Milan School Superintendent frustrated with county officials
Cathy May - Contributing Writer

When Superintendent Don Swisher addressed the Milan School Board regarding the $1.2 million dollars the school still hadn't received from the county for 2004, he ended by stating his disappointment and frustration with the ineptness of the local county officials. Swisher noted that on the financial page of the docket, every fund was in the red. The school board decided to seek a line of credit from Integra Bank at 3.4% interest.

In a later telephone interview with Swisher he said about the matter, "I understand the need to work through the issues, but it seems like everybody blames everybody else and every school in the county is suffering. My biggest frustration is the taxpayers are not getting the value for their tax money because the schools are having to borrow money and pay interest on loans from local banks and bond banks. Something is wrong and we need help to fix it." Swisher also said that just that morning (January 21), they had received $816,000 from the county.

Also at the school board meeting, high school social studies teachers Todd Yates, Richard Dobson and Joan Kennett, brought students from their classes to make presentations to the board. Sarah Mills, Mark Horstman and Kiley MacVey from the college credit U.S. History class, related how they participated in a class project whereby they 'created' a country. They noted how each student had their own state in the country, had to make up a history for the state, name a capitol city and other details.

Rebecca Jackson, Patricia Finn and Alyse Robinson from the World History class brought family crest shields to share. They explained what the symbols and colors meant
on the shields. Emily Schmaltz, Ashley Yates and Courtney Swigert from the World Geography class brought their display boards from the recent social science fair. They researched a current world topic, conducted surveys and interviews and relayed all their information on their boards.

Alicia Gardner ended the presentation by displaying a topography project from the class. She noted the changes in the elevation layouts and the shape of the land by the color differentiations on the display models.

Middle School Principal Connie Nobbe reported the middle school had been selected as a pilot site for a video conferencing project. The school will receive $8,742.00 worth of equipment. Teacher Linda Oelker will use the equipment in her classroom and integrate the technology into her curriculum.

Superintendent Swisher stated that two years ago Mary Layden took over the football program, with the hope of grooming someone for the position. Even though Layden did a nice job with the football team, the move came at a high cost, because other aspects of his athletic director position suffered. He noted that Ryan Langferman had been studying and working hard to develop a philosphy and worthy goals in order to commit himself to the varsity coach position. He has confidence that Langferman will be able to make it into a positive program. The board approved Langferman for varsity football coach.

The board accepted the resignation of Kent Lockwood as co-coach of the boys golf team. Betty Huffman was hired for the custodial position at the high school.

The band will hold a "Prom Fest" where prom oriented items, donated by local businesses will be raffled off. This will be on February 13. The band expects to raise $800 from this event.

Several field trip requests were approved. February 21 was designated as a snow make up day for December 23.

All members of the school board were in attendance: David Voss, Stephanie Baker, Edward Amberger, Anita Pitts and Charles Rohlfing. The next meeting will be February 21, at 7:00 p.m. at the superintendent's office.