ONTARIO, Ohio — The Ontario Board of Education appointed Todd Friend as the newest board member, effective Wednesday, July 15, during their meeting Tuesday evening.
Friend replaces previous board member Marianne Gasiecki, who resigned last month because she was moving out of the school district.
Friend is still required to run in the General Election this November if he wishes to complete the entirety of Gasiecki’s term–which expires Dec. 31, 2017. He said if he is not elected, his term will end at the end of this calendar year. He said he also has the option to run for a four-year term; however, he said that he wasn’t sure which term he will run for.
An Ontario resident since 2003, Friend graduated from Mansfield Senior and has worked as a pharmaceutical representative for almost 17 years. He has three children who currently attend Ontario Schools.
He’s helped coach his children’s sports and has served on the school’s levy committee in the past.
He said he’s very passionate about education, noting, “I think it’s extremely important, not only for the children, but the community.
“Hopefully I can come on board and help keep Ontario a great school system and help move it forward,” he said.
Teachers employed
The board also approved the employment of Jillian Shuler as a third grade teacher, Tricia Kehl as a kindergarten teacher, Morgan Schneider as a fifth grade teacher and Kellie Ritchey as a seventh grade language arts teacher, each effective with the 2015-2016 school year.
Financial report
In his financial report, Treasurer Randy Harvey said that the school district’s ending cash balance as of June 30 was $4,531,333, which exceeded what was projected in October by $363,140.
Another projection was made in May, estimating that the ending cash balance would be $4,444,134. Even that projection is still less than the actual ending cash balance by about $87,000.
“Eighty-seven thousand dollars is a nice, solid number on a $16 million budget…I’d rather be $87,000 ahead of budget, rather than $87,000 behind budget,” Harvey said.
The next Ontario board meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 11 at the Ontario High School library.
