The December 16, 2020 began with the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence. Following the passage of the Agenda for the meeting, treasurer Joyce Kinsman gave the report on Finances, Investments, Donations and Appropriation modification and estimated resource changes. The board voted to approve the Minutes of the previous meeting and the Treasurer’s report.
In New Business, the board voted to approve the Policy Update for investments, a complete change directly from NEOLA. In the Superintendent’s report, Chris Lake shared with the board, “The district ran a two-day trial of our remote learning plan on December 1 and 2 at SHS and SMS and a one-day trial at SES. Overall the plans that had been developed by each building worked as they had been envisioned.
The teachers were able to engage with their students using the Zoom conferencing software, the schedules that had been developed for the students worked well, and we had high student participation. We did identify a few technical areas that were problematic and are working to resolve those as best we can.
The feedback from students and staff was very positive, but it was also tempered with the caveat that everyone prefers to have face to face instruction. Every teacher that I spoke with in the days following the test told me that they hoped we never had to use that plan and I couldn’t agree more. There is simply no substitute for face to face instruction.
As the first semester draws to a close I must once again thank everyone who works for the Swanton Local School District for their efforts in keeping the buildings open five days a week. Given everything that has transpired over the last five months it is a testament to their dedication to our students that we are finishing the semester the way we started, with in person instruction.
As COVID has exploded in the state of Ohio, Swanton has been able to weather the storm. I hope that everyone enjoys a much deserved Christmas break, that they stay safe and I look forward to their return in January. Go Bulldogs!”
In his COVID update he shared that From August 31, when the first case hit the school, through December 11, the number of positive cases have been 24 students and nine staff, with Quarantine cases, not positive, were 334 students and nine staff. He was pleased that they did not get a big
“Thanksgiving spike” and hopes it continues that way. Across the board they have not seen quarantine students getting sick while they were on quarantine except for one student. The lowering of the quarantine to 10 days instead of 14 now has helped some.
In personnel, the board approved the Superintendent’s recommendations for:
•Classified supplemental 20-21 Caleb Yates for Varsity Assistant Wrestling 11% effective November 17, 2020
•NWOESC Substitute teachers 20-21 – Noah Daugherty, Kevin Hayes and Chelsey Smith
•Classified Substitute 20-21 Brooke Hennig Clerical, Playground/Lunch aide, Bus Aide, Student Aide
•Athletic Volunteer 20-21 Jonathan Lemon MS Wrestling
•Recreation volunteer 20-21 Shawn Cooper
•Swanton Wrestling Club Volunteers 20-21 Chase Moore, Ryan Marvin and Jordan Stinson
The board also voted to approve:
•Substitute employee rates and OBI pay rate, effective 1/1/21, moving Substitute playground aide rate to $9.00. Remaining Sub employee rates are remaining the same. They also raised rate of On Board Instructor rate to top bus driver rate plus 50 cents.
•First Hearing of the 21-22 School Calendar – board will approve final one in January
•Set Organizational Meeting date for January 13, 2021 at 6:30 with Regular meeting to follow immediately after
•Appointed Steve Brehmer President Pro-Team for Organizational Meeting
In reports:
– Student Services Board – Sharon Marvin reported that one of their specialists, Emily Lanskey was the winner of an award. “It’s hard to believe that we are in full swing and halfway through the year already! As it has been since the beginning of the school year, the special education department has been very busy continuing to hold IEP and ETR meetings, educate our students with special needs (in person and remotely), and deal with the day to day happenings (you’d be surprised at how busy that last one can keep us).
I continue to be very proud of our Intervention Specialist for being able to juggle it all. They are continuing to not only work with large caseloads in person, but are also having several zoom sessions each week for our students with disabilities who are currently enrolled in the Swanton Virtual Academy. This is not an easy task and can often be very frustrating, but they have truly been troopers about it and have continued to do it without complaint.
These sessions are very important, not only to remain in compliance with IEPs, but also to be able to establish those relationships between the school and the students.
At this time we have 8 students with disabilities who were previously on SVA but have decided to return to the buildings for the second semester. I attribute much of this to how our buildings are being run and how we have handled the current pandemic. Having Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Floyd assisting with SVA and encouraging those students to return to the buildings has also helped tremendously with this situation.
Within the past month, I also met with other Fulton County Directors in order to help finalize the details of remote learning for our students with disabilities. We agreed that it would be best if all of our neighboring schools had similar plans for students with disabilities. Although I am really hoping that we never have to go remote, I do feel like we have a pretty solid plan if it should happen.”
-Building and Grounds – “The gators have been serviced for next spring. Jeff Bella has been working on them for us. They both needed some tear down work done to them. Steering linkage on both. A couple of tires on one of them. Hopefully it will put us in good shape for spring.
