NEW BREMEN – The New Bremen Board of Education heard about plans for the graduating seniors, scheduling updates on the upcoming prom and about the arrival of donated Komminsk sculptures to the school campus.
The board officially approved for graduation the list of 55 seniors of the 2020-21 class, pending each student’s attainment of the required number of end-of course exam points and the successful completion of the courses and/or credits as established by the State of Ohio or the New Bremen Local Schools.
Superintendent Jason Schrader said he was glad the senior class stayed in full-time sessions for this school year.
“Some things were a little different, but they still experienced a traditional senior year,” he added.
Graduation will be held on Sunday, May 30, 2021, with a 1:30 p.m. baccalaureate service at the middle school gym and the 2:30 p.m. Commencement exercise in the high school gym.
Prom plans for Saturday have changed, Schrader said, with the activity moved back to the high school due to anticipated inclement weather. The original plan was to hold the event in the village’s Pavilion.
Also, Schrader said plans are underway with the village of New Bremen to move three donated sculptures from the former Dianne Komminsk property to the school campus in late May.
“Because the largest sculpture, titled XO, is 20 foot tall and weighs 7 and a half tons, the village is bringing in a crane to move the sculpture to a location east of the high school,” he said. Two other sculptures, SteelReal and The Dancers, will be moved to a location west of the school. The village is also is receiving sculptures from the estate.
The board also approved a 1-year contract for Janelle Rinderle as a new intervention specialist for the 2021-221. Schrader said she has seven years of experience in this area. The board also approved certified contract renewals for 14 people, classified contract renewals for six and supplemental contracts for 52 certified employees.
In his report to the board, Junior/Senior High Principal Marcus Overman congratulated Vocational Education teacher Maria Homan and the school’s FFA for being named a Top 10 Chapter in the state of Ohio and a Top 10 chapter in each division of the National Chapter Application.
Also, he said scheduling for grades 7-12 is progressing nicely.
“We have received all of the course requests, entered them into the system and have created the sections for teachers. The scheduler has been run a couple of times and we feel confident about the end results,” he added.
He said the school hopes to have a schedule in the teachers and students hands by mid-May.
He said the theme for Saturday’s prom is Las Vegas. Dinner will be served at 6:30, followed by promenade at 7:30, and the dance from 8:30-11:30. “I want to thank Mrs. Burden and Mrs. Ritter and the entire junior class for all of their efforts.”
On Thursday, he said the school Science Club is sponsoring an Earth Day clean up around the entire campus. Each grade level will be responsible for cleaning up a certain section of the campus. “I want to thank Mrs. Sniegowski and all of the students and staff for volunteering to make our campus as nice as it can be.”
Elementary Principal Dianne Kramer told the board about changes in identifying children with dyslexia.
“At our last staff meeting, I met with the K-6 reading teachers to discuss HB 436, also known as the dyslexia bill,” she said.
She listed a few highlights of the bill. For example, if requested, the school needs to begin administering a dyslexia screening program for each student in grades K to 3 during the 2022/2023 school year. During the 2023-2024 school year dyslexia screening must be administered to each student in grades K-3 and, if requested, grades 4 to 6. In 2023-2024 school year dyslexia screening must be administered to each kindergarten student. Teachers of grades K-3 will be required to complete a required number of PD coursework during the 2023-2024 and the 2024-2025 school year. Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, districts must establish a multi-sensory literacy certification process for grades K-3 teachers. Finally, results of the screening measures must be reported to Ohio Department of Education.
She also reported that State testing for the elementary started this week. Grade 3-6 students will be completing the English Language Arts portion of the test. State math testing will begin the first week of May.
Kramer said they are in the process of finalizing summer intervention for sessions in June and July. Students in grades K-4 have been invited for a total of 18 hours.
Sixty-three students were screened last week for next year’s kindergarten class. She anticipated at least 60 students will be attending.
She said Lego League applications are being accepted until Friday, April 23rd for students in current grades 3-7 for the 2021-2022 school year. The coaches are again hoping to have two to three teams next year.
Athletic Director Chad Wells reported that upcoming track invitationals include a junior high Cardinal invite on Friday 4/23/21, with 12 teams participating and a high school Cardinal Invite on Friday, April 30, with 16 teams.
The board adjourned to executive session in order to discuss negotiations. No action was taken when they returned to regular session.
