Horstman leaves board after 16 years

Published:  Wednesday, December 23, 2009 (2 months, 2 weeks ago)
Print

BY NANCY SPENCER
The Delphos Herald
nspencer@delphosherald.com

OTTOVILLE — Fellow board members and administrators bid farewell to long-time Ottoville School Board member Mary Jo Horstman and 4-year veteran Mark Honigford at Monday’s meeting.
Horstman was elected to the board in 1996 and returned for three 4-year terms.
“I wanted to join the school board to make sure there was representation from all groups in the district and the rural areas of Ottoville were represented,” the Cloverdale resident said. “I also wanted to make sure a well-rounded offering of extra-curricular activities was there for students. Don’t get me wrong: I support sports; but I also believe a school needs other activities for students who aren’t sports-oriented.”
Horstman was the last remaining board member that went through the complete process of building the new school.
“The building project was phenomenal. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone on the project,” Horstman said. “We have a wonderful facility that will serve the students, staff and administration for a long time to come.”
Horstman is attending Bluffton University and works at Union Bank. She and her husband, Len, a full-time farmer, have two children and four grandchildren.
“I will miss being on the board. The board is a tool. It’s the people who make the impact. The Ottoville community supports its school and that makes a huge difference,” Hortsman added.
Treasurer Bob Weber had good and bad news to report on school financing.
“I received paperwork on the income tax and there have been a few changes since it was certified,” Weber said. “We had expected it to generate $492,255 per year but with the economy, we are now looking at $449,896 or $42,259 less per year and $211,795 less for the 5-year life of the tax.”
The good news was the balancing of the state budget without further cuts to school funding or foundation payments.
“We were looking at $662,679 less for two years and $7,500,000 cuts county-wide,” Weber said. “We can all breath a sigh of relief at least for this year.”
Jon Thorbahn reported the high school had more than 30 students enrolled in the new Family, Career and Community Leaders of America club. Instructor Pam Hickey is the advisor for the new program instituted through Vantage Career Center. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters program is also doing well and meets each Friday after lunch.
Scott Mangas reported elementary teacher Diane Langhals received a $450 MAC Grant from McDonalds Restaurants and will use the money for puppets for her classroom.
He also said re-enrollment for the after-school program is underway and teachers are ready to resume the program after the holidays.
Classes at Ottoville will be dismissed at 1 p.m. today.
Shelley Mumaw said student council finished its Toys for Tots collection and Rhino Alerts would soon be available for students, staff, administration and parents. Rhino Alerts send text messages for school delays, cancellation, early dismissal and lock-downs. She cautioned that standard text messaging fees would apply to the recipients.
In other business, the board:
• Appointed Kevin Landin as president pro-tem for the 7 p.m. Jan. 13 organizational meeting;
• Approved payment of the annual membership dues to the Ohio School Boards Association and Briefcase and School Management news subscriptions from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 for $2,635. The cost is at a savings of $110 due to the newsletters being sent electronically instead of by mail;
• Approved the senior class trip to New York City this spring. The agenda is the same as in years past;
• Approved discontinuing extra-curricular fees with the start of spring 2010 activities. The extra-curricular fess policy will be reviewed and addressed as necessary each year;
• Appointed Vaughn Horstman and Susan Jones as unpaid volunteers as representatives of Ottoville Local Schools to monitor indoor track activities; and
• Approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Owens Community College for a statistics class for dual credits.

0 Reader Responses to “Horstman leaves board after 16 years”

Complete the form below to leave a response of your own.