With Kindergarten enrollment up for this year and some vacancies to fill, the Wauseon Board of Education has officially welcomed seventeen new members to their teaching team. While the majority of these new hires are classified as teachers, others are on board to take on new roles as counselors and Intervention Specialists. The Board welcomed each of the new hires just prior to the start of their last regular board meeting on August 11. Board members and new hires alike both shared a little bit of information about themselves with one another. Some of the new faces in the halls have once walked the halls before as Wauseon students but others are new to the area. One sentiment shared by all is a commitment to Wauseon Schools.
Each building principal was also on hand to introduce and comment on the new hires that will be working in their respective buildings. Again, a common theme could be heard – the belief that Wauseon Schools has truly hired the best of the best. With as many as thirty applicants sometimes applying for an open position, the process of interviewing and hiring might have been tedious but it also came with the perk of allowing Wauseon Schools the ability to be truly selective.
All new hires were welcomed by the Board and all were wished a successful first year with the Wauseon School District.
Following the introduction of the new faculty, the Board moved on to begin the regular portion of the meeting by first approving minutes, bills, financial reports, and investments as presented. The Board also approved a resolution, revisited annually, to allocate 0.15 mills of the 5.3 mills the District receives to the Wauseon Public Library.
Also approved was retroactively applying the changes in benefits approved via Board action on August 14, 2013 provided through the tentative memorandum agreement with the Wauseon Education Association to all classified employees and administrators of the Board of Education from September 2013 forward. The approval allows for language to be placed into the minutes that such benefits extend beyond the classified employees originally described.
A second resolution authorizing the Superintendent to initial the Agreement and Bylaws of the Ohio Schools Council and for the Treasurer to pay the annual fee was also approved.
The Board also accepted, with gratitude, a total of $10,074 in instruments from the Wauseon Music Boosters to the Wauseon Band as well as several “then and now” certificates that were created in order to pay invoices to Project Respect, OHSVCA, J&B Feed, Falor Farm, and Johnson Controls.
Bus routes for the 2014-15 school year were also approved. Larry L. Fruth, and Miriam Frank as alternate, was appointed as delegate to the Ohio Boards Capital Conference.
Personnel items gaining approval included:
~ a one year limited outside athletic supplemental contract to Tasha Brown as the Girls’ Tennis Coach for the 2014-15 school year, effective August 1, 2014, and pending receipt of a clean BCI/FBI background check and Pupil Activity Permit;
~ the resignation of Anna Geis as a 4 hour/4 days per week Pre-school Teachers’ Aide, effective August 5, 2014;
~ the recall of Tara Delgado from a Reduction in Force as a 4 days per week/4 hours per day SPS Pre-school Aide for the 2014-15 school year;
~ one year limited classified contracts to Melanie Wyse as a WPS 2 hour cook and Tammy Carder as a WHS 2 hour cook for the 2014-15 school year;
~a one year limited certified contract to Brittany Webster as a WPS Kindergarten Teacher for the 20115 school year pending receipt of a clean BCI/FBI background check.
Webster’s position became available based on an increase in Kindergarten enrollment and will be re-evaluated at the start of the 2015-16 school year. Primary Principal Troy Armstrong explained that the creation of an additional Kindergarten classroom is an effort to keep class sizes small enough to allow for each student to receive as much individual time as possible.
With Delgado’s recall from the Reduction in Force, all those affected by the reduction have either been recalled or were given the opportunity to be recalled.
Principal reports given to the board all focused on preparations for the new year, including the passing out of chromebooks. All four principals are looking forward to the start of the new year with students and both returning and new staff.
Superintendent Larry Brown also gave information on the 2013-14 preliminary test results, noting that there is always room for improvement but that Wauseon Schools continues to perform well at all grade levels. The Ohio Department of Education has noted that there will be a delay in the issuance of individual school report cards this year. At the time the information is released, information from those report cards will be available for all schools covered by “The Village Reporter”.