The Wapakoneta City Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, November 21, 2005, at 7:30 p.m. at Northridge Elementary School.  The meeting was called to order by President Ron Mertz.  Roll call was as follows:  Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; and Frame, aye.  Also in attendance were Superintendent, Keith Horner; Treasurer, Susan Rinehart; Business Manager, Don Arnett; administrators; media representative; community members; staff; parents; grandparents; and students.

 

NORTHRIDGE STUDENTS RECOGNTION

 

          The following students were recognized by the Board of Education:  Alexis Hoelscher, Rachel McNeeley, Chelsey Horn, Kodi Morgan and Cameron Guffey.  Principal Mark Selvaggio and the nominating teachers read their reasons for recognizing each student and congratulated each student individually.  Mrs. Frame presented each student with a certificate and Mr. Copeland presented each student with an achievement pin. (Copies of nominating forms are included.)

 

REPORTS FROM THE BOARD

 

          Mrs. Frame had the following report on Northridge Elementary Building.  Northridge is very proud that their third grade students passed the reading with 77%.  The previous year was 68%.  Mark Selvaggio held a breakfast celebration in honor of the staff this past Monday.  Northridge held a fund raiser for Relay for Life called O’s and M’s, O’s were for Ohio State and M’s were for Michigan.  The student’s paid twenty five cents per letter to vote for which team would win the game.  Mrs. Frame was proud to announce the O’s won by a landslide.  Also, Northridge held Hoops for Hurricane Relief, which was a successful fundraiser.  The third grade teams are meeting weekly.  The second grade teams are meeting twice a month.  The third graders took a tour of Wapakoneta including the rock garden of Jim Bowsher.  Also, the third graders went to the Ohio Caverns.  This is all part of their curriculum for this year.  Also, Northridge wanted to thank the Noon Optimist Club and Mr. Arnett for serving turkey for Thanksgiving lunch.  Also, Mrs. Frame participated in serving the students for this Thanksgiving Day feast.  The students are going to present data folders to their parents as part of the parent/teacher conferences this week.  Parent/Teacher conferences are going to be held on Monday and Tuesday and in the evenings both days for parent’s convenience.   Upcoming events – the Christmas concert will be held Thursday, December 8th for the second graders and there will be an all school skating party on December 12th for all the elementary buildings.  Also, Scott Evans did a three week preliminary D.A.R.E. program for the fourth graders and that was very successful.  Mrs. Frame also noted that there will be a limo pizza party at Pizza Hut on the 30th for the biggest fundraisers.

 

 

          Mr. Copeland had the following report on Capital Conference.  He said they had a great conference again and received a lot of good information.  He was inspired by the first day’s guest speaker.  She was talking about “I don’t know what I don’t know”.  Also, he noted that the board is looking into information about bus routes and times.  They have received some phone calls and they are checking into routes at this time.  They have nothing to report back to the public at this time. 

 

          Dr. Kantner reported on the Middle School.  He received information from Mr. Payne about the happenings at the Middle School.  The teachers are busy preparing for Parent/Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow.  They have also been working very hard on maintaining curriculum mapping and developing common assessments.  The next endeavor will be a read-a-thon on December 16th.   Students will be asked to get sponsors to support their reading for this day.  All proceeds go toward Relay for Life.  The other half of the day they will be going to see a movie entitled “NARNIA”.   Also, the Middle Schools wanted to say kudos to Anne Niemeyer, Marilyn Shaw and Student Senate for an outstanding Veteran’s Day ceremony.  Every student and every teacher helped in some capacity.  Veteran’s, as well as students, appreciated the acknowledgement.  Also, Dr. Kantner wanted to share with the public the following comments that the board received from Mr. Horner from his experience that day.  “Last Thursday the Middle School had a Veteran’s Day presentation and I would like to state how nice an event that was and how respectful our children were during the time I was there.  I was there for a little over an hour.  The Veterans greatly appreciated our students and their behavior was outstanding during the entire assembly.  We need to thank Marilyn Shaw and Anne Niemeyer for their outstanding leadership and all the Student Senate members at the Middle School for organizing this project.  It was, at times, an emotional ceremony in which many teachers cried.  Probably the most emotional time was when one of our Middle School students, who had not seen her mother in two months, because she was deployed, was able to see her mother for the first time, during that assembly, prior to being sent to Iraq on November 14th.”

