(PHOTO BY BRIANNA BALOGH / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
SENATE LEGISLATION … Superintendent Anthony Stevens provides background on SB 29.
By: Brianna Balogh
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
The Edon Board of Education meeting started off with the Pledge of Allegiance at 5pm on October 14th. Roll call was taken immediately after with all members in attendance.
Superintendent Stevens outlined the consent agenda items seeking approval for meeting minutes from September 16th, financial reports for September, request for Amended Certificate from the County Auditor, the substitute list from the Northwest Ohio Educational Center, donations for the month of September, and an overnight trip to the National FFA Convention October 23rd through October 25th. Motion to approve was made by Vice President Schaffter and approved by all board members.
The meeting quickly moved on to reports. First was a brief treasurer’s report from Deb Nester. High School Principal Lapham presented the several updates highlighting the past homecoming week, upcoming career exploration activities, and congratulating 11 new NHS inductees.
Lapham also spoke about the successful Student Athlete Activity Council meetings. Elementary Principal Ripke followed. Ripke explained a new tutoring program through Amplify designed to help 3rd grade students.
Students receive online instruction for 30 minutes 3 times a week. Also moving to an online platform this year is gifted screenings which will start in November. Ripke ended with a reminder that state testing starts next week.
Superintendent Stevens followed with several items to report. First was the information on the EIC levy replacement.
Stevens explained that only informational items could be released. There will be two upcoming informational meetings on October 16th at the fire department building and October 23rd at the Northwest township building both starting at 7pm.
Stevens reported a modest increase to insurance premiums of 2% for medical and 5% for dental, both being well under the market average. Stevens informed the board of plans for an possible online auction of unused items such as sewing machines, kitchen equipment, and buses.
This would give the public the opportunity to purchase and free up some much needed space for the school.
Senate Bill 29 was the next item on the report. Stevens explained the history of the bill which was originally introduced on 1/23/23.
The bill redefined certain terms involving student devices and student personal identifying information, which once entered becomes an educational record.
When an education record is accessed a notice is provided within 72 hours to the parent and student. When the law goes into effect on October 24th, it could potentially cause an unnecessary large amount of required notices.
Stevens stated he has been attending several webinars with more to come to help determine a common sense approach.
The last item presented by Stevens was a notification that the athletic complex was determined by the insurance company to be in a flood zone.
Stevens recommended an independent survey be done. Both board members Schaffter and Best inquired as to why this determination was made if nothing has changed. Stevens stated he was happy to follow up on these questions.
Action Items were presented by Board President Best before the meeting went to executive session.
First was to approve supplemental contracts for the 24-25 school year. Second was a recommendation to approve a long term substitute contract with Kim Alyanakian.
The third action item was to approve updates to the Classified Employee handbook, which Steven explained would allow flexibility in taking sick leave.
Final action item was the approval to amend language to the Coach’s handbook regarding junior high athletic contests on days when school is canceled. Recently several fog delays have brought this issue to light.
After a survey was taken to verify student transportation would not be an issue, the update was seen as a way to allow for more flexibility in decision making. All action items were approved.
The meeting moved into executive session at 6:05 pm.
