Southwest Region Ohio School Boards Association
8797 Meadowlark Drive, Franklin OH 45005 937-746-7641 E-mail rdiver1@cinci.rr.com www.swosba.org
Jim Perdue, President, Southwest Region Ron Diver, Secretary, Southwest Region _______________________________________________________________________________________________
“Best of the Southwest”
Issue 3- May-June 2008
A newsletter published every 2-3 months to the Southwest Region Executive Committee
Mission Statement – OSBA leads the way to educational excellence by serving Ohio’s public school board members and the diverse districts they represent through superior service and creative solutions. OSBA is #1 in the nation – According to NSBA data OSBA now has the largest trade show in the nation. The 2007 figures indicate Ohio had 714 booths and New Jersey dropped back to second place with 650. Also, OSBA had the 2 nd largest attendance at 10,338 behind Illinois with 12,062. Congratulations to OSBA. 100% Attendance for 2008 Award of Achievement Winners– All 28 “Award of Achievement” recipients were in attendance at the Southwest Region Spring Conference. What an impressive group of people! Committee Appointments by President Perdue – At the April 10 region executive committee meeting President Perdue made the following committee appointments: “Region Nominating Committee” – Gene Hodge, Diane Trifiro and Larry Besecker alternate. These executive committee members will work with Chair Kevin Johnston in August to come up with a slate of candidates for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Region in October. “Region All-Ohio Selection Committee” – Steve Staton, Ben Stahler, Betty Burwinkel, Marcia Davis, Daryl Michael, along with alternates Jimmy Allen and Bob Luby will review the Outstanding Board Member nominations in August to select the All-Ohio board member from the southwest region. Recent Board and Administrative Changes in the Region – Interim Superintendent, Ron Sexton, has been hired as Superintendent of the Wilmington City School District. Duane Patrick has been appointed to fill the board seat vacated by Jimmy Allen in Carlisle. Allen resigned to be appointed to the Warren County ESC board. Jim Sheppard has resigned from his National Trail board position to move to Indiana. He has been replaced by Dana Smith. Patricia Branam, a Deer Park Board Member, has resigned to move to Tennessee. Penny Hodge was appointed as her replacement. Paul Erslan, Superintendent of Preble Co. ESC has resigned effective June 31. Vern Rosenbeck has been hired as Interim Superintendent of Twin Valley Local replacing Dennis Howell, who was in a very serious auto accident 3 or 4 months ago and continues in a coma. Pat O’Donnell has been hired as Sydney City superintendent. Upper Valley JVS selected Dr. Nancy Luce as superintendent effective July 1. Centerville City appointed Brad Evers to the board replacing Cheryl Smith. Lakota Local hired Craig James as its treasurer. Loveland City hired Alan “Brett” Griffith as its treasurer. Gale Mabry, Northmont City Superintendent, announced his retirement effective July 31.
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Day at the Statehouse – On April 23, members of the education community gathered in Columbus to discuss state legislation and to talk with legislators regarding concerns related to education. Call for Nominations – Board members, who want to be considered for the regional executive committee and/or region offices, will be required to complete and submit a nomination form by June 30. Current executive committee members, whose terms (* see below) expire on 12/31/08; will also be required to submit a new term nomination form. “Call for Region Offices and Committees” nomination form has been mailed from OSBA. It is also online at www.osbaohio.org. (*)Terms Expiring – The following region executive committee member’s terms will expire this year: Jimmy Allen, Laura Bagshaw, Larry Besecker, Bill Brandenburgh, Marcia Davis, JoAnn Feltner, Gene Hodge, Kevin Johnston, Bob Luby, JB Stamper, and David Yockey. Also, Catherine Ingram will be up for reappointment to a one year term by her Cincinnati Board. Cincinnati is one of the 6 largest districts in the state and the OSBA constitution allows them to appoint one of their members to the OSBA board of trustees, which makes them automatically a member of the region executive committee. Teacher of the Year Nominees – Eight of the 10 Ohio Teacher of the Year Nominees was in attendance at the Southwest Region Spring Conference on March 18. The other two sent representatives to pick up their awards. They are a group of excellent teachers. Thanks to the school districts for placing their names in nomination with the Ohio Department of Education. Outstanding Board Member (All Ohio) Nominations – Do you have an “outstanding board member” on your board, who you think deserves to be recognized for their efforts and accomplishments? Nomination forms were mailed by OSBA in early May for “Outstanding Board Member”. In the southwest these board members will be presented the “Al Kettlewell Award” for Outstanding Boardmanship. One of those award recipients will also be chosen as an All-Ohio Board Member to be honored at the OSBA Capital Conference. Outstanding Student Program Nominations – The executive committee of the southwest region approved continuation of the “Outstanding Student Program” recognition in its current format. There are 4 eligible categories in which school districts can make a nomination. Judging will again be handled by Miami University Middletown. Outstanding programs will be honored at the “Annual Fall Meeting and Conference” of the southwest region. Nomination forms were mailed to all superintendents in March. Deadline for nominations is June 15. Additional forms are available on www.osba-ohio.org Effective School Board Award – The southwest region executive committee approved a new award to recognize teamwork of a board, which completes and accomplishes their work as a board and administrative team. The “A-Z Checklist” and details were mailed to each superintendent for distribution to the board. Start now to earn the award. Complete applications should be submitted by February, 2009.
