Hillsboro Superintendent Tim Davis said before Monday’s board of education meeting that the hiring of fall athletic coaches had been removed from the evening’s agenda while the school district awaited other information. Some of that information was received Tuesday when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that all fall sports can move forward.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association has also given schools the option of moving some fall sports to the spring.
However, Davis noted later in the meeting, girls tennis and boys golf have already started, with the tennis team opening the season with a 3-0 record and the golf team holding a 4-1 mark.
The superintendent said the district had originally planned to ask the board to approve a list of fall coaches Monday, but added, “We’re waiting for a (memorandum of understanding) from the union. They’re putting in a COVID clause that will allow us to pay them in thirds if things get shut down.”
Davis said that when school shut down in March, the district had to pay coaches for the full spring seasons.
The governor’s order goes into effect Friday.
In other news from the meeting, the board unanimously approved a partnership agreement with the Highland County Historical Society Board of Trustees for a “Theater Bas Relief Restoration Project.”
The historical society salvaged seven reliefs from the former Colony Theater, Davis said, and one of the reliefs that depicts a native American and a tee pee will be placed on a wall in the high school foyer.
Davis said the agreement says that if the historical society want the relief back it can have it, and the school is basically just holding it for the society.
“We’re just excited that the historical society has allowed us to do this,” Davis said.
In his report to the board, Davis said he could not be more proud of how the entire district has responded to the start of the school year under COVID-19 restrictions.
“Our kids have just been very resilient, and they’ve been awesome. Seeing their faces when they’re coming in the building, the excitement was there, and it was a very normal feel to start the school year with kids being there and in the building and excited to be there,” Davis said. ““I just can’t say enough about how proud I am, not only of our staff, but of our community, our students and parents for the adjustments that we’ve made and some of the changes and just how smooth the school year has started the four days that we’ve been back.”
The new auditorium project is moving right along, Davis said, with a tentative completion date set for the second week in January. He said work on grading the driveway has started and that the structure is taking shape.
“The question now is what event we will have first to kick it off,” he said.
Work continues on the Everetts Way project that will give the high school/middle school a new entrance/exit on SR 247. Davis said he expects the road to be completed sometime in September.
It’s still hard to tell exactly how many of the district’s students have selected a virtual learning option due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis said, but it looks like around 50 middle school and 150 high school students have decided on that route.
Board member Jerry Walker complimented Davis and the district’s administrative team for “jumping through a whole bunch of changing hoops and getting the year started.” He also said that from what he’s heard, most of the district’s parents were ready for their children to return to school.
Board member Larry Lyons thanked the “teachers who came back and made it all happen, too.”
Treasurer Ben Teeters gave a financial report, saying the general fund cash balance at the end of July was $7.45 million compared to $7.29 million the same time a year ago. He said July expenses were $2.06 million this year compared to $2.03 million a year ago, and that district revenue for July was $2.23 million compared to $2.89 million last year.
“We’re running pretty good in comparison to what we have in past years,” Teeters said.
Teeters said the district received anonymous donations of $300 and $200 for school supplies and backpacks, and that NCB donated $4,000 toward the Tomahawk Food Truck. He said the $4,000 matched the amount NCB’s employees additionally donated to the food truck.
Board president Bill Myers wished the county’s other school districts well as they start back to classes.
“Our prayers go out to the other area school districts,” Myers said. “We wish them luck as they get their schools up and going this week and next week. That’s just a little encouragement from all of us as they get their year started.”
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.
