Volume 54, No. 20
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CHESTERLAND NEWS Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Your Community Newspaper Since 1967
West G to Give Kirtland a Lift By Brian Doering brian@karlovecmedia.com
West Geauga Schools had agreed to give Kirtland students a ride for the rest of the school year after a collaborative agreement was reached between the two districts Jan. 23. West Geauga Schools Board of Education passed a resolution last Monday to adopt a shared transportation service agreement with the Kirtland Schools for the 2022-2023 school year. “If you recall, at the beginning of the year, there was a question over one of our routes that was a private school route and Kirtland was gracious enough to offer us help when we needed help with that,” said Superintendent Richard Markwardt. “I knew that if there were ever a day where we would need to reciprocate, we would be
“They extended to us at the beginning of the year and I felt like as good neighbors, we should do the same for them.” – Richard Markwardt willing to do so and that day has come.” West Geauga will provide all personnel, school buses, other student transportation vehicles and/or supplies toward transportation for all students, and may provide services for Kirtland on an as-needed basis, and with Kirtland picking up the cost, according to the resolution. The agreement will be in effect until June 30 of 2023. “The memorandum of understanding allows both districts to have an opportunity that is mutually beneficial from a financial standpoint that also helps to overcome any bus driver shortages that may
arise,” said Kirtland Superintendent Chad VanArnhem in a follow-up interview. The school district will charge Kirtland for transportation services based on the routes that are exclusively for Kirtland students, as well as students who reside in the territory but attend non-public schools. Kirtland will also pay for the percentage of Kirtland student ridership on shared routes and time needed for extra-curricular/athletic trips, and/or specific and unique transportation needs requiring contracted transportation services. “We will now pay West Geauga $25 a day to transport Kirtland stu-
dents on a route they were already driving. Our district is down three school bus drivers and this shared service gives us the opportunity to use the drivers we have available to cover the rest of our routes,” VanArnhem said. “I am appreciative of the West Geauga Local School District helping to provide this opportunity to our district.” At all times, Kirtland will retain the ability to use its own transportation resources or a third-party transportation vendor to meet its transportation needs. “Their driver shortage is now exceeding ours in terms of the difficulty, so the route in question is one where now Kirtland students will be riding in our bus, versus our students riding on their bus,” said Markwardt. “They extended to us at the beginning of the year and I felt like as good neighbors, we should do the same for them.”
GCPL Finishes 2022 Strong, Excited for New Year By Liz McMahon editor@karlovecmedia.com Having served almost 675,000 patrons in 2022, Geauga County Public Library ended 2022 on a strong
note, said Director Kris Carroll. While the library system hasn’t reached its pre-COVID-19 numbers, there has been consistent growth every month since the COVID surge in January 2022, Carroll said
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WGHS Senior swimmer Ashley Chase is CVC champion in both the 100 and 200 freestyle.
in a recent interview. During GCPL Board of Trustees’ annual organizations meeting Jan. 17, Assistant Director Katy Farrell reported patrons also interacted with branch reference desks 150,000 times last year and circulation numbers led all other systems in the Clevnet regional library consortium — which comprises 47 library systems across 12 counties in Northeast Ohio. “This accomplishment was made possible by the hard work and creativity of library staff, promoting items through engaging displays, programs, story times, Book Match, readers’ advisory and more,” Farrell said, adding computers and wifi access at GCPL branches were used almost 162,000 times, while 116,000 patrons saw 3,240 programs and over 2.6 million library items were in circulation through 2022. The board also unanimously elected and swore-in board officers, including President Kathryn Pitrone, Vice President Paul Newman and Larry Pitorak, who will serve as the board secretary. Carroll, Farrell and Fiscal Officer Lisa Havlin were also re-appointed to their positions.
“Being the board president is a big responsibility because you are ‘on call’ all the time,” Pitrone said. “I have always appreciated our libraries and am privileged to help make them be as good as possible.” Looking ahead to 2023, Carroll said there are exciting things on the horizon. “The staff is already working on the Summer Reading Program, which is a delight for all ages. Patrons have begun to ask about details of the library’s 60th anniversary celebration in August,” she said. “Finally, we are working with Chardon Schools to bring a makerspace (collaborative work space) to the Chardon community. It is a wonderful feeling to be moving into the post-pandemic world. Our rise in participation throughout the system shows that patrons can’t wait to enjoy dropping in for their books or to enjoy a program. Everything shows me that Geauga County loves its libraries.” Carroll also highlighted a new library acquisition to be unveiled in February — the historical Plain Dealer collection made up of newspapers dating from 1845 to 1881. See Library • Page 7
Geauga Park District Propels Mission to Preserve Natural Heritage pages 6-7
Obituaries page 4
Classifieds page 8
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