City school board OKs school changes

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Board of Education approved several change orders for the elementary school project, as well as a plan to use an online system allowing students to make up work missed during calamity days that exceed the five-day state limit.

Superintendent Ken Amstutz noted that site and foundation work for the new elementary project is nearly complete, with construction ready to start on the floors and walls of the new structure. Amstutz said work began on digging and pouring footers on July 1, with plans to pour floors in the new grades 1-5 building the first week in August, with work on the walls of the structure to follow.

The superintendent added that about a third of the 150 geothermal wells for the new building have been completed, while completion of the Jefferson Elementary geothermal project has been delayed because the control vault was out of alignment with the piping and had to be replaced.

He also said work has been started on the high school-middle school entrance, with work to be completed by August 12.

The board also approved six change orders for the elementary school project that will add more than $420,000 to the cost of the project, but add quality to the structure and can save the district money down the road, Amstutz said. Change orders include an additional $126,000 for concrete paving in parking lots, an additional $189,000 for poured terrazzo flooring, an additional $108,000 for a metal roof, an additional $2,778.47 for a storm sewer design change, an additional $12,000 to install a wood floor in the gymnasium and a deduct of $17,000 related to a change to concrete blocks for the building.

Terrazzo flooring is a change that pays for itself in the long run, since it needs relatively little maintenance and typically lasts the life of a building. The Ohio School Facilities Commission estimates that other types of flooring need to be replaced every four years.

Amstutz noted that work is being done to select a contractor to build new tennis courts at the high school-middle school site. He said the tennis court project, which has changed significantly from the original plan, should cost between $225,000 and $250,000, with funding coming from the Van Wert Area Tennis Association.

If funding can be secured for the project, the superintendent said work should begin on August 15.

The superintendent also talked about the New Tech High School grant project, noting that preliminary planning is being done in conjunction with a $750,000 grant received through the Race to the Top program.

Amstutz said school staff members are getting excited about the project-based learning program, adding that several members of the project team will be traveling to Huntington, Ind., to see how the New Tech program there is set up.

He noted that Indiana is a national leader in New Tech education and that test scores in New Tech schools are better than school with a regular curriculum.

“It’s a whole new way of life,” Amstutz said, noting that the program’s emphasis is on learning, rather than on just grades or testing, although both tend to improve under the new program.

The superintendent said plans are to first implement the program as a “school within a school”, with somewhere between 150 and 200 students participating in the first year, but eventually implementing the program across the entire high school, if it works as well as expected.

Amstutz also told the board that a community group was interested in purchasing the Franklin Elementary School building. The superintendent said he and Maintenance Director Randy Stemen recently took members of the group on a tour through the building, but added that, because the organization is not a public entity, the school would have to be sold through public bidding — which the group was told.

Technology Director John Butler provided a presentation to the board on district technology issues and included information on a program recently developed that would allow teachers to give students online assignments in lieu of rescheduling the first three calamity days that exceed the state’s five-day limit.

Butler said teachers would provide online homework assignments that students could view in the area of the school website where grades are posted. Students would have two weeks to complete the assignments, while those without Internet access could receive the assignments on paper. Teachers will receive

Board President Mike Morrow had some concerns about academic fraud in conjunction with the “high tech homework assignment,” but Butler said teachers would not even have to grade the assignments, since they would be treated like a normal day of school. “You don’t grade students every day,” he said, adding that teachers would probably not put a lot of weight on the online assignments.

Butler also told board members that the district’s broadband throughput is now at 50MB a second, more than twice as fast as last year’s 20MB a second and more than 10 times faster than the 4MB of five years ago. “It is amazing how much we have changed just in the last five years,” Butler said, adding that he thought the 4MB connection was “incredibly fast” when it was first implemented. He also talked about students using cloud storage through Sky Drives that would provide each student with 20GB of online storage — something he feels will replace the jump drives (portable flash memory) now being used by students for homework.

District Treasurer Mike Ruen had some good news in connection with the H.B. 264, noting that the district received a rebate of $36,109, instead of the $20,000-$22,000 the district had expected to receive. Amstutz said lighting in the high school-middle school complex has been significantly improved by the project.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted the resignation of Spanish teacher Andrea Hess and approved hiring Amy Neal as her replacement, effective the 2011-2012 school year.
• Hired Brenda Ward as an occupational therapy assistant for the upcoming school year.
• Reviewed a school nurse annual report.
• Approved the following supplemental contracts: Kati Harting (80 percent) and Tracy Keber (20 percent), VWMS eighth grade volleyball coaches; Charlie Witten, VWHS baseball coach; Steve Thomas, assistant varsity baseball coach; Todd Dunlap, freshman baseball coach; Mike McClure (90 percent) and Karen McClure (10 percent), VWHS softball coaches; Rick Roop (50 percent) and Allisa Lahmon (50 percent), junior varsity softball coaches; Mitch Price, boys’ tennis head coach; Mark Collins, boys’ track head coach; Nate Hoverman (50 percent) and Brendon Moody (50 percent), girls’ track head coaches; R.J. Coleman (50 percent) and Bob Priest (50 percent), girls; assistant track coaches; Bob Spath, Kerry Koontz and Mike Myers, VWMS track coaches.
• Approved the following volunteer coach: Kathy Mansfield, boys’ tennis assistant.
• Approved athletic ticket prices for the 2011-2012 school year.
• Approved an agreement with Northwest Ohio Area Computer Services Cooperative for the 2011-2012 school year.
• Approved a contract with Vantage Career Center for enrollment of Community Schools students there.
• Acknowledged that the board has reviewed a Community Reinvestment Area agreement with Donald Lippi, Teresa Lippi and Mark Brown of Brown Contacting LLC as presented.
• Approved a $400 stipend for the PEERS facilitator and a $200 stipend for a PEERS team member.
• Accepted, with thanks, the following donations: $1,256 from the Klein Fund for Van Wert students; $1,750 from the Klein Fund for Ohio City students; and $5,000 from the Gaylord E. Leslie Music Trust Fund.
• Learned that Krista Baer has been added to the substitute teachers list for the coming school year.

The next scheduled board meeting will be Wednesday, August 17, at 5 p.m., in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.