By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com

The Wynford school board took on a new look Wednesday by adding a new member at the first meeting with new Superintendent Fred Fox.

Tom Kalb was approved and sworn in. Kalb will take the seat of Jeff Schiefer. Prior to Kalb’s swearing in re-elected member Rhonda Rowland was sworn in for her new term on the board.

The school board also approved a new slate of officers for 2016. Debbi Gifford will be the board president and Steve Crall the vice president.

Other appointments for board members were: Crall  as the school district’s legislative liaison, Rowland as the student achievement liaison, both Crall and Kalb to the Policy Committee, Fred Hendricks to the Finance Committee, and both Rowland and Gifford to the Building and Grounds Committee.

The board approved all organizational items on the agenda Wednesday night including authorizing the superintendent to act as the school’s purchasing agent.

Regular school board meetings were moved to 7:30 the third Thursday evening of each month with the exception of September which will tentatively take place on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

A revision to the open enrollment guidelines was amended to include the disciplinary option to send the student back to their home school district in the event of the student requiring discipline.

In his first report to the board, Fox discussed with the board on what events would cause a school cancellation.

“I take it serious when closing the school,” Fox said. “Issues of safety of the students comes first. I will try to make the decision as quick as possible. I am also not a believer that a school closing cancels all after-school activities as conditions may change over that time.”

Fox also said that he intends to meet with the administration and discuss their thoughts on the blizzard bags.

The board recognized mentors Janel Brause, Al Basinger, and Cherie Young for their volunteer work and mentoring of junior high students.

“I get as much out of being a mentor as the’ mentee’,” Basinger said. “I hope the board allows more mentors to be a part of the system.”

Eighth grade students Kayleb Keaton and Hannah Langmeyer gave a short presentation on Project MORE. During their presentation the students explained what it takes to be part of the program, their work with fourth graders during the week honing the younger student’s reading and writing skills, and the future benefits for themselves that being part of the project could deliver.

Ray Greenback spoke about the possibility of recognizing the first Mt. Zion graduate, Milton Harmon, with a plaque to be displayed at the school featuring his accomplishments. Greenback noted that the Milton Harman Scholarship fund is still accepting donations.

In Treasurer Leesa Smith’s report she noted that halfway through the fiscal year the school is better off than last year. Smith explained that it is thanks in large part to state funding as well as the community’s passage of the renewal levy.

Smith said that in the next few weeks she will provide an update of the five-year forecast. Smith noted that it will be negatively impacted due to the unexpected increase in health insurance costs.

The next board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 18.