Olympian Bassitt visits students, emergency repair made on boiler

By Betsi Werling

The October 21 meeting of the Bluffton Exempted Village Schools Board of Education followed the attached agenda.

PERSONNEL
After close to 15 years of driving for the district, Jay Stratton will retire as a school bus driver. With this change, Dan Lee will take over Stratton’s route. 

The following supplemental contracts were approved: Head Girls Tennis - Trisha Nieman, 7th Grade Boys Basketball - Paul GInther, High School Assistant Wrestling - Tyrel Nuzum, Assistant Swimming - Rachel Diller 

Several new substitute teachers and aides, custodians, secretary and cafeteria contracts were approved. 

RESOLUTIONS
In August, the boiler room flooded in the Elementary school, which significantly damaged the HVAC system. There was an urgent need to replace and repair the HVAC system. This was taken care of in August. The Board approved a resolution authorizing the Superintendent and Treasurer to take immediate steps to facilitate repair and replacement work without competitive bidding.

DONATION
Bluffton Schools received a $7,500 donation for SOS Tutoring from Ford B. Cauffiel, a businessman from Toledo. Cauffiel has provided this support for over 20 years. It helps to pay high school students who work with some of the elementary students. 

POLICY UPDATES
There were a series of updates to Board policies. Superintendent Greg Denecker said most were administrative in nature and reacting to laws that have been passed recently: 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

A Student Senate presentation was made by Kayleigh Coffman, Senior, and Ty Huffman, Junior. They were accompanied with their advisor, Melissa Richards, who teaches an 8th grade elective course on Leadership to encourage future involvement in Student Senate. 

Coffman and Huffman detailed changes made this year for Homecoming. The theme was a Night in Paris. There is a social media coordinator who works with Yearbook on publicity. Upcoming events include holiday decorating at the Mennonite Memorial Home. Students will wear holiday sweaters to spread cheer to the residents at MMH. They will also hold the Ironman Volleyball competition with proceeds going to the Eli Jones Memorial Scholarship fund. In the spring, Senate members will mulch all the Bluffton School buildings prior to graduation.

Bluffton Middle School: Principal Doug Westrick reported that new elective courses have been well received by the students:

Technology: Coordinator Courtnee Morris reported that some new equipment is rolling out. Last year, Morris’ 6th grade class learned how to use a 3-D printer. This year, those students worked with current 6th graders and 8th graders to teach them how to use the printer. Students are learning the new equipment in the cafetorium and the AV support of the recent Choir concert was led by students.

Bluffton Elementary: Principal Kori Bernal reported that Trevor Bassitt’s visit went well. He went through the elementary school hallways and gave high fives and the students really enjoyed it. Bernal said that upcoming staff Professional Development will be working with IReady results. Bernal said that this year there are 33 students participating with Karl’s Club with a few more students continuing to add. On Friday, they are having a school-wide Pirate Day to encourage school pride.

SUPERINTENDENT
Greg Denecker reported that the assembly with Trevor Bassitt was well received. Bassitt signed close to 1400 cards for the students. 

During the upcoming professional development day, the state of Ohio is going to be training about 45 teachers on Tech Cred AI training. Denecker shared a video of Bluffton students participating in the Save a Life Tour event, which encourages safe driving. There were simulators that students used to show how their senses are impacted by drunk driving and distracted driving. 

A second video highlighted Bluffton students participating in the Real Money-Real World event. This simulation helps students understand budgeting and real life costs as they mature into adulthood. 

OHIO HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS
Board member Jeremy Scoles reported on his recent training with OHSA. Scoles mentioned that while OSHA is a non-profit, they have begun to invest their funds and are able to return some of the funds back to participating schools. 

With some of the additional revenue created, they were able to add 30 scholarships for students, bringing the total close to 200.. Scoles also reported that Flag Football has begun to be added as a school sport. 

Scoles briefly talked about recent legislation called the Bullying Bill, which allows a student to play sports at an adjoining school if they are being bullied by a coach. The affected student would attend their home school, but participate in sports elsewhere. He said there is currently not much information on how this will affect schools.