Due to the resignation of Charles Buck from the Ohio Hi-Point (OHP) Career Center Board of Education early this year, the Madison-Champaign Educational Service Center (ESC) appointed Tom Jess to take his place. Then the OHP board accepted Jess’s appointment and swore him in at their regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Jess has experience as a chief financial officer, a chief executive officer and human resources manager. The ESC determined he was qualified to consider the region’s labor needs.
Because Buck resigned before the end of his term, Jess will cover what’s left, which goes through Dec. 31, 2025.
Next, Craig Bales, satellite career tech supervisor, gave an overview of community service projects at OHP. These include helping with blood drives, a special Olympics bowl-a-thon and several holiday-focused efforts like a toy drive, breakfast with Santa, and a Christmas adopt-a-family drive.
In another presentation, Scott Staley and Tonya Ramey told the board about CASEL—a social and emotional learning program. The two learned about it at a conference in Chicago and Staley said his “head was spinning” when he left. The program has five principles: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.
“We came back with lots of ideas for supporting our teachers’ mental health,” Ramey stated. She went on to share statistics, including the fact that 8 percent of teachers leave the profession every year and 40 percent experience chronic stress.
In response, the team is focused on being intentional about how they support their teaching staff. This includes mentorship, professional development days and a full-time mental health counselor.
District Update
Dr. Rick Smith, superintendent, mentioned the work Matt Heaston, business operations supervisor, has accomplished, like making sure the vehicles are tested and inspected every year. “He’s really stepped into that role,” Smith said.
He also spoke about the failure of the Marysville school district levy, which didn’t pass for the second year in a row. Though this will lead to significant cuts there, it shouldn’t have any major impact on OHP programming.
Smith recognized the November Students of the Month (main campus) Elias Abrego, engineering, Bellefontaine High School and Andrew Stroud, health careers, Indian Lake High School.
Career Tech Update
In his report, Brad Richardson, assistant superintendent, began by stating it’s a busy time of year, especially with a large number of students earning their certifications. Those in the Kenton and Marysville nursing program, for instance, are getting ready for their clinicals.
Richardson hoped the predicted snowstorm would hold back as he and his team had worked hard to prepare for Sophomore Experience Days on Nov. 21 and 22. They anticipated seeing over 1,300 students tour OHP over those two days.
Visiting sophomores would spend 30 minutes in each lab/program, then have the opportunity to submit their application to enroll for the 2025-2026 school year.
The campus recently held its senior interview contest, which gives students a chance to work on professional skills and public speaking. Some will then get to compete in regional Career Tech Student Organization contests.
Richardson met with Rhodes State College in Lima about increasing OHP’s college credit offerings.
“This would open up more opportunities for our students,” he said.
They’re also partnering with Creative Leadership Solutions (CLS).
“Last week the administration team sat down [with CLS] and took a deep dive into the master schedule to see what we can do differently to better meet the needs of our students,” Richardson explained.
Finally, Richardson shared two job openings in health care and cyber security. Currently, they’re relying on long-term substitute teachers to cover those classes.
Treasurer Action Items
On the recommendation of Caleb Lang, treasurer, the board approved the October 2024 financial statement.
Lang also said Staci McCully will start training with current assistant treasurer Patti Leiss in December. Marysville graduate Elyse Brown accepted the offer to take McCully’s place as career tech financial assistant on Nov. 20. Brown will start on Dec. 9.
Lang gave the staff new health insurance information recently. With premiums going up, everyone had a choice between staying with the old plan, moving to the new one or waiving company insurance altogether.
In other action, the board approved or accepted:
• internship agreements with Contract Building Components, Marysville; Fierro Strength and Conditioning, Bellefontaine; Gingerbread House, Urbana; Harold E. Shuck Inc., Findlay; Jeremiah Seamless LLC, Bellefontaine; Nihongo-de-USA, Dublin; ODOT District 7, Urbana; PowerBuilt Material Handling Solutions LLC, Bellefontaine; Prevention Awareness Support Services, Bellefontaine;
• a memorandum of understanding with Triad Local School District for certified nursing assistant coordinator services for the FY2 school year;
• employment of substitutes: Mollie Forrester, Hollie Hubbard, John Krock;
• stipends for: Triad Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) coordinator, $3,500, paid in June; Innovative Idea awards—first place, $1,000; second, $500; third, $250;
• the resignations of Katland Gilbert, allied health instructor, effective Nov. 6, 2024; Richard Jordan, educational aide, effective Nov. 12, 2024; plus a resignation and separation agreement with Ryan Gilbert, cybersecurity instructor, effective Feb. 19, 2025.
• Jordan as a substitute teacher, effective Nov. 13, 2024 – June 30, 2025, with all the benefits provided to regular, full-time teaching staff.
• Elyse Brown as the new Career Tech financial assistant.
After the regular meeting was adjourned, board members were required to watch an eight-minute fraud reporting and training video. They each then received a certificate of completion.
The next meeting is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18. It will follow the annual board/administration Christmas dinner at 6 p.m.
