By: Jacob Kessler
The Delta Board of Education held their meeting on Wednesday, March 29th. The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance before then moving on to approve minutes from the previous meeting held on February 15th.
Recognition of guests took place next with the board moving to honor March’s Students of the Month.
Third Grade Elementary Student Jezabelle Stultz, 6th Grade Middle School Student Indigo Drew, and 10th Grade High School Student Parker Cone were brought up to the front of the room and presented a certificate for being selected as Students of the Month.
Winter athletic recognitions were also held for athletes who participated in boys basketball, girls basketball, bowling, wrestling and archery events.
Each of the players were selected to come up due to having some sort of recognition given to them for how they played this past season.
A representative from the Delta American Legion then asked the board if the schools still require community service for their students.
He was told that community service is not required, but students can participate and receive a community service seal and get out of school three days early.
It was then stated that the American Legion would be looking for students who would like to volunteer on Sundays’ to serve breakfast.
The board then informed him that, if he contacts the school principals, they can put the information out to their students.
The meeting then moved on to the Treasurer’s report. It was stated that the cash balance is coming back to where it should be as a result of the real estate collection.
Treasurer Feasel explained that the overall financial situation is good and that numbers are up. As for expenditures, salary costs were up a little higher than projected but this was anticipated.
It was also stated that the donation list for the month of February was large and may be one of the largest ever.
The board moved to approve the report from Treasurer Feasel before moving to hear a report from Superintendent Haselman.
Mr. Haselman explained that the Village of Delta Income Tax sharing requirement for Pre 94 tax abatements are due by the end of the week on Friday.
He then explained that there are a number of items to discuss under personnel. Next, Wyatt Gadway and Dylan Hoy have completed their requirements for a 2023 diploma. The following overnight trips were discussed next.
A trip for the Odyssey of the Mind teams who will travel to the OM World Finals at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.
An overnight FFA trip to Hocking College for Career and Leadership Development Events competition for Nature and Wildlife State Competition. An overnight FFA trip for a week to Washington D.C. for a leadership conference.
An overnight FFA trip to Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum in June of July. An overnight FFA trip to the State FFA Convention in Columbus, Ohio.
Next, the superintendent spoke about the joint electrical line project with the village. Currently, there are exposed wires that need to be attended to.
Wyse Electric has been contracted to do the work at a cost of $127,000 for the school. An additional cost will be taken care by the village for their part of the work.
This work will bring all of the electrical lines by the stadium and at the park down where they will be placed underground.
Praise was given by Mr. Feasel and Mr. Haselman to Arthur Thomas for his expertise and help working between the school and council.
Lastly, personnel recommendations were heard before the board moved to approve the Superintendent’s report.
Reports of the buildings took place next with Elementary Principal Ellen Bernal speaking first. She explained to the board that attendance was at 87% for the schools Spring conferences.
Testing has also finished up for third graders and all of the staff have completed their safety day. Work is being done with each of the grade levels in regard to student placements for the next school year.
The school is also looking for approved vendors for next year’s upcoming dyslexia screenings.
Middle School Principal William Hanak spoke next and stated that the 6th graders attended camp from the 1st to the 3rd.
A successful fundraiser was held that brought in $29,000, with $20,000 of that being able to be split up between the grades that earned the money.
The Day of Awesome will be held on the 10th of April and Spring Bowling has begun.
High School Principal Douglas Ford spoke next and informed the board that a career college fair was held the week prior.
Last month saw a junior ACT prep/review day in order to expose students to what they should expect.
Right now, is the time gears begin to get shifted for the end of the year, especially in regard to seniors.
The school will be looking at offering a new course for the upcoming school year. It will be a math modeling and reasoning class instead of the normal algebra three class. It will be an option for all students.
180 students participated in this year’s lock in which was a large number of students. Big hires are coming up with a new band director and choir director being two of those.
Currently for spring sports there are 85 track athletes, 19 softball players, and 30 baseball players. Following the report from Mr. Ford, the board moved to adjourn at 7:34 p.m.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com