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BELOIT - The West Branch school board has hired a new treasurer.
The board approved a contract for Adam Fisher effective Jan. 19, 2021 through July 31, 2024 for 260 days at $75,000 per year.
Fisher, a longtime educator from Magadore, served as a payroll specialist at Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools from December 2019 through July 2020 and assistant treasurer of Brooklyn City Schools since. He has been in the education field for 22 years as a teacher, tutor and coach, including five years as head girls basketball coach at Ravenna for two years and Massillon for three years.
Fisher is active in his community and is an elder at Northwest Avenue Church in Tallmadge where he also plays guitar and keyboards for the worship team. He has been married to his wife Yvonne for 23 years and they share two sons, Austin (age 21- junior at Kent State) and Jordan (age 18- freshman at Stark State).
The board also approved additional hours on an as needed basis prior to Jan. 19 at a rate of $36 per hour.
Fisher is replacing Julia Rozsnyai, who resigned at the end of November after nine months on the job but has continued to work as needed until the new treasurer can start. He will be the third treasurer in less than a year.
The board had been set to hire Scott Pittman at $80,000 annually, but tabled that action last month. Members did not discuss the change in hire.
The board received 17 applications for the position.
In other business, the board approved an agreement with Aultman Hospital for athletic trainer coverage at $35 per hour, not to exceed 800 hours for the 2020 – 2021 school year. The agreement is in addition to the 500 hours given by Aultman. The amount will be paid from Student Success and Wellness Funds.
In work session prior to meeting, board member Mikki Kanagy questioned why the district had contracted with Aultman for two years when the service had been originally offered for free. She said she is satisfied with the service provided, but said the contract seems to have been approved in a not fiscally prudent manner and should have been negotiated to see to if another medical facility could offer a better deal.
The board also accepted the resignation of Gwynne Thomas as a cashier effective Dec. 4 and approved supplemental contracts to John Zamarelli for Young and Alive at 50 percent of the stipend and high school and middle school musicals pending ability to complete a production due to the pandemic.
Additionally the board ratified the administrative pay for "other administrators" from the 2018-2019 school year to present after a board review of administrative pay raised concerns about the current procedure for establishing compensation for the positions of director of special services, high school principal, high school assistant principal, middle school principal, middle school assistant principal, elementary principals, maintenance supervisor, technology supervisor, food service supervisor, athletic director and transportation supervisor.
The board consulted with legal and accounting firms and determined despite inconsistencies due to multiple leadership transitions members of the administration have been compensated per the intention of the board.
The motion also established that any future increases in compensation for administrative personnel will follow board action and authorized contracts and authorized the treasurer to provide an administrative benefit plan proposal, separate from any collective bargaining agreement with district employee groups prior to the end of fiscal year 2021.