CLAYTON — During its Oct. 9 meeting, the Northmont School Board voted to accept the sale of the former Englewood Elementary School building, located at 107 Albert St., Englewood.

“Thank you to everyone involved in the auction of the former Englewood Elementary. There was a great deal of work involved, but we believe it turned out well,” said Northmont Superintendent Tony Thomas.

Linda Blum, school board president, also expressed her gratitude to everyone involved in the Sept. 29 sale, which also included remaining school equipment, the land and an outbuilding, for $155,000.

The school was shut down at the end of the 2022-23 school year as part of a district operations savings measure. The auction was conducted by Jon W.Carr, Auctioneer and Realtor.

The building will be used by the Griffin Academy of Ohio, which provides workforce development for foster care teens in many trades, including welding, carpentry, electrical, HVAC and plumbing. The academy works in partnership with Aspire and Sinclair Community College in Dayton.

In his report to the board, Thomas said representatives from GRILL (The Gaming Research Integration for Learning Laboratory) would be coming the day after the meeting to Union Elementary to inform young people about career opportunities and provide work experience in the laboratory for older students.

Thomas also reported on College & Career Week, which provides an opportunity for juniors and seniors to meet with a variety of college admission representatives and career people, so they can explore the variety of career options that they will have once they graduate.

“We have in-state and out-of-state, private, and public universities and we have a couple of apprenticeships, tech companies, military, law enforcement and health-related career options to provide them with info about those career fields. Juniors and seniors are allowed to choose up to five presentations to see,” he said. “This will happen the week of Oct. 23.”

Also, part of Thomas’ report was the opportunity for Parent Financial Aid Night, happening the same night as the meeting.

“This is an example of value-added sessions the district provides during P/T conference evenings. We know that partnerships with parents are enhanced when they are better informed on navigating processes for their children,” Thomas said.

Thomas also said that Athletics Director and Unit Principal Micah Harding will be awarded the Bruce Brown Award of Excellence at the November State Conference.

“The OIAAA (Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association) performed a review of various parts of our athletic processes including budgets, emergency action plans, community engagement and hiring practices. We were selected as a school of excellence regarding these practices,” Thomas said.

Northmont has made some changes to third-party services due to having a better understanding of what is needed specific to the district and its users, Thomas said.

“The end result is that we will have the needed security at a reduced cost, due to the diligence of Sean Kaiser and Amy Mangen, with their increased knowledge in the area of cybersecurity. Thank you to Amy and Sean for building skill and offering these services to the district,’’ he said.

Thomas also gave kudos to Director of Business Services Brandon Knecht, who has worked with the Montgomery County Educational Service Center to highlight school operations. This will be included in a Dayton Daily News article within a couple of weeks.

The next Northmont School Board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 23, at Northmont High School, 4915 National Road, Clayton.