The Clear Fork Valley Local Schools Board of Education (BOE) announced Friday that they are currently negotiating with Janice Wyckoff for the position as the new superintendent. Wyckoff is currently the superintendent of Black River Local School District in Ashland County.
Wyckoff has held the Black River superintendent position for ten years. Prior to that, she served as the high school principal at Highland. Wyckoff holds a master’s degree in education administration as well as a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Ashland University.
Jim DeSanto, president of the BOE, said the board may review and act on the contract at the regular March meeting, unless negotiations progress quickly, in which case the BOE would call a special meeting.
The BOE held a regular board meeting Thursday evening at the Clear Fork High School in Bellville. The board entered twice into Executive Session for the purpose of employing a public employee. C. Brian Petrie and Janice Wyckoff, candidates for the position of superintendent, were each in turn invited to join the Executive Sessions.
Also during the meeting, Jeremy Miller, Principal of Bellville Elementary School, presented information regarding the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a program by the Ohio Department of Education which helps identify children between kindergarten and third grade whose reading skills are lacking.
Except for students with special circumstances, students must meet a minimum score on the state reading test to move on to the fourth grade. In 2013-2014, the minimum score for advancement is 392.
If the student is retained in the third grade, the school must provide 90 minutes of reading instruction each school day. A student may take fourth grade classes in all other subjects. Schools can move students to the fourth grade mid-year, if the student has shown improvement in reading.
“One thing I can tell you about Clear Fork – we do have a high success rate at this,” said Miller, “and the reason that we do is because of three things: We have great kids that work hard; why do they work hard, because they have good parents that put these things in place when they are younger; we have phenomenal teachers that care about kids and will do anything for these kids. We have the big three things that do matter to be successful.”
Middle School volleyball coach Jennifer Moore personally thanked the board for new poles for the volleyball team. She and a few members of the team brought in one of the new carbon poles, as well as one of the older steel poles, to show the board the difference in the lighter and more durable new ones.
Brian Brown, Principal of Clear Fork High School, discussed the late arrival for students the week prior to the Ohio Graduation Test. Students taking the test will arrive at the regular time in order to review with teachers in small groups.
Brown also discussed the new hours of the high school’s library media center.
“The new librarian we have hired, Holly Montgomery, has allowed us to extend our library times to 5 p.m.,” said Brown, noting that the extended hours allow students a quiet area with resources to complete assignments.
Brown added that librarian Denette Motayaw has expanded the library media center to include e-books, as well as a large screen television to facilitate a small learning environment.
As recommended in Interim Superintendent Dave Ritter’s report, the BOE approved that Nicole Walker be advanced on the salary schedule effective Feb. 24 to Masters +15.
Jordan Smith was employed on a one year limited teaching contract for the 2013-2014 school year as half time Intervention Specialist.
The board also accepted the resignation of Rick Beans as Varsity Track coach.
Employed on a one year supplemental contract for the 2013-2014 school year were Matthew Reffel, Middle School Track; Michael Longshore, Assistant Baseball; Jessica Eilenfeld, Middle School Track; Rick Jenkins, Weight Coach Feb – April.
The BOE approved Danielle Hulit, Middle School Track and Jeff Layne, High School Track, as volunteer coaches for the 2013-2014 school year.
Interim Superintendent Dave Ritter made a recommendation to authorize the superintendent and treasurer to allocate up to $100,000 “seed money” from income tax proceeds to be used for academic initiatives based upon proposals submitted from the building staff. The funds would be distributed through the District Leadership Team.
After much discussion, the recommendation was tabled until the next BOE meeting. Jason Snyder volunteered to be the liaison to the District Leadership Team.
The board passed a revision to staff evaluation forms, allowing new and separate forms for Evaluations of Professional Certificate staff, Teachers, Certified staff, as well as a new consent and release form for drug testing of district applicants.
