(PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
BUS ROUTES … Transport Consultant Doug Palmer, of the Ohio School Boards Association, speaks to members of the Wauseon Board of Education regarding a recent transportation audit.
By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
Members of the Wauseon Board of Education recently held a meeting on Friday, February 7th. The meeting began at 1:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance before moving on to approve the agenda with one addition.
Council then heard from Transport Consultant Doug Palmer of the Ohio School Boards Association.
Palmer was present to give the board his presentation on a transportation audit completed for the school.
He explained that the school’s transportation model, as it is currently formatted, is as efficient as it is going to be for the number of buses being used.
Options were then presented, which could bring the number of buses used from 16 to 12. This would, however, potentially split kids being picked up from the same households into two groups.
Option B involves moving to 12 buses and picking up high school students and middle school students, then shifting to primary and elementary school students.
Option C uses 12 buses as well but sees high school and primary school students picked up first, then elementary and middle school students.
The estimated cost to FY 2025 for the current 16 bus structure was set at $997,350.00. If the school switches to either option B or option C, the estimated cost will go down to $846,500.00, resulting in a district wide savings of over $150,000.00 a year.
This would also have an impact of how many buses would need purchased, with each bus currently costing around $140,000.00.
Palmer also went over the pros and cons with board members, with some of those being as follows.
Pros – reduced operating cost, capital outlay, and ride time for students. More flexibility to add riders on each tier, maintains a high level of service to parents and increases in efficiency funding from DEW.
Cons – parents may have two bus schedules for children, buses traverse neighborhoods twice. Public perception – buses may appear to be lightly loaded, slight increase in fuel consumption.
Board members discussed the options available. And stated the two options may result in a slightly different school start time, with adjustments needing to be made accordingly.
Also, if Option B is utilized, parents at the elementary and middle school may have to make a double loop due to pick up and drop off times being different.
For many, the amount of money being saved by the switch was enough reason to look at discussing the issue further.
“You go back, and you look at how the public has scrutinized the school district over the last five, ten years about, oh you’re just frivolously spending our money and now you want more money from us. You know what I mean,” said board member Larry Zimmerman, Jr.
He continued with, “Truly you put pencil to paper, make it black and white, and all of a sudden this turns into a quarter a million dollar a year savings or something.”
“Here you go people; this is what you’ve asked us to do. This is why you elected us to do this. It may impose a little bit of more time for you but, at the end of the day we just saved the district this kind of money.”
Zimmerman also pointed out that the district is going to have to come back to the public in the next year or two to renew the levy, and that with this as an example they can put forward the fact that the district is trying to cut costs where they can.
The board then heard from Elementary School Principal Theresa Vietmeier and Pre K-5 Service Coordinator Jessica Gerig.
The pair spoke about state mandates like PBIS, Ohio’s Plan to raise literacy achievement, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and others.
According to Gerig, her job is to coordinate each of these programs and mandates that are operating to help ensure student success. She also provided several lists of numbers to the board that show progress being made by students.
One such slide showed the percentage of which students coming into kindergarten are on track when it comes to Fall reading readiness. These numbers showed that only 40% was considered ready in 2023, 29% in 2022 and 34% in 2021.
However, by spring those numbers jumped to 83% in 2024, 82% in 2023, and 81% in 2022. This showed a great improvement in the knowledge base of children moving just from the fall months to the spring months.
Gerig also spoke about preschool and the education components that are part of those classes. She also informed the board that state mandates for preschool leadership teams at the district level have been put into place.
Following the presentations, the board moved forward with the rest of the agenda. Members approved the following treasurer and superintendent items as part of a consent agenda.
-Monthly Bills and Financial Reports.
-A list of donations made for various school activities.
-Various Then and now certificates.
-Permanent Appropriations for FY 2025.
-A list of personnel recommendations.
-Early Completion Request for Elijah Miracola to be included in the Class of 2025.
-NEOLA Policy Revisions/Deletions/Additions
-Overnight trip requests for the High School Speech Team
-Ohio High School Athletic Association Membership for 2025-2026.
Board members also approved the following Resolutions. A resolution to accept the resignation of Athletic Director Matthew Hutchinson for retirement purposes, and to rehire as athletic administrator.
The next resolution was for the adoption of Special Education Model Policies and Procedures that were released by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce in December of 2024, and directs all staff in the district to use and comply with Model Policies.
With no other items to attend to, the meeting was adjourned at 2:05 p.m.