Adams steps down from board position

By Jane Beathard

Staff Writer

The Jonathan Alder Local Schools Board of Education is seeking a replacement for veteran member John Adams II, D.O., who resigned on Jan. 4, citing potential conflict of interest.

Application forms are available on the district’s Web site and through Superintendent Gary Chapman’s office. Applicants may also send letters of interest to Chapman’s office or contact a current school board member. Deadline for submitting the necessary paperwork is 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Current board members will review all applications and interview finalists during a Jan. 29 work session. They will announce their selection before the Feb. 11 regular meeting, Chapman said.

Adams served 11 years on the Alder school board. His current term ends Dec. 31.

He joined the Union County Physician Corporation of Memorial Hospital on Jan. 7. The hospital provides athletic training services to the district. Under Alder’s Vendor Relations Policy, Adams’ new role posed a potential conflict of interest.

He will continue as a volunteer team physician.

Board member Steve Votaw said Adams contributed significantly to district efforts in academics, athletics and facility renovation projects.

“He (Adams) left big shoes to fill,” Votaw said.

Member Mary Jo Boyd was elected Alder’s 2013 board president on Tuesday. Steve Votaw was elected vice-president.

Tom Bichsel was selected to fill Adams’ position as liaison with Tolles Technical & Career Center. Christine Blacka will serve as facilities and technology liaison.

Regular 2013 meetings were scheduled for 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month in the high school board room.

In other meeting business on Tuesday, school board members:

• Authorized Chapman to borrow $352,000 for the purchase of four new school buses. Chapman anticipated interest on the four-year loan would run 2.44 percent. He said some buses now in use are 1998 models. The district spent $50,000 for bus repairs between June 2012 and January 2013, Chapman said.

• Commended Chris Piper, Randy Wilson, Bill Dulgar and the district’s bus drivers for maintaining work schedules during the current shortage of substitute drivers. The district is currently taking applications for substitute drivers.

• Heard curriculum director Jamie Pund report on recently legislated changes to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) that diminishes local control of individual teacher assessments.

Pund said House Bill 555, passed in December, mandates the use of “value-added” scores in certain subjects and grades when calculating 50 percent of a teacher’s assessment.

The legislation also raises the standard for academic “proficiency” in each subject and grade level, starting with the 2013-14 school year. Pund is awaiting a new formula from the Ohio Department of Education for again raising academic proficiency standards in 2014-15.