SIDNEY — The accomplishments of Sidney High School students were recognized during Monday’s Sidney City Schools Board of Education meeting.
SHS Assistant Principal Wesley Hunsucker shared told the board several members of the BPA placed at the state competition and several others placed at state and qualified for national competition. Placing at state were
Brooklyn Koester, Prepared Speech, 13th place; Grace Work-Steenrod, Java Programming, 15th place; Ivan Spencer, C++ Programming, sixth place; and Parker Slaven, C++ Programming, 13th place.
BPA members who placed in state competition and qualified for nationals were Thomas Sibert, Java Programming, ninth place, and Web Application Team, currently ranked in the top 10 of the nation; Ethan Weldy, C# Programming, 13th place, and Web Application Team; Joshua Wise, C# Programming, sixth place, and Web Application Team; and Danny Orr, Python Programming, third place, and Web Application Team.
Qualifying for nationals was Gilbert Quiantance, Web Applications Team.
Athletes honored were Josie Davis, third place at state in wrestling; Jarrett Payne, fourth place in 200 Individual Medley and 100 Butterfly at state swim meet; and Keaton Fisher, state qualifier for bowling.
Emerson Primary School Principal Stephanie Klingshirn reported on the activities and events at the school. She said there were two building goals for the year: to improve reading scores and to improve the culture at the school. Activities held at the school included a harvest party; Veterans Day assembly, clap out and fundraiser for Wounded Warrior Project; illustrator visit and community night; cereal challenge where nearly 300 boxes of cereal were donated to local food banks; One School One Book; and PK to K Parent Night.
A “Flex” room returned to Emerson, she said. Student behaviors are challenging, she said, and the staff is not equipped to deal with many of them as they are the result of trauma or lack of expectations/support/experiences from birth to age 5.
An after-school chess club was started with 15 first graders. She’s hoping to expand it next year to include both first and second grades.
More than 150 “Good News Phone Calls Home” have been made so far this school year. These coincide with the Chief Example to Other (CEO) awards and are given to students who are being safe, responsible and respectful.
In other business, the board:
• Accepted the resignations of Mark Moses, bus driver; Kevin Sherer, custodian; and Kaitlynn Turner, counselor.
• Accepted the retirement of Brenda Spangler, teacher, effective June 1, 2023.
• Changed the start date of the contract for Trent Francis, director of technology, to Aug. 1, 2023. He will be paid a per diem of $315.38 per day from July 1-31, 2023.
• Awarded one-year contracts to Jenna Beatty IS teacher, Northwood, $43,722; Leah Fullenkamp, Longfellow teacher, $65,655; Melissa D’Angelo, Sidney Middle School and Sidney High School teacher, $60,980; and Gabriel Olberding, Longfellow IS teacher, $43,722.
• Hired Reese Geise as a substitute teacher at $110 per day.
• Hired Charlene Young as an assistant cook at $12.92 per hour.
• Amended contracts for Austin Kinman, custodian, $17.28 per hour; and Adella Arthur from substitute teacher to full time teacher, $41,50.
• Hired classified substitutes Christopher Bolin, Austin Lamb and Donna Regula, custodians, $15.09 per hour.
• Heard the first reading of revised/new policies for the district.
• Approved Brooke Gessler, assistant superintendent, as an additional authorized signer for the district’s State Asset Reserve (StarOhio) account, effective April 1.
• Approved a contract with Waste Management for trash services for July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2026. If there are no variations on the scheduled pickups, the contract will be for $5,841.84 per month. According to Treasurer Mike Watkins, this is $2,684.21 per month less than what they are currently paying Republic Services.
• Approved an agreement with P.T. Services Rehabilitation to perform therapy services for the 2023-24 at $58 per hour and 2024-25 school years at $59 per hour.
• Approved a change order for Slagle Mechanical for $41,990 for change of electric facilities, converting a single phase to three phase at Northwood as part of the air conditioning project.
• Authorized the purchase of six Titanium 75-inch panels from Empower Learning at a cost of $23,61/
• Approved an invoice for $120,000 from Vartek Services for the transition of staff at the end of fiscal year 2023 for the technology department. The director and his staff will be employees of the school district. A coach and teacher will continue to be employed by Vartek Services.
• Approved the salary schedules for the 2023-24 school year. The schedules were for the classified salary for the network/systems administrator for technology, $25.51 per hour; technology support specialist, $21.48 per hour; technology coach, $24.24 per hour; and technology specials instructor, $23.65 per hour.
• Accepted a $3,792.80 donation from the Sidney Athletic Booster Group for the purchase of a tiller for the athletic department.
• Approved the paper/pencil testing for the third-grade ELA state test for the 2023-24 school year.
• Heard a legislative report update from board member Greg Dickman.
• Heard a report on the Upper Valley Career Center Board of Education meeting from board member Michele Lott.
• Went into executive session for the purpose of considering the compensation of an employee of the school district. No action was taken.
The board’s next meeting will be held May 15 at 6 p.m. at the Sidney Middle School auditeria.
