Stratford eliminates school fees

Since being elected to the Stratford Board of Education in April, Christine Hollatz-Polzin has wanted to remove book and course fees for students beginning this school year. She achieved her goal of decreasing the financial burden on parents at last Wednesday’s school board meeting.

The board voted 5-0 for the district to no longer charge elementary school students a $10 yearly book fee and middle/high school students a $15 yearly book fee. High school students will no longer be charged $10 for each class, with a few exceptions, per semester. High school students will still need to pay $25 per semester for three of the college dual credit courses if they choose to take them. High school students in the woodworking and metals classes will also need to pay for building materials which vary in cost for the projects they decide to create.

“It might seem like a minute amount of money, but if you have multiple kids in school and are on a fixed budget, then it can be impactful,” Hollatz-Polzin said.

Other business

■ The board voted 5-0 to allow the school district to spend a total of $236,243 from the just over $1 million it has in Fund 46 for future capital projects. The three projects include $41,243 for new student lockers, $45,000 for a new concrete sidewalk and patio at Tiger Stadium and $150,000 for a new intercom system at the elementary school.

Superintendent Nathan Lehman said the concrete sidewalk and patio will be poured after the last track and field meet at Tigers Stadium next spring, and the new intercom system will be installed at the elementary school next summer.

Under a state law passed in 2013, Fund 46 allows school districts to transfer leftover money from their general Fund 10 at the end of each school year to be used on future capital improvements. This reduces the need for districts to ask taxpayers for a capital improvement referendum.

■ Lehman said he was pleased to report that no students with disabilities in the elementary and middle/ high school buildings needed to be secluded or restrained this last school year. Seclusion is the involuntary confinement of a student, apart from other students, in a room or area which the student is physically prevented from leaving. Physical restraint is a restriction that immobilizes the ability of a student to freely move his or her torso, arms, legs or head.

■ The board accepted the resignations of Adam Davison as middle/ high school social studies teacher; Logan Grubb, Diana Ventsel and Jake Skroch as middle/ high school paraprofessionals and Bill Knetter and Derek Austin as high school boys basketball assistant coaches.

■ The board approved the hiring of of Cierra Smazal as special education paraprofessional, Emily Schlender as elementary special education paraprofessional, Brett Bangor and Dan Glennon as high school boys basketball assistant coaches, Austin Frick as high school girls basketball assistant coach, AJ Schoenfuss as high school assistant wrestling coach, Chuck Madden as middle school wrestling coach, Janeen LaBorde as scholarship coordinator and Anna Menadue as social studies teacher.

■ Lehman announced that this year’s Stratford Hall of Fame induction will take place before the Stratford varsity football team’s game at Tiger Stadium at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, versus Spencer/ Columbus. Graduates Ron Becher, 1978; June Krueger, 1979 and Andrew Rock, 2000, are in the second Stratford Hall of Fame class.