Vantage CC earns five-star ranking

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Give Vantage Career Center a gold star – or perhaps five stars.

The Van Wert-based career center earned the top rating, five stars, on the state’s latest school report card. It was a topic of discussion during Thursday night’s monthly Vantage school board meeting.

“Congratulations to our staff and students for the outstanding score on our state report card,” Turner said. “I’m happy to say we continue to be a five-star career center for the 2023-2024 school year, the highest rating attainable. This score speaks to the hard work and dedication of our staff and students in meeting the benchmarks outlined in the report card data.”

“We are very pleased that the Vantage Career Technical Planning District has again achieved a five-star rating,” High School Director Ben Winans said. “Our scores in the various areas are similar to what we saw last year. We certainly appreciate the buy-in from our staff and students to work toward achieving at high levels.”

“As an administrative team, we will continue to sift through the data that is provided in the report card and look for areas to continue to improve and maintain,” he added.

The annual report card rating is comprised of scores in five different categories – achievement, graduation rate, gap closing, early literacy, and progress.

As part of his monthly report, Turner said work continues to select a design firm for the Vantage Academy of Medical Careers. A meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23.

During her report, Adult Education Director Angie Fahy said the search continues for a permanent advanced welding instructor and she noted students are on a wait list for upcoming CDL classes, as October classes are full. She also said she the need for part-time instructors is at an all-time high, with contributing factors being compensation, difficulty competing with employers, inconsistent hours and no benefits. She told the board she’s open to suggestions, which prompted board member Dennis Recker (Antwerp) to suggest higher wages.

The agenda itself was a light one and the board had just enough members present for a quorum, as seven of 12 were in attendance. The board approved the hiring of Elizabeth Zartman as treasurer/adult education secretary, John Barlage as a customized training instructor and Michael Knapp as a CPR instructor. The board also accepted the retirement resignation of Ruth Bricker, assessment proctor, retroactive to October 1.

The board was instructed to Ashley Cline, the school’s new supervisor of student operations, and the board heard pitches from precision machining instructor Larry Ray and health information management instructor Diane Laing to change the names of the courses to “machine too and design” and “medical assisting” to better reflect what the programs offer. The board will consider the request.

Other agenda items approved included:

• A TIF (Tax Increment Financing) agreement with Jennings Crossing.
• A lease agreement with the Van Wert County Board of Developmental Disablities
• Out-of-state travel for construction equipment instructor Chris Miles, construction equipment educational aide Deb Richardson and students to Weigand Construction job site in Huntertown, Indiana on October 22. 

Before adjournment, the board met in executive session to discus personnel matters, but no action was taken afterward.

The next meeting of the Vantage Career Center Board of Education will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 7, in the district conference room.