2023 BOARD … L to R Tyson Stuckey, Karen Beck, Jeremy Hurst (President,) Gina Dominique, Skeat Hug. (PHOTO BY AMY WENDT, STAFF)
By: Amy Wendt
On Monday, January 23 the Archbold School Board met for its regular January meeting as well as a special meeting immediately thereafter.
The purpose of the special meeting was to approve a resolution determining to proceed with the submission to the electors of the entire territory of the district the question of levying an additional tax pursuant to Sections 5705.194 through 5705.197 of the Ohio Revised Code for the purpose of avoiding an operating deficit of the school district.
Fulton County Auditor Brett Kolb was on hand to certify millage before the approval of the resolution. The Board of Elections deadline is February 2.
For further clarification, Board President Jeremy Hurst read a portion of the exhibit to the resolution.
“Whereas the Fulton County Auditor has certified to the board that the property tax millage required to produce the stated annual revenue of 2.7 million dollars assuming the tax valuation of the school district remains constant throughout the life of the levy is estimated by the Fulton County Auditor to average 9.96 mil for each dollar of taxable value which is $348 for each $100,000 of the county auditors appraised value. A copy of the County Auditors Certification is attached here too.”
Hurst concluded, “That’s the nuts and bolts of the resolution we are going to put forth to our voters for the May 3rd election.”
Following the approval of the agenda, Archbold Middle School Principal, Mr. Matt Shields, began the educational reports by recognizing the students that were selected this month as AMS Mindset Leaders for exceptional character in exemplifying the ideals of the “100% Accountable” mindset.
Students are nominated by each grade level teachers and staff and then voted on.
January AMS Mindset Leaders included the following:
-8th Grade: Hunter Warner, MacKenna Bickle, Kennedy Hurst;
-7th Grade: Kaleb Schnitkey, Mason Stuckey, Emma Meyer, Madison Burkle;
-6th: Jude Rutledge, Atta Jagger, Logan Ruffer, Eli Krueger;
-5th: Trey Nafziger, Baylen Cordes, Eli King
Shields also shared that five AMS students earned spots on the D1 Honors or Choir following a competitive audition among musicians from nearly 30 area schools.
Reece Bunke, Molly Rutledge, Michael Funnell, and Janae Murillo represented AMS in the Honors Choir while Bo King earned a spot in the Honors Band.
After two days of practice, they performed at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo on January 22.
It was also noted that AMS Winter Sports teams are completing successful regular seasons this week.
Upcoming Events in Middle School include:
-January 30 – 2 Hour Delay, In-service
-January 30 – February 3 – Winter Spirit Week (Pep Rally Wednesday)
-January 30 – February 4 – NWOAL JH Tournaments
-February 3 – Q3 Mid-terms
-February 7 – Fulton County Spelling Bee will be held at the NWOESC
During the high school report, Principal Royal Short advised the board that due to the change in the State of Ohio Graduation Requirements, AHS will now require Personal Finance beginning with the class of 2025.
He did note that Archbold High School has always required Economics which is above and beyond the State minimum standards for graduation requirements.
He has had conversations with Mr. Joe Frank and they will be moving forward to combine some units of the Economic class with units of Personal Finance to create a new Personal Finance class that meets the state’s requirements.
Short also shared that Seth Foth, Meg Mello, and Natalie Seibert have been selected to the OMEA All-State Choir they will perform in Columbus in February.
Lastly, Short asked the board to approve the early graduation for three students who have applied and completed all of their graduation requirements.
Upcoming Events in the High School include:
-January 30 – Eighth Grade Parent’s Meeting @ 6:00 pm
-January 30 – Junior Class Parent Meeting @ 7:30 pm
-January 27 – Mock Trial Competition
-January 28 – HS Solo and Ensemble at Bryan HS
-February 3 – “We The People”
-February 10-12 – Fulton County Band and Choir
In elementary school updates, Mrs. Thiel shared that Grade 3 fall English Language Arts test results have been received and administration will be looking at the results to adjust interventions and instruction as needed.
An after-school tutoring program will also be offered to those students who did not successfully meet the Third Grade Reading Guarantee % on the Fall test.
The 10th ABC 4 Maddy Foundation was held during the week of January 5 and the elementary raised over $4,500.
Thiel shared that Kindergarten Registration will be from February 13, 2023- March 3, 2023. Parents of children who will be five years old on or before August 1, 2023 are asked to register their child for kindergarten online through Final Forms.
