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September 2008 |
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By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
Confirmation of West Nile Virus in the area is concerning to local health officials, an Auglaize County health authority says, but all their advice to area residents is to remain vigilant.
Since West Nile Virus was first detected in the state in 2001, Auglaize County Health Commissioner Charlotte Parsons said county departments have been placed on alert by the state. She is more concerned now with a positive identification in Allen County.
“When we know it is this close, we just try to remind people to try to prevent contact with mosquitoes if at all possible,” Parsons told the Wapakoneta Daily News Friday in a telephone interview. “We don’t conduct any sprayings and I think most of the municipalities that do conduct sprayings are finished for the year.” |
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Plans approved for high school, C’ville |
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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
Building construction and renovation plans continue to move forward as Wapakoneta City Schools Board of Education members approved additional designs at Tuesday’s meeting.
Members approved program requirements and schematic designs for renovations to Wapakoneta High School as part of the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission (OSFC) project. Typically approved during two separate meetings, the resolutions are two different steps in the plan approval process for renovations.
Both were approved Tuesday night to comply with timelines by the state.
“With renovations it’s harder to come up with program requirements without a more detailed design,” Superintendent Keith Horner said. “These lent themselves to being done at the same time.
“It’s difficult to go in and start over from the beginning,” he said. “We were behind with the program of requirements plan and ahead of schedule with the schemastic design so in the end we’re doing them both at the same time.”
The program requirements stipulate the number of students projected to be in the building and the number of classrooms to hold them, including the number of classrooms as broken down by individual subjects.
Horner said enrollment at the high school is expected to remain stable at approximately 1,200 students.
The schematic design plan gets more specific with designs for the renovation.
“They determine details down to the type of materials used, where walls are, and what kind of flooring is used where in the buildings,” Horner said. “It gets pretty specific. With this we’re about 60 percent through the design process.”
The plans approved Tuesday mark the final ones at this stage for the district’s four buildings. Since the high school is last in line for construction to begin, plans were completed last as well.
Cost estimates at this point for the high school project are estimated at approximately $19 million.
“That’s a little over $1 million below budget at this point,” Horner said. “As we’ve seen with the other buildings though, that is a fluid number as we go through the process. It can change, but it’s a good start starting below budget.”
During a Facilities Committee meeting this week, board members approved moving a parking lot at the proposed Cridersville Elementary School to eliminate any concerns over a possible wetland area.
Board member Ron Mertz said the wetland would move the parking lot approximately 10 feet from where it was originally proposed.
“By doing that, the issue was eliminated,” Horner said.
The move would eliminate one parking spot at the most and maybe not even that, Treasurer Susan Rinehart said.
Board member Pat Gibson said a few plants indigenous to wetlands were found in the small area in question. Board members decided rather than go through an expensive permit process they would move the parking lot a few feet and avoid any problems.
Landscaping drawings also are complete for the new elementary school to be built on Reichelderfer Road. Plans for the other buildings will follow about a month behind, in order of when they will be constructed.
The public is invited to stop by the Wapakoneta City Schools booth planned to be set up in front of the Commercial Building at the Auglaize County Fair from 5:30 to 9 p.m. next week to check out sample drawings for the district’s schools.
In other business, board members approved:
• Employment of Annette Bertke as high school business teacher on a limited, one-year contract for the 2008-09 school year. Her salary will be approximately $45,300, step five on the master’s degree schedule.It is the last teaching position to be filled for the upcoming school year.
• Accepted the resignation of Marcella Schlesselman for retirement purposes. Schlesselman has been employed with the district for eight years. Through attrition, her spot will not be replaced.
• Hired for supplemental positions were Bertke, yearbook business manager, $1,450; Kelli Benshoff, high school newspaper, $2,900; and Klayton Hilleary and Steve Wimmers, split-time Middle School instrumental music, $1,930.
• Six women were employed as substitute teachers for the 2008-09 school year and one man as a substitute bus driver, all pending satisfactory completion of criminal records checks.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 July 2008 )
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