L’view bd. organizes, discusses security

Van Wert independent

The Lincolnview Local Board of Education elected officers and discussed building security during its first meeting of the new year on Wednesday.

Current Board President Eric Germann and Vice President Cindy Miller were both re-elected to those positions during the board’s organizational meeting, which was held prior to the regular board meeting.

New Superintendent Jeff Snyder also led a discussion on school security, noting that he and school staff and administrators have been working with new Sheriff Tom Riggenbach and members of his department to access problem areas and to improve those.

“You hope, my god, it never happens in our district … you keep looking at security and how we can improve on that,” Snyder said.

The superintendent said the district was also planning a lockdown drill in January to improve security and added that principals were also beginning an education process aimed at making students aware of the need to tell parents or teachers about threatening text messages or social media comments they see posted by other students.

“We’re trying to do more collaboration with the sheriff’s department on new training that we need to do with our staff,” Snyder said, but also added that students play a big part in improving security in their schools.

He noted that, while students have a natural reluctance to “tell on” fellow classmates, they also must realize they often have knowledge that parents and school staff don’t possess.

“You don’t want these things occurring in our school and you know what’s going on,” Snyder said was the message being given to students.

Snyder said the board also talked about district technology, noting that the district needs to decide whether it would be better to adopt a BYOD (bring your own device) policy and allow students to bring their own laptop or tablet computers for use at school, or to purchase devices for use by students.

The superintendent said Lincolnview staff members are currently looking at what it would entail to provide technical support for a variety of devices, which would be needed if a BYOD policy was adopted.

Also discussed were the new state-mandated curriculum requirements and teacher evaluation process, while the district also recognized its five school board members: Germann, Miller, Sally Snyder, Michelle Gorman and Kirk Berryman, for their time and efforts.

Snyder said seeing cards and posters from students and teachers thanking board members for their time and efforts “really blew me away.”

In other action, the board:

• Praised Marsh School music directors Thomas Mayes and Audrey McClure for an outstanding winter concert at the school.
• Authorized the wrestling team and coaches to attend an overnight competition at Van Buren High School on January 18-19.
• Approved membership in the Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce at a cost of $337.
• Appointed the superintendent to the Van Wert Area Schools Insurance Group board for the remainder of the 2012-2013 school year.

The next meeting of the Lincolnview Local Board of Education will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 19.