Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Oregon City School District Board of Education hosted its latest regular meeting on Feb. 18 in Clay High School’s Learning Commons, covering a wide array of topics.
Jerusalem Student Council
The meeting opened with a report from Jerusalem Elementary, where third and fourth-grade student council members and teacher advisors were present to discuss what they’ve been up to this year.
That included the following:
The student council still has upcoming events including: Paddy Pops, School Craft and Spring Family Night, which includes a carnival where they’ll design and run their own games.
Several students shared what they love about the school, community and being in student council.
Others shared their future desires, which included Kennedy B. wanting to become a hair stylist and go to college, Addy B. aspiring to become a teacher, Owen A. wanting to improve his art skills in fifth and sixth grades, the aspiration of Avery S. to have the world be a better place and for people to be nice, and for Joey P. to go to cosmetology school.
“This is a great group, and we’re super thankful to have them at Jerusalem,” Whitney Wasserman said. “We love teaching them the leadership skills for our community.”
Hope Church Recognition
Hope Community Church pastor Jacob Haas was honored along with his church members and community for raising almost $15,000 to erase the Oregon City School District’s student lunch debt.
“They lifted a huge financial burden off the shoulders of our students and families by this work,” superintendent Dr. Jim Fritz said. “We can’t thank you enough because we understand how important it is for a student to feel safe and secure, and part of that is food safety.”
Haas also spoke on behalf of his church.
“We’re very appreciative of this,” he said. “This (honor) is not the reason why we did this. We heard a need in the community, and we were able to step up and, as our church kind of led the way, it was amazing to see the community come alongside us and help us with this project. Like you said, Dr. Fritz, this is the beginning. If there’s other ways that we can support our local schools by helping you all out, please let us know because we would love to help.”
Treasurer’s Report
In the treasurer’s report, the primary discussion centered on the reevaluation issue going on in Lucas County and how that could impact Oregon residents. One direct impact is that it will potentially reduce the foundation next year.
Dr. Fritz said that none of that will affect anyone’s taxes or what they’re paying.
“The Lucas County Auditor’s Office overvalued a number of homes, including approximately 140 homes in our school district,” he said. “That was sent to the state. Our goal is to have it accurately reflect the true value that the auditor’s office now understands where they should be at.
“That won’t take into effect anyone who would go and challenge their value and get that changed for a later date, but at least it would go back to where it should be right now. That would do nothing for the taxpayers here. It’s all about the funding mechanism, and a part of the fair school funding plan is based on what our property valuation is here in the school district.
“Right now, it’s over inflated so it looks like we’re having more value here, so the state says you don’t need as much money from us. ‘Because you have more property value, you should be collecting more locally.’ We just want that to be accurately reflected, not only in Oregon, but across all Lucas County public school districts.”
It was said that this issue has popped up once before, and it was taken care of through legislative action, and Dr. Fritz said he will advocate for that.
New football coach
Clay High School athletic director, Joe Kiss, was on hand to speak about the hiring of Derek Pennington as the new head varsity football coach.
Pennington led his teams to a 34-12 over the past four years at Caledonia High School in Michigan, where he won two district titles, a regional title and finished state runner-up in 2022. He was named the Division I Coach of the Year by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association.
Pennington introduced himself during the board meeting, and he was welcomed at halftime of the basketball game later that evening, as well.
“Joe already lied to me because he said I didn’t have to speak at this,” Pennington joked at the board meeting.
He then spoke briefly about his vision for Clay football.
“Throughout the process, Joe was great, and we have a real clear understanding on where we want to take the program, which is to make it an elite football program in the state of Ohio,” Pennington said. “We’re going to get up every day and work really hard to do that.”
Prior to his time at Caledonia, Pennington led Zeeland East High School to 12 winning seasons, which included 10 playoff appearances and four conference championships, highlighted by a state semifinal appearance in 2018.
Retirements
Four upcoming retirements this summer were highlighted, including Eisenhower Intermediate School principal, Tim Holcombe; Clay High School Limelighters Director, Thom Sneed; the district’s technology integration specialist, Debra Filar, who also served as the Steam Club’s coordinator and advisor; and Jerusalem Elementary principal, Jeff Straka.
New Business
The board accepted donations for the previously mentioned Hope Community Church’s efforts in the amount of $14,935.50, a pair of parking lot signs valued at $125 and $500 for Fassett Junior High School from State Farm Insurance’s Dan Calmes, and an anonymous one of assorted school supplies, which included headphones, earbuds, tote bags and scissors for Jerusalem Elementary’s fourth graders.
There was also a motion approved to award CDW-G, which secured the bid for the purchase of 600 Chromebooks for $198,600.
Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Fritz discussed the level of uncertainty at the local, state and federal levels with upcoming school funding, which won’t really be solved until June 30.
“In my career (that includes) 30-plus years in education, I don’t ever remember a time when there was this much uncertainty,” he said. “Usually, if we had uncertainty in the state budget, we knew where the federal funds were going to come from. Or locally we were unsure about our local funds, but the state and federal funds we understood. There’s a lot of uncertainty about where we’re going, and we should have a lot of clarity in the next six or so months.
As of now, he said the governor’s proposal would give the district a two percent increase in the first year and a 0.2 percent increase the following year, and those numbers don’t take inflation into account.
“Those are probably going to be the best we’re going to see in those numbers unfortunately because the House and Senate are going to be even less than that.”
Closing Remarks
Board member Carol Molnar highlighted several achievements and upcoming events, which included a thank you to Mrs. Porter at Starr Elementary, who had six of her students selected for the All-Ohio children’s chorus.
“There are only 120 across Ohio, and we have six of them right here, so I think we can be pretty proud of Mrs. Porter and what she’s doing in music over there,” Molnar said.
Additionally, fifth-grader Owen Brossia won the 2024 Lucas County Library Writing Contest. The subject was to write a funny story about a family debate.
Next Up
The next regular board meeting is on March 18.