The tree was removed from the pole barn. The repairs should be done the last week of December or first week of January. While the company was here, there were several dead trees in the area taken down.
Probably the most noticeable was the tree right in front of the barn. After the leaves had fallen there were several large branches that were dead so the decision was made to take it down. The big cottonwood tree on the north/east corner of the football field was trimmed. Several of the branches had grown out beyond the field lights creating a shadow in that corner of the field.
High School: The HVAC system is a work in progress. Air Handling Units (AHU) 4 and 5 are now working more like they should. We are moving to the Variable Air Volume (VAV) boxes that are located in the ceiling outside each room. We started with the three rooms that seemed to be having the most problems. One of the VAV’s had an actuator that will need replacing.
As I give you this report we are also having issues with the front office areas on the west side of the first floor. The last three mornings they have been in the low 60’s.
●Gardiner found that the unoccupied temperature was set at 60 degrees. Which means that the areas would need to take longer to warm up. This was reset to 67 degrees.
●The following day they found a reset on #4AHU unit needed to be reset and adjusted.
●Today Friday, we had the same problem. After some discussion it was decided that each of the VAV boxes should be checked for any problems.
So we have methodically worked through the issues with AHU’s 4&5. We will continue to do the same with the VAV boxes in each of the rooms as problems occur or we may do a mass checking of each VAV box making sure everything is copacetic.
The solar field is on to the next phase. They are now boring underground to install the conduit pipe. They have been able to bore under the drives and sidewalk so as not to break up these areas. In talking to them on Friday they hope to have this done by the first of the week.
Middle School: We do have lighting on the outside south wall that is out. It was determined that the timer needs to be replaced. One has been delivered and will be installed.
Over Christmas break we will be working on replacing several water faucets in classrooms. Many of these classroom sinks do not have individual shut offs, which means that the entire system needs to be shut down to make repairs. We may go through and just make sure each classroom has shut offs and then the faucets can be replaced as needed
Elementary: The picnic tables that we received at the end of October have been assembled.
Two street type lights in the south parking area are in need of repair. They were both out so I have asked them to replace them with LED lighting. As we move around the outside of the building we will replace lighting with LED fixtures.
Last week students in many of the classrooms reported hearing noises coming from the roof. This went on for about 15 minutes. After checking on the situation it was surmised that the big fella from up north had paid a daytime visit to check on the children.
Around the District:
We have struggled over the last 4-5 weeks not having enough sub help. Last month we had two individuals approved for sub help. Both were only able to work after 4:00 PM due to having daytime jobs.
One was able to start immediately at the HS doing the disinfecting with the Clorox 360 machine. The other individual was able to start two weeks ago, as we had to wait on a fingerprint check. Although this doesn’t help us during the day it has helped take some pressure off at the HS. Especially with the upcoming winter sports season.”
Elementary School Report:
Ohio State Test (OST) – Fall Third Grade ELA AIR
During the week of December 14, ODE shared the initial results of the fall (October) third grade ELA AIR assessments. (She stated that they were pleased with the results.)
Practice Remote Day:
SES completed one practice remote day on Wednesday, December 2. It was a great experience for all involved including students, teachers, parents, and guardians, in order to continually improve our process should the need arise for us to be remote.
We had about fifty families complete a post practice day survey. The feedback was extremely positive and constructive and provided us great insight from the parents’ perspective.
Early Literacy Achievement – Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS)
Our third quarterly Partnerships for Literacy (P4L) meeting was held via Zoom on December 10. Our action items focused on ELA progress communication. Our first step was to evaluate all of the ELA progress communication we currently provide families along with a timeline throughout the school year of when the communication occurs. We are thankful for our parents who are participating, providing their input and helping to complete our action plan.
Spirit Week and Holiday Events:
In an effort to keep things as normal for our students as possible this school year and celebrate being in school for a semester, we had a spirit week December 7-11 with a different theme each day. Teachers have done gingerbread houses and winter artwork. We have also had our annual Grinch day.
The last day before winter break, we will do our annual sign-a-long, but it will be by grade rather than the whole school at once.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS):
Our last PBIS module required b
y the state is being held on January 13. It will be held via Zoom with Laura Kamp of the NwOESC. The team continues to work to finalize our PBIS matrix and roll it out to the school. PAX implementation support was held during our district-wide PD day in November and will again occur in January. Our plan is for new staff members to our building and anyone who did not receive PAX training last year to have initial PAX training this year from the NwOESC as soon as dates are provided. Seventeen teachers signed up to complete the PAX Heroes PD which is a tier 2, tier 3 behavioral support PD, during our March PD day.
Each month we have five students from each grade nominated as Superhero Student of the Month. Our criteria is based on one of the character traits from our PAW P-R-I-D-E which stands for Politeness, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, E ffort. We held our November IntegritySuperhero SOM celebrations on December 11 during each lunch hour.
