Board OKs trip to D.C.

FORT RECOVERY –– The eighth-grade D.C. trip is on.

Fort Recovery School Board approved the multiple-night field trip and authorized officials to enter into an agreement with a tour company Monday. The school previously had not been able to take students to Washington, D.C., since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Middle school principal Ryan Steinbrunner said 45 students, or about 62% of the eighth grade class, are scheduled to go on the trip in March. He added that 21 parents signed up to chaperone, meaning the school may need to invest in a second bus.

Their trip through K&K Tours will include visiting Shanksville of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg and various memorials and buildings in the capital.

Steinbrunner noted there are several locations that are still closed –– the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Library of Congress and the U.S. Capitol building — but attractions such as Smithsonian museums and the National Archives building as well as outside locations are still available.

Also Monday, school board authorized officials to enter into an agreement with architectural and engineering firm Garmann/Miller & Associates of Minster, Ohio, in order to pursue a replacement for the chiller at Fort Recovery Middle/Elementary School. (Issues began with the system installed last month.)

In other business, school board members Anne Guggenbiller, Jake Knapke, Don Wendel, Nick Wehrkamp and Greg LeFevre:

•Learned Steinbrunner will be accepting a regional award on behalf of the middle school staff Oct. 28 at the Ohio Middle Level Association conference in Columbus, Ohio.

•Approved revisions to the following policies: public participation at board meetings, administration evaluations, weapons, college credit plus program, Ohio Teacher Evaluation System 2.0, eligibility of resident/nonresident students, educational opportunity for military children, attendance, student mental health and suicide prevention, early high school graduation, student hazing, positive behavior intervention and supports and limited use of restraint and seclusion, cost principles –– spending federal funds, disposition of real property/personal property, property inventory, student records, student abuse and neglect, transportation and non-routine use of school buses.

•Hired or renewed contracts with the following: volunteer dive coach Jillian Andrews, volunteer assistant softball coaches Lauren Day and Renee Evers, and volunteer assistant girls basketball coach Joe Bruns.

•Approved the District Gifted Education Plan for the 2021-22 school year.

•Authorized officials to enter into an agreement with BSN Sports for sports gear and uniforms.

•Paid $3,252 to EMS Linq Inc. for annual information technology services.

•Accepted $335 in donations, including $200 from Fort Recovery Radio for high school student activities.

•Transferred $955.57 from the adult education fund to the general fund.

•Were reminded the fall five-year financial forecast will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 15.