The Antwerp School Board meeting took place on the evening of September 17 at the meeting room.
Bob Herber gave a report on the update of COVID that the state legislature passed a law that schools cannot be sued for a child coming to School with COVID and possibly infecting others.
The Vantage Report was given by Dennis Recker. There is no new taxes, but there is a renewal for the Vantage Levy. This was the first meeting that Delphos Jefferson had a representative on the Vantage board. Dennis stated that Antwerp was one of the top represented schools at Vantage with 40+ students.
Treasurer’s Report:
Income: 1,074,012.34
Expenditures: 729,818.93
interest: 7,547.61
The financial statements have been submitted to the state auditor for evaluation. The school ended up spending about 56,000 more than they took in with the adjustments of COVID. The debt went from 800,000 to $580,000 as some of the outstanding debt had been paid off. The bond levy will be paid in December 2022.
Ben Miller from Garmin-Miller Architects and Engineers was at the school to present the new Innovation Center that is being planned at the school. It’s an innovative STEM lab that that will enclose what is currently the canopy.
Travis Lichty gave the principal’s report. He said things are going well. He does get tired of being the social distance enforcer, but realizes this comes with the territory. He mentioned that OHSAA has inspectors at the games to let them know if people are in compliance or not. There was a variance that was approved with the health department so they would not be limited to the 15% fixed seating. WMYW will be broadcasting the games on the website. They were actually doing a test during the meeting tonight. The school bought a new HUDL camera for the gym that uses artificial intelligence that can follow the game play.
The XC Invite is October 10 at the park. The GMC is October 17 at Edgerton.
Traci Stokes, Elementary Principal gave her report. She stated there will be new grade cards in elementary. Taking tests were initially a big adjustment from the ZOOM meetings that took place in the spring. She praised the kids and the janitorial staff as they are working between classes and lunch periods.
Dr. Miller said Chelsea Hart was brought in from Western Buckeye to fill in as an aid. Sam Williamson is helping with 66 NOVA home school kids. He has been fully consumed with that and won’t be able to substitute. Dr. Miller very much appreciates the work he does.
The new solar panels will be hooked up on September 25th. There is a parking lot going in over by the softball fields thanks to Jay Dangler Excavating who donated time and equipment. They also put in a new parking lot for the football field and it should be ready for the first home game next Friday.
Harold Gottke stated that a broadband grant was awarded for $8000 and will help pay for the hotspots that are for remote learning students. They also distributed new Chromebooks to the elementary students. The solar field monitoring is being worked on.
There is a teacher in-service on September 25 for mental health training for the staff.
Dr. Miller reported that the school has not had any cases of COVID since starting in August. They have to file reports, post onilne, and send letters to relevant parties as the school requires. The Chester family made a donation of a banner to the school that was probably from the 1920’s.
Anita Bok has been on the school board for 15 years and Dr. Miller gave a presentation from the State of Ohio Board of Education to Bok.
All kids could start getting free and reduced and it could benefit the school financially, but it is still uncertain if the federal government runs out of budgeted funds. The board discussed if they wanted to pursue this or not.
Next month’s meeting is set for October 15th.