The link for Final Forms will be found on the Archbold Area Schools website. Following online registration, parents will need to sign their child up for kindergarten screening through PTCFast.com.
This link will also be available on our website starting February 13, 2023.
Kindergarten screening will take place at the school March 20-21, 2023.
Parents who register their children will also need to schedule an appointment for the kindergarten screening at the time the child is registered.
Due to Kindergarten screening, there will be no school for current Kindergarten students on March 20-21, 2023.
Elementary School Upcoming Events include:
-January 23-Thursday, January 26 Mini Cheer Camp
-January 30 Two Hour Delay-Teacher Inservice
-February 3 Grade 1: 100th Day of School Celebration
-February 17 No School-Teacher Inservice
-February 20 No School-President’s Day
Rounding out educational reports, Curriculum Director, Michele Bagrowski spoke on upcoming tests.
She also noted that the 2nd-grade gifted test has been concluded and based on preliminary results 15 of 78 students tested qualify as gifted in at least one area, which is about 19 percent. This is a larger percentage than past years.
On January 31st the OELPA (Ohio English Language Proficient Assessment) for students who are English Learners will begin.
Currently, several new students are in the English Learners program including one student starting very soon from Ukraine.
Lastly, Bagrowski shared that she recently had the opportunity to do walk-through evaluations on teachers.
It was “Good to see all of the wonderful things our teachers are doing. Every time I go into class, I am just always impressed with just everything they do for our students and some of the things that they take the time to talk to students about.”
“It’s just heartwarming and I feel like I need to be in the classroom more. I just want to thank all the hard work that our teachers put in because they go above and beyond all of the time and that’s very evident the more, I get into the classrooms,” Bagrowski closed.
In the treasurer’s report, Christine Ziegler noted that the request for approval of the submission of the current Five-Year Forecast and the district
schedules of debt in place of the tax budget to the County Budget
Commission is an annual requirement.
Superintendent Dr. Jayson Selgo recognized the school board in honor of Board Appreciation Month and presented each member with a plaque.
“It is an expanded commitment when you are hiring a new superintendent or treasurer and running a levy which of course we will have two out of three of those things here,” Selgo noted.
Board members recognized were: Karen Beck, with five years of experience; Jeremy Hurst with seven years of experience; Tyson Stuckey with 3 years of experience; and Skeat Hug and Gina Benecke with one year of experience.
Consensus Agenda items approved included:
-December 19, 2022 Regular Meeting Minutes.
-December 19, 2022 Special Meeting Minutes.
-December 2022 Financial Reports.
-January 9, 2023 Organizational Meeting Minutes.
-January 9, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes.
-Per policy 6423, use of credit cards, the board did not receive rebates in the calendar year 2022.
-$544 donation from Greater Toledo Community Foundation, Inc. to support transportation costs for a 3rd Grade Field Trip in December to a Toledo Walleye game.
-Appointment of Janet Wyse to the Archbold Community Library for a 7-year term beginning January 1, 2023.
-Overnight trip to Columbus for “We the People” competition for February 3, 2023.
-Personal Finance as a high school graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2025.
-Zandria Barbera, Kayla Perry, and Malachi Schumacher for early graduation, pending completion of all state and local requirements as presented.
The board also approved the following personnel items:
-Paraprofessional substitute list provided by the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center for the 2022-2023 school year as presented.
-One-year supplemental contracts for spring coaches for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year contract for Kelly Boulton as an IBS Tutor for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year supplemental contracts for Caleb Wyse (80%) and Adam Grisier (20%) as musical directors for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year supplemental contract for Courtney Grisier as Musical Director Assistant for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year supplemental contract for Beth Yoder as Musical Assistant for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year supplemental contract for Josh Voll as Musical Assistant for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Scott Foor, Loren Brown, and Derric Martinez as volunteers for baseball for the 2022-2023 school year
-Todd Nafziger and Chloe Schramm as volunteers for softball for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Steve Walker as a volunteer for 7-8th Grade Track for the 2022-2023 school year.
-One-year contract for Sherry Wyse as a Classified Substitute
for the 2022-2023 school year, effective January 12, 2023.
-Substitute teacher list provided by the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center for the 2022-2023 school year as presented.
In items from the board, a special meeting on February, 1, 2023 at 5:00 pm at the Henry Room at Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center to discuss personnel employment was approved.
The next regular school board meeting will be held on Monday, February 13 at 5:00 pm
Amy can be reached at amy@thevillagereporter.com