Vantage September Board Meeting Held
The Vantage Board of Education held their September Board meeting on Thursday, September 5,
2024 in the District Conference Room. During the board meeting, the minutes from the August 1, 2024
regular board meeting were approved along with financial statements for the month of July, 2024.
Superintendent Rick Turner welcomed the following guests to the meeting: Sam Shriver with The
Times Bulletin, Scott Truxell with The VW Independent, Mr. Benjamin Winans, High School Director, Mrs.
Angie Fahy, Adult Education Director, and the following new staff: Kelly Moreno, Preschool Teacher,
Steven Smith, Maintenance, Amolia Pope, Intervention Specialist, Susan Merkle, Cook, Gregory Puthoff,
Math Instructor, Bill Clifton, Interim Career-Tech Supervisor, and Ryan Strickler, Intervention Specialist.
Mr. Turner also spoke about and highlighted the following items at the meeting:
➢ I want to thank our staff and students for a very smooth start to the school year. Hard work,
dedication, and a strong focus on the mission stand out as the major contributing factors that I
have observed over these past 2 ½ weeks of school. Let’s keep up the great momentum as we
move forward.
➢ The number of industry credentials issued in the 2023-2024 school year by Vantage Career Center
was 1853. This is a 24% increase over the previous year➢ There is a resolution on the agenda that will allow us to solicit designs from architectural firms for
the renovation of the soon to be Vantage Academy of Medical Careers across the street.
➢ The expansion and lighting of the CDL driving lot and installation of the foundation for the fire
training facility should begin any day now. That work is scheduled largely to be done in the month
of September.
➢ The Build Your Future event is scheduled for September 18th at the Van Wert County Fairground
again this year. We have all Paulding County, Van Wert County, and Parkways schools participating.
The Vantage United Way Day of Caring is scheduled for September 27th in the Vantage bus barn,
with the Red Cross Blood Drive held at Trinity Friends Church the same day. Our students will be
very much involved in all of these community events.
High School Director Benjamin Winans reported on the following:
➢ Enrollment – I have provided you each with a sheet detailing the current Vantage Career Center
High School enrollment by program and home school. You will note enrollment is up from last
year roughly 50 students. I want to thank our staff for their patience as we have begun the school
year with this larger number of students. I also want to note that our school year has run very
smoothly and I can only attribute this to our staff working together. Thanks to all involved.
➢ Mr. Unverferth and I spoke with 42 students on Thursday of last week in regard to meeting the
necessary criteria to be inducted into the National Technical Honor Society. Students are now
tasked with completing their paper application, getting recommendations, creating a resume and
writing a short essay as part of the screening process. All information is due by September 11 at
which time our committee will screen the applications and then look to invite those who meet the
criteria to the induction on October 1, 2024. We are very pleased to again have a large number of
students eligible for this honor.
➢ We have several senior students exploring their work based learning options, specifically with our
Early Placement option. Mrs. Cline continues to meet with those who are interested and I believe
we will have our first students beginning placement early next week. We have bumped this
process up this school year to allow students more options for Work Based Learning and also in an
attempt to meet the labor market needs.
➢ Friday, September 13, 2024 is our annual Student Appreciation Day. We have an allotted time set
aside for students to go outside and enjoy the car show, refreshments, play games and just hang
out with one another as we celebrate them making the choice to come to Vantage Career Center.
Kudos to Mrs. Owens and her Student Ambassadors for organizing this event.
Mr. Winans also reported the following upcoming events:
➢ Friday, September 13 – Student Appreciation Day
➢ Wednesday, September 18 – Build Your Future/College Night
➢ Friday, September 27 – United Way/Vantage Day of Caring
➢ Tuesday, October 1 – NTHS Banquet
Adult Education Director Angie Fahy reported the following:
➢ Fall Classes
○ Orientations went well for all full time programs
■ Police Academy stated 8/19
■ LPN-RN started 8/29/24
■ PNP started 9/3/24
➢ Adult Education Stats
○ 85.3 FTE FY 23 up to 124.3 FTE FY 24
○ An increase of 31%
○ 137 Credentials
○ 360 Certifications earned through Customized Training
➢ CPR Training
○ Four County Career Center will hold a CPR Instructor class at Vantage
○ Would like to start offering monthly CPR classes at Vantage
○ Prompted by increased interest from the community
➢ CDL
○ The CDL instructors along with Mike Miller and his students will be doing maintenance on
all trucks and trailers while the range is under construction
○ Three trailers will also be receiving new wraps while shut down as wellOutside of➢ Grant Applications
○ CTX Grant Application submitted and accepted by the state.
■ Initial allocation: $50,000
○ CDL Grant Application submitted to the state on 8/22/24
■ Maximum award: $140,000 per institution
■ No time-line for application review
○ Work Ready & Talent Ready
■ Reporting submitted, waiting on further details for Round 2 Disbursements.
In new business, the Board:
➢ Approved employment of an Intervention Specialist
➢ Approved a list of virtual graders
➢ Approved two column movements on the teacher salary schedule
➢ Employed a list of adult education instructors
➢ Appointed a District Homeless Liaison
➢ Approved an agreement with a contractor for the CTE expansion project
➢ Approved a service agreement
➢ Approved two overnight and out-of-state travel requests
➢ Approved out-of-state travel request
➢ Approved several payment requests for additional days worked this summer
➢ Accepted a vehicle and medical equipment donations
➢ Approved a job description
➢ Approved a list of additional equipment to purchase through the CTE Expansion Grant
➢ Approved a two-year natural gas and a three-year electricity agreement
➢ Accepted two resignations
➢ Approved Rick Turner, Superintendent, to authorize purchases up to $50,000.00 for the CTE
Expansion Project
➢ Approved a resolution to obtain architectural design services for the Vantage Academy of Medical
Careers renovation project
Consent Agenda Items
➢ Approved an MOU with the VTO
Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22(G)(1), the Superintendent hereby requests that the Board
adjourn to executive session for the purpose of considering personnel matters of the school district.
Adjournment -at the call of the President and at the pleasure of the Vantage Career Center Board of
Education.
Next meeting – Thursday, October 3, 2024
Records Committee Meeting at 6:15 p.m.
Board of Education Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
In District Conference Room
Regular Board Meeting
