Ohio High School Board 2-22

OHIO — The Ohio High School Board took action on the following items at its meeting Feb. 22:

• Approved a $5 increase in school fees. Superintendent Sharon Flesher said the district would lose $3,000 in a textbook loan grant next year, and the $205 this increase will raise was a small step to recoup some of those funds.

• Heard Flesher wanted to put the mowing contract out for bids. Flesher said she didn’t want to go out for bids every year as the advertisements in the newspaper were expensive, but she saw the need for a change.

• Approved the treasurer’s report. Flesher said this year’s tax collection rate was .997, leaving $1,235.78 in uncollected taxes.

• Heard the district had received 72 percent of its revenues for the years and made 48 percent of its expenditures to date.

• Heard the grand total of all of the district’s funds continues to increase.

• Heard two board members would be needed for contract negotiations with the teachers. Flesher said the parties decided last year on a one-year contract hoping the wind farm would be in place, and there would be a truer picture of the district’s finances. Chad Deery and Brock Kaecker volunteered to be on the committee.

• Heard the district had received its Life/Safety building permits, and the work would be done on the three projects during spring break. The projects include replacing some rusting guttering, adding a strobe light in the cafeteria to serve as a fire alarm, and repairing the sewer behind the school.

• Heard the state was $10,663 behind in its payments to the district. Flesher said the shortfall won’t affect Ohio as much as other schools that are looking at shortages in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Tabled action on a school security system to the March meeting. Flesher said she had not heard back from everyone she needed to and so was not prepared enough to discuss it.

• Discussed the district’s sports co-op. Flesher said the two-year contract is about to expire, and the board needs to make a decision about signing another contract. Principal Mark Downey will do a survey of the high school students. Downey said the co-op has been generally positive, but there were a couple of areas that could be discussed.