Fort schools going for grant (01/11/08)

New technology programs may be coming to Fort Recovery Middle School.

A grant application requesting $750,000 is due next week to the Ohio Board of Regents. If awarded the grant, these funds will be used in cooperation by Fort Recovery, St. Henry and New Bremen schools to create Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) classes and programs.

Grant winners should be announced in early February and awarded in March, Fort Recovery Local School superintendent David Riel said. That timeline will allow the new classes to be ready by the start of the 2008-09 school year. This grant also includes funds for staff education.

STEM classes are similar to the Project Lead the Way programs currently offered at Fort Recovery High School.

PLTW classes are in their second year and interested middle school students have attended an engineering summer camp for the past two summers, Riel said this morning.

Also Thursday, the board heard Fort Recovery High School principal Dave Warvel announce that current eighth graders will be attending freshman orientation on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the high school.

Riel said this morning that this is the second year for the orientation night. He added that the goal was to inform students about different classes at the high school and get students signed up for 2008-09 classes by the end of this school year.

In other business, board members:

•Reappointed Dan Kahlig as board president and named Steve Wendel as board vice president replacing Dan Jutte.

•Voted to hire Bob Heitkamp as the elementary CIP unit coordinator, Kris Vogel as a classified substitute and Brent Niekamp as the high school head track coach.

•Named new board member Dave Hull the 2008 Student Achievement Liaison.

•Reappointed board member Dan Jutte as a 2008 Ohio School Boards Association liaison and named new board member Jack Staugler as the alternate liaison.[[In-content Ad]]