Charlie Andrews was unanimously elected by his board colleagues as the Miami Trace Board of Education president for 2019 at Monday’s meeting at the district’s central office.
The president of the board for the 2018 calendar year, Mike Henry, was also recognized as Miami Trace Superintendent David Lewis presented him with a plaque. Bruce Kirkpatrick was unanimously elected as the vice president for this year.
“I would like to thank the board,” said Henry. “We have an outstanding board and I really was honored to serve as president last year. I just want to thank you for the opportunity and all your cooperation throughout the year. I wish Charlie the best.”
Andrews said, “I want to thank Mike for his job as president, he did a very good job. He led us through a lot of items and did them well.”
In recognition of Board Appreciation Month, each board member — Andrews, Henry, Kirkpatrick, Rob Dawson and David Miller — was presented with Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) certificates “in sincere appreciation for exemplary leadership and service to public schools.”
Andrews also spoke about the new high school project, which despite some challenges, is still on track for a dedication and open house on Sunday, Jan. 27.
“There was a lot of progress made in the last week,” Andrews said. “It’s a tough situation. Weather and everything else hasn’t cooperated a whole lot with this project this year. There is progress that has to be made, but if it’s 99 percent okay by the time we have the open house, we still have a week-and-a-half until students move in there. So I’m positive. When it’s finished it’s going to be very nice, and there’s been a tremendous amount of work done by our people.”
The board decided Monday that the open house will be held in the new high school’s gymnasium, rather than the auditorium, in order to accommodate a large crowd. The dedication will begin at 2 p.m., and the community is also invited to join the staff from 3-5 p.m. for an open house and building tours. All guests should use the event entrance to enter the building, and it will be completely opened for everyone to fully explore.
The first day in session for students is scheduled for Feb. 20. Student orientations and tours will precede this date.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board established a service fund at $2 per pupil.
“Right now, we have 2,596 students enrolled, so that would be a total of $5,192 dollars,” said school district treasurer Debbie Black.
The board approved the December financial reports, which Black presented during the meeting.
The board also approved a request from district business manager Bill Franke to seek bids for buses. The request is for one handicap bus and two 77-passenger conventional buses. The estimated cost for those three buses is around $290,000, according to Franke.
The next regular Miami Trace school board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the board office.
