VWCS hears leadership team information

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert City Board of Education heard a presentation on the district and building leadership teams and also appointed staff members to those teams during its August meeting held Wednesday in the First Federal Lecture Hall.

Superintendent Ken Amstutz, Administrative Assistant Bill Clifton and Assistant Van Wert Middle School Principal Darla Dunlap presented information on the teams, which were formed following a three-year process related to Ohio’s awarding of a Race to the Top grant. What the district found then was that it ws focusing more on Race to the Top than on its on educational goals, which resulted in a change of focus for the district.

A large number of Van Wert teachers were involved in the leadership team process, which was comprised of approximately half teachers and half administrators.

The presentation included a video by Simon Sinek on the Golden Circle, which states that finding out why something is done first allows people to better develop programs for the future. Sinek noted that, while everyone knows what they do and some know how, few know why they do something.

Clifton said the leadership teams created an educational vision for the district that included three goals: 1. Focus on inquiry-based learning, 2. Continuous improvement of literacy performance outcomes and 3. Continuous improvement of math-based performance outcomes.

Clifton noted that the overall goal was to better prepare VWCS students for, not only post-secondary education, but for careers and civic life.

The district also decided to focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education, rather than STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, since it was recognized by educators that the arts were also very important to a student’s education.

In addition, since the goal was to impact all district students, LifeLink Community School was also included in the continuous improvement program.

The district is also adding a middle school physics program to the Project Lead the Way and New Tech project-based education programs already implemented to get more students excited about math and science.

Teacher training for the physics program will be held September 9.

The district is also gathering student performance data to assess how well the district is doing in meeting its goals, while the various building staffs are working on aligning their educational programs to provide a seamless educational focus.

Later in the meeting, the board approved the following leadership team assignments.

District Leadership Team – Amstutz, Nikki Adams, Jen Arend, Lori Bittner, Justin Bragg, Deb Chiles, Clifton, Chris Covey, Brett Dorsten, Dunlap, Kevin Gehres, Doug Grooms, Kyle Hammons, Justin Krogman, Erin Lee, Ashley McElroy, Bob Priest, Bob Spath, Tiffany Werts, Nathoshia Wilhelm and Anita Zuber.

Elementary Building Leadership Team – Drew Bittner, Ashley Breese, Regina Brenneman, Tonya Dunifon, Jill Fast, Katie Krieg and Shelly Place.

Middle School Building Leadership Team – Mark Bagley, Ben Laudick, Zane McElroy, Brendon Moody, Mike Myers, Katie Parrish and Sarah White.

High School Building Leadership Team – Connie Ainsworth, Katie Bowersock, Dave Froelich, Kathleen Overmyer, Jen Trittschuh and Charlie Witten.

Also Wednesday, the board renewed the district fire, fleet and liability insurance at cost of $58,639. The premium includes property, general liability, school leader errors and omissions, computer, crime, business auto and umbrella liability coverage through Phelan Insurance Agency (Liberty Mutual Insurance Company), effective September 1.

Personnel action taken includes hiring the following: Kathleen Adelblue, high school social studies teacher; Meghan Baldauf, elementary library/media aide; Mary Ann Dunlap, part-time custodian at the Early Childhood Center; and Heather Keller, night-time custodian at VWMS.

In other business, the board:

• Accepted the following donations: $1,500 from the F. Leslie Endowment Fund Bequest for the VWHS robotics program; $500 from the Balyeat Bequest for the VWES wellness program; $50 each from Lee Kinstle’s GM Sales & Service, Van Wert Federal Savings Bank and Van Horn Realty for the VWHS Cougar Talk program; $5,000 from Van Wert Federal Savings Bank for basketball scoreboards; $96 from Collins Fine Foods for the volleyball athletic account; $1,000 from the Cooper Family Foundation, within the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund, for the V.H. Cooper Scholarship; $325 from Action for Healthy Kids Inc. for the VWES wellness program; $12,925 from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation for the Middle School Classroom Habitudes Program.
• Approved a resolution opposing Ohio House Bill 70, related to the Youngstown City School District takeover by the state.
• Approved a then-and-now certificate for an invoice totaling $6,589.35 from Riddell All American for football uniforms and reconditioned helmets.
• Approved school fees for the 2015-16 contract year.
• Approved all school bus routes for the current school year.
• Appointed Amstutz and Gehres as district representatives to the Van Wert Area Schools Insurance Group (VWASIG) for the current school year.
• Approved a Fiscal Year 2015 Family and Children First Council contract with Van Wert County Hospital for Ohio Children’s Trust Fund services.
• Approved an agreement with Therapy Solutions to provide physical therapy for designated individual students.
• Appointed Amstutz to serve as LifeLinks Community School fiscal oversight officer for the current school year.
• Approved an agreement with the Wood County Juvenile Detention Center-Juvenile Residential Center of Northwest Ohio education program.
• Accepted a bid of $98,500 and an alternate bid of $2,800 submitted by Quinn Contracting for roof repair at the S.F. Goedde Building.
• Approved the administrative salary schedule for the next two years.
• Approved memorandums of agreement with teaching and non-staffing staffs related to the Preferred Provider Option for district health insurance.
• Went into executive session to discuss personnel items with no action taken following the session.

The next meeting of the Van Wert City Board of Education will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 16, in the First Federal Lecture Hall of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio.