NEW BREMEN – New appropriations, committee assignments and school calendar approval were all part of the New Bremen School District Board of Education at their Jan. 12 meeting.
The district approved a grand total of $23,323,291.55 in funds to operate the district through June 30, 2022. Of that figure, $5,441,091 went toward personnel services and another $2,162,100 toward fringe benefits.
Suzanne Wells was re-elected as board president and Michelle Bambauer as vice-president.
Committee assignments were made. Suzanne Wells will head the new Komminsk Family Fund committee. The rest of the committee assignments remained the same. Scott Bertke remains as a school representative of the Tri Star Career Compact Advisory group, OSBA Legislative Liaison and Village Annex/CIC. Michelle Bambauer continues to be Cardinal Pride representative, Ag Advisory group, and Music Department. Cory Suchland is the Board representative for the Finance committee and OSBA Student Achievement. Shelly Busse is the Board representative for the Technology committee and New Bremen Education Foundation. Busse and Suchland are Athletic Council representatives. Wells and Busse are members of the NBTA Negotiations committee. Bertke and Wells are on the Buildings/Grounds committee.
The board agreed to a 2022-23 school calendar that begins Aug. 24. Superintendent Jason Schrader said the new calendar will be posted on the school’s website soon.
Elementary/Middle School principal Diane Kramer reported that the 2022-23 math curriculum will be as follows: Grades K-1 will be Bridges Math, Grades 2-5 will use My Math, and grades 6 and 7 will use various versions of Go Math.
She added that the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support program for grades K-6 has a kick-off assembly on Jan. 24.
The principal said the end of the second nine weeks was Tuesday, January 4, with report cards going home Jan. 11. The STAR Early Literacy, Reading, and Math winter bench-marking is taking place Jan. 3-18. Second-grade students were assessed in the fall for gifted identification. Written Education Plans (WEPs) will be sent home with report cards for students who have been identified as gifted. Services start second semester.
Kramer said there are currently 65 students (36 girls and 29 boys) registered for March 22 and 23 kindergarten screening.
Sixth grade DARE essay winners were Anderson Baughn, Kara Suchland, and Charlotte Nelson.
The District Spelling Bee for grades 4-8, back to in person and is open to the public, will be held on Tuesday, February 1st at 9:00 am in the junior high gym.
The fourth-grade student entrepreneurial project selling homemade chocolate-covered pretzels netted just over $400. Donations were made to Dayton Children’s Hospital, Wapakoneta Animal Shelter, World Wildlife Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and the Cancer Society.
Junior/Senior Principal Marcus Overman reported they are utilizing a new career exploration and tracking system called Ohio Career Information Systems (OCIS). This system is replacing Ohio Means Jobs and will be utilized in 8th grade classes as well as guidance sessions with various grade levels.
He said they are working on the 2022-23 scheduling and have made some changes to course offerings for next school year. For example, Sophomore Honors ELA is now Foundations of Communications. AP Literature is changing to Composition 2 (Composition 1 is already offered to juniors). AP Biology is changing to Cells/Genetics/Evolution and Animals/Plants/Ecology. They have also created Statistics as a semester class.
He also said they are considering eliminating seventh- and eighth-grade study halls by adding a few things to fill their schedules.
The school guidance counselor has been meeting with classes to distribute scheduling information. He will go back and meet with each student to go over their requests before eventually working to build the schedule.
Approximately 20 sophomores have applied for Tri-Star vocational education.
Athletic Director Chad Wells and Overman recently met with Athletic Trainer Zac Malin and Grand Lake Health representatives to plan best practices for training students in CPR, setting times for CPR classes for coaches, and organizing the Physical Night for students in the spring.
Eighth Grade Orientation was held on Monday, Jan. 10 to discuss graduation requirements and scheduling.
The seventh graders and their parents had a Jan. 10 Washington, D.C. meeting where they learned how to register for the trip using the Bob Rogers website.
College Credit Plus Night will be held on Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m.
Finally, Ella Pape was congratulated for being the 1st winner of the first Cardinal Character Award. There will be three more winners this year.
