Lincolnview receives $472,000 grant

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

If Crestview Superintendent Mike Estes was pleased with a Straight A Fund that district received, Lincolnview Superintendent Jeffrey Snyder was ecstatic. While Crestview was awarded $47,000 to help with educational programs in that district, Lincolnview received nearly 10 times that amount — $472,000 — which will be used to purchase 500 new computers, 16 computer carts, digital cameras, webcams, video software and technology-based staff training as part of the district’s 1:1 computer initiative.

“This accomplishment is pretty special and is setting history for our district for years to come,” said Snyder of the grant award, which was nearly a third of the $1.5 million awarded to a consortium that included Lincolnview, Crestview, Vantage Career Center, Paulding Exempted Village Schools and a number of other entities.

The local grant was one of 24 awarded statewide totaling $88.6 million through the state’s Straight A program. Snyder noted that the grant process was very competitive, with 420 groups submitting a total of 570 applications to be considered for funding.

Snyder also noted that Lincolnview would be receiving money to pay for security updates in the schools, including a new radio communications system.

Also Tuesday, the Lincolnview board honored two veteran members who will be leaving after a total of 40 years of service. Sally Snyder (24 years) and Cindy Miller (16 years) were honored with a resolution, as well as gifts and a reception following the meeting, for their long and faithful service to the board.

Their replacements, Scott Miller and Lori Eversole Snyder, also attended the meeting, as did former board members Alan Morris and Ron Davis.

“This is a great community to serve … there have been challenges, but it’s been a pleasure,” Sally Snyder said. “A lot of good things have happened at Lincolnview and I am glad to have been a small part of it.”

Two groups of students were also on the board’s agenda on Tuesday, with a group of fifth-graders showing off projects created as part of an educational program on Native Americans, while sixth-graders were also on hand to talk about their class trip to the Washington, D.C., area.

Fifth-graders and teacher Chad Kraner displayed tipis and other Native American dwellings and a totem pole they made as part of an educational section on Native Americans.

Although the sixth-graders’ Washington, D.C., trip was made during the federal government shutdown, Lincolnview students were able to meet with U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman, while also receiving an extra-special tour of the Capitol Building from U.S. Representative Bob Latta, including being able to stand on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate – something most tourists aren’t allowed to do.

Teacher Pat Morris said Latta went “above and beyond” in providing the tour of the Capitol Building, while also thanking Kraner, who traveled with the group as a chaperone, for his help in creating activities for the group to do to replace tour sites off limits because of the government shutdown.

While the students were able to tour George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, as well as Arlington Cemetery, where some of the sixth-graders participated in the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Lincolnview students were not able to enter the Jefferson and Lincoln monuments, for example, because of the shutdown.

The board also heard reports from Principals Kelly Dye and Nita McKinney, who both talked about recent holiday music programs, as well as parent-teacher conferences, which they said were well attended.

The board also approved a resolution praising students and music directors Jennifer Slusher, Stacie Korte and Anna Baker for their musical programs.

In other action, the board:

• Approved professional development coursework for the superintendent with the National Athletic Trainers Association.
• Authorized a depository agreement with First Federal Savings and Loan for a five-year period ending November 30, 2018.
• Accepted, with thanks, a $2,000 grant from the Cooper Family Foundation within the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund.
• Amended Fiscal Year 2014 appropriations as presented.
• Approved a list of additional open enrollment students for the current school year.
• Approved an Internet access contract with Northern Buckeye Education Council through June 30, 2018.
• Authorized the wrestling team and coaches to attend an overnight competition at  the Van Buren Invitational on January 17-18, 2014, under the supervision of Head Coach Curtis Miller.
• Advanced $1,800 to the Date Communications Connectivity Fund from the district General Fund.
• Appointed Eric Germann president pro tempore for the board’s organizational meeting in January. That meeting is planned for 6 p.m. Monday, January 13, 2014.