 

          Mr. Mertz had the following two reports.  First, one of the seminars he attended at Capitol Conference was on Establishing Community Committees/Board.  They suggest that you include people who have negative support of the schools to find out why they do not want to pass a levy and why they are not supporting the schools, because their input is valuable.  Mr. Mertz thought this was a good idea to involve some of those people to find out what the issues are in the community.  Mr. Mertz reported on Cridersville.  He was proud to say they now have their new flag pole and sidewalk finished.  And, also, he was very proud to have participated in a recognition dinner for the entire Cridersville Building Staff, in recognition of Cridersville Elementary School being one of the Schools of Promise recognized by the State of Ohio.  The Superintendent, Director of Instruction, Treasurer, Business Manger and Mr. Mertz were the servers for the day and they appreciated thanking the staff for all their hard work and accomplishments. 

 

 

REPORTS TO THE BOARD

 

          Greg Hartzler’s Physics Class would like to take a trip to Chicago, January, 2006.  Mr. Hartzler discussed the itinerary (copy to the included).  It is actually a repeat trip for the AP Physics Class from last year, except they will not miss classes this year because they were able to schedule it around Martin Luther King Day.   Also, the students have been doing some fundraising to offset the costs of the trip.  He would like to keep the same chaperons as last year, and possibly, if they can get permission from the board and have time, and are able to get tickets, they would possibly like to see Blue Man Group, Planetarium, and the Broadway show “Wicked”.   Mr. Hartzler is planning on keeping the ratio and maximum of nine to one and probably the chaperon ratio will be smaller than that. 

 

          Michelle Boyer reported on the Gifted Program.   Marilyn Shaw was also present at the meeting and available to answer questions and assist Michelle as she needed.  The board received a handout, which is included in the minutes, on the discussion that followed.  Michelle gave a power point presentation on the current gifted program and discussed how they are implementing it, goals and ideas that she and Marilyn have for the future and the direction they would like to take the program.  Mr. Horner commented what a great job Marilyn and Michelle are doing and are pleased they are part of our staff.  Mark Selvaggio also commented what a great job Michelle and Marilyn are doing and is pleased to be able to work with them.  One of the comments that Michelle made was that part of what they do with the gifted program is to differentiate classroom instruction to help those that are identified as gifted. 

 

          Mike Watt discussed the Western Buckeye League change in ticket prices that the board will be approving later in the meeting and discussed the Middle School Athletic Passes that they would like to have approved to help parents to attend the games. They would like to encourage participation at all the Middle School events.

 

ROUTINE BUSINESS

 

168-05                    Frame moved to approve the following:

 

Minutes of a regular Board meeting held October 10, 2005.

 

Financial Reports:  monthly graphs, cash activity report,

investment portfolio, operating fund (month-end expenditures),

bank reconciliation, summary check register, permanent improvement fund report, 2006 temporary appropriations by fund/fund type, summary receipt ledger, income tax summary and revsum by fund/fund type.

 

          Acceptance of Donation:

          Wapakoneta Athletic Boosters        $1,600.00       Girls Soccer Uniforms

          Moulton Gas (addition to                 $100.00          Centennial Elementary

            previous month $300.00)                               

          Community Markets                     $100.00          Cridersville Elementary

          Lange Photographics                            $20.00     HS School Pictures

                Target                                             $36.32     Refund from HS purchase

          MS Parent Teacher Team    $3,473.00     Class of 2009

          Noon Optimist of Wapakoneta                $75.00     Power of the Pen

 

Seconded by Kantner.  Roll call:  Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye;

Mertz, aye; and Frame, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

PERSONNEL MATTERS

 

169-05                    Retirement

 

Mertz moved to accept the resignation of Bruce Hodges, for

 the purpose of retirement, effective June 30, 2006.

 

Seconded by Copeland.   Roll call:  Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; Frame,

aye; and Sammetinger, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

170-05                    Employment of Paraprofessional

 

Kantner moved to employ Linda Dailey as a paraprofessional

at the rate of $12.73 per hour (step #9), 7.75 hours per day, effective October

24, 2005.

