VWHS freshman applies for U.S. patent

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert City Board of Education learned of one benefit of the district’s embracing of project-based education, following its organizational meeting for the new year on Wednesday.

Van Wert High School Principal Bob Priest introduced freshman Alaina Arney, who is seeking a patent on a part she invented to help school custodians more easily replace a rubber toilet gasket. Arney began the project while still in eighth grade when Gateway to Technology teacher Zane McElroy brought the problem to her. McElroy and Bob Spath, Project Lead the Way instructor at the high school, both routinely receive requests from school staff related to technology problems they’ve experienced.

In this case, custodians were having problems getting a rubber gasket off toilets without breaking a plastic piece on the toilet.

With some assistance from both McElroy and Spath — and several revisions — Arney designed a two-piece solution that would fit above and below the gasket, providing more stability and protection for the plastic piece alongside it. She then manufactured the part at the school using a 3D printer given to the school by Vantage Career Center.

The solution worked well, and, when custodians contacted a plumbing supply salesman, found that he did not have anything like it in his catalogs.

Priest said he then contacted Jennifer Tipsword, a 1987 VWHS graduate with an engineering degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Hofstra University who is now a patent attorney.

Arney and school officials had telephone conversations with Tipsword, who now lives in London, England, but still works in the United States, and the VWHS grad explained the patent process. She then met with the freshman and school staff on Tuesday to further discuss the process.

Arney plans to apply for a patent, which will cost $200 upfront, but Tipsword’s law firm has offered to do related research on the patent pro bono (free of charge) — legal work that could cost $5,000 to $10,000.

Priest also told the board about Tipsword’s response when he said Alaina’s design looked fairly simple: “You know, if you look at the little plastic thing on the end of your shoestring, that looks simple as well; but until somebody thought of it, it wasn’t there.”

During the organizational meeting, Debby Compton was re-elected as board president, while Anthony Adams was chosen at vice president. Regularly scheduled meetings will be held at 5 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month.

The board also approved a number of boilerplate items needed each year to reorganize.

Board members also unanimously approved transferring the remaining cash balances from the Globally Active People and Schools for Schools accounts into the 2017 Senior Class Blessings in a Backpack fund, with Treasurer Mike Ruen noting that the three funds do basically the same thing.

Assistant to the Superintendent Bill Clifton also provided an update on a committee formed to research the best football stadium plan for the district. Clifton noted the group toured Eggerss Stadium and also a site at the current high school-middle school complex, and also plans to tour other area stadiums to get some insight into what might be needed here.

Architect Kraig Beilharz is also coming up with a more detailed plan for an athletic complex at the current school site, and will also come up with cost estimates for the plan, Clifton noted.

Two staff members also submitted their resignations, due to retirement. The board accepted the resignation of Early Childhood Center paraprofessional Kathy Wiseman, effective the end of the school year, after 18 years with the district, and custodian Greg Amstutz, effective July 1, after 11 years in the district.

Compton was also re-appointed as the district’s representative on the Vantage Career Center Board of Education.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted the following donations: Van Wert County Foundation — $1,500 from the Wollenhaupt Bequest for the Robotics Club, $12,692.50 from the Leslie Endowment Fund to the Leslie Music Fund, $10,920 from the Klein Bequest to the Klein Trust Fund, and $500 from the Owens Bequest to the Elementary School’s wellness program; Other donations — $500 from Lee Kinstle GM Sales & Service to the Robotics Club, $8,910 from the Norman L. Marxen Scholarship Fund for the science curriculum, and $14,396 from the Mary E. Marxen Scholarship Fund to the music curriculum.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 15.