The North Union Board of Education held its organizational meeting for 2019 and opened it by swearing in Matt Staley, the newest school board member.
He was selected from three candidates who applied for the position when Dennis Hall resigned his seat during the December meeting.
Staley is a 1992 North Union graduate and a 1996 graduation from The Ohio State University, where he earned degrees in animal, dairy and poultry science and in agricultural economics. He is the fifth generation of the Staley family who are operating the family farm.
He and his wife Andrea, have triplet sons who are in the fourth grate at North Union Elementary. His parents are Merrill and Bev Staley, who live on Storms Road.
Recently, Walter Staley, Matt’s grandfather, who was 101 years of age, passed away last week. One of the last conversations Matt and Walter had was discussing becoming a school board member. Walter had also been a board member and he told Matt, “Do what is right for the kids and the school. Some community members may not agree with you, so ask them to help. When they don’t offer to help, you have to think about what is right for the the children and school district.”
Matt Staley will finish the remainder of three years left on Hall’s elected term.
At the opening of the organizational meeting, Brian Davis was elected to serve as president of the school board and Jean Wedding was chosen as the vice president.
Superintendent Rich Baird announced the #NUPride Award winner for January. A plaque and congratulations were given to Michael Porschet, a member of the North Union Elementary custodial staff. Baird and Principal Darlene Allison at the elementary both stated that Porschet goes above and beyond to help others. He takes great pride in his work and when something needs fixed, he is the “go to” guy.
Other positions filled include:
-Shelly Ehret and Jean Wedding will serve as the 2019 standing committee for revisions of the Board of Education Policy Manual and Administrative Regulations, with Superintendent Rich Baird serving as the third member of this committee.
-Matt Staley was selected to be the board’s legislative liaison to the State and the Ohio School Board of Association (OSBA) for the 2019 calendar year.
-Shelly Ehret will be the board’s student achievement liaison to the OSBA for the 2019 calendar year.
-Brian Davis will be the OSBA business delegate for the 2019 calendar year.
-Jean Wedding will serve as the alternate to the OSBA business delegate.
-Thomas Brown will serve as the sexual harassment grievance officer, Title VI grievance officer and Section 504 grievance officer for the 2019 calendar year.
-The treasurer, superintendent and board president will serve as the NU District Records Commission.
-Bill Davenport and Brian Davis will serve as the 2019 standing committee on Finance/Audit Committee with the school treasurer also a member.
-Matt Staley will serve as the board parliamentarian.
In other business, the board:
-Acknowledge with gratitude an anonymous donation of $500 for the North Union Food Service Program. This will be used to help pay for some of the overdue students food accounts.
-Established a service fund for 2019 at $10,000;
-Approved the appointment of the superintendent as purchasing agent for the 2019 calendar year.
-Authorizes the treasurer to pay all bills presented provided funds are available, obtain advances in tax settlements from the County Auditor as soon as possible after collections begin, makes transfers within the general fund accounts for accounting purposes and invests available funds throughout the year.
-Authorizes the superintendent to approve, within appropriations, staff members’ attendance at professional meetings and visitations, make offers of employment during times when the board is not in session and acknowledge acceptance of offers of employment subsequent vote of ratification by the board and accept resignations submitted by employees during times when the board is not in session.
-Approved the establishment of a petty cash account from which the athletic director and middle school athletic supervisor may withdraw funds for payment of officials. The account will be replenished up to its maximum upon request from receipts from the athletic director to the treasurer;
-Approved continuous enrollment of members in the North Union Education Association.
Board members were recognized and presented a certificate in honor of January being School Board Appreciation month.
the Feb. 25 meeting will be held at Tri-Rivers Career Center in Marion. A tour of the facilities will begin at 6 p.m. and the meeting to start at 6:30 p.m.