MOUNT GILEAD — Mount Gilead School District Treasurer Tina Gabler was pleased to report the district has received a matching grant of $200,000 from the State Energy Plan Ohio K-12 Schools and Non-profit Hospitals Energy Efficiency Program.

The district’s match will come from Covid-19 funding for schools. The grant will be used to replace a chiller and upgrade Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) controls.

Gabler gave an update on the five-year forecast. She said the district is overall on track from the fall 2021 forecast and doing 15 percent better than the fall projection for the year.

High School Principal Deb Clauss said graduation will be June 4 at 5:30 p.m. She gave a list of senior awards and scholarships. Molly Murphy will give the address as Valedictorian and Jason Lin will give the Salutatorian address.

Middle School Principal Clay Grube gave his report on the road to Washington D.C. with eighth graders. He reported growth in the school’s STEM program and improvement in state test results in math and science.

School Resource Officer MOU approved

The board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Mount Gilead School District and Mount Gilead Police to establish a partnership with the Village of Mount Gilead to place a School Resource Officer (SRO) in the Mount Gilead Exempted Village Schools for the 2022-2023 schoolyear. The cost will be shared 50/50 between the village and school district. The purpose of the school officer is to foster a safe and positive school environment.

Both the school and police should agree on guidelines for selection of officers. Criteria include a college degree or degree course work, experience as a police officer and past proven performance.

Resignations and contracts approved

Resignations were approved for Taylor Arndt, District Healthcare Consultant; Jack McElroy, Cafeteria; Laci Romshak, 8th Grade Math Teacher; and Nathan Smith, High School English Teacher.

Season hires were approved for custodial work and school year 2022-2023 contracts for certified, classified and part-time teachers and staff were approved. Supplemental contracts for school year 2022-23 were also approved.

An administrative contract was approved for MGHS Principal, Deb Clauss for two years and an administrative contract for Curriculum Coordinator Emily Ross for three years was approved.

The board approved the Mount Gilead High School Summer Credit Proposal for 2022 and approved the Day Treatment Service Agreement between Mount Gilead Schools and River Education Services, Inc. Leap Program for 2022-2023 schoolyear.

Avita Health was approved to do the bus drivers physicals for 2022-2023 schoolyear. Staff was approved for the summer Chief/SACC program this summer.

Board approved the treasurer to submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Cafeteria Management Services 2022-23.

The board accepted the Medical Mutual of Ohio employee insurance rates for 2022-2023: single coverage $741.81 and family coverage $1,889.71.

For details and documents of Memorandum of Understanding, lists of staff and certified contracts follow the link to board docs at https://go.boarddocs.com/oh/mtgilead/Board.nsf/Public.

The next Mount Gilead Schools board meeting is June 21, 2022 at 7 p.m. in the board office.

By Alberta Stojkovic

For the Sentinel