GREENVILLE — The Greenville City School District is saying “Goodbye” to its assistant superintendent.
Laura Bemus, who has been in the position for four years, will be leaving to take a job with the Miami County Educational Service Center. Her resignation is effective July 31.
Bemus is one of seven resignations accepted by the Greenville Board of Education during its Thursday night session. Others resigning from the district include Kelly Hahn, Intervention Specialist, Greenville Junior High School; Steve Lantz, Assistant Junior High Track Coach; Scott Lind, Assistant Boys Varsity Basketball Coach; Christine Mason, Language Arts Teacher, Greenville Junior High School; Jordan Renfro, Intervention Specialist, Woodland Primary School; and David Sykes, Teacher, Greenville Senior High School.
New hires approved by the board include Erin Eberwein, Secretary High School; Kyle Joseph, Athletic Support Services, High School; Jon Tipton, Intervention Specialist, South Middle School; Shelby Rehmert, Intervention Specialist, Woodland Primary; Jessica Sommer, Family & Consumer Science Teacher, High School; Kathleen Kuhbander, English Teacher, High School; Derek Sumner, Intervention Specialist, Junior High School; Marsha Miller, Food Service; Christina Hartsock, Para Professional, Secretary; Diane Johnson, Custodian, Food Service; Micki Willoughby, Para Professional, Food Service, Custodian, Secretary; and Kathy Unger, Bus Driver.
It was announced that Greenville City Schools Treasurer Carla Surber and her department had been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).
The board offered commendations to the high school’s FCCLA student team of Caitlin Beasecker, Allison Minnich and Mallory Rich for earning the title of National Champions (Gold Award), and the FCCLA student team of Jena Snyder, Kelsey Canan and Seryn Crawford for earning the title of National Champion Runner-Up (Silver Award) during the FCCLA National Competition held in San Diego, California. The teams are under the direction of instructor Amy Schoen.
The board also offered commendations to Ron Holzapfel for his time and dedication to the Athletic Department, and Dick Brown for his photographic skills, time and commitment to the school district.
The board approved the purchase of 30 Lenovo IdeaPad Intel Core i5 computers to be purchased from GPS Computers at $638 each for a total of $19,140. (22 to be used at East Intermediate School and eight for South Middle School) and the purchase 180 iPad Air 2s from Apple, Inc. for the One-to-One Initiative for the incoming kindergarten students. The total cost including discounts is $83,613.60 to be paid with Title I and General funds.
A contract with the City of Greenville for the purpose of providing professional police services for two years (2016-2018 school years) was approved by the board. The school district is adding a school resource officer to patrol the elementary, middle and junior high schools. The officer will transition to the new K-8 building upon its opening. The City of Greenville approved its end of the measure at its July 19 meeting.
In a pre-meeting work session, John Miller of Shook-Touchstone Construction updated the board on construction progress at the new K-8 building on Ohio Street. He said the project is on schedule for its November completion date.
He said that work on the concrete curbs, sidewalks and playgrounds is ongoing and progressing well, landscaping walls is ongoing and should be completed mid August, and work on parking lots, driveway and walking path paving will begin mid to late August.
The school’s playground equipment will be set in September after the Labor Day holiday with the rubber playground surfacing following at the end of September into October. Lawn seeding and plantings will take place this fall.
Miller told the board that HVAC partial start up of conditioned air went smoothly. Six of 11 air handling units are now producing conditioned air which is vital for interior finishes throughout the building.
In the fifth- through eighth-grade classroom wing, terrazzo polishing is underway, which opens up finishes such as vinyl flooring, wall tiles and locker installation.
The wood gymnasium floor installation begins this week in the elementary gym and the junior high gym will follow.
Windows should be installed in the Kindergarten and first- through fourth-grade wings by August 1.
The Greenville City Schools Board of Education meetings are held the third Thursday of each month beginning at 7 p.m. Meetings are held in the Anna Bier Civic Room, St. Clair Memorial Hall, 215 West Fourth Street in Greenville. The public is invited to attend.
