WEST ALEXANDRIA — Twin Valley Community Local Schools Board of Education accepted the resignation of Superintendent Bob Fischer’s official resignation during its meeting on Monday, June 25.
Fischer has accepted the Superintendent Position at National Trail Local School District.
In his letter dated June 19, Fischer wrote, “It is with great sadness that I write this letter to inform each of you that on July 31, 2018, I will be resigning my position at Twin Valley Community Local Schools to become the Superintendent of the National Trail Local School District.
“The decision to leave TVS was not easy and one that came with much debate and many sleepless nights. However, the opportunity to return to the District that helped shape the administrator I have become and the ability to follow my mentor was something that I could not pass on at this time.
“During my time at Twin Valley, I have had the privilege of working with tremendous teachers, support staff, parents, community members and students! As a District, I’m proud of what we have accomplished and I look forward to seeing the continued growth of the Twin Valley Community Local School District. There is plenty of work yet to be done to ensure we reach all students, but I am confident that all of you will continue to help push the district forward.
“I encourage all of you to continually put the students first in each decision that you make. The families of Twin Valley have and will continue to entrust us with the honor to teach, support and guide their students to become the best they can be in today’s changing world. We need to make it our mission to continue to earn that trust each and every day!
“It has truly been a pleasure to serve this community and students and I am thankful for the many experiences and memories.”
The board also approved a School Resource Officer (SRO) contract.
This officer will be in the school from Aug. 1 of this year until July 31, 2021, at which point the school will reevaluate.
“In our agenda you will see the SRO contract. We went back and forth for the last several weeks between our attorneys and the Sheriff’s Department, to make sure we get the contacts in good shape,” Superintendent Bob Fischer said. “[We wanted to] clarify that this will be a three year contract from Aug. 1 of this year to July 31 of 2021. Then we will reevaluate. They did put in the description for the sheriff’s SRO,” Fischer said.
“We put some language in there regarding sub time — what happens when the person is gone, and clarification on an emergency situation. There was some language that we both caught about the emergency response, it was very vague and we wanted to clear that up. We also had a line in there that the sheriff saw and changed, in regards to the fuel and it being the school’s responsibility. That is not the case and the sheriff took care of that immediately.”
The contract states that the Preble County Sheriff “is willing to supply a SRO to the school for 40 hours a week.” The sheriff will fill the position of SRO “with personnel who shall work exclusively, except as otherwise mentioned in this agreement, on the school campus. During business days where the school is not in session, the SRO will patrol the geographic confines of the school district.
“During the term of this agreement, the sheriff and the superintendent will meet annually to discuss the assignment of personnel responsible for the implementation of this contract. The sheriff retains the right to promote, discipline, dismiss or assign employees as he deems appropriate. In addition to providing the personnel, the sheriff shall supply the SRO, with all special equipment as may be required.”
High School Principal Scott Cottingim shared his annual end of year discipline report. He noted, numbers are similar to previous years, with one big difference.
He said, “Numbers aren’t much different from last year’s, with one exception — we did have an expulsion and we haven’t had many of those. The person who was expelled did graduate, they were able to fulfill graduation requirements before that happened. Everything else is in check with the way we’ve been operating things.”
“From a standpoint of expulsion hearings in my office, we did not have as many this year as last year,” Superintendent Fischer added. “We had a few, but the numbers were down. The suspensions were up a little bit, but nothing extraordinary.”
Fischer added, summer work is under way. There has been striping and paint added to the library, which he said was one of the biggest changes to the building. New windows have also been added throughout the building. The old windows are being recycled. LED lighting has also been added to the building, making the atmosphere brighter. They are finished in high school, library, and district office. Lighting is currently being installed in the elementary school and then it will be installed in the gymnasiums.
The new boiler was installed and staff is working on exterior lighting. There are also other summer projects currently under way.
The next regular TVCLSD Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday, July 23, in the Twin Valley Community Local School District Media Center, at 6 p.m.
