PHOTO BY BRIANNA BALOGH / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
TECHNOLOGY TALKS … School Board President Cody Best (left) and Superintendent Anthony Stevens discuss the long awaited, upcoming phone system upgrade, which is in the preliminary stages.
By: Brianna Balogh
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
The Board of Education met in the media room at Edon Local Schools on Monday, March 9. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. All board members were present: Cody Best, Patty Eicher, Ashley Reed, David Wehrle, and Christian Apple. Superintendent Anthony Stevens, Treasurer Deb Nester, High School Principal Kayla Lapham, and Elementary Principal Jennifer Ripke were also in attendance.
With no visitors present, business moved directly into the consent agenda, presented by Superintendent Stevens.
The first item was to approve the meeting minutes from the previous meeting held on February 9. The financial report approval for February 2026 followed.
Third was to approve the amended certificate from the county auditor. The next consent agenda item was to approve donations for February 2026.
Donations totaled more than $9,000, the bulk of which came from the Athletic Boosters. Lastly was to approve the 2026 NWOESC paraprofessional and teacher substitutes lists.
Eicher motioned to approve all items in the consent agenda. Reed seconded the motion and all members approved.
Reports to the board followed starting with the Treasurer’s report presented by Nester.
Nester reported revenues were up $255,677 from last year. Expenditures were also up from last year by $455,715. Year-to-date revenues were under expenditures by $147,953. Currently the district sits at 206 days operating cash. President Best recognized the completion of the audit.
The Principals’ reports followed with High School Principal Kayla Lapham reporting first. Starting off, Lapham reported the successful completion of FFA week.
Lapham was happy to report that 28 junior students recently completed the ACT testing on February 24. Lapham expressed thanks to all involved who helped make the event possible.
On March 3, 12 students from grades 6-8 participated in a youth summit sponsored by the ECHO Coalition. Subjects covered included leadership building skills, decision making skills, mental health, and substance abuse prevention.
Lapham closed by thanking the Athletic Boosters for all they do, especially being able to provide admission into recent athletic events.
Lapham quickly mentioned upcoming events: the play production of The Wizard of Oz, State testing, and scholarship interviews.
Elementary Principal Ripke followed, noting that preparations for next year were already underway. She added that, once again for the 2026-2027 school year, the Parents Club will provide all school supplies.
Students will only need to bring a backpack, headphones, and gym shoes.
Ripke reported that the peer mediation program recently completed all role playing exercises for grades 2-6.
Despite being nervous, the mediators were able to complete the mock mediations. Ripke also noted that the attendance mediator is certified in peer mediation.
Recently, a Dr. Seuss day event was held in the media center. Even with a small amount of ensuing chaos, Ripke reported the day was a lot of fun with older elementary students playing Dr. Seuss bingo with younger students.
Bomber parents night is quickly approaching on April 23. Flyers should be distributed soon, Ripke reported. The parents night will be presented in conjunction with the ECHO Coalition and Harbor.
National Honor Society students are excited to provide games and entertainment in the media room during the presentations. Ripke noted they are also working on a Bomber Pride presentation for the event.
Ripke shared that they are currently working diligently to get OTES completed before state testing. OTES, the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, is a research-based, state-mandated framework for evaluating teacher performance to improve instruction.
Third grade assessment was recently completed and the reports would be going home to parents.
Ripke informed the board there is another chance in May as well as the summer testing window. Ripke concluded with the upcoming Kindergarten program on April 9, which students have been practicing diligently for.
The last item in the report section was the Superintendent’s report. Stevens had only two items to report, starting with enrollment rates staying almost flat. Enrollment was up one to 542 students. Stevens noted that is expected for this time of the year.
The second item Stevens reported was recently received proposals for the phone system upgrade, researched by technology coordinator Tim Sheridan.
With two plausible options, Stevens outlined that the next steps would be to schedule meetings with each entity to address some questions. Best asked about the charges outlined in the proposal.
Stevens explained he does not anticipate needing the type of service to incur an annual fee. Some of these differences would be addressed during the onsite meeting.
Stevens used the internet service contract as an example to illustrate the point. The contract is required to be bid out through E-Rate, the federal school technology funding program, and responses are received from a wide variety of providers.
Knowing the facility and its challenges is very important when assessing what best meets the district’s needs.