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NSBA School Board Member Recognition Program - NSBA coordinates a recognition program to acknowledge the commitment and excellence of school board members nationwide. The OSBA trustees approved participation in this program at their meeting on January 19. Criteria for this award will be mailed later by OSBA. The deadline will be June 30 for nominations, which corresponds with many OSBA program deadlines such as “Call for Nominations” and nomination for “Outstanding Board Members-All-Ohio”. Each of the OSBA region secretaries will receive the nominations and the All-Ohio Selection Committee will be given the added responsibility of selecting up to seven board members to receive the award. Publication Recognition – Katie McNeil wrote a March guest editorial for the Middletown Journal concerning the No Child Left Behind legislation. Sue Steele presented at the Board Leadership Institute, May 2 and 3. President-elect Tawana Keels picture was on the front page of the March OSBA Journal as well as on several inside pages. See the great pictures and articles about the FRN delegation in Washington D.C. (Note: Mr. Smith goes to Washington) NSBA Annual Conference – Several members of the southwest region executive committee were able to attend the annual conference in Orlando from March 29 – April 1. They were: Betty Burwinkel, Debra Hershey, Catherine Ingram, Tawana Keels, Katie McNeil, Donna Myers, Jim Perdue, Randy Smith, Steve Staton, and Diane Trifiro. Overall attendance at the conference was down, but we understand the quality of the conference was excellent. Reception for the Ohio delegation was at Sea World. Next year is San Diego April 4-7, 2009. Capital Conference Work Committee – Katie McNeil and Ron Diver will represent the southwest region on the work sub-committee of the Capital Conference Planning Committee. The next meeting is May 16. Also, Alana Cropper (Treasurer, West Clermont - OASBO) and Bernadette Pachmayer (Superintendent, Riverside Local - BASA) are on the work committee. Southwest Leads Again in Master Board Members – In 2008 six new MBMs came from the southwest region. They were all in attendance at the southwest region spring conference on March 18. They are: Laura Bagshaw (Hillsboro City), Jerry Barbee (Bradford EV), Rick Foster (Manchester Local), Cristina Pickle (Mad River Local), Stephen Staton (Batavia Local & Great Oaks ITCD), and Sue Steele (Goshen Local). Congratulations! Sympathies to – Sympathies to Donna Myers and family, whose mother passed away March 15. A card from the region has been sent to her. Sympathies to the family of John Abegglen, who died of an apparent heart attack on March 24. He was assistant superintendent at West Clermont Local and had previously served as interim superintendent for the district. He had been in education for nearly 40 years. Also, sympathies go out to OSBA Communications Specialist Gary Motz and family. Gary’s father-in-law, James Beal, passed away last week. Get well wishes to - Dr. John Boggess, Superintendent of Miami Valley CTC, who is recuperating from a knee operation. Get well to Superintendent Dave Horine of Mount Healthy School District, who underwent an eye operation in early March. Our prayers are with Dennis Howell, Superintendent of Twin Valley Local (Preble), who was in a very bad auto accident 2 or 3 months ago and continues in a coma. Get well to our own Steve Staton, who is recuperating from a complicated hernia operation. Also to Al Meloy, who was hurt in a motorcycle accident.
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August 5 Executive Committee Meeting at Great American Ballpark – Arrangements is complete to hold our August 5 meeting at GABP. The Cincinnati Reds play the Milwaukee Brewers. Both of our sub-committees (Nominating Committee and All-Ohio Selection Committee) will meet first. Then, the regular meeting of the full executive committee will take place later. We are in right field at “Redlegs Landing” (an outdoor shelter in right field) just a few steps from your own seat. It is reserved just for the southwest region. The dinner menu will be chosen by the region operating committee of Jim Perdue, Katie McNeil and Kevin Johnston. Details will follow in late June. Be prepared to let us know by July 1 whether you and your spouse will be able to attend. A down payment has already been made and full payment will be sent by July 5. GO REDS! Board Leadership Institute (BLI) - A record attendance greeted presenters and participants at the BLI last weekend. It was an extremely successful weekend. Many southwest region executive committee members and other board members were in attendance. Did you know? One member of the southwest region executive committee is an instructor at Northern Kentucky University. (Hint: that’s usually why this person is late to many meetings – at least that’s what she says.) Did you know? Two members of the southwest region executive committee have been on boards of education for a total of 35 + years each. Did you know? One member of the southwest region executive committee is chairman of a county political party?
Answers in the next newsletter or you can ask around to find out sooner:
Answers to “Best of the Southwest Issue 2” questions in March: (1) Randy Smith (2) Fred Hunt (actually he has only written love letters for 7 + years. He has been married 20 +), & (3) Kevin Johnston
Dates to Remember:
April 25 – Deadline to nominate a program for the Student Achievement Fair. After that date it is possible a few booths may still be available on a first come basis. June 15 – Deadline to nominate programs for the Region “Outstanding Student Program”. June 30 – Deadline for All-Ohio Outstanding Board Member Nominations June 30 – Call for Nominations deadline for Region Executive Committee June 30 – NSBA Board Member Recognition Nominations deadline August 5 – Southwest Region Executive Committee Meeting at Great American Ball Park
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