Vantage OKs CTE contract; honors alumni

DAVE MOSIER/for the VW independent

The Vantage Career Center Board of Education approved a contract with architects Garmann Miller to oversee the CTE expansion project that includes the fire training facility and lighting for the truck driving lot. 

“We are currently navigating the process for the State of Ohio permit for the fire training facility with [Garmann Miller] and the vendor that will build the [fire training] structure,” Vantage Superintendent Rick Turner said during his report to the board.

Turner also noted that Vantage hosted Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Executive Director Dee Smith for a tour of Vantage.

“She was very impressed with our students, our programs, and our facilities,” he said.

Turner also spoke about receiving a poster announcing Vantage as a 5-Star Award-winning Career Technical Planning District. The award was in conjunction with Vantage’s results on the 2022-23 State Report Card.

“This award speaks to our incredibly dedicated staff and amazing students who work so hard each day making Vantage the special center that it is,” the superintendent noted.

Also Thursday, Vantage hosted its annual All Boards Dinner for board members and administrators from Vantage’s member school districts.

The featured speaker was State Representative Roy Klopfenstein, a former Paulding County commissioner and Vantage alumnus (1979).

Klopfenstein, who is also a lifelong farmer, spoke about his farming career and also how he became interested in public service by first serving on ag-related committees when he was younger. 

He also talked about the impact that Vantage and several of its staff members had on his later ag and political careers. One instructor he said was particularly influential was Warren Reed, who taught an Adult Ed class entitled Farm Business Planning Analysis. The class not only introduced Klopfenstein to computers and business software programming, but Reed also had an impact on improving his money management skills – so much so, that he called Reed “probably the most influential person next to my dad.”

“It was a terrific program, and Warren was a big part of my life and a big part of shaping how I look at things in business,” he added.

Also during the All Boards dinner, Vantage alumni Michael Recker (2007) and Nathan Arn (2008) were inducted into the Vantage Alumni Hall of Fame. State Representative Jim Hoops also attended the dinner.

In other action, the board:

• Employed the following: Pearce Dietrich, intervention specialist, (one-year contract); Dan Edwards, Auto Body instructor (four-year); Stephanie Hanneman, school counselor (one-year); Brent Hoersten, Electrical instructor (one-year); Diane Laing, Health Information Management instructor (four-year); Audree Markward, Health Technology instructor (one-yar); Cheyenne Oechsle, Social Studies instructor (one-year); Lynda Ragan, FCS Satellite instructor (four-year); Larry Ray, Precision Machining instructor (four-year); Larry Regedanz, Network Systems instructor (four-year); Michelle Reinhart, intervention specialist (two-year); Eric Schwab, intervention specialist (one-year); Scott Shardelow, Culinary Arts instructor (two-year); Bob Spath, PLTW Satellite instructor (four-year).
• Hired Lisa Cross on a one-year contract as a six-hour cook.
• Approved several supplemental contracts.
• Approved the Satellite Agreement with Van Wert City Schools.
• Authorized out-of-state travel for instructors and students attending state Ohio SkillsUSA state competitions.
• Authorized out-of-state travel for the Early Childhood Education/Vantage Preschool program to visit the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo on May 1.
• Approved the Vantage Career Technical Supervisor job description.
• Voted to lengthen the school day by 5 minutes, beginning the 2024-25 school year. With the change, the school day will begin at 8:20 a.m. and end at 2:36 p.m.
• Revised the 12-month employee calendar to close the building on Thursday, June 20, for the Juneteenth federal holiday.
• Met in executive session on a personnel matter, with no action taken afterwards.

The next meeting of the Vantage Board of Education will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, in the District Conference Room.