{"id":9421,"date":"2011-06-16T02:31:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T07:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=9421"},"modified":"2011-06-17T05:03:30","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T10:03:30","slug":"vwcs-board-hires-9-new-employees-during-june-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/06\/16\/vwcs-board-hires-9-new-employees-during-june-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"VWCS board hires 9 new employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Van Wert High School guidance counselor Connie Ainsworth provides an update to the Van Wert City Board of Education on Wednesday while guidance counselor Kerry Koontz listens in the background. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Van Wert City Board of Education hired nine new employees and accepted the resignation of a longtime music teacher who is retiring during its June meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a dominated by personnel items, the board also amended administrative contracts already approved on the advice of legal counsel and also approved new contracts for district administrators.<\/p>\n

New employees hired include the following: Brett Dorsten, school psychologist; Zane McElroy, middle school Gateway to Technology; Cayla Wise, third grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary; Ashley Driggs, first grade teacher at Jefferson; Ashley Holden, fourth grade teacher at Franklin Elementary; Katie Fisher, first grade teacher at Washington Elementary; Tom Baer, eighth grade teacher at Van Wert Middle School; Kelli Thompson, Life Skills teacher at VWMS; and Janine Warnecke, district occupational therapist.<\/p>\n

Dorsten was hired to replace Doug Grooms, who will be taking Shawn Deitemeyer\u2019s former position as special education coordinator. Deitemeyer is now executive director of LifeLinks Community School after the resignation of Kim Nellis after a year in that position.<\/p>\n

The reshuffling of positions should save the district approximately $30,000, Superintendent Ken Amstutz said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The board also accepted the resignation of instrumental band instructor Karen Kelly after 36 years in education, 34 of those with Van Wert City Schools. The superintendent commended Kelly for her years of service to the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly when you have someone who has been with us that length of time, her services will be missed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The board also accepted the resignation of Beth Burden, a paraprofessional at Franklin Elementary, after six years in that position. Burden and her family are moving to the Covington area around Columbus.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Newly hired elementary teacher Ashley Holden attended Wednesday's VWCS board meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Administrators who were given new contracts include Amstutz (five-year contract ending July 31, 2016), Treasurer Mike Ruen (five-year contract), Van Wert High School Principal Bill Clifton (five-year contract), VWHS Administrative Assistant Dave Froelich (three-year contract ending July 31, 2014), VWMS Principal Mark Bagley (five-year contract), VWMS Administrative Assistant Darla Dunlap (five-year contract), Jefferson Elementary Principal Kevin Gehres (five-year contract), Franklin Elementary Principal Beth Runnion (five-year contract), Washington Elementary Principal Bill Wisher (five-year contract), Grooms (five-year contract), Lori Bittner, elementary special services coordinator (five-year contract), Deitemeyer (five-year contract) and Athletic Director Kent Smelser (four-year contract ending July 31, 2015).<\/p>\n

Amstutz said there would be reorganization among elementary administrators after the elementary facility projects are completed. Plans are to divide the new grades 1-5 building into two areas, with Runnion principal of grades 1-3 and Gehres principal over grades 4 and 5. Wisher would take over the Jefferson building, which will serve pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.<\/p>\n

Also during the meeting, the superintendent provided an update on the elementary building project, thanking those involved in the groundbreaking ceremony last Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the day was hot, it was still a great occasion and an opportunity for our kids to see what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Amstutz noted that piping to be installed as part of the project has arrived and an erosion barrier has been constructed. He said site work will ramp up for the grades 1-5 building in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

The superintendent also said that the geothermal well field for the Jefferson building has also been completed.<\/p>\n

Amstutz also reported on the Race to the Top grant the district has applied for, stating that things are still being finalized so the district can receive grant money. He also talked about a more lucrative grant, one that could net the district $1 million through New Tech High School grant program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re certainly anxious about and hopefully, that goes through, the superintendent said, adding that it would be good to have a large amount of grant money to help with that project, but said the district plans to move forward on that project regardless of whether the grant is approved.<\/p>\n

Word on whether the district will be awarded the grant should come soon, he said.<\/p>\n

Amstutz also had some good financial news for school employees: no premium rate hikes are expected for the district\u2019s health insurance program in the coming year.<\/p>\n

VWHS guidance counselors Connie Ainsworth and Kerry Koontz were also on hand at the meeting to update the board on testing results and to provide a profile of the Class of 2011.<\/p>\n

In other<\/strong> news, the board:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Approved the following supplemental contracts for the coming school year: Froelich, head boys\u2019 basketball coach; Bagley, assistant boys\u2019 basketball coach; Chris Covey, reserve boys\u2019 basketball coach; Jeff Hood, freshman boys\u2019 basketball coach; Rob Adams, assistant girls\u2019 basketball coach; Todd Dunlap and Brad Doidge, half-time reserve girls\u2019 basketball coaches; Jerry Ramsay, varsity wrestling head coach; Mark Collins and Ben Collins, assistant wrestling coaches; Kim Clifton, swimming head coach; Angie Stemen and Martha Martin, assistant swimming coaches; Arlene Hurless, VWHS basketball cheerleading coach; Nate Hoverman, seventh grade boys\u2019 basketball coach; Koontz, eighth grade boys\u2019 basketball coach; Tom Baer, seventh grade boys\u2019 basketball coach; Abbie Clifton, eighth grade girls\u2019 basketball coach; Devin Webster and Brad Allmandinger, VWMS wrestling coaches.<\/li>\n
  • Approved the following volunteer coaches: Brandon Miller, varsity boys\u2019 basketball coaching assistant; Keith Utendorf, freshman boys\u2019 basketball coach; Thad Eikenbary, girls\u2019 basketball assistant coach; and Keith Rydell, swimming assistant coach.<\/li>\n
  • Heard a request from Wayne Kilton, president of the Van Wert Tennis Association, on plans for tennis courts at the high school-middle school site. Amstutz said plans are in the works to construct courts on the site.<\/li>\n
  • Heard reports from board member Ken Mengerink on the June Vantage Board of Education meeting and on activities related to the Van Wert Area Performing Arts Foundation (VWAPAF), the organization that operates the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.<\/li>\n
  • Went into executive session to discuss personnel items, with no action taken afterwards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The Van Wert City Board of Education hired nine new employees and accepted the resignation of a longtime music teacher who is retiring during its June meeting on Wednesday. In a dominated by personnel items, the board also amended administrative contracts already approved on the advice of legal counsel and also approved […]<\/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-9421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 13:10:11","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\/9421","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=9421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}