Vantage suspends 2 employee contracts

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Vantage Board of Education heard an update on the school’s facility project and also approved a controversial personnel action during its June meeting this week.

Despite appeals from Vantage staff and following a lengthy executive session, board members voted 5-3 to approve a resolution suspending the employment contracts of guidance counselor Tammy Deitsch and assessment coordinator Cynthia Krizan.

Several staff members talked about the importance both Deitsch and Krizan bring to Vantage.

English teacher Teresa Ratliff-Dotterer addressed Krizan’s in-depth knowledge of Vantage students and her dedication to her job.

“We lose all of this when we lose her services,” Ratliff-Dotterer noted.

Colleague Sonya Yenser-Hammon talked about the problems Vantage students have, with some homeless, others in abusive situations or addicted to drugs — or with parents with drug problems — and some even suicidal, including one “cutter’’ — a self-mutilator.

“I don’t know how we can expect these students to come to Vantage and learn if we don’t have someone who can help them get through these issues,” she noted. “By eliminating a guidance position, we’re eliminating a tremendous amount of support.”

Yenser-Hammon said Vantage had a tradition of “taking care of our students” and hoped the board would continue that tradition by maintain Deitsch’s guidance position.

American Studies teacher Peg Bollenbacher, who has a reputation for being outspoken, got a laugh when she noted this was not the first time she has addressed the board, but nevertheless stated her belief that one guidance counselor is not enough to handle 500 students. She added that many Vantage female students “would not feel comfortable speaking to a male counselor.”

Health Careers teacher Reesa Rohrs first began by saying she realized that board members had financial issues they had to deal with, but also noted she hoped they would reconsider eliminating Krizan and Deitsch’s positions.

Rohrs, who shares an office, with Krizan, talked about her incredible work ethic – stating that there many evening when Rohrs left the school long before Krizan did.

She also agreed with Bollenbacher that girls — from what she knows of those in her Health Careers classes — would likely not go to guidance counselor Jim Fisher with certain problems, just because he is male.

Rohrs said she felt Vantage risked alienating some of its students and overloading the remaining counselor if Deitsch’s position was cut.

“I think what you’re losing is far more than the money you’ll save,” she added.

Larry Mengerink, president of the Vantage Teachers Organization, agreed with Rohrs. “We feel the two positions they are eliminating are probably critical to our student population … especially the female population,” he said.

Mengerink also challenged the administration to provide more information on why the positions are being eliminated. “They say they’re for financial reasons,” he said. “We need to see the financial reasons. They haven’t shown us there is a financial hardship in keeping them.”

Former graduate Nicole Sterling also spoke during the meeting about how Deitsch had helped her get through school, while former student Bobbie Kleman, a successful hair stylist in Las Vegas, sent an email talking about how Deitsch was instrumental in her success.

For her part, Superintendent Staci Kaufman said elimination of the two positions would provide funding to hire special education teachers — an area especially needed because of an increase in students with learning disabilities.

“Reducing two positions allow us to put resources where we need them, which, in our case, is special education population, which is 12 percent,” Kaufman said. “We also were understaffed in special education before.”

The superintendent also noted the Vantage administration was careful to ensure the positions eliminated would not be in the instruction area, and noted that one problem with hiring new special education positions was a cut of over $100,000 in that area over the past couple of years.

“We identified two positions that, if push came to shove, we really had to do without,” she added. “They certainly provide valuable services and the employees have done a great job … but this is financial issue.”

Also Thursday, Kaufmann noted that work on the school’s facility project is beginning in earnest, with work occurring in a number of areas of the current building, as well as an area that was formerly the staff parking lot.

In other news, the board:

• Accepted the resignations of math instructor Mike Knott and Pamela Hickey, Ottoville Family & Consumer Science teacher, effective the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
• Employed the following Adult Education instructors, as needed, as scheduled: Vicki Bidlack, Katie Ashbaugh, Melynda McCormack, Jean Steele, and Annette Klinger, Health Careers; Jim Grant and Sara Ricker, ABLE instructors; Ricker, transition coordinator; Steven Stechschulte, Police Academy; and Margie Hubert and Annette Klinger, Computers.
• Accepted, with thanks, the following donations: $250 to the Vantage Preschool Program from the Beta Delta Chapter of Psi Iota Xi sorority; and racks and steel worth $4,500 to the Trade and Industry Program from Hoosier Pattern Inc.
• Approved a rental agreement with Kriegal Company for $800 a month for storage space during the construction project.
• Approved Vantage Preschool fees for the 2011-2012 school year as follows: half-day Monday-Thursday, $80; full day Monday-Thursday, $185.
• Amended Ashley Cline’s contract for 2011-2012 to be special education coordinator, rather than special education instructor.
• Approved courses of study for all six CTE programs and also approved the student handbook for 2011-2012.
• Authorized the purchase of a three-tower frame machine from CJJ Inc. for an estimated $53,335.
• Approved memoranda of understanding with Penta Career Center for ABLE services for both FY 2011 and 2012.
• Approved a change in hours for the Adult Education secretary from 2-10 p.m. to 4-10 p.m., effective July 1.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Vantage Board of Education will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 30, in the Cup and Saucer dining area.