Wellsville Board of Education

Monday - August 16: The Wellsville Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting this past Monday evening in the Superintendent's office on Center St. Present at the meeting was BOE President Ed Bauer, VP Tom Brophey and Board Members Karen Dash & Mike Cook. Also attending the meeting was WSD Treasurer Coleen Wickham, Superintendent Rich Bereschik, Asst. Superintendent Lisa Ferguson, WTA President Darlene Allison, OAPSE President Ed Swogger and Transportation Supervisor Joe Olesky.

For the Financial Report, Mrs. Wickham reported that July receipts were $519,883, expenditures were $513,447 leaving a General Fund Balance of $2.1 million. Interest earned for the month was $4,435. Two CDARs came due and were rewritten now earning 1.488% interest. There are two other CDs with one currently earning 1.48% and the other 3.44%. The Nova Heaken Scholarship Fund was invested for the longest available time and is earning 3.19%.

Tom Brophey reported for Legislative Update that "our group of Ohio leaders are on summer break". With the General Election coming in November and the Holiday Season on the heels of that not much is expected to be accomplished in the Ohio legislature until after the first of the year. Brophey also reported there is an unfunded mandate called "Speak Out Against Added Cost with Board Resolutions" which the OSBA is asking each Board of Education to develop this resolution and pass it back to them.

CC Career & Technical Center liaison Mike Cook reported that the CCCTC Board is currently conducting interviews for a new superintendent. Ms. Edna Anderson, the present superintendent, plans to retire according to Mr. Cook.

Darlene Allison had nothing to report on behalf of the Wellsville Teacher's Assoc. No comment was made in regards to the contract negotiations either doing or after the meeting.

For the OAPSE, Ed Swogger reported that to the best of his knowledge all buildings are ready to go for the start of the new school year. Segueing into Buildings & Grounds, Swogger reported the fence at the High School is completed. He added that the 15 employees in the summer work program were pretty good. Those working with him at the Daw Middle School were excellent and he is very proud of what they got accomplished. There are a couple of projects in the works that will be reported on later.

In the Good New Report, Mr. B added to Swogger's comments that the district is way ahead with what was done this summer. Bereschik also reported that the Promethean Boards for grades 4, 5 & 6 have been installed and teachers have been training on them. Promethean Boards are the "whiteboards" that engage students with audio & visual images projected by a computer to enhance their learning experience. They are promoted as bringing the class room to life. Last year the boards were installed for grades K through 3. It is the goal to add two or three grades a year with the new system.

Bereschik also reported that the final two seniors have passed their Ohio Graduation Tests and Wellsville can now say that the Class of 2010 had a graduation rate of 100%. The Daw Middle School Summer School Program is underway with attendance classified as "normal". New Principal, Dr.Foley is directing the program. Wrapping up the Good News, Mr. B thanked Bill McComas for donating the huge flag for Beacon Memorial and Brian Grimm for getting it up on the pole. Also, Mr. B sent thanks to Don Brown and members of Wellsville's Memorial Council for the new flags donated to the school. Each year Mr. Brown asks how many flags are need to replace the old ones.

Transportation Supervisor Joe Olesky reported that four buses are ready to roll. They were inspected by the Ohio State Patrol on June 4 with no problems found. The fifth bus is in the shop for a couple of minor problems. It was noted that the fifth bus is the oldest in the fleet but Olesky said it still provides safe & dependable transportation. New buses cost on average $84,000 per bus. Olesky advised that all buses have been hand washed inside and waxed on the outside.

The Board voted in favor to approve the NEOLA Policy that tightens up the attendance policy reducing the number of allowable absence days. With the adoption of the new policy if students go over the allowable days in one grade period it is an automatic F for that courses being taken at that time. The attendance policy is fully explained in the Student Handbook.

The Board also approved a contract to hire Cindy Earich as a high school science teacher, Arden Montgomery as Test Coordinator and Beth Rettos as Special Education Coordinator for the new school year. Joe Olesky was approved for the newly combined position of Bus Trip/Bus Transportation Coordinator.

The Board then retired into a 16 minute Executive Session to discuss the appointment or employment of personnel. There was no announcement or comment made upon returning.

After rescinding Item E of the June 14 BOE meeting agenda Nicole Whitaker and Darlene Allison were appointed Junior Class Advisors. James Malone & Barry Keller was given the nod for volunteer Daw Middle School football coaches. Dara Plate was given the nod to be the Daw Middle School Cheerleader Advisor.

With best wishes the Board accepted the resignation of Tony D'Angelo as a short-hour employee. Brophey noted that D'Angelo did a great job and the students really enjoyed having him when he stepped in on short notice. He was an asset to Garfield Elementary. Mr. D'Angelo recent accepted the position as Fiscal Officer for the Village of Salineville.

Contracts were approved with the CC Educational Service Center for them to supply a .5 School Psyshologist and a .8 Technologist for computer assistance. Sheakley was approved as a third party administrator for worker's compensation and an earlier motion to use another company was rescinded. Rates were more favorable with Sheakley.

Once again this year the Breakfast Meal will be provide free to all students made possible with grant funding. Adults have to pay $1.25. Lunches are $2 for adults, $1.50 for students and 40 cents for those qualifying for the reduced rate. United Dairy was approved as the District's milk supplier and Nickles Bakery for bread. Coleen Wickham was renamed as the Food Service Director.

Pending completion of all necessary paper work 30 teachers were approved for the substitute list, 13 for the Classified substitute list and five for the substitute bus driver list. Mike Cook abstained from voting on the Classified substitute list. A contract totaling $88,184 was approved to buy three new copiers - one for each school building. Although not required by ORC three bids were sought from different companies to get the best price possible.

In closing remarks, Mrs. Dash gave a favorable report for the Ohio Improvement Process team. That team had members from all three Wellsville School District buildings to review problems the students are having with the Ohio Achievement & the Ohio Graduation Tests. Their goal was to come up with goals and strategies for improvements. The team met from November through June usually twice a month. Their recommendations will be presented to the building level teams August 30 as part of the in-service day.

Although not related to school activity, Mike Cook remarked that he attended the Mathugh Johnston Scholarship Golf Outing. Cook said that outing is one of the major fund raisers for the scholarships and it was nice to see all the teachers that took part in the outing to help the cause. Two members of the WHS Class of 2010 received scholarships this past May from that fund.

Tom Brophey complimented the school maintenance personnel for the "fantastic job" they have done over the summer stating that the High School & Middle School look great. He hasn't seen Garfield yet but was impressed with what he has seen so far.

Brophey reported the OSBA is having Breakfast With the Candidates around the state. When they get to the NE Section he hopes to attend to see where the candidates stand on education issues. He also wished best of luck to all the teams this year. There will be Meet the Tigers Night with golf, volleyball and all the football teams from Jr. Tigers to Daw Middle School to High School teams plus the band being introduced. That is scheduled for Tuesday evening at Nicholson Stadium at 7 P.M.

Ed Bauer also thanked the maintenance personnel and Olesky for taking care of the buses stating all the efforts are greatly appreciated.

As a foot note to the meeting we were informed that there will be kindergarten screening conducted on Monday & Tuesday, August 23 & 24, at Garfield Elementary from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M. Daw Middle School Orientation will be held on Tuesday, August 24, at 10 A.M. for those entering the 4th Grade. Students new to the district will have all Middle School Grades Orientation at 11 A.M. the same day.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:31 P.M. Next meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 13 at 6:30 P.M. in the Superintendents Office.

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