![\"Vantage](\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Vantage-board-mtg-6-5-14-Rickard-Miller.jpg\")
<\/a>Omar Ganoom of Ross Sinclaire & Associates, the investment firm that assisted Vantage with the bond issue, talked to the board about \u201cflipping\u201d the Build America Bonds the district took out to help finance the district\u2019s facility project over to tax-exempt bonds. The problem with the bonds, he noted, is that federal sequestration cuts will lower the \u201cguaranteed\u201d 35 percent federal subsidy paid on the issue by at least 7.2 percent until at least 2024, making the bonds less attractive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that the federal government has basically reneged on the 35 percent subsidy,\u201d Ganoom told the board, adding that the taxed bond issue would be best switched over o tax-exempt bonds, which he said would shorten the bond payment period by seven years and save the district an estimated $4 million over the life of the bonds.<\/p>\n
Later in the meeting, board members also approved a resolution of acknowledgement and agreement of informed consent with Ross Sinclaire and bond counsel Peck, Shaffer & Williams, which is now a division of law firm Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.<\/p>\n
The board also heard from Vantage Interact Club President Cailah Rickard and club advisor Matt Miller about their visit to the carpentry school in Haiti supported by the club.<\/p>\n
A slide show of photos taken in Haiti accompanied their presentation to the board.<\/p>\n
During her report, Superintendent Staci Kaufman said the district should know in 6-8 weeks whether its LEED rating would be platinum or gold. Prior to a final rating, Kaufman said more information needed to be provided on the solar array installed at the school last year. Platinum is the highest rating an entity can receive under the LEEDS program, which measures how environmentally friendly a building is.<\/p>\n
In addition to Build America Bonds refinancing, Treasurer Lori Davis reviewed the district\u2019s property and liability insurance policies through SORSA with the board and also discussed a new investment report formula.<\/p>\n
The board also took a number of personnel actions, approving supplemental contracts to Michelle Knippen as Vantage lead teacher and Daniel Joyce as school improvement coordinator, while also hiring the following people as Adult Education instructors: Kip Wright, Keith Williamson, Ted Tumbleson, Kevin Taylor, Glenn Schenk, Robert Miller, Matthew McDougal, James Loughrie, Shane Lee, Edward Klausing, Jeffrey Hammons, Kevin Gehres, Kyle Fittro, Mark Figert, Patrick Elking, Shawn Cook and Mark Ernst, Police Academy assistants; Bruce Showalter, Police Academy coordinator; Pete Weir, Trade & Industry programs manager; Kristie Jones, AE instructional leader; Shirley Jarvis, Health Careers\/STNA coordinator; Cynthia Krizan, AE transitions coordinator\/support services specialist; Carol Schaefer, Connie Drake, Jean Steele, Jarvis, Carolyn Fast, Mike Miller, Larry Ray, Jourdan Tomlinson, Justin Cornewell, Katherine Wehnes, Linda Hartman and Brian Ankney, Adult Education instructors; Annette Klinger, Adult Education secretary; Pat Vogel, AWS testing; and Pam Knodel, Resource Center attendant.<\/p>\n
In other action, the board:<\/p>\n
Accepted a donation of 4,660 pounds of steel, valued at $699, from Crown Equipment Corporation in New Bremen for the Welding program.<\/p>\n
Approved the Rothacker Lampe bequest list of equipment for the 2014-2015 school year.<\/p>\n
Authorized a five-year contract with Perry Pro Tech for copier services, effective June 6.<\/p>\n
Approved a carpentry house agreement with Andy and Katie Drerup, effective June 1.<\/p>\n
Supported a Community Reinvestment Agreement with JJK Kahle LLC (B-K Tool & Design) of Kalida. Vantage will receive payments in lieu of taxes as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n
Approved Vantage Preschool fees for the 2014-15 school year and the Preschool manual.<\/p>\n
Approved the price list for the Avantage Salon & Spa.<\/p>\n
Approved a resolution opposing attempts to remove the \u201cthorough and efficient\u201d provision from the Ohio Constitution.<\/p>\n
Authorized the following as Ohio Teacher Evaluation System certified evaluators, effective July 1 to June 30, 2015: Ben Winans, director; Mike Knot, Student Services supervisor; and Mary Ann Hall and Ted Verhoff, CTE supervisors.<\/p>\n
Acknowledged the donation of a Maintenance Pro tool box, valued at $3,013.60, to Senior Industrial Mechanics student Alex Schnipke, and a Machinist\u2019s tool box (retail value $1,748) to Senior Precision Machining student Evan Prowant.<\/p>\n
Accepted the donation of several gauges, valued at $9,000, from Eaton Corporation for the Welding program.<\/p>\n
Went into executive session to discuss the employment of an employee or official of the Vantage district, with no action taken afterwards.<\/p>\n
The next meeting of the Vantage Board of Education will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26, in the district conference room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Vantage Board of Education may be ditching a Build America Bonds issue in favor of tax-exempt bonds, while a teacher and student who both traveled to Haiti this past school year talked briefly about their trip. Omar Ganoom of Ross Sinclaire & Associates, the investment firm that assisted Vantage with the bond […]<\/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-52504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 11:54:16","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\/52504","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=52504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}