Vantage BOE hears about students, ends fiscal year

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Vantage Career Center is able to boast not one, but two national champions at the recent SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to that, a group of Vantage students had a chance to travel to Germany.

Superintendent Rick Turner delivered the good news during Thursday night’s meeting and he said Vantage had an exciting few weeks to wrap up the school year.

“Two of our students won national competitions –Silas Foltz (Paulding) in Server Administration and Cruse Schroeder (Ottoville) in Heavy Equipment Operations,” he explained. “Both students are scheduled to attend the August board meeting to share their national competition experiences.”

“Additionally, our first German Interact Club group – consisting of 10 students and two advisors – spent 10 days in Germany this month,” he continued. “They returned home excited, with many experiences to share, and will attend our September meeting to speak briefly about their trip.”

High School Director Ben Winans said final acceptance letters have been mailed out to just over 320 new students for the upcoming school year.

“This will bring our expected enrollment at this time to approximately 590 students, which is an increase from last year,” Winans told the board. “The Student Services department will continue to look to fill any openings as movement takes place throughout the summer.”

Winans said the final group of high school students in the CDL program are wrapping up their training and several have gone for testing this week. He also said the school received just over $174,000 in Federal Perkins Grant funds for the coming school year, a slight increase from last year. The funds will be utilized to support students with special needs, specifically funding intervention and aides.

The board approved a list of approximately 70 adult education instructors and accepted the resignation of Special Education Coordinator Angie Shellabarger and approved Michelle Reinhart as her replacement.

Approval was given to the 2026-2027 high school handbook, along with the school’s cybersecurity plan.

In other business, Board President Tim Fitzpatrick (Fort Jennings) was sworn in for a new term and was unanimously re-elected as president.

Final fiscal year 2026 revenues and appropriations were approved and the board gave the okay to a handful of fund transfers. Treasurer Denise Mooney told the board that during the fiscal year, the board spend approximately $487,000 more than what came in.

“It’s not surprising – we’ve talked about this with the new building and remodeling and that kind of stuff, so it was actually lower than what I expected it to be,” she said.

Board members went into executive session to discuss personnel but outside of adjournment, no action was taken.

Prior to the meeting, a handful of board members and Turner toured the building that will house the Vantage Academy of Medical Careers. They were led by representatives from Alexander and Bebout and saw firsthand the progress being made. Turner said it’s expected to be ready in time for the start of the new school year.

The board will hold a special meeting at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 14. The next regular meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, August 6. Both meetings will be held in the district conference room.