New Eggerss Stadium timeline revealed

DAVE MOSIER/for the Van Wert independent

Superintendent Mark Bagley provided an updated timeline for work at Eggerss Stadium, while Van Wert City Board of Education members acted on a number of personnel items for the new year during Thursday’s June board meeting.

The superintendent released an updated three-phase project timetable that runs from March 2023 through July 2025. Bagley noted that, while he knows district residents are very interested in the project and anxious for work to begin, he and others involved in the planning are more concerned with making sure the project is done right.

“People want to see earth moving right away, but you have to go through the right steps,” he said.

Phase I work will installation of a turf field and restoration of a portion of the stadium exterior. That work will begin next March and is expected to be completed by July 2023. 

Phase II work will include construction of a new press box, renovation work in the areas under the stadium — including restroom, locker rooms and a concession area — end zone building construction and site work and work on the parking lot on the southwest side of the stadium. That phase, except for the parking lot work, will begin in November 2023, with the first three items set to be completed by July 2024. The parking lot work is scheduled to begin in May 2024 and end in August of that year.

Phase III will include the second phase of stadium restoration work and creation of a parking lot on the south side of the stadium. The parking lot construction will begin in August 2024, while the second stadium restoration phase is expected to start in November of that year. Both are slated for completion in July 2025.

The superintendent also noted that, with strong interest locally in purchasing stadium bonds, a bond information meeting will be held July 11 in the lecture hall, with more information forthcoming. Bond sales will then begin July 19 to lock in a good interest rate.

The board approved several personnel actions, including the hiring of 10 new employees. Those include the following: Robin Pennell at a math teacher for the Van Wert School at the Goedde; Lydia Whitman as an Early Childhood Center paraprofessional; Kathleen Bachelor as an elementary school music teacher; Carly Hamrick as a fifth grade teacher; Brooke Gearhart as an elementary school computer instructor/paraprofessional; Makenna Ricker as a middle school Gateway to Technology teacher; Sarah Zabka as a high school German teacher; James Acquaviva as assistant to the technology director; Angie Beining as a general cafeteria worker, and Tim Brown as a high school paraprofessional (previously employed in that role by the Western Buckeye Educational Service Center).

The board also accepted the resignation of fifth-grade teacher Jordan Shull, the supplemental resignation of Joseph Foster as assistant boys’ soccer coach, and Ashley Brown from her position as a summer custodial worker.

During his report, the superintendent also talked about school safety issues, noting that, while state legislators and Governor Mike DeWine adopted legislation allowing school employees to carry handguns in school buildings, whether that is done here will be a local decision coming after extensive research into the issue.

Bagley did note he was confident, after being involved in joint school safety exercises held by the Van Wert Police Department and Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office, that the district will receive timely support from those law enforcement agencies in the case of an emergency.

Assistant Superintendent Bill Clifton also included school safety information in his report, stating that all buildings are currently up to date with current state school safety requirements.

“Everything is in good order,” he said.

Future safety planning would include simplifying the district evacuation plan to improve it. He also noted the training taking place in both the PD and sheriff’s office in the school safety area.

New LED parking lot lighting will be installed at the ECC, with funding from a competitive school safety grant, Clifton said.

Several meetings have been held with architects and stakeholders in the project to compile the project timeline and create a priority “wish list” of specific items people want to see as part of the project, he said. Priorities will then be developed, based on how much total funding there will be for the project.

Clifton also reported a new bus stop has been added at Wesley United Methodist Church in response to parental concerns over young students having to cross busy streets to get to the bus stop in Jubilee Park.

In other action, the board:

• Approved the following supplemental coaching contracts: Betsy Hamman, middle school fall cheerleading; Morgan Hicks, freshman volleyball, and Issa Ickes, junior varsity volleyball.
• Summer ESY program hires include Chris Cochrane and Jessica Small, while summer custodial staff were hired, as follows: Heather Keller, custodial/technology, and Theresa Hill, Spencer Adams, Kolby Barnhart and Tanner Barnhart, custodial only.
• Approved district school handbooks and cafeteria prices.
• Authorized a Community Reinvestment Area agreement with Rubaco Inc., as presented.
• Authorized transfer of the 0.5-mill equalization payment totaling $113,804, as required by the Ohio. School Facilities Commission to the Classroom Facilities Maintenance Fund.
• Approved participation in the Workers’ Comp group retro rating through Sedgwick for the 2023 calendar year.
• Approved permanent appropriations for fiscal year 2022 and temporary appropriations for FY 2023.
• Acknowledged the following donations: Van Wert Service Club, $1,200 for the speech program; Altric Holdings LLC, $2,500 for the high school robotics program; Laudick’s Jewelry, $200 to the boys’ basketball program; an anonymous donation of $5,000 to the high school robotics program, and Van Wert Elementary PTO, $6,084.22 to the Elementary Principal’s Fund.

The next scheduled meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.