
And then there were three. The Lakewood Board of Education narrowed its search for the district's new treasurer down to three candidates. Seeking to replace its current treasurer, the board whittled its candidate field from six to three finalists: Teresa Emmerling, treasurer, Massillon City Schools; Lewis Galante, treasurer, Perry Local Schools; and Timothy Penton, treasurer, Whitehall City Schools. "I think all the candidates we interviewed were excellent," said board president Matt Markling. "Narrowing the choices down was a difficult decision. We feel good about having three excellent treasurers to interview." The board started out with 20 applicants for the post. The six finalists were interviewed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the …
Monday, December 5, 2011
The Lakewood School Board whittled down a list of 20 candidates to six. We thought we'd share some of their experience.
The Lakewood School Board has whittled a list of 20 candidates for the district's new treasurer down to a half-dozen. We thought we'd share a little more information about each candidate. There were 14 other applicants considered, including Jennifer Pae, the city of Lakewood's current finance director. The Ohio School Boards Association assisted the district with the search. The new treasurer will start on Aug. 1, 2012, and current treasurer Rick Berdine’s last day is Dec. 31, 2012. Berdine – who unexpectedly announced his resignation in June after 10 years with the district – will help the new treasurer throughout the transition process. The district complied with a Lakewood Patch public records request seeking the names and resumes of …
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The board will start interviewing the candidates on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Clarification: Board President Matt Markling said the full list of applicants will be submitted to Lakewood Patch by Monday evening. Lakewood City Schools announced the six candidates it will be interviewing for the position of treasurer Tuesday, Dec. 6, according to a press release from the district. The candidates are: Board President Matt Markling said during the Nov. 21 Board of Education meeting he hopes to have a contract signed with the new treasurer by the end of this month — his last official day on the board. The new treasurer will start on Aug. 1, 2012, and current treasurer Rick Berdine’s last day is Dec. 31, 2012. “We’re not going to interview in public – they’ll be private interviews,” Markling said at the meeting. “If we don…
Friday, December 2, 2011
The board is expected to whittle down the field of 21 applicants at Monday's meeting.
The Lakewood Board of Education is expected to whittle down the field of applicants for treasurer at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday. “All together, there were, I think, 21 applicants,” said Christine Gordillo, communications specialist at Lakewood City Schools. Lakewood Patch filed a public records request with the district asking for the names and resumes of the 21 applicants, but was denied access and told the information lies in the hands of the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA), who is in charge of gathering the applications on behalf of the board. Superintendent Jeff Patterson said on Friday the board didn't receive the list from OSBA - a private group not covered under open records laws - until Thursday evening. …
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Details of Rick Berdine's resignation are murky, and one resident raised tough questions.
Clarification: The interview between board member Ed Favre and Lakewood Patch took place in mid-October. Questions arose about details of the resignation of Lakewood City Schools Treasurer Rick Berdine at Monday’s board of education meeting at Lincoln Elementary School. During the public comment section of the meeting, Lakewood resident Greg Calleri asked if Berdine had been asked to resign. “No comment,” Berdine replied. Calleri, who unsuccessfully ran for a board seat earlier this month, proceeded to ask if Berdine had a “gag order” that prevented him from disclosing any details about his resignation. “No comment,” Berdine replied. Calleri extended his question to the rest of the board. “Does anyone on the board have an answer other than…
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Treasurer Rick Berdine said "no easy answers" to budget problems.
Lakewood City Schools Treasurer Rick Berdine’s presentation at Monday’s Board of Education meeting adopted a refrain of hope. “I hope I’m wrong,” he said, more than once. In his Five-Year Financial Forecast presented at Horace Mann Elementary School, Berdine said the district’s operating deficit will be $1.5 million this year, and will grow to about $10.5 million by 2015, thanks to lost revenues from property taxes, state and federal funding, and charter schools. “I cringed putting these numbers up here,” Berdine said. The calculations cannot, by law, include projections for future levies, and did not make any proposed cuts to the $70 million budget. The calamitous economy has dealt a serious blow to the district’s coffers. In 2008, the …
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Horace Mann Elementary School
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Lakewood City Schools
1470 Warren Rd, Lakewood, OH
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Tim Torrence
1:44 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
So you are happy that you pay taxes to the state of Ohio and they take that money and distribute it to Sandusky and Marrietta? Of course people in Sandusky and Marrietta pay taxes that come to our school district too. Why not just jack up your local taxes and cut out the middle man instead of filtering it through state and federal governments? more ›