Lincolnview welcomes 2 new teachers

KELSEY CLEMONS/independent correspondent

The Lincolnview Local Board of Education met for its regularly scheduled April meeting on Tuesday and welcomed Kyle Stechschulte and Greg Byrum, who will be joining the district teaching staff for the upcoming school year.

Stechschulte, who will graduate from the University of Cincinnati this spring, was offered a one-year contract as junior-senior high school science teacher, while Byrum, a physics and mathematics teacher at Lima Central Catholic the past five years, will also join the district for the 2015-2016 school year as a junior-senior high school science teacher.

High School Principal Brad Mendenhall said he is very excited that both men will be joining the teaching team at Lincolnview.

During his report, Mendenhall also provided more information about the requirements of the new College Credit Plus program being offered to Lincolnview students, noting that students would be required to score a minimum test result on either the Compass Test or ACT in order to qualify for the College Credit Plus program.

The school’s production of Tarzan was a hit and administrators and board members all spoke highly of the musical adaptation. Mendenhall gave special congratulations and a “thank you” to director Chad Kraner and the entire cast, noting the production was “phenomenal”. The board recognized everyone who helped made the outstanding performance possible.

Elementary Principal Nita McKinney brought to the board’s attention a possible change of summer school dates. The change would be from the end of the school year to start of the following year and would apply to next year. McKinney noted that, so far, this idea has received positive feedback from parents.

McKinney was also excited to share with the board the outcome of the art show that featured the artwork of elementary, junior high, and high school students. McKinney described the show as a new tool to showcase students. Hundreds of art pieces were shown at the event and 150 framed student art pieces were sold that evening, earning about $700 for the program.

Several resignations were approved by the board at the meeting. Mark McCleery resigned as girls’ varsity soccer coach, effective the end of the 2014-2015 school year, while Chris Youtsey resigned as boys’ assistant baseball coach, effective immediately.

The board also accepted the resignation of Gary Nolan for retirement purposes, thanking him for his 31 years of dedication to the district. Superintendent Jeffrey Snyder noted Nolan will be greatly missed. Nolan’s resignation will go into effect May 31.

The board also approved the following personnel contracts: Tyson Thatcher, varsity girls’ soccer coach; Gary L. Baer and Jacob Delgado, substitute custodians; James H. Barnhart, part-time custodian; Lucy Rice, bus runner; Cheri Baer, cook; Hilary Arn, fifth grade math and language arts teacher; and Suzanne Ketner, intervention specialist.

The board would also wished vocal music instructor Stacie Korte and her choir students luck as they head to state competition this coming weekend.

In other action, the board:

• Approved offering student accident insurance for the 2015-2016 school year.
• Approved the internal broadband (wireless) Internet service agreement with the Northern Buckeye Education Council/ Northwest Ohio Computer Association period of July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2018.
• Renewed membership at a cost of $200 for the 2015-2016 year with the Northwestern Ohio Educational Research Council Inc.
• Approved Teacher and Classified Staff Appreciation Week for the week of May 4-8.

The next scheduled meeting for the Lincolnview Board of Education will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the Neubrecht Lecture Hall.