Former DARE officer joins VWCS board

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent writer

Former Van Wert DARE officer Greg Blackmore is the newest member of the Van Wert City Board of Education.

Blackmore, who retired from the Van Wert Police Department in April, was sworn in during Wednesday night’s school board meeting. He’s replacing Tom Losh, who resigned last month, and his term will expire December 31, 2021.

“Working with the school system through my job as a police officer for 24 years, working with the staff and everyone else out here, I feel with my background and training I can be an asset to the Van Wert city school system,” Blackmore said. “I’m a little nervous, but at the same time I feel I can step in and help the school system and hopefully help keep everything going the way we need to.”

“His years of experience certainly speak for themselves and we’re certainly happy to have him here as a board member,” Board President Anthony Adams said. “I do want to thank all the others who did apply. We had several quality candidates and we had wonderful conversations with each one of them.”

During his monthly report, Superintendent Mark Bagley addressed COVID-19 in the Van Wert City Schools, saying a staff member and a student have tested positive for the virus.

“We’re very transparent with that and we have to be,” Bagley told the board. “We’ve worked closely with the health department … as recently as last (Tuesday) night, it was great to see people working together.

“If we thought this wasn’t going to happen we were fooling ourselves with this virus and it’s been an exhausting process, but a good process, to know that we’re doing everything we can to keep students and staff safe,” Bagley added. “The first thing we did this morning was communicate with our entire staff. From there, all high school parents were emailed and (Marketing & Public Relations Specialist) Kristi (Fuerst) and I worked together to put the information on our website.”

Bagley also noted names can’t be released, due to HIPPA regulations, adding that the district earned praise from the health department. He also said a state-mandated dashboard is now on the district website and will be updated each Tuesday.

“It’s a simple chart that shows the number of staff and students that have COVID-19,” Bagley explained.

“It’s very evident that we’re doing everything we can in the schools today to try to keep our doors open and our kids in school,” Assistant Superintendent Bill Clifton said. “We need to commend our staff, both certified and classified personnel — they’ve taken on the task of being essential employees and they are challenging themselves right on the front line of this pandemic and they’re doing a great job with that.”

Clifton also told the board that interviews will begin soon for a new maintenance director. Longtime Director of Maintenance Randy Stemen is retiring at the end of the year and Clifton said his replacement will likely be named at the October board meeting.

Treasurer Michelle Mawer told the board that the State Auditor’s Office is auditing fiscal year 2020 and she said information she’s received so far indicates future state funding will be flatlined or cut. She also said she hopes grant funding is extended for things like food and hot spots for Internet access. Those grants are currently scheduled to end in December.

The board approved several supplemental contracts, including Tim Brown, head boys soccer coach; Joseph Foster, assistant boys soccer coach; and Ryan Parrish and Keith Recker, middle school site managers. The board also hired Kelsey Snider as an Early Childhood Center paraprofessional and approved a continuing contract for Lori Gunderman as payroll/benefits specialist.

Supplemental resignations from Chamber Choir director Julia Reichert and middle school site managers Tom Baer and Josie Luthman were accepted by the board.

Donations accepted by the board included $120 from Jack L. Frysinger to the Van Wert Athletic Department; $100 from Barbara and Carl Meeks to the Early Childhood Center; $500 from Statewide Ford Lincoln to the High School Robotics Club; $100 from Miller Precision Manufacturing to the High School Robotics Club, and $75,000 from the Athletic Booster Club for track resurfacing.

The board also heard a brief presentation from Curriculum Director Chris Covey about the school report card and current status of testing.

The next meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, October 28, in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.