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BELOIT – The West Branch Board of Education announced the receipt of two new grants in its meeting Wednesday.
During her report Superintendent Micki Egli announced that the district had recently partnered with the Brookfield Local School District to apply for a Distance Learning and Telehealth grant through the United States Department of Agriculture and had been awarded $144,000. Egli said these funds would be used to purchase equipment to facilitate distance learning initiatives for "several classrooms at the middle and high schools," and to purchase telehealth carts, which would allow students and staff to speak with a nurse practitioner. Egli noted that the telehealth visits through the carts would have a cost of only $10, a full $30 cheaper than the $40 fee charged for telehealth visits through the district's insurance program.
Egli said that the district had also received a $30,000 School Safety Grant from the Ohio Attorney General's Office for the purchase of equipment to improve connection between the district's schools and law enforcement.
The board also voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the Mahoning County School Employee Insurance Consortium agreement to clarify inconsistencies. Treasurer Adam Fisher explained that the consortium had shifted to an online portal model on Jan. 1, and at that time decided to voluntarily expand its coverage with new products, not originally included in the agreement, and that the amendment was required to begin providing those services to members.
Other financial matters approved included agreements with ACCESS to provide voice service for fiscal year 2025 for $24,710.90, and application services for fiscal year 2025 for $39,196.75, for a total of $63,907.65, with a portion of that cost reimbursed to the district through the E-Rate Program.
The board also approved several personnel and administrative items.
Personnel matters approved included: the renewal of assistant middle school principal Matt Manley's contract for the 2024-2025 school year; the resignation of bus driver Elena Spahr; the amendment of Jody Edie's retirements from May 1, 2024, to April 1, 2024; the retirement of aide Michelle Esterle effective July 1, 2024; the hire of transportation department consultant Andy Lamancusa effective March 1-31 2024; a three-year contract for Ryan Wolf to serve as athletic director effective Aug. 1, 2024; a three-year contract for Lamancusa to serve as transportation supervisor effective April 1, 2024; a three-year contract for Angeline Theis to serve as director of Instructional Programming effective Aug. 1, 2024; a three-year contract for Amanda Strausbaugh as food service director effective July 1, 2024; three-year contracts for Brittany Woodard and Sarah Scarazzo to serve as a school psychologist effective July 1, 2024; the hire of Paul Hostetter as a high school math teacher for the 2024-2025 school year; athletic supplementals for assistant boys tennis coach Carl Davanzo, middle school boys track head coach Frank Edie, middle school boys track coach Tim Lucik, middle school girls track head coach Nick Cooper, and girls varsity head soccer coach Zach Dean; and an amendment to Stephanie White's contract to be in line with the school psychologist pay scale.
Administrative items approved included: an agreement with Maxim Healthcare Staffing Services Inc. to provide services to student on an as needed basis for the 2023-2024 school year; approval of an overnight trip for the Warrior Jazz Ensemble to travel to The Ohio State University for a performance March 23-24, 2024; an update to the School Psychologist Pay Scale for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 school years; an agreement with the Educational Service Center of Eastern Ohio to provide services sought by the district; and authorization for Egli to obtain and secure financial grants in order to promote and enhance educational opportunities on behalf of the West Branch Local School District for the 2024-2025 school year.
The board of education will meet next at 6 p.m. March 21.