Stadium, more addressed at meeting

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Summer is generally a slow time for schools, which led to a quick meeting of the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education on Wednesday. During a 22-minute meeting, board members heard various reports and gave the green light to a number of agenda items.

Superintendent Mark Bagley told the board that the second phase of the Eggerss Stadium renovation project remains on schedule and is due to be complete by August 15, a day before the Cougars scrimmage Crestview. He said concrete work is mostly complete, along with painting and framing of the concession stand and bathroom. Work continues on the press box and red siding is scheduled to be done next week. Bagley also said a list of legacy and naming rights will be coming soon.

He said all positions are filled, except for a paraprofessional position and he informed the board that a district wide student cell phone policy will be ready soon.

“We’ve been working on that and that will be on our website August 1 or before,” Bagley said. “We’ll have a general policy and then every building will have a more specific policy – I’ll say that a kindergarten cell phone (policy) is different than a senior cell phone (policy).”

During his report, Assistant Superintendent Bob Priest noted sealing and re-striping work is done at the Goedde and early childhood center parking lots and he added playground equipment at the ECC is now open. He also addressed bus transportation for the upcoming school year.

“We are still playing a shell game with some drivers,” he explained. “We have some drivers who are currently taking classes and it’s our hope that they’ll be certified and driving on August 20 but in case that they’re not, we do have a couple of backup plans in place. Transportation will go smoothly on August 20.”

He added he hopes to publicize the transportation plan and schedule in the next couple of weeks and he said parents of preschool students needing bus transportation should get their information to the ECC immediately if they haven’t done so already.

“It is absolutely critical to get their information into the ECC – that deadline has already come but they need to have that in because once August 9 gets here it will be approximately two weeks before the start of preschool and it’s going to be difficult to transport that first week,” he said.

During his monthly update, Treasurer Troy Bowersock said the books have closed on fiscal year 2023-2024 and it said it was solid financially for the district.

“We operated within our budget parameters, operated within our revenue streams,” Bowersock stated.

He also said work is underway on preparing for the upcoming school year. 

Several personnel items were on Wednesday’s agenda. The board accepted the resignations of elementary school art teacher Alicia Welker and middle school paraprofessional Wendy Kinkle and approved the hiring Brittney Boaz as a long-term substitute elemenary school art teacher, Chloe Ketner as a middle school paraprofessional, Melissa Bueher as a high school paraprofessional, and Nancy Riley as an early childhood center custodial/maintenance worker. The board also approved a one-year supplemental contract with former Assistant Superintendent Bill Clifton to serve as construction manager for the Eggerss Stadium renovation project.

Other agenda items approved by the board include:

• Districtwide cafeteria prices for the 2024-2025 school year.
• A high school band trip, 70 students and 10 adults to Orlando, Florida, November 20-25.
• A service contract agreement for vision impaired services with Midwest Regional Educational Service Center.
• A similar agreement for hearing/audiology services with Montgomery County Educational Service Center.
• A CRA (Community Reinvestment Area) agreement between the city of Van Wert and G&T Holdings.

Board members also accepted a long list of donations from various groups, organizations, businesses and individuals.

The next scheduled meeting of the Van Wert City Schools Board of Education will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 28, in the First Federal Lecture Hall at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.