By: Alli Harlan
Wednesday night, The West Liberty Salem Board of Education met for the last meeting of 2023. All Board members were present in attendance.
To start, Superintendent Kraig Hissong touched on the Elementary, Middle, and High School Principal reports, as well as the Superintendent’s report.
For the Elementary School, the PTO was thanked as they held their Secret Santa Shop and a visit from Santa, bringing cinnamon rolls as a treat. This year, the school organized gifts for 8 families in need by donations from local businesses and community members.
The Middle School report featured the November Students of the Month:
- 6th Grade: Amelia Miller and Dawson Turner
- 7th Grade: Mackenzie Damron and Levi Birt
- 8th Grade: Ellery Wygal and Zach Cordell
All Middle school students are up to date on their safety drills.
In High School, they highlighted 27 Juniors and 3 Seniors who were inducted into the National Honors Society on December 6th. The Band and Choir held their concert on December 4th and did a wonderful job. To add, the band marched at the Magic Kingdom in Florida last week. Seniors of the month, Anna Byrd and Riggs Lapp were mentioned. Lastly, Coach Andy Cotrell has stepped down from coaching the West Liberty-Salem girls’ soccer team after a WL-S record of 188-60-23 over 15 seasons.
To finish with reports, Hissong mentioned that the Math department will begin reviewing Math adoption materials that gear students toward success with their state tests. He then stated, “I am very pleased with all of the activities that our district does to make the Holidays fun for our students, and that we are all business when it comes to learning, but we take time to enjoy the Holidays.”
He speaks on the events:
The board approved the following:
- Purchase of a new Kubota side-by-side with snow plow and salt spreader at the cost of $30,000 from Sourcewell.
- Speer Mechanical as the PM for the district HVAC-R assets for a contract period of one year, 12-21-2023 through 12-20-2024.
- Purchase of four pieces of floor cleaning equipment from the Powell Company.
- Non-certified, non-WL-S individuals as coaches for the 2023-2024 sports season.
- Certified WL-S individuals as coaches for the 2024-2025 sports season.
- Non-certified, non-WL-S individuals as coaches for the 2024-2025 sports season.
- Non-certified, WL-S individuals as coaches for the 2024-2025 sports season.
- Volunteer coaches for the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 sports season.
- Mike Puhalla to be added to the substitute bus driver, substitute van driver, and substitute bus aide for the 2023-2024 school year.
- School district calendar for the 2024-2025 school year.
- Contract of services with ProTeam Solutions Inc. (PSI) for a staffing agreement to provide Student Aid.
- Transportation Contract with Bellefontaine City Schools.
Moving into the Treasures Report, there was a 100% approval of:
- Donations
- Appropriation modifications and increases
- Annual OSBA Membership for 2024 calendar year
- Resolution to join the OSBA Legal Assistance Fund
- Purchase orders and invoices in which the invoice was dated prior to the purchase date
- Resolution authorizing Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council to issue a request for proposal for the purchase of competitive retail natural gas service from the lowest and best bidder.
The meeting was closed with an update on the fieldhouse project, which is still in progress as a proposal will be at the next meeting on January 11th at 6:00 PM.