 

Seconded by Frame.  Roll call:  Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; Frame, aye; Sammetinger,

aye; and Copeland, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

171-05                    Short Term Employment Contract

 

Frame moved to employ Carol Manger for short term employment for

the leave of absence of the Accounts Payable position, per the signed contract.

 

Seconded by Mertz.  Roll call:  Mertz, aye; Frame, aye; Sammetinger, aye; Copeland,

aye; and Kantner, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

172-05                    Employment of Substitutes

 

Mertz moved to employ the following substitutes for

the 2005-06 school year at the appropriate rate on the salary

schedule, pending satisfactory completion of criminal records checks

and proper certification through ODE:

 

          Katie Hoying                  Teacher

          Kelly Wimmers            Teacher

          Kelly Creps                             Secretary/Paraprofessional

          Gretchen Schneider          Secretary/Paraprofessional

          Sharon Carrico                  Paraprofessional

        Pamela Miner                    Paraprofessional

          Colleen Morris                  Paraprofessional

          Beth Epperson              Cafeteria

          Rebecca Maxson                Cafeteria

 

Seconded by Copeland.  Roll call:  Frame, aye; Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye;

Kantner, aye; and Mertz, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

173-05                    Employment of Supplemental Contracts

 

Frame moved to employ the following supplemental positions:

 

          Chris Debell          Volunteer JV Basketball Coach                    ---               -0-

          Josh Lisi              Volunteer MS Boys Basketball Coach         ---                -0-

 

Seconded by Kantner.  Roll call:  Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; and Frame, aye.   Motion passed unanimously.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

174-05                    Musical Theater Class to Renaissance Theater

 

          Frame moved to give permission to the High School Musical

Theater Class to attend the production of Miss Saigon at the Renaissance

Theater in Mansfield, Ohio, on Sunday, December 4, 2005.

 

Seconded by Mertz.  Roll call:  Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; Frame, aye;

and Sammetinger, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

 

175-05                    Satellite Agreement with Apollo Career Center

 

Sammetinger moved to enter into a Satellite Agreement with the

Apollo Career Center to offer a career-technical program at Wapakoneta High

School per terms as attached.

 

Seconded by Kantner.  Roll call:  Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; Frame, aye;

Sammetinger, aye; and Copeland, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

176-05                    Acceptance of Revision of 2005-06 Athletic Ticket Prices

 

Mertz moved to accept the revision of the following athletic ticket prices for

the 2005-06 school year:

 

          Football and Boys Basketball

          Student (presale)                          $4.00 (increase from $3.00)

 

          Girls Basketball, Wrestling, Volleyball, Boys and Girls Soccer

          Adult                                         $5.00 (increase from $4.00)

          Student                                    $3.00 (increase from $2.00)

 

          Athletic Events in Grades 7-9 (will have a maximum charge of)

          Adult                                         $2.00 (new)

          Student                                    $1.00 (new)

 

Seconded by Copeland.  Roll call:  Mertz, aye; Frame, aye; Sammetinger, aye;

Copeland, aye; and Kantner, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

          Mr. Horner made the following announcements:

 

          The next board meeting will be on Monday, December 19, at 7:30 p.m.

at the High School – Centennial students will be recognized for achievements.

 

          A Policy Committee meeting will be scheduled when Mrs. Frame and Dr. Kantner’s schedules permit one.

 

HEARING OF THE PUBLIC

 

          Holly Saam reported she received a disturbing letter concerning a teacher and would like her concerns addressed by the Board.  The Board responded that they are conducting an investigation of this situation and encouraged Holly to set up an appointment with the Superintendent to discuss her concerns as a parent.  The Board welcomes the opportunity to discuss issues after a parent has had a discussion with the teacher, then the building principal and finally the superintendent.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION

 

177-05          Kantner moved to executive session for the purpose of considering the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official, or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee, or regulated individual, unless the public employee, official, licensee, or regulated individual requests a public hearing, with no action to be taken except to adjourn.

 

Seconded by Copeland.  Roll call:  Frame, aye; Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; and Mertz, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

178-05                    Copeland moved to adjourn at 11:45 p.m.  Seconded by Sammetinger.  Roll call:  Sammetinger, aye; Copeland, aye; Kantner, aye; Mertz, aye; and Frame, aye.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

 

 

 

___________________________________________________

President

 

 

 

___________________________________________________

Secretary