Vantage school day to be longer

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The school day for high school students at Vantage Career Center may be longer during the upcoming school year, but not that much longer. During Thursday night’s meeting of the Vantage Career Center Board of Education, Superintendent Rick Turner said he’s proposing adding five minutes to the school day, starting with the 2024-2025 school year.

“With this small change in scheduling, we will add an additional 15 hours of instructional time over the course of the school year and hopefully avoid make-up day situations due to inclement weather like we have had the past two years,” Turner explained.

The school day currently runs from 8:23 a.m. to 2:34 p.m. The proposed school day for next year would be 8:20 a.m. to 2:36 p.m., if the change is approved by the board next month.

During his report to the board, High School Director Ben Winans said more than 800 sophomores visited Vantage February 2 to explore two programs of their choice. It also marked the opening of the school’s application process for the 2024-2025 school year and Winans noted that so far, 396 sophomores have applied for next school, an increase of more than 50 students compared to last year.

“Our administrative team is working together to begin to sort through the applications as our priority deadline was March 1,” Winans said. “The priority deadline simply sets an end date for any program that might be oversubscribed – which allows us to then determine which students will get in their first-choice program and those that will be offered a spot in their second-choice program, and put on the waiting list for their initial program.”

“As of today, we have nine programs that are oversubscribed,” he continued. “With the large number of applications and large number of juniors that we expect to return, we will again be at or near capacity.

Adult Education Director Angie Fahy told the board that Vantage was not selected for an Ohio Career Technical Education Equipment grant.

“We currently serve 17 percent of our population and they were looking for schools who were 10 percent or less,” she said. “We plan to reapply for round two.”

Fahy also said that Vantage has been accepted as a Nurse Education Assistant Loan Program. The application will open as soon as the FAFSA rollout is complete. The annual award is $1,650.

The board approved three administrative contracts:

• Paula VanTilburg, Supervisor of Student Operations (two years)
• Anna Baker, Early Childhood Education Instructor/Preschool Director (one year)
• Tonya Temple, Student Services Supervisor

The board accepted the resignations of Jean Sullivan, LPN-RN Transition Program Administrator and Austin Miller, Firefighting and EMT Program Coordinator.

Board member Pat Baumle (Wayne Trace) was sworn in for a new three year term.

The board heard a short presentation by criminal justice instructor Zach Miller and students Jordyn Biberstine (Van Wert), Jadrick Buffin (Delphos Jefferson), Tyler Wilkins (Delphos Jefferson) and Ava Foltz (Paulding).

The next meeting of the Vantage Career Center Board of Education will be held at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, April 4, in the district conference room, followed by the annual Vantage All-Boards Program at 6 p.m.