NEW BREMEN – At Wednesday night’s New Bremen’s Schools Board of Education meeting, a new contract was awarded to the superintendent and a resignation was accepted from their high school principal. Also discussed were ongoing plans for the new school construction, possible land acquisitions, and updates on student activities.
Jason Schrader was awarded a three-year contract as superintendent, effective Aug. 1. He has been serving in that position since the former superintendent, Dr. Andrea Townsend left that post April 1, 2017 for the same position for the West Carrollton Board of Education. His annual salary was not available at the time this article was submitted.
Schrader said he was looking forward to serving as superintendent, citing the exciting opportunities in the community, pointing out the collaboration among community members and the common direction they are all moving in to improve the educational community.
Schrader most recently served five years as New Bremen middle school principal, after spending 12 years with the Greenville school district, 10 as an eighth-grade teacher and two as a middle school administrator.
The Board also accepted the resignation of High School Principal Brian Pohl, effective June 29, 2018. Schrader and the board wished Pohl best of luck in his future endeavors.
A brief overview for ongoing plans for the new K-8 school building was presented by Schrader. Redirection of water drainage will be done to send water away from the new building site. Once the new K-8 building is complete, uses for the land on which the old elementary sits are still being debated. In order to provide future room for growth, land swaps with various entities were discussed, in particular the old fairground or land near Holy Redeemer Church.
In other actions, the board:
• Employed Burt Fiser, Greg Maurer, Don Kramer and Rob Sniegowski on an as-needed basis for lawn care.
• Heard that the new chiller unit had been installed at the high school and was undergoing tests. Last year in July, the old chiller was presumed struck by lightening and a temporary chiller rented.
• Learned that insurance is anticipated to pay only about half the cost for the repair of the gym floor damaged by a condenser malfunction. An amount of the cost of repair was not named.
* Approved the general fund paid bills of $148,802.65 andlunchroom fund paid bills of $11, 582.46.
• Donated $500 toward the staff appreciation luncheon scheduled for May 25.
Student enrollment was also discussed. It was reported that there are currently 60 students registered for kindergarten screening, to be held April 3 and 4. In addition, the scheduling process for the junior high classes has begun for the next school year with letters sent home. Also, 31 girls and 30 boys are signed up for the upcoming baseball season. A new speaker system has been installed at the ball field, which will allow music between innings and announcements.
Congratulations were offered for fourth-grade STEM Fair winners, Alexa Steinke, Chase Bertke, and Lilly Rindler with their invention titled “Window Escape.” The Board also recognized the effort of Tri-Star Early Childhood Education student Ashley Bowers for the design and creation of a Book Nook for early learners at Head Start and Celina Public pre-school for her Family, Career and Community Leaders of America project.
