August 19, 2004

Start of year focus of school board meeting

At their Aug. 12 meeting, the Yellow Springs school board approved or discussed a number of items related to the start of the school year.

The board unanimously approved a one-year contract for Fred Kingrey, who will teach chemistry at Yellow Springs High School. Superintendent Tony Armocida reported that Kingrey is a retired teacher in Kettering who has 39 years of educational experience. After retiring Kingrey decided he wanted to return to the classroom, Armocida said.

Kingrey has taught physics and biology but not chemistry. Armocida said that Kingrey was the most qualified candidate to apply for the position. Both Armocida and YSHS Principal John Gudgel said that Kingrey’s predecessor, Emily Riley, resigned late, giving the district a small timeframe in which to find a new chemistry teacher.

Gudgel said that only three people applied for the job, and Kingrey was the only one who was certified in science. “There’s just not a lot of chemistry teachers out there,” Gudgel told board members.

Board members indicated that they would prefer YSHS hire a teacher more experienced in chemistry, and said the district should conduct a thorough search for a chemistry teacher next spring. Board member Mary Campbell-Zopf said that Kingrey should be encouraged to apply for the position again.

The board agreed to table a decision to hire Dave Kohstall, who once ran a restaurant, a coffee roaster and a hemp clothing store in Yellow Springs, as a guidance counselor at YSHS and the McKinney School. The board’s action came after it spent about 55 minutes in executive session, which was closed to the public. The board did not discuss why it tabled the hiring decision.

After the meeting, Armocida said that the guidance counselor position is not filled yet.

Gudgel said that the school board wants administrators to review the search process for the guidance counselor. Like the search for the chemistry teacher, a “lack of certified candidates” applied for the counselor’s job, Gudgel said.

In a letter to Armocida, Gudgel said that a YSHS committee that oversaw the guidance counselor search unanimously recommended Kohstall for the job, saying that he was the best candidate for the job. Kohstall interned at YSHS last school year.

He would replace Amy Huneck, who has moved to Mills Lawn. Dave Smith would serve as the guidance counselor for 11th and 12 grades and teach French. The new counselor would work with students in grades 7 to 10.

Kohstall could not be reached for comment.

The school board also took action on several business items related to the start of school. All were approved unanimously. The board approved the bus schedule. It approved a five-year lunch contract with Child Nutrition Services, the company that has been providing lunch for the district. The district will pay the company $8,000 a year. Lunch at Mills Lawn School for the 2004–05 school year will cost $2, which includes milk, and 50 cents for individual servings of milk.

The board unanimously approved the following one-year co-curricular contracts for the coming school year: Iyabo Eguaroje, United Society, for $539; Terry Graham, Principal’s Council, $1,104; Michael Ruddell, band director, $1,724; Yvonne Win-gard, orchestra director, $1,724; DeeAnn Holly, assistant athletic site manager, $1,425; Ruth Miner, seventh-grade volleyball coach, $1,293; Robert Martin, eighth-grade volleyball coach, $970, and YSHS boys JV basketball coach, $1,697; Jason Doyle, seventh-grade football coach, $970; Craig McCann, eighth-grade football coach, $970; Steve Scott, eighth-grade boys basketball coach, $970; Paul Comstock, seventh-grade boys basketball coach, $1,104; Brad Newsome, YSHS head boys basketball coach, $2,505; Shirley Martin, YSHS freshman boys basketball coach, $1,212; Leslie Welsh, sophomore class advisor, $202; Donna Haller, freshman class advisor, $202; Fritz Leighty, volunteer football coach, no stipend; and Gerald Simms, volunteer golf coach, no stipend.

The board approved the following early release days at YSHS: Sept. 21, Nov. 16, Feb. 1, 2005, and April 19. On these days students will be released from school early to give staff a chance to meet together to discuss curriculum and student needs, Gudgel said in a memo on the early release days.

In addition, the board approved a new contract for the school year with Greene Memorial Hospital for sports medicine for the YSHS sports teams. The contract is for $4,000.

The YSHS Class of 2005 will graduate on Thursday, June 2, 2005, at 7:30 p.m.

In other school board business:

• The school board unanimously approved 4.25 percent raises for the following employees: Armocida; Gudgel; Mills Lawn Principal Christine Hatton; Jody Chick, the district’s special education supervisor; Eva Anderson, the treasurer’s assistant; Sharon Horne, the clerical assistant in the board office; and Jacob Steberl, the district’s technology coordinator. After conducting an evaluation of Treasurer Joy Kitzmiller the board gave her a 4.25 raise.

The board also agreed to give Teresa Newton, the district’s transportation supervisor, the same raise and further increase her salary by $1,434. This adjustment makes her salary equal to the highest staff union employees, Armocida reported.

These employees also received a new insurance package that includes an increase in co-pays, to $15 for doctor visits and $8, $15 and $25 for prescriptions. The raises and insurance package is the same deal accepted by the local chapter of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, the union representing the district’s support staff.

According to the school board office, the district’s top administrators will now make the following in annual salary: Armocida, $101,206; Kitzmiller, $72,814; Gudgel, $79,309; Hatton, $65,684; and Chick, $30,727.

• The school board unanimously approved a new handbook for Mills Lawn School.

• The board unanimously agreed to increase the hours of Nancy Purdin, the secretary at Mills Lawn, to seven from six and a half. Purdin is needed an additional half hour to answer phones, Armocida reported.

• The board unanimously approved a recommendation to increase Mills Lawn teacher Jody Pettiford from level I to level II on the teachers’ salary schedule.

• The board unanimously accepted resignations from bus driver Pauline Lambert and custodian George Brown.

• The school board unanimously approved the following substitutes: teachers Lillian Slaughter and Daniel Lieff; aides Karen Hammond and Catherine Phillips; and bus driver Vernon Hurles. Laura Pollock, Christina Fox and Tamatha Parker were approved as substitute secretaries and aides.

• The board unanimously agreed to enter into a lease agreement with the First Presbyterian Church for classroom space for instrumental music and kindergarten screenings at Mills Lawn. The music class will cost $1,608 and the kindergarten screenings, $120. Armocida said that although Mills Lawn has been renovated and expanded through a taxpayer-supported bond issue, the school does not have enough space to conduct two music classes at the same time. He said leasing the space from the church is “worth the cost.”

• The school board unanimously agreed to purchase liability insurance, at a premium of $6,109.

• The board unanimously voted to bond, at $5,000 each, the positions of YSHS secretary, Mills Lawn secretary, treasurer’s assistant and clerical assistant.

• Firestone agreed to serve as the board’s delegate at the Ohio School Boards Association 2004 Capital Conference from Nov. 7 to Nov. 10. Board member Richard Lapedes will serve as the alternate delegate.

• The board canceled its Aug. 26 meeting. The school board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Thursday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m., in the Graham Conference Room at Mills Lawn.

—Robert Mihalek