By: Lucinda Held-Faulhaber
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
It was an exciting evening for the Music Department at Edon Northwest Schools as directors and students were honored by their local board of education during its regular monthly session held Tuesday, March 10, 2015. President Jamie Schaffter called the meeting to order with all members and approximately thirteen guests in attendance.
“I’d like to take this time to recognize our Music Department ~ Mrs. Frastaci, Miss Perry and all choir students on [their] great accomplishment,” shared President Schaffter. “[This is a first] for EHS and we honor and congratulate you.”
The fifty-five member Edon High School Choir, under the direction of Cathy Frastaci, competed at the OMEA District 1 Large Group Choral Contest held Saturday at Archbold High School. Earning the highest rating of Superior (I) for their performance qualified them to compete at State Choir adjudicated events on April 24 in Van Buren. This is the first time in the school’s history that a choir has earned a Superior Rating and advanced to State.
“We were held to the same standard as larger schools and auditioned choirs and did extremely well,” explained Mrs. Frastaci. “The choir performed three prepared pieces [along with] a four-part piece they’d never seen before. After talking about the piece of music, clapping it out and using solfège [during our four-minute prep time], we just ‘dove right into it’ and sang. We were told by a judge that our sight-reading was the strongest they had heard in all two days [of contesting] in our class.”
Also recognized were seventh-grader Melody Nofziger and Christa Perry, Director of Bands. “Melody recently participated in the OMEA District 1 Junior High Honors Band at the Stranahan,” said Miss Perry. “She not only was accepted to play as part of the ensemble but was at the top of her section as well [having achieved fourth chair honors].”
In highlighting her experience, Melody shared she had attended several Broadway musical productions at the Stranahan and hoped to one day have the opportunity to perform there. “I’ve always wanted to play on a big stage,” she said. “It’s cool to have already achieved this goal as a seventh-grader; I never thought I’d get there!”
Also participating with Melody in the 2015 District I Honors Festival were Kenny Ordway, High School Honors Choir and Jordan Runyan, Tamara Mills, Stanley Heckman, Justin Estep and Darius Kurtz, Junior High Honors Choir.
March Reports presented to the Board that evening included:
Interim Superintendent John Granger
•Noted surveys had been sent to parents choosing to open enroll their children outside the District; responses will be shared during April’s meeting.
Grades 7-12 Principal Anthony Stevens
•Commended February 2015 High School Student of the Month, junior Kaela Gearhart and Junior High Student of the Month, seventh-grader Taylor Trausch.
•Noted online PARCC assessments have concluded; seven hundred twenty-four student testing sessions were conducted. Sophomores are in final preparations for the OGT’s, the last to be given to Ohio students; the test is being phased out.
•Shared 2015-2016 scheduling is now completed; eighty students expressed interest in Family Consumer Science classes if made available at EHS. Additionally, the possibility of having students take Advanced Calculus courses at Trine is being looked into along with offering students more online dual-credit courses.
•Recommended adjusting social studies graduation requirements from four units to three units; this would coincide with new State Graduation Requirements effective with the Class of 2018. Any District changes would apply to the incoming 2015-2016 freshman class.
KK-6 Grade Principal Michelle Molargik
•Congratulated February’s Bomber Courtesy Club members.
•Shared three-week PARCC testing was finished; everything went smoothly considering seven hundred seventy-eight testing sessions were carried out.
•Noted the TinCaps Reading Program had been completed; all students are thrilled about attending May’s game in Fort Wayne; students’ annual Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart event raised $4,400 for the American Heart Association.
Treasurer Bill Blakely
•Submitted his standard SM2 Report indicating revenues were up one hundred seventy-four thousand dollars and expenses up one hundred seventy-two thousand dollars for the same eight-month period as last year. The District is tracking around fifteen hundred dollars better than a year ago; deficit-spending for February 2015 totaled approximately one hundred twenty-nine thousand dollars. (Revenue this month included real estate tax monies not received the previous year.)
•Noted there are roughly sixty-nine days of cash in the District’s general fund to operate if no new cash is generated.
Buildings/Grounds/Transportation Committee
•Learned from Board member Dave Haase that Therma-Tru in Butler would donate four to six “walk-through” exterior doors for use at various District facilities.
•Noted members would convene later this month to discuss moving forward with paving the parking lot. (Permanent Improvement Fund monies will cover the project’s cost; general funds will not be used.)
Labor-Management Committee
•Discussed two 2015-2016 School Calendar proposals, one with and one without spring break. As the option having no spring break received many unfavorable responses, discussions focused primarily on the proposal similar to this school year’s calendar. Spring break 2016 (the last week in March) was coordinated with Four County’s calendar to assist families with students at both schools; it also duly accommodates the band and choir’s planned trip to Washington DC.
•Learned from Dr. Granger that pre-negotiations (setup to discuss concerns, what works, etc.) are going pretty well.
In action taken, the Board:
•Accepted the resignation of Scott Staten as Athletic Director effective June 30, 2015, the end of his current contract year.
•Accepted Cash Donations during February from various businesses and individuals ($1,775/Post Prom); St. Patrick Catholic Church ($250/Music Department) and Gift Donations from Edon Athletic Boosters ($1,800/high school boys basketball uniforms).
•Approved volunteer contracts for the 2014-2015 school year with Emily Bockover (Assistant Softball Coach), Brandt Thiel (Assistant Baseball Coach) and Matt Peters (Assistant Baseball Coach).
•Approved the resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission; authorizing the existing tax levies and certifying them to the County Auditor as presented.
•Approved the posting of bus bids in order to purchase two, new eighty-four passenger buses. (Cost to be covered by Permanent Improvement Fund monies.)
•Approved the Drug Testing Agreement with Great Lakes Biomedical effective February 24, 2015 through February 29, 2016. (Changing agencies will result in a $1,476 savings for the District.)
•Approved the NBEC/NWOCA Managed Internal Broadband Service Agreement for wireless internet service effective July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2023.
•Heard the Athletic Council had recently met to review and coordinate student schedules, financial requirements and documentation, summer scheduling, etc.; it was a good start to addressing different issues. A second meeting is planned at a later date.
•Tabled approving the proposed 2015-2016 School Calendar until April’s meeting; a thirty-day “waiting period” is now required by law. Slight modifications offered by members (changing out a couple dates) will be taken to the Labor-Management Committee to address before a final version is presented.
•Set June 23, 2015 as the new date for its monthly regular session.
•Approved minutes from the regular meeting held Tuesday, February 10 as well as February 2015 Financial Reports.
Prior to adjournment, members voted to enter into Executive Session for the expressed purpose of discussing personnel (employment) and negotiations (preparing, conducting or reviewing); no action was expected to be taken.
The Edon Northwest Local Board of Education will next meet Tuesday, April 14, 2015 in the Edon Schools Media Center beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Lucinda Held-Faulhaber
May be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com