District implemented own policy about a year ago, before state-wide ban in September

Photo by Tom Rivers: Mollie Mark, assistant principal at Medina Junior-Senior High School, goes over data on student discipline that shows a drop in referrals since students have been banned from using their cell phones during the school day.

MEDINA – It was just over a year ago when the Medina Junior-Senior High School implemented a “bell to bell” cell phone ban in the school.

Medina started the new policy in January 2025, the beginning of the second semester. The district was ahead of the state which imposed its own state-wide cell phone ban in schools beginning in September at the start of the new school year.

Medina has seen a drop in student discipline referrals since instituting the new cell phone policy, and students report they are better able to focus on their studies. The hallways and cafeteria also are much noisier, which is a good sign that students are talking and laughing with their classmates rather than scrolling on their phones, said Mollie Mark, the school’s assistant principal.

She and Michael Cavanaugh, the junior-senior high principal, presented data to the Board of Education on Tuesday about student discipline and phone violations.

Discipline Data – first semester from September to January

• 2025-26: 562
• 2024-25: 727
• 2023-24: 744
• 2022-23: 623
• 2021-22: 1,104

Phone violations

• 2024-25: 156 first violations, 15 violations and 11 contracts
• 2025-26: 73 first violations, 8 second violations and 0 contracts

The school policy sets the following discipline for students who violate the cell phone policy:

• First Offense – Student delivers device to the main office and may pick it up at the end of the day.

• Second Offense – Student delivers device to the main office and is held for parent pick-up.

• Third Offense – Student delivers device to the main office and is held for parent pick up. A conference is then held and a contract is put into place with the parent/guardian.

Cavanaugh told the board there has been a “transformative change” in the school building since the new policy started. Students have to keep all devices silenced and in their lockers for the duration of the school day – from 7:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.   That includes cell phones, earbuds/headphones, tablets and smartwatches. (The only exceptions to this policy are with a note provided by a medical doctor and the approval of school administration.)

Cavanaugh interviewed students on video about the policy change and showed their responses.

“People are interacting more with each other rather than sitting on their phone,” one male student said.

Other students said the school atmosphere is much more calmer.

“Everyone gets along better,” the male student said.

Students aren’t recording each other or posting on social media about other students during the school day, reducing a lot of anxiety among students.

“It’s easier to pay attention in class,” another male student said. “It’s less stressful.”

A female high school student said she is better able to focus on her classwork and made the honor for the first two marking periods this school year.

“It’s less stressful because I’m not constantly checking the phone,” she said.

Village will see what new truck will command on the market; Medina may ultimately decide to keep it

Photos by Tom Rivers: Village Trustee Deborah Padoleski, left, led the effort to declare the ladder truck as surplus to begin the process of possibility selling the equipment before it is put into service. Trustee Jess Marciano, right, voted to not declare the truck surplus.

MEDINA – The majority of the Medina Village Board voted on Monday to declare a new ladder truck surplus to start the process of possibility selling the truck and backing off plans for a new addition of the fire hall.

Trustee Deborah Padoleski introduced the resolution to declare the truck surplus, and that was seconded by Trustee Mark Prawel. They were joined by Trustee Scott Bieliski in voting to declare it surplus, with Trustee Jess Marciano and Mayor Marguerite Sherman in favor of keeping the new $1.7 million truck.

The truck has been delivered to Medina and is currently being kept in the compost facility on North Gravel Road near Boxwood Cemetery. The current fire hall is too small for the new ladder truck. The previous truck from 1996 was 10 feet, 4 inches in height and could barely fit in the fire hall bay, which has a height of 10 feet, 6 inches. The new truck is about 13 feet in height.

A representative from Pierce Manufacturing is in Medina for three days this week to train median firefighters on the new truck. That started on Monday and continues to Wednesday.

Captain Michael Young of the Medina Fire Department urges the Village Board to keep the ladder truck, saying it offers many benefits for fighting fires and responding to emergencies. He said upgrades to the fire hall have been put off for decades.

The board agreed to allow the training to be complete, but the three board members in favor of selling the don’t want the truck to be lettered saying, “Medina Fire Department.”

The training is an estimated $4,000 to $6,000 and is part of the contract with Pierce, said Fire Chief Steve Cooley. The detailing also is an estimated $6,300 and is included in the contract.

Trustee Bieliski said it doesn’t make sense to have the lettering done if the truck will be sold to another department.

