Windham – The Windham Board of Education (BOE)met for their regularly-scheduled meeting on January 21, 2020. After the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence, Superintendent Aireane Curtis wanted to do something special first. Curtis and Treasurer Sam Pochedly wanted to recognize all the board members, as January is School Board Recognition Month. Curtis and Pochedly presented each board member with a jacket and thanked them for their service throughout the years.
Earlier this month, the BOE held an organizational meeting, where they appointed Mandy Berardinelli as president of the board. They also appointed Elaine Grant to student achievement, Ted St. John as the legislative liaison and Mandi Berardinelli as Maplewood Career Center Representative and the Business Advisory Council.
Curtis reported on the State of Ohio Ed Choice Scholarship Program (Vouchers) and how it isn’t a good thing for public schools. Unless things change, any under-performing school, determined by state report card will lose funds for any children who have transferred to a private or charter school or who want to and live in the district. This will take monies from local districts. Curtis also reported that the district has received 70 tickets to a Kent State basketball game courtesy of Frank Hairston of Community Action Council. Thank You Mr., Hairston!
Principal Justin Christopher reported that Jazelle Artman was named Portage County Senior Student of the Month for January by the Portage County Schools Teen Board. She also was named Student of the month at the school. Christopher also reported that he and Mr. Burns are in the process of scheduling the second round of the teacher evaluations as required by the state. Recently, they held their Bomber Brain Building (BBB) Time Celebration of Learning for students to present what they have learned to their peers.
The robotics team is participating in their last pre-competition at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center (MCCTC). They will compete in the VEX Finals at MCCTC on February 21, 2020.
He also reported that the video of the Quiz Bowl Team’s performance on Academic Challenge will be aired on Channel 5, Saturday, February 15th at 11:30 am.
In Middle School news, Christopher reported that Sarah Isler and Jeff States are working with students for the Math Counts Competition. Amanda Brundage and Angie Showalter are working on forming a Jr. High Robotics Club to compete in the LEGO Robotics competitions in the region. He also reported that there were 19 students competing in the local spelling bee. The winner will advance to the county Bee.
In the coming months, teachers will focus on preparing students for the AIR Tests and getting the junior class ready for the ACT Test. The staff has completed their third training session and are ready to implement a school -wide behavior expectations in all areas including, but not limited to buses, classroom, cafeteria, etc. They will also place more emphasis on social emotional support and interventions for the students.
In elementary news, Melissa Malone reported that they are working on getting third graders ready to meet the reading guarantee requirements, and they have conferences coming up. Those students that have infractions will get help in learning new strategies for developing better behavior.
In maintenance, it was reported that the new school bus is here and already out on the road. They put bus #3 out of service and bus #6 is in need of extensive repairs. The new truck hasn’t arrived yet. They hope to have it before they get a lot of snow. Jake Eye reported that he installed 14 actuators on the HVAC system and has more to do. (Note Eye was unavailable for the meeting and sent his report in)
Samantha Pochedly reported on the Federal Land Impacting Schools Association (FLISA). The arsenal takes a huge portion of land out of the tax base for Windham. Their mission is to secure federal funding which reimburses eligible districts for tax revenues lost for student programs due to federal government removing land from local tax base. When they receive the monies, It’s usually pennies on the dollar.
The BOE approved contracts for head baseball, head softball, head track and assistant softball coaches for spring. They voted to reject the State of Ohio ED Choice Scholarship Program. The BOE then approved the CCP classes with Kent State for the 2020-2021 school year and approved to continue their membership with OHSAA for the 2020-2021 school year.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.
