VWCS board hears special education info

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Board of Education quickly ran through a brief end-of-school-year agenda during its May meeting in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio, while also hearing a presentation on the district’s special education program.

School psychologists Doug Grooms and Brent Dorsten provided information on the district special education programs, with Grooms noting that more disabled students than ever before are taking regular educational classes in the district.

Grooms explained that 80 percent of disabled students now receive all their education in mainstream education classes, versus just 39 percent five years ago.

“This required realigning the way that we provide services and support for our students,” he said. “It also required us to blur the lines and the demarcation between the students identified with, and those who are not identified with, disabilities. The education of all students became the responsibility of all staff.”

That’s a positive, Grooms said, because research shows that the more general education classes disabled students take, the more likely they will have “positive post-school outcomes”, such as jobs in the community.

Dorsten limited his comments to the elementary special education program, noting that school staff are eliminating the “disabled” label for students, referring to all students in the same way.

He also noted that more disabled students are taking general educational classes at the elementary level.

“We even have students with the most severe disabilities going into the general education setting, and it’s not always about academics — they’re learning social skills, collaboration skills, following directions, those ‘soft skills’ that you need,’ Dorsten told the board.

During his report, Superintendent Ken Amstutz noted that, with the retirement of Connie Ainsworth, the district has an opening for a guidance counselor, stating that the district is moving in the direction of having a grades 6-12 career attainment counselor, to provide more career readiness counseling for district students.

Amstutz said a preliminary plan is to move Kerry Koontz into the career readiness counselor’s position, keeping Sarah White as a traditional elementary counselor and then hiring a new guidance counselor to replace Ainsworth.

“We’re going to really redesign what we’re doing,” Amstutz said, noting the district would be working with local businesses to incorporate more internships, co-ops, and other community career readiness initiatives to give students who would be better served by not going to college better community career readiness options.

Amstutz said the district was also working to provide more social workers to help students who need such services, while also noting that the district would add two 15-student preschool classes using funding from a $120,000 early childhood expansion grant the district has received.

“Once again, that’s a win-win for us, because it’s beginning to make that building (Van Wert Early Childhood Center) pretty large,” Amstutz said.

In personnel action from last night’s meeting, the board accepted the following resignations: Michelle Turnwald, middle school intervention specialist, after 21 years in education, 16 of those with the Van Wert district; Keith Utendorf, high school English teacher, after six years of service to the district; and Jim Burkheimer, third-shift custodian at Van Wert Elementary School.

Several supplemental position resignations were also accepted, as follows: Mitch Price as a halftime girls’ tennis coach; Katie Gamble as seventh grade volleyball coach; and Kayla Miller as high school head swimming coach.

The board also hired the following personnel for the upcoming school year: Chris Amstutz as LifeLinks Community School secretary; Kristi Bell as middle school computer instructor; Juliette Bonifas as high school social studies teacher; Sarah Holliday as a fourth grade science-social studies teacher; Megan Hurless and Erica Wolters as middle school intervention specialists; and Hannah Phlipot as a fifth grade math-science teacher.

A number of supplemental contracts were also approved, as follows: Alex Schmidt, fulltime girls’ tennis coach; Jason Cross and Cole Harting, varsity football assistant coaches; Steve Sealscott and Jordan Daniels, freshman football coaches; and Kelly Fritz, middle school football cheerleading coach. Kent Smelser was also given a 120-day administrative contract, starting August 1, while middle school language arts teacher Brendon Moody was given a one-year leave of absence to pursue his doctorate in education at the University of Findlay.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted the following donations: Greve Chrysler Jeep, $100 for the VWHS Scholastic Bowl team; Van Wert Peony Festival Inc., $50 to the Audio Visual Club; Beta Delta Chapter of Psi Iota Xi, $100 to the Masque and Gavel organization and $100 to the middle school library; Van Wert Elementary PTO, $417 for the VWECC field trip; and Van Wert County Tennis Association Inc., $300 to help purchase speakers for the tennis complex.
• Employed the following summer substitute custodial-maintenance workers: Eli Alvarez, Nicholas Krugh, Whitney Meyers, Andrew Perry, Ryan Rice, and Connor Shaffer.
• Employed the following summer school staff for this summer: VWECC — Drew Bittner, Alysha Bollenbacher, Regina Brenneman, Cindy Dawson, Kim Dowdy, Laura Foster, Lisa Knoch, Danae Leaser, Shelly Place, Kaitlin Roberts, Jessica Small, Judi Smith, and Janine Warnecke; Van Wert Elementary School — Drew Bittner and Leigh Short; VWMS — Brendon Moody, Stacia Profit, and Jay Royer; VWHS — Jeff Kallas, high school government; LifeLinks — Doug Adams, Kyle Hammons, Della Harting, Glenn Hicks, Angela Myers, and Ashley Wharton.
• Approved a contract correction for the following mentors, from Year 1 to Year 2: Betty Holliday and Tricia Hughes.
• Authorized the list of graduates for the VWHS Class of 2016 as submitted. Graduation is this Sunday, May 22, at 2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium.
• Approved the following professional development waiver days for the 2016-17 school year: September 6 and November 21, 2016, and February 21, April 17, and May 22, 2017.
• Authorized continued membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
• Approved a service contract for the Help Me Grow program with the Van Wert County Developmental Disabilities Board and Family and Children’s First Council.
• Approved a contact with the Family Resource Center to provide behavioral health services to the district, effective July 1.

The next meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, in the First Federal Lecture Hall.