He wants to see what the truck will command in the market. Medina paid $1.7 million for it, and now quint trucks with 100-foot-long ladders are going for $2.5 million.

The village could make a profit on the sale and those proceeds could go to buying a used ladder truck that would fit in the existing fire hall, Bieliski said during Monday’s Village Board meeting.

 Village Attorney Matt Brooks said he has tried to research a similar situation, where a village has bought a new piece of equipment only to turn around and declare it surplus. He hasn’t found a similar example.

The village may need to do a referendum to sell the ladder truck. It may face tax issues if it makes a profit. It will need a sign-off from its lender, the US Department of Agriculture. Brooks said there may be other issues to check as well.

Declaring an item surplus is usually done when the item is “superfluous or unusable,” Brooks said.

The new ladder trucks obviously isn’t unusable, and he said it may be a stretch to say it’s superfluous especially when the village could then buy a used ladder truck.

“Does it fit the definition of surplus,” he said. “It might.”

Padoleski, who is retired as Medina’s village clerk, said she checked with Rural Development, a branch of the USDA, and the agency is fine with the truck being declared surplus and Medina paying off the 20-year loan right away.

Mayor Sherman said she wants to convene a meeting with Rural Development, the village’s financial advisor and the village attorney about the next steps and ramifications.

Sherman said she and Bieliski and Fire Chief Cooley have looked up used ladder trucks and they are expensive, well over $1 million with some at $1.7 million.

And Captain Michael Young of the Medina FD said the used trucks don’t fit in the existing fire hall, either.

Padoleski and Bieliski said the need for a addition on the fire hall is a big factor in why they want to declare the truck surplus and move to sell it. The expense to village taxpayers isn’t just the truck, but the addition as well.

They said the truck at $1.7 million and a million-dollar-plus addition will turn into about a $4 million expense with interest to be paid over 20 years.

“it’s not just the matter of the truck,” Padoleski said. “We have nowhere to put it. It’s the truck and the building.”

Captain Michael Young of the Medina Fire Department said the current fire hall was built for the Department of Public Works in the 1930s, with the fire department moving its base of operations there in the 1950s.

The entrance to the fire hall is on a pitch. Young said there aren’t used ladder trucks on the market that would fit in the fire hall. Medina’s 30-year-old truck was shorter and wider to allow the two inches of clearance. But most other ladder trucks are longer and would need at least 5 inches of clearance, he said.

The addition to the fire hall has been sought by the department since before the contract to buy the ladder truck was approved by the board in March 2023. The board at the time thought there would be enough time to work out an addition and also address deficiencies in the existing fire hall.

Mayor Sherman also said the costs of fire trucks were rapidly escalating and the board wanted to lock in a price. Since then the costs for similar ladder trucks have climbed about $800,000 to $2.5 million.

But the costs were high, an estimated $6 million. The board then scaled down the scope of the project to a one-bay addition at just over $1 million. The board – which has three new members in the past two years – has been unable to reach a consensus.

Bieliski said the village taxes are too high for many residents and businesses, and a 20-year commitment to a new ladder truck and addition doesn’t make sense for overtaxed property owners.

He said Medina is the only village in Orleans County with a paid fire department. He said there are many other needs in the village from water, sewer, streets and sidewalks.

“I don’t think this purchase was being a smart consumer,” Bieliski said about the ladder truck. “I think we have to think about Medina. We don’t have to be the leaders when it’s on the backs of the people of Medina.”

He said declaring the truck surplus puts the truck on “pause” and gives the village more time to look at other options.

If the village would take $300,000 to $400,000 loss on selling the new truck, Bieliski said he wouldn’t support that.

But he thinks there is buyer that would allow medina to make a profit that could go towards a quality used truck.

“Buying a new truck and new building is 100 percent wrong to do to the taxpayers,” he said.

The new ladder truck needs to some additional outfitting and could be ready to go into service around April 1. But Bieliski said he wants to hold off on putting the truck into service to maximize its value to a potential buyer.

Mayor Sherman said the difficulties with ladder truck and all the negative publicity have been “embarrassing” for the village.

She is hopeful the fire department will ultimately end up with a ladder truck, whether the new one or a good used truck, that is safe and allows them to serve the community.

Sherman said she continues to look for funding for the addition. She wanted to pursue a $1 million grant through the state’s Community Development Block Grant program, but couldn’t get a majority of the board to approve that application.