Middle School Report:
Semester Exams – We are not conducting our normal semester exams this year. The teachers have the option to still give the students a summative assessment to collect data but it will not be as formal of a schedule as we have had in the past.
Swanton 7 Initiative: We hoped to compete in the Christmas in Swanton parade again this year but unfortunately it was cancelled. Mrs. Pancoast came up with a brilliant idea to keep some of the holiday magic going though we can’t do our normal. We designed a Holiday Decorations Contest:
Families and Businesses are in a competition to win best decorations. Families will win a gift card and house points. Businesses will win the first annual Holiday Decorations Trophy to put in there store front for the year and each year they will pass it on to the new winner. As of now, we have over 370 votes in with 12 businesses and 16 families.
Manner’s Luncheon: We have postponed this event for now and may revisit this spring. We will be having our 2nd quarter competition this Friday. The kids will be competing in small groups as we can’t have our normal competition.
Middle School Athletics: The basketball teams and wrestling squad are off and running so far this winter.
The boys and girls basketball teams both played Delta and Bryan this past week. The wrestling team performed well at their first meet and went to LC this past weekend. Holiday Music Concerts are Cancelled for this year.
Holiday Drive: The House Council held a holiday drive to donate to local charities. As of right now we have raised almost 1400 items to donate. All items (including: food, toiletries, and toys) will be dropped off at local charities and students will help deliver them.
School Counselor Update: The 8th grade is finishing up with Mental Health Mondays this month.
Last week students participated in an activity about gratitude. Students were asked to speak about why they were grateful for some not so positive things in their lives. Some examples were garbage, face masks, spiders, and more. I was very impressed with the students’ ability to turn a negative into a positive.
High School Report:
•Exam Week – Exams for S1 will take place on 12/17 and 12/18. Students will have the option this semester to exempt exams if they are content with their S1 avg prior to the exams. By doing this we hope to lessen the number of exams and students prior to break.
•Cherry St. Mission donations -NHS collected food and donations for the Cherry St Mission. Mrs Lopez and Mrs Cargill delivered our donations, along with several NHS members on Friday.
•Athletics – All winter athletics have started at SHS. We are following the guidelines from the Governor and the OHSAA and are only allowing parents and close family members to attend home events. Thank you to our coaches and student athletes for being vigilant and trying to get their seasons in. Go Dogs!
•Transportation Report by Jeff Bella – As the COVID pandemic continues to affect many aspects of our daily operations, the extension has now come to an end that was allowing us to postpone our driver recertification requirements. Early this month our OBI completed a recert with one of our drivers who was nearing the deadline.
We have three more drivers over the next six months that will need to complete this training and recertification process as well. It sounds like there may be other options coming in the near future to complete the classroom portion of this training online. In the shop, over the last month I have been completing minor repairs on buses including scheduled maintenance, a few break jobs and the usual minor leaks that pop up here and there.
The John Deere Gators have been in the shop over the last month and received their regular maintenance along with some needed repairs. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a new online drug and alcohol clearinghouse system that I reported on some months ago.
All drivers must have an annual query run on them by their employer in order to remain compliant.
This query checks the nationwide database set up by the FMCSA to verify there has been no reported drug or alcohol offenses reported by any testing facility on each driver anywhere in the country that would make the driver ineligible to drive a school bus.
The deadline for this initial query is January 5, 2021. I collected all of the required signed consent forms from our drivers and completed the queries prior to school starting this fall. So, we are in compliance with this new Federal program with plenty of time to spare.
Tech Support Report:
Swanton Virtual Academy-Transitioned 200+ students/Chromebook to SVA.
-Worked through various lter issues to ensure content is correctly displayed for each student.
-Working through various remote learning strategies to align with our district’s remote plan
-Scenario with students out of the classroom
-Scenario with students out of the classroom
-Scenario with all remote instruction.
New Business:
-Planning Holiday Break projects
-Upgrade/cutover to new CORE switch
-Install remaining Promethean ActivePanel Displays.
-Awarded BWC Security Grant
-Expanding our building door security through the addition of our Access Control System.
-Adding keyless access control to several doors throughout the district.
-Applied for Ohio BroadBand Connectivity Grant to install outdoor wireless access at our buildings.
-Awarded 62% of requested funds to complete outdoor wireless project.
-Applied for a second round of funding to increase our amount of our wireless access points.
-Awarded remaining outdoor access points for 100% of the requested amount. ○ Installation of outdoor AP is underway.
-Fisher Gym – Now complete, 4 outdoor APs.
-SHS – All complete besides one.
-SMS – Started last Friday
The Board moved to go into Executive Session to discuss “investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee or student.” There was no action taken following and the meeting adjourned.
