ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Smooth Start At Pettisville Schools


Ken Boyer, interim superintendent of the Pettisville School District, said the school had a smooth start to the year despite the mask mandate.

Speaking to the Pettisville School Board during its Monday, Sept. 21 meeting, Boyer said while you can’t see the students smile, “you can see the twinkle in their eye. They seem to enjoy being back.”

Reading items from the report of Michael Lane, high school principal, Boyer said the school will hold an in-service day on Friday, Oct. 9. Students will not attend school that day.

That day, Boyer said teachers will deal with the technology involved “to be prepared for the event we hope never happens”– the closure of school classrooms and the switch to remote learning.

“It’s much better to have them in school,” Boyer said.

In his report, Jason Waldvogel, elementary principal, said school officials are working with a team from the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center, including studying software teachers use every day.

The high school and elementary school have conducted fire drills; Waldvogel said the elementary will have a severe weather drill soon.

He also discussed free lunches and breakfasts, noting a change in the way breakfasts are distributed.

He was concerned the change would result in delivering fewer breakfasts, but instead, on Monday, Sept. 21, the first day of the change, three additional breakfasts were handed out, for a total of 72.

Waldvogel said information about the Blackbird Pantry, which provides food to district families in need, will be sent out electronically this week.

Families can sign up to receive food.

Rover

Chris Lee, district treasurer, said the companies that operate the Nexus and Rover natural gas pipelines through the county filed appeals of their property tax bills.

The company had appealed its state property tax valuations. Its first appeal was denied, so the companies filed a second appeal.

A preliminary hearing on the second appeal is set for May 11, 2021.

“Now we wait and see,” Lee said.

Lee recommended the board approve a resolution allowing the district to participate in the Ohio Public Employees Deferred Compensation Plan.

The district offers another deferred compensation plan, but Lee said he was approached by employees asking to participate in the Ohio Public Employees plan.

The board approved the request.

Job Descriptions

Boyer said the district does not have job descriptions for its personnel.

He said he received a proposal from Walter Whittle, Whittle Consulting Group, Fremont, to write job descriptions for the district.

The descriptions would cover job titles, who employees report to, qualifications required, and the employees’ functional requirements.

The descriptions could help during the hiring process, Boyer said.

Whittle offers an updating service every five years.

Board members agreed by consensus to proceed with the project.

Personnel

The board approved moving Kisha Genter, a member of the elementary school faculty, to Step 7 on the salary schedule for having completed a master’s degree plus 15 additional hours of instruction.

Also, the board approved increasing the price of an adult lunch from $3.50 to $3.85.

Boyer said state officials looked at the school lunch prices and determined the adult price was too low.–David Pugh