{"id":134449,"date":"2020-08-26T23:23:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T04:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=134449"},"modified":"2020-08-27T23:34:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T04:34:59","slug":"vwcs-board-member-resigns-school-year-update-given","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/08\/26\/vwcs-board-member-resigns-school-year-update-given\/","title":{"rendered":"City school board member resigns seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Van Wert City Board of Education is in need of a new member after the resignation of Tom Losh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board accepted Losh\u2019s resignation, effective immediately, during Wednesday night\u2019s meeting. Losh, who wasn\u2019t at the meeting and couldn\u2019t be reached for comment, was appointed to the board in February 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Assistant Superintendent Bill Clifton talks about cleaning and sanitizing classrooms and buses during Wednesday’s meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Board President Anthony Adams said the board will accept applications for the vacant spot and will name a replacement in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board also heard updates on the start of the new school year in the COVID-19 age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superintendent Mark Bagley said overall attendance to start the school year is just five students different than last year, including in-person and online students. He also said he\u2019s applied for a $75,000 grant to purchase 200 hot spots for Internet access and he told the board he\u2019s pleased that fall sports are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was nice to see our student-athletes in the gym or outside playing,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cThe bottom line is we\u2019re trying to give our kids a chance to have a season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagley also thanked all teachers, staff, administrators, parents, and students for helping make the start of the school year a successful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assistant superintendent Bill Clifton told the board that buses and classrooms are constantly being sanitized and disinfected by staff members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo reassure our parents and families, we are probably disinfecting seven to eight times more than we ever have,\u201d Clifton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

He also added that lunchrooms have been reconfigured to allow for social distancing and he said a bar code scanner is being used in the lunchrooms, adding it\u2019s helped speed up the process of paying for lunches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a nutshell it\u2019s a touchless system and that\u2019s what we were trying to accomplish,\u201d Clifton explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasurer Michelle Mawer informed the board that income tax collections are down $500,000, but she added she\u2019s not overly concerned right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to keep in mind that taxpayers had until July 15th to pay their taxes this year, so hopefully we catch some of that up in October in the next collection,\u201d Mawer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In personnel matters, board members accepted the resignation of maintenance director Randy Stemen, who plans to retire December 31 after 34 years of service to Van Wert City Schools. The board also accepted the resignations of first grade teacher Ashley Driggs and Early Childhood Center paraprofessional Laura Farris, then employed Farris as a general cafeteria worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison Evers was approved as a long-term substitute first grade teacher and Tonya Sroufe was hired as an Early Childhood Center paraprofessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other business, the board approved a revised contract with the Van Wert County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the 2020-2021 fall ticket policy and ticket prices for the current school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board members accepted a donation from the Recking Crew of new goal posts and pads valued at $15,000. Those goal posts are in place at Eggerss Stadium. Donations of $500 from Charles Thompson, CTS Development, and $100 from Nick and Amanda Kleinhenz were accepted on behalf of the high school basketball program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grant of $24,466.86 from the Van Wert County Foundation, via the Richard L. and Nadie O. Klein Memorail Trust Fund, was accepted as well. The money will go toward expenses of K-8 students for food, clothing, eye or ear care, dental needs, and other medical attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board also accepted a $2,000 donation from the Cooper Family Foundation to be used for an educational purpose at the high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A public meeting was scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, September 15, to allow for public comment on the district\u2019s use of IDEA Part B funds, with recommendations or suggestions for special education programs and services. The meeting will be held in the office conference room at Van Wert Elementary School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next regular meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 23, in the First Federal Lectures Hall at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent writer The Van Wert City Board of Education is in need of a new member after the resignation of Tom Losh. The board accepted Losh\u2019s resignation, effective immediately, during Wednesday night\u2019s meeting. Losh, who wasn\u2019t at the meeting and couldn\u2019t be reached for comment, was appointed to the board in February 2018. Board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 14:54:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}