VWCS board hears State Report Card info

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert City Board of Education heard more information from Superintendent Ken Amstutz on this year’s State Report Card results, while it also approved a large number of supplemental contracts during its September meeting.

Amstutz said he felt he wanted to clarify results of the State Report Card, noting that the district received all As and Bs except in the value-added component of the report card, where the district earned “F”s on the overall value-added component and for progress made by gifted students. The superintendent said both failing grades were because the district’s gifted students did not make adequate progress from one year to the next. On the other hand, the district earned “B”s for progress made by handicapped students and students determined to be economically disadvantaged – higher marks than were given Crestview Local Schools, which earned an “A” overall in the value-added component, but was given “C”s for its handicapped and economically disadvantaged student populations.

Amstutz also noted that the move to the New Tech project-based learning (PBL) curriculum has not hurt Ohio Graduation Test scores in the district, with high school students matching pre-PBL OGT passage rates in math and science and exceeding them in reading, social studies and writing.

Average scores on the OGT also stayed the same or improved in all five subject areas tested: Reading, math, science, social studies and writing.

The superintendent noted that a meeting in August with parents of students in the New Tech program who had concerns about the program was very positive, with another meeting scheduled for today at 7 p.m. in the S.F. Goedde Building on West Crawford Street.

The district also met 21 of 24 state performance indicators, Amstutz said, with the only indicators not met coming in fifth grade, a grade level where problems have been reported statewide by Ohio school districts.

The VWCS superintendent said he would compare Van Wert’s results with any district in the state that has similar numbers of handicapped and economically disadvantaged students.

Also Wednesday, the VWCS board approved an Enterprise Zone tax exemption for Advanced Biological Marketing, which is undertaking a $13-million facilities expansion project in Vision Park.

Also on the agenda was a large number of supplemental contracts, including those for the district leadership team, which consists of preschool teacher Nikki Adams, Amstutz, Title I teacher Jen Arend, SPED Coordinator Lori Bittner, Director of Technology Justin Bragg, VWHS Principal Bill Clifton, language arts teacher Chris Covey, school psychologist Brett Dorsten, VWMS Assistant Principal Darla Dunlap, LifeLinks teacher Kyle Hammons, VWES Principal Kevin Gehres, school psychologist/SPED Coordinator Doug Grooms, first grade teacher Deb Chiles, sixth grade language arts teacher Erin Lee, fifth grade teacher Ashley McElroy, social studies teacher Bob Priest, VWES Assistant Principal Justin Krogman, Project Lead the Way teacher Bob Spath, eighth grade math teacher Tiffany Werts, VWECC Principal Bill Wisher, and seventh grade English/language arts teacher Anita Zuber.

Other supplemental contracts approved include the following, by building:

Van Wert Early Childhood Center – Laura Foster and Amy Smith, ECC multimedia advisors; Jen Arend, ECC Aimsweb manager and RTI manager; Shelly Place, ECC student rewards coordinator; and Jessica Small, ECC building leadership team.

Van Wert Elementary School – Sara Alvarez and Jared Army, Elementary Student Council; Donna Clark, Traci McCoy, Katie Krieg, Ashley Holden and Nate Hoverman, elementary multimedia advisors; Sara Royer and Ashley McElroy, elementary student rewards coordinators; Amy Covey, Christine Heizman, July Mosier, Ruth Ann Dowler and Drew Bittner, elementary RTI managers; Donna Clark, Cindy Etzler, Kathy Long, Kim Werling and Drew Bittner, elementary Aimsweb managers; Deb Chiles, Traci McCoy, Ashley Sinn, Katie Krieg, Ashley Breese, Ashley McElroy, Drew Bittner, Tonia Gamble, Brett Dorsten, Justin Krogman and Kevin Gehres, elementary building leadership team.

Van Wert Middle School – Anita Zuber, VWMS Scholastic Bowl advisor; Marie Markward and Cindy Klinger, VWMS Beta Club advisors; Tami Suzuki, Pam Morris and Chris Gemmer, VWMS student rewards chairs; Darla Dunlap and Sarah White, VWMS Cougar Council advisors; Susan Semer, VWMS yearbook advisor; Zane McElroy, VWMS newspaper advisor; Mike Myers and Brendon Moody, sixth grade intramurals advisors; Darla Dunlap, Mark Bagley, Sarah White, Zane McElroy, Tiffany Werts, Brendon Moody, Erin Lee, Anita Zuber, Kate Finlayson and Ben Laudick, VWMS building leadership team.

Van Wert High School – George Scott and Kerry Koontz, VWHS Beta Club advisors; Jeff Kallas, VWHS webpage advisor; Krista Baer, VWHS newspaper advisor; Danielle Slagle and Melissa Bloomfield, high school play directors; Krista Baer, Excalibur yearbook advisor; Kelly Van Horn, French Club advisor; Eugene Aufderhaar, German Club advisor; Brenda Smith, Junior Class advisor; Jennifer Trittschuh and Natoshia Wilhelm, National Honor Society advisors; Wendy Howell and Jeff Hood, student rewards coordinators; Anita Zuber, Scholastic Bowl advisor; Roland Alvarez, Spanish Club advisor; Judy Krites and Katie Bowersock, VWHS Student Council advisors; Charles Witten, “V” Club advisor; Jennifer Trittschuh, Scarlet Squad advisor; Myrna Hamrick, Keith Utendorf, Natoshia Wilhelm, and Kerry Koontz, senior project teachers; Bill Clifton, Connie Ainsworth, Wendy Howell, Chris Covey, Katie Bowersock, Jennifer Trittschuh, Bob Spath, Dave Froelich, Natoshia Wilhelm, Bob Priest, Doug Grooms and Charlies Witten, VWHS building leadership team.

In other action, the board:

• Approved an agreement presented by the superintendent pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22 (G)(1).
• Approved the VWECC handbook for the 2014-15 contract year.
• Approved a memorandum of understanding for fiber maintenance with Telephone Service Company for a five-year period ending August 31, 2019.
• Approved a three-year contract with Strategic Management Solutions for Internet access or Telecommunications E-Rate Funding for funding years 2015-2017.
• Accepted the following donations: Van Wert County Foundation-Wollenhaupt Bequest, $1,500 for the VWMS Renaissance program.
• Cooper Family Foundation, within the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund, $3,000 classroom education grant.
• Eaton Corporation Charitable Fund, $15,000 for the district Blessings in a Backpack program.
• Van Wert Federal Savings Bank ($1,000), First Bank of Berne ($500), and CBJ Farms ($100), to the VWHS Robotics Club; Honor Flight of Northeast Indiana, $1,000 to the FCCLA.
• Employed Alysha Bollenbacher as a VWECC preschool teacher.
• Approved a contract for Beth Runnion as an administrative assistant for a period from August 1 through December 19.

The next meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday, October 15, in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.