January 2010

Well! It's a new calendar year, and our three newly elected board members participated in their first regular school board meeting. I wonder what they thought?!

During the public comment portion of the meeting, school secretary Betse Schmitz thanked the Methodist Church for having donated so many coats to the elementary schools, along with matching hats and gloves for the children. It is amazing to me that parents let their kids leave home without a proper coat! It's one thing if you honestly can't afford one, but what about those whose children do have coats but don't wear them? I don't get it.

We then had an executive session with our attorney, to discuss employee employment and negotiations. We returned from that around 8:55 p.m.

The reports of the Treasurer were all discussed and passed, including the 2011 budget (per O.R.C. 5705.30) and the 2010/2011 tax budget (per O.R.C. 5705.28). These all need to be submitted by January 15th.

During the Superintendent's part of the meeting, we reappointed Kevin Young to a 7 year term on the Swanton Public Library Board, and allowed a continuance of our membership in the OSBA Legal Assistance Fund. Superintendent Paulette Baz then gave a quick update on the "Race to the Top" grant, which I wrote about in an earlier post.

The Board was asked to consider naming the Middle School Gym in honor of Bob Fisher, a former head boys basketball coach as well as former track and football coach. We had been given a list of Mr. Fisher's accomplishments at Swanton, which were impressive. A short discussion about the process of determining who was worthy of consideration for this honor was held, and then we voted unanimously to accept this recommendation. A dedication ceremony will be scheduled.

The Board accepted two personnel retirements, to be effective at the end of this school year. George and Judi Teague will both be retiring.

We decided to keep our regular meeting dates as the third Tuesday of each month, but conflicts were discovered in March and April. We therefore moved our meetings back one week in those months, so that our March meeting will be on the 23rd and the April meeting on the 27th. All regular board meetings will begin at 7 o'clock.

During the time allotted for board members to speak, Mona spoke first and then Mr. Ueberroth. We then adjourned - and it wasn't quite ten o'clock yet! woo-hoo!!