By Dawn Hatfield
DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Greenville City School District Board of Education met in the Anna Bier Civic Room of St. Clair Memorial Hall Oct. 21. Of particular interest was the resuming of student field trips, including the eighth-grade D.C. venture, and the planning of Waves of Pride to resume in spring 2022. With the school year now in full swing, there was a welcome air of “business as usual” at the meeting, which was packed with a long list of to-dos.

Superintendent Doug Fries provided the superintendent’s report:

— Lady Wave Golf Team qualified for district tournament, led by Kenna Jenkinson who qualified as an individual for OHSAA Division I Girls Gold State Tournament

— Congratulations to Kate Rehmert and Million Bryant for their GHS 2021 Homecoming titles as Queen and Chief Greenwave, respectively

— Michael Koenig recognized by Ohio Academy of Science as an exemplar in science education, who fostered GHS students’ excellence in District and State Science Days

— Commendations extended to GHS Band for placing first in class A at Versailles OMEA competition

— Commendations also extended to GHS Varsity Cheerleading Competition Team for second place at Arcanum Cheerleading Competition and to GHS Vocal Music Department students and director, Chelsea Whirledge, and accompanist, Christopher Andres, for “Broadway Blast” concert held on Oct. 14

Treasurer’s business included the unanimous approval of schedule of bills for month of September 2021, as well as permanent appropriations to be filed with Darke County Auditor for fiscal year 2022.

Superintendent’s business included a recommendation of several policies to be reviewed for second reading, including policies on sexual harassment; administration of federal grant funds; staff member smoking, criminal records check, hiring, and vacations/holidays; health education; RTI; CC+; graduation requirements; PBIS; and immunizations. The board unanimously approved the following policies: EFG (Student Wellness Program) and EFI (New — Federal Educational Funds Procurement).

Donations were accepted from Class of 2021, The Coffee Pot, and St. Henry Tile Co.

Board Member Jim Sommer spoke of the board and district’s gratitude, saying, “We really appreciate everything the community does as far as donations like this because, without them, we’d be hurting big time.”

The board also unanimously approved the mandated increase of all wages less than the Ohio State Minimum of $9.30 per hour be increased effective Jan. 1, 2022, as well as approval of all recommended volunteers presented for GHS FFA and GHS NJROTC.

Contract approvals included annual membership for Greenville Career Technical Education Center with Ohio Association of Comprehensive and Compact Career — Technical Education; Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of the Ohio Valley and Ohio Valley Construction Education Foundation for the TOOLS Program at GHS; Darke County Educational Service Center on an as-needed basis; Darke County YMCA for practices and meets for the 2021-2022 swimming season; Greenville Treaty Lanes for practices and matches for the 2021-2022 bowing season; and Spencer Landscaping for emergency snow removal/salt application as needed/emergency. All were approved unanimously by board members.

Field trip approvals were granted, including FFA members to attend National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana; varsity wrestling to compete in East Central Indiana Wrestling Classic at Jay County High School; NJROTC to visit the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and GMS eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C.

Fries expressed thanks to the board for their approval of student trips during the 2021-2022 school year.

“I want to indicate on behalf of the advisors and the students, I know the appreciation they’ll take from the board approving this,” he said. “I also know the toughness of these decisions during these times — when’s the right time to come out of these [pandemic-related restriction] things. We will certainly continue to monitor how things are… I do appreciate the time and effort involved that goes into trying to make a decision like that.”

Accepted resignations included GHS Principal’s Secretary (12/31/2001), Assistant HS Boys and Girls Track Coach (9/21/2021) as well as Fall Weight Lifting Coordinator (at end of contract), Eighth-grade Boys Basketball Coach (10/14/2021), and Assistant High School Football Coach (Monday following final game).

Supplemental contracts were unanimously approved for new Varsity and Reserve Basketball Cheerleading Advisor and Assistant Advisor as well as for Seventh/Eighth Grades. Ninth Grade Boys Basketball Coach was approved by all board members, with Missy Riethman abstaining from the vote.

Classified and certified substitute staff were approved for conditional employment, and a Greenville Senior High School Auto Tech Student was approved as the transportation apprentice for 2021-2022. All unpaid leave requests were approved as well as approval of a new Home Instruction Instructor. Salary increases for change in salary classification as well as tuition reimbursements were unanimously approved as well as all requested reimbursements for professional meeting expenses.

Board Member Mark Libert discussed Greenville Schools Foundation, expressing excitement that due to the performance of investments, there may be an opportunity to offer three (versus two) annual Beasecker Engineering Scholarships in the near future. Additionally, the first Dianne Brown Memorial Scholarship is set to be awarded in spring 2022. Also, the annual grant program will kick off later this month. The program has averaged more than $9,000 in grant awards each year and is partially sponsored by raffle ticket sales of 27 drawings held annually.

Board Member Brad Gettinger then updated the board on Career Technology Stakeholders after having held a meeting that very morning. He said the meeting was very well-attended with representatives from Greenville CSD, the City of Greenville, DCED, Edison State, Wright State, and Sinclair present. A focus of the meeting was on Perkins V, which according to the PCRN website, is a “bipartisan measure reauthorized the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) and continued Congress’ commitment in providing nearly $1.3 billion annually for career and technical education (CTE) programs for our nation’s youth and adults.”

Business Advisory Council and DCCA — M.H. Advisory Committee had no new news pending upcoming meetings.

Sommer spoke briefly about HB 290 (commonly called the “Backpack Bill”) in his legislative report.

“The big push right now is keeping our eye on this ‘Backpack Bill’ that is being discussed and thrown back and forth. It has a lot to do with taking money from public schools and filtering them through vouchers where every student would be given a voucher… and they would be able to use those funds for whatever educational earmark they want to do,” he remarked. “Whether it be online or whether it be non-public school, whether it be homeschool—they would get that money no matter what. That money all comes from the general fund, which is what we get funded through, so it would drastically affect us. That’s one thing that we really want to keep our eyes on right now because it can be very detrimental to us.”

Information on HB 290 can be found at https://ohiohouse.gov/legislation/134/hb290.

Board members then moved into executive session with no further motions upon which to vote.

The Greenville City Schools Board of Education meetings are typically held the third Thursday of each month beginning at 6:30 p.m. in St. Clair Memorial Hall, 215 W. Fourth Street, Greenville, Ohio. Full meeting minutes are regularly posted on the Board of Education site: www.greenville.k12.oh.us/BoardofEducation.aspx.

Dawn Hatfield primarily covers education stories for The Daily Advocate. Have a school-related event to share? Reach out by email at [email protected] or by phone at 937-569-0066.