By Dan Messerschmidt and Jordan Studer
Crawford County Now

CRESTLINE — With a crowd of over 40 people in attendance, the Crestline Board of Education held its May meeting Monday night in the high school library.

The crowd was there largely to show support for boys’ head basketball coach, Rob Lisle.

As reported by Crawford County Now on May 9, Lisle was not recommended for renewal by athletic director Matt Wade even though this year — Lisle’s third at the helm —the Bulldogs won 11 games for the first time in 11 years.

Seven individuals spoke during the Public Participation portion of the meeting. Six of them expressed support for Lisle, asking the board to reconsider not offering him a contract for the 2018-19 school year.

Among those speaking were Jim Glauer, a 1969 Crestline graduate, former coach, athletic director and a member of the Crestline Sports Hall of Fame; hall of famer and former basketball coach, Bud Snyder, a 1956 Crestline graduate; Steve Helbert, football coach for 37 years and long-time Crestline resident; Coy Vantilburg, junior high basketball coach; and Barb Lee, high school librarian, who spoke on a number of subjects but closed by asking why the position of head basketball coach had been posted before Monday’s meeting.

Also speaking was junior Ty Clark, one of the six basketball players that would be returning next year who signed a letter back in March asking the board to offer Lisle a contract. While Clark did not state as much in his comments to the board, the six indicated that they would not play basketball next year at Crestline and some or all may even leave the district.

The theme of the questions of those supporting Lisle was why he was not offered a contract despite steady improvement of the win-loss record over Lisle’s three years and the reasonable evaluation he received from Wade.

Board president Jeff Wilhite explained that the board was supporting Wade’s recommendation not to renew Lisle and that there was no reason to vote on the matter, despite requests for a vote by several members of the audience. The position of head basketball coach was not even listed on the agenda.

Accusations of personal agendas on the part of some board members in the decision were strongly denied.

Public participation was limited by board rules to 30 minutes with a maximum of three minutes by an individual.

In other board action, an approval was made for the payment of $5,000 to the Crawford County Partnership for Education and Economic Development for the support of the Community Opportunity Website.

For more information on the Community Opportunity Website, refer to previous article: Bucyrus City Council hears about new web site| Colonel Crawford Board of Education hears about The Partnership’s new hyper local website.| Buckeye Central Board of Education discusses donation requests to help the community.| Colonel Crawford BOE makes donations to county groups.|

The payment for the Community Opportunity Website is to be made during the Fiscal Year of 2019.

When discussing Certified Contract Renewals, it was recommended to approve the contract of math teacher David Woods for three years. Despite the board’s 3-2 vote against the renewal, Mr. Woods contract was approved.

In the previous meeting of April 10, the board chose to abolish the position of Curriculum Coordinator effective at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. It was then recommended that Amy Hill’s employment contract with the Crestline Exempted Village School District Board of Education be terminated after her 2017-18 contract year. The suspension was passed.

High School Principal Keith Strickler spoke very highly of the graduating class of 2018. Strickler explained that the class is made up of 50 students, Crestline’s largest in recent years.

“Our Senior class is exceptional,” Strickler proudly remarked, “They are absolutely amazing kids.”

Strickler referred to many statistics showing how exemplary the students are. Eighty percent of the class made the decision to further their education in a college of some sort. Eleven chose to transition straight into the workforce. Two individuals have committed to the U.S. Navy and one other individual to the U.S. Air Force.

According to Strickler, the senior class collectively received over $446,000 in scholarship funds. As Strickler continued to laud the graduating class, he repeated how proud he and the community are of the accomplishments of these seniors.

The Senior Awards Ceremony will be held Thursday evening, May 17. Graduation will be held Friday evening, May 18.

In other board news, the following coaching contracts for the 2018-19 school year were approved:

Jeff Teeple — bowling coach

Patti Huber — assistant bowling coach

Kyle Strauch — girls head basketball coach

Nick Briggs — girls junior varsity basketball coach

Denise Jeffery — head swimming coach

Timmy Tompkins — 7th grade football coach

Two volunteers were also approved of for the 2018-19 school year — Stacie Dalenberg, girls basketball and Cheryl Downey, bowling.

An approval was made to partner with the Crawford County Health Department on a contract for nursing services at school without a cost increase for the 2018-19 school year.

A contract was approved with Imperial for the remainder of the 2017-18 school year.

Treasurer Alina Nemec gave the 5-Year Forecast and explained that the district is in a better fiscal position than last fall and the renewal of the levy was important to the financial stability of the district.

During public participation, a few items were brought to the attention of the board. One Crestline staff member, middle school and high school librarian Barb Lee, spoke about several items.

Lee questioned if the board had acted regarding a bullying incident that was brought to their attention by an emotionally distraught student at the previous meeting. Superintendent Noreen Mullens assured Lee action had been taken.

Lee then mentioned the issue of students not following the dress code and the rules not subsequently being enforced. She encouraged the board to investigate since they approved the dress code. As a third item, Lee asked about another issue, that of the incorrect completion of evaluations of staff. She asked who oversees conducting evaluations and making sure they meet state standards in the proper timing.

The board then adjourned into executive session.