The Antwerp Boys Cross Country team recognized at the most recent school board meeting. They advanced to the regional competition and Jake Ryan advanced to the State.
Dr. Marty Miller started the night meeting of November 16 by honoring the Cross Country team including: Joel Steiner, Brandon Laney, Josh Timbrook, Drake Gerken, Jason Geyer, Brian Geyer, Garrett Laney, and Jake Ryan.
Bob Herber mentioned the liaison report for the state. There was a lawsuit that he mentioned that could become a concern for Antwerp school – bullets were found in a backpack left on a bus. The case went forward to the Supreme Court and it ended up ruling in the favor of the school. The students’ rights were not violated because it was on school property and they were just trying to find out who the bullets belonged to and not an unlawful search and seizure.
High School Principal Report:
The open lunch program has been working very well for the students who earned it according to Principal Travis Lichty. The 8th graders visited the Vantage Career Center.
Rachel Williamson was honored and is the Paulding County and GMC Player of the year. Travis also praised the Band for all they have done and the choir performed at the Veteran’s Day presentation. The program was a huge success with nearly 60 veterans. December 20 is the last day of the second quarter.
Elementary Principal Report:
Amy Hammer, elementary principal, said they took some students to the Festival of Trees at the John Paulding Historical Society. They also just filled a bus for the town pantry for the food drive. Approximately 30 veterans came into the classrooms as the young people invited them to be able to participate for Veteran’s Day assembly. Aladdin Jr is the musical some students are putting on right now. The Rain Forest presentation will be on December 4th at 1:00 p.m. and then 7:00 p.m. for the public. December 5th is the elementary winter concert.
Superintendent Report:
Marty Miller gave the Superintendent’s report and he praised Harold Gottke and Amy Hammer for their work on keeping technology working at the school. He also said the softball and baseball fields are looking good and there has been a lot of progress made on this. The fencing will begin soon when the ground is frozen so it does less damage and less mud. There will be electricity put in between both fields for powering a future concession stand. The solar field was connected November 16th. Harold Gottke stated the power is being shutoff at 7:30 p.m. while it is being connected. The new phone system is now functional as an IP phone system. The paging system and door locks have also been switched over. The new sound system quotes came in higher than expected and he will be getting more quotes. The lighting change over will be completed soon as the workers will be connected back in.
Other reports:
Tim Manz shared with the new innovation center and the progress and vision for the future. Time talked about “Make your Space” as in a collaborative effort in a low tech environment and works with the 21st Century project. “Growth Mindset” is what the intention is to create workers to fill the projected numbers of jobs that are being created rather than try to outsource to other countries. There are many projects they can do from low tech to high tech. He would like to expand these collaborations to elementary also because it seems to be very good for stretching young’s people’s minds. He also stated that businesses have been coming to him explaining that they need workers that need to be coming out of high school with some sort of this kind of training.
Dr. Miller continued that the school board will be approving the 2018-19 calendar in the December meeting. Dr. Miller talked about his trip to China and their gift to the school that included a book of Mandarin characters. The Chinese language has over 8000 characters versus 26 in the Latin alphabet. The characters are not static as our local characters. A simple “line” could change a character from one meaning to another.
The meeting adjourned after all agenda items were approved.
