NB School Board Holds August Meeting

The North Baltimore Board of Education held their August meeting last week at 2012 Tiger Drive. All members were present.

District treasurer Steven Stewart reported income was up  as more tax revenue was received.

Superintendent Ryan Delaney said, “The start was extremely smooth. We had no issues” Other near-by districts have cancelled classes and sporting events due to the extreme heat. “We are prepared ,” said Delaney. “Our schools are air-conditioned” He also pointed out, “Our new propane bus is in service. It’s out there rolling along”

NBHS Principal Report, Dr. Falkenstein:

1. The school year started perfectly! The building and grounds look immaculate thanks to our custodial staff.
2. New rules meetings were held, and students are adjusting very well. They deserve a lot of credit.
3. We have a new middle/high school photographer. Michael Osborne is our school photography agency, with Scott Ferguson completing the athletic photos.
4. We have safety drills this week including a lockdown drill and fire drill. We are also going to discuss evacuation procedures.
5. Fall sports are well into action. We have many new coaches this year.  Softball interviews will start next week.
6. I am working with our custodial staff to create a drop-off procedure for recycling aluminum cans throughout the year, in partnership with Ball Corporation. We have until October to get things set for this year’s competition.
7. Homecoming Parade and Game vs. Riverdale: October 5. The dance is October 6.
8. Our 10^th annual dodgeball tournament is after the game on October 19.
9. I want to thank Jim Casey for replacing all of our football stadium lights in preparation for this year!

Powell Principal Report, Mr. Lange:

What a fantastic start to the year!  I don’t think we could have asked for a smoother start.  This was my 19^th “First Day of School,” and I can honestly say this has been the best one yet!  Kindergarteners all reported to school yesterday for the first time.

We will be having two fund-raisers for the building this year.  On September 5^th, we will kick-off our new mum fund-raiser, and it will run through September 19^th.  Our second fund-raiser this year will be the same as in previous years.  It will run from September 18^th to September 26^th.  We are having two fund-raisers as we explore our options.  Going forward, we would like to go back to holding one, large fund-raiser a year, and we are basically taking the “Mumpkin” sale for a test drive this year to see how much interest there is in the product line-up.

The sixth grade students will be holding a candy bar fund-raiser to help raise money to pay for outdoor education camp.  They are selling the well-known “World’s Finest Chocolate” bars in several varieties.  Price is $1.00, and we keep half of the proceeds.  Our goal is to get the final out-of-pocket cost of the outdoor education trip down to around $95.

The new staff members here at Powell are settling in very quickly.  I would like to extend our appreciation to the following for their willingness to join our team and their willingness to share their talents with our students:

• Merci Goshe, our 6^th grade science/social studies teacher
• Kristi Ferguson, our iReady and intervention support aide
• Alli Baker, our one-on-one student aide
• Rod Hopton, Director of Sp.Ed.
• Brette Hartman, School Psychologist
• Nikki Hale, School Health Professional
• Cheri Kimmer, Cafeteria aide

The preschool program welcomed a new classroom teacher and a new aide as a result of the program expansion.  Lauren Girdler is the new PK teacher and Linda Wood transferred to Powell from the high school and will serve as an aide.  I have received several comments indicating parents are VERY appreciative that the program was increased in size to allow more students to attend.

Our first Response to Intervention (RtI) meetings will be September 12^th and 19^th.  I am appreciative that we are able to continue to have Pam VanMooy as part of the RtI team.  She did a fantastic job as secretary last year and we were able to start providing interventions to struggling readers almost immediately this year.

Fall picture day is on Friday, September 28^th along with Donuts for Dads which will be the same morning from 7-7:45 am.  We will send home information for all of the dads or important male figures in several weeks.

DARE will begin the week of September 10^th and last for eight weeks.

Thanks go out to Ben Pack and Chris North for reviving the Powell academic quiz bowl team.

Mum orders are due September 21^st and Great American Fund-raiser orders are due September 26^th.

Other Business during the meeting:

The Board approved a contract for $387,500 with Helms Construction for work that includes additional parking, building a ticket booth, fencing around baseball/softball fields  and also approved was $43,000 to Boes Excavating. (More info to be provided as made available)

The Board also approved other expenses for Wood County Juvenile Detention Center services as needed, and renewed an arrangement with
the Village for event security for school functions.

Great Lakes Biomedical will provide  drug and alcohol testing of students. “If a student refuses to test” said Delaney, “they’re done.”

The district is working to create a drop-off procedure  for aluminum can recycling in partnership with Ball Metal.