Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Following a ceremonial swearing in at Wednesday’s Canfield Board of Education meeting, Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu, second from left, poses with new Canfield Board of Education members Katie Elford and Jill DeRamo, and returning member Nader Atway.

CANFIELD — The Canfield Board of Education meeting on Wednesday began with the official swearing in of newly elected and reelected board members.

The oath of office was administered by Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu, who is a Canfield graduate himself. Jill DeRamo and Katie Elford were given the oath and welcomed as new board members. Nader Atway was also sworn in as a returning board member.

Atway began the organizational meeting by having an election for board president. All agreed to Steve DeMaiolo as president and Atway as vice president for 2026.

During the regular session, all board members had good things to say about Canfield Village Middle School seventh grade teacher Michael Kerensky, who is retiring after 33 years in education effective March 1.

“His retirement will be a big loss to Canfield schools,” Elford said.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a community reinvestment abatement for the new Dairy Queen that is going in near the U.S. 224 / Fairgrounds Boulevard intersection, next to the Shell station.

“The DQ requested a 10-year, 100% tax abatement,” said Superintendent Joe Knoll. “The city has about a 75% say in the issue and to complete the approval requires the school district to be on board.”

All five members agreed to the abatement.

At the end of the meeting DeMaiolo asked for a work session to discuss which way the district wanted to go regarding facilities. Originally, he wanted a meeting later this month.

“At the February board meeting, I will be presenting the five-year forecast,” said new treasurer Benjamin Marko. “You may want to wait until then to get an idea where we will be financially before discussing the future.”

All members agreed with Marko and DeMaiolo set 4 p.m. Feb. 18 at the board office for the work session.

Knoll then made a short presentation on another February event at Hilltop. STEM teacher Stephanie Palumbo and second-grade teacher Bethany Lopatta had taken the lead on a special project with NASA. The teachers applied to a program where students can talk to astronauts on the International Space Station via amateur radio.

The program, ARISS, stands for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.

“Our students will be talking live with the astronauts,” Knoll said. “We don’t have a date in February yet, but we are planning to show it across the district when it happens.”

He said NASA has to determine the exact time for the communications based on the space stations orbit and alignment with Canfield.

Before adjourning the meeting, DeMaiolo said starting with the February meeting, two board members will be available at 5:30 p.m. prior to the regular meeting for anyone who has questions.