Best then moved into old business, of which there were no topics to address. In new business,
Stevens had a policy update which he was only recently notified of. Reaching out to policy committee members Reed and Eicher by email, Stevens explained the update to the food service policy was spurred by House Bill 10.
As Stevens explained, the normal procedure goes through the policy committee, followed by a meeting with the NEOLA representative. This was a special policy release. The bill was passed in November and it is set to take effect on March 20.
Since there will be no Board of Education meeting prior to then, Stevens presented two options. Option one would have both committee members stay after the current meeting to discuss. This would also waive the first reading.
The second option would be to review via email. Stevens assured with either option they would be in no danger of non compliance.
Both Eicher and Reed agreed on the first option to stay after the meeting to review. Stevens noted that, since this is outside of the normal process, he does not want to rush it through.
The next new business topic was presented by Eicher. Recently, Eicher was asked about locations for available scholarships.
Lapham stated that emails are used to communicate scholarship opportunities to students and parents. Lapham also noted that parents can sign up to receive emails at the start of the year but students will receive them automatically.
Reed suggested adding to the website a way to sign up in case it is missed at the start of the year.
After some searching, it was confirmed the full list was available under the college resources section of the school website.
Stevens explained that the website is a free Google site and is managed in house. Previously a subscription service was used that was approximately $5,000 per year.
While a site like that has much better services, it is also more expensive. Stevens noted one option that even had a messenger feature, allowing administration to approve messages that would then be distributed across the district’s social media pages.
This type of web service can cost $6,000-$7,000. With the free web service and all the information required to be publicly posted, the website can be a little difficult to navigate.
Action items followed. The first motion was to approve a contract with Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center, NWOESC, for 2026-2027 with fees to be deducted from foundation payments.
Stevens explained this is required by law to participate in an ESC. Eicher made the motion to approve and Reed seconded. The motion was passed by all members.
The next item was a correction to the 2026-2027 school calendar. When the calendar was entered into the payroll system it showed the calendar was one school day short, explained Stevens. After meeting with the labor management committee, August 18 was added. Reed moved to approve. Apple seconded and all members approved.
Building on that discussion, the board then reviewed the first reading of the 2027-2028 school calendar.
Stevens assured this calendar was also entered into the same payroll system to verify its accuracy. The motion passed unanimously with Eicher motioning to approve and Reed seconding.
Stevens noted that a policy was missing from the next item, which covered approval of the meeting minutes from the Board Policy Committee’s February 19 meeting and the first reading of the NEOLA Board Policy Update, Volume 44 Number 2, as drafted.
The AI policy had appeared in the overview but was removed from this version. Stevens explained that the State’s model policy was vague and he wanted to ensure the district adopted a policy that could be implemented effectively.
An AI Policy Committee had been formed and was scheduled to meet the following day to begin drafting an appropriate policy. The policy is not required until July 1. Apple moved to approve, Eicher seconded, and the motion carried unanimously.
The next four items on the action agenda centered on staffing matters. Reed motioned to approve a one-year contract for Creed Muehlfeld as a teacher for the 2026-2027 school year.
Eicher seconded the motion and all members approved. Muehlfeld, who was present at the meeting, was warmly welcomed by the board.
The next item was approval of the supplemental contract for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year, pending successful completion of requirements. The contract in question was a volunteer assistant coach for spring track. Reed made the motion to approve with Apple seconding and all members approving.
Acceptance of the resignation of Mallory Sines, Junior High Cheerleading adviser, followed, taking effect at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Eicher offered the motion, Wehrle provided the second, and the resignation was approved by all members.
The last staffing item was a second resignation, from Heather Sheline as the school nurse. Stevens noted Sheline had been exceptional, especially during COVID-19, and would be missed.
Reed stated she sadly made the motion to approve the resignation. Apple seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
The board proceeded to approve a three-year HPC Medicaid School Program Service Agreement, commencing July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029.
Stevens elaborated that the agreement bills back Medicaid for certain specified services provided by the district, such as speech or psychological services.
Eicher initiated the motion, Reed seconded, and the board approved the item without dissent.
The agenda continued with approval of a five-year agreement with NWOCA for internet access services.
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The contract period would cover July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031. Following a motion by Apple and a second by Wehrle, the board voted unanimously in favor.
With no need for executive session, Eicher motioned to adjourn the meeting with Reed seconding. All members approved and the meeting adjourned at 6:06 p.m.
The next Edon School Board meeting is scheduled for April 13 at 5:30 p.m.