Serving as a guidance counselor, volunteer and school board member, Kathleen Powers Dolney saw the Painesville City School District from different angles over 42 years. But she recently said good-bye to a leadership role with the district. Kathleen Powers Dolney (Submitted) Powers Dolney said she ca me to the district in 1983 after spending nine years working for Cleveland’s public schools. She has “fond memories” from Cleveland but wanted to be a guidance counselor, and a position opened at Harvey High School. She was also familiar with the area because she grew up in Painesville Township. She said that the counseling role was previously more focused on academic and career counseling. “Over the years, it has evolved into everything, including a lot of one-on-one with students,” Powers Dolney said. She said that she enjoyed getting to work with the same students over their four years in high school because “you really get to know them by graduation.” Though Powers Dolney retired in 2008, she did not stay away from the district for long. She said she came back the next year for a part-time role with at-risk girls, with a focus on anger management. “I just didn’t feel like I was finished,” she said. Powers Dolney added that in 2009, she wrote a grant and worked with at-risk ninth-grade students, and she stayed with that group until the students graduated. They did community service activities, and she matched them with mentors and checked their grades, behavior and attendance. “They just needed, in a lot of cases, another adult to connect with,” she said. “And, for some it really, for most of them it really made a difference. And I think that they really profited from the community service, helping others, because they saw that in some cases, a lot of cases, that there were people that were less fortunate than themselves.” After that group graduated, Powers Dolney said she volunteered from 2013 to 2020 to prepare students for their ACT tests. She also transitioned to district leadership. She was elected to her first of three school board terms in 2013, starting her term at the beginning of 2014. Powers Dolney won re-election to four-year terms in 2017 and 2021. She said she served as board president for eight of her 12 years on the board. “Again, I just didn’t feel I was finished, and I really thought I had some things that I could contribute,” Powers Dolney said. Serving on the board provided her with a different perspective because she saw the “behind the scenes” aspects of district leadership, including financial challenges. She added that it was tough to make decisions that would impact the district. Powers Dolney said she enjoyed her years on the board. She would have likely run for another term last year, but she said she is “ready for one-floor living” and could not find a ranch-style condominium within the school district. Her last term concluded at the end of 2025. “Our boards have always been a diverse group of people from different professions in life, which I think really adds to what we can – we’re exposed to other ideas and other experiences, and I really think that helps,” Powers Dolney said. “You don’t want a whole bunch of educators on there, or you don’t want a whole bunch of businessmen, and I really think that that helps us to put things in perspective,” she added. During Powers Dolney’s last board meeting in December, board colleague Frances Webb presented her with a certificate of appreciation from the Ohio School Boards Association. In a later statement, district Superintendent Josh Englehart said that Powers Dolney “served admirably” as a board member and board president. “She understood the role and always remained engaged,” Englehart said. “Her knowledge of the history of the district and extensive relationships throughout our community were invaluable in keeping the board focused on a vision for the district which serves the needs and desires of those served by it. “Even in times of disagreement, I never for a moment questioned that her motivation was always the best interest of our kids and community,” he added. Powers Dolney said that education has “changed tremendously” over the past 42 years. Educators used to be able to teach “in some unique ways,” but more teaching today is “dictated by standardized testing and a lot of other issues coming down the line.” She thinks that has “hurt education” and removed a “personalized touch.” She has also seen progress in the district. She said that test scores, attendance and the high school graduation rate have all improved from levels in 2013. “We had one of the best report cards that we’ve ever had in this past year, so I think we’re headed in the right direction,” Powers Dolney said. She said that one of the most rewarding aspects of her career was seeing students make progress between when they entered high school and when they left. Other highlights included the district’s caring teachers and diverse students who “get along really well,” Powers Dolney said. She said the biggest challenge to the district was poverty, including economic poverty but also “poverty of experience and opportunity.” She added that there was “only so much” that the district could do to help students with issues it could not control, though it could implement responses like offering free breakfast and lunch. Funding is another challenge currently facing the district. “We do have the challenge financially with much of our funding being cut,” Powers Dolney said. “We will need to go to the voters with a levy, which we haven’t done in many years, but that’s really dictated by the cuts in funding.” Powers Dolney said she plans to continue volunteering with the district. She has committed to helping with the district’s proposed earned income tax levy that will be on the ballot this spring, and she has thought about also being involved with the alumni association, even though she is not a district alumna. She also plans to be involved in other volunteer opportunities and to spend time with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. Powers Dolney thanked Painesville residents for their confidence in her and the opportunity to be affiliated with the district for 42 years. “I really feel honored to have been with Painesville City Schools all these years,” she said. “I tried to help make a difference and I think it’s made a difference in my life as well.” ...read more read less