The Vandalia School Board took care of several items, including passing the annual tax levy during its December meeting held on Monday evening. Prior to the regular meeting, a public hearing on the tax levy was held during which Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Garrison explained that it was the same levy she had presented to the board during the November meeting as there had been no changes. Garrison also explained that the EAV or Estimated Assessed Valuation for the county is higher this year as a multiplier of 1.11 is being applied this year which is up from 1.00 over the last several years. The result of that is an 11% increase in the EAV or Estimated Assessed Valuation (excluding farm ground) for the county. Despite that, the school district itself Garrison says, is not raising their tax rate which school board member reminded those in attendance that the school board had not done in a handful of years and Garrison added that they have also decreased the tax rate as well during that time. Following the closing of the hearing and the board moving into its regular meeting, the proposed tax levy was given final approval by a vote of 7-0.
The school board approved two district retirements during the meeting, the first for longtime VES custodian Dave Rickman. The second retirement approved is for current VCHS Vice-Principal Greta Krueger effective June 30, 2029 and also in the same motion approved the naming of Krueger as VCHS Principal to be effective July 1,2026 to June 30, 2029 as she will succeed Randy Protz as Principal following his retirement that will be effective June 30, 2026. We will have much more on the naming of Krueger as Protz’s successor, coming up tomorrow on Newscenter.
Also during the action items portion of the meeting, the Vandalia School District’s Annual Financial Report for FY23 and the Okaw Area Vocational Center’s Annual Financial Report for FY23 were both approved by 7-0 votes. The FY24 fuel bid from South Central FS, the FY24 motor oil lubricant bid from Safety Kleen Systems, Inc. and the FY24 tire bid from Sperry’s Service were all approved by 7-0 votes. The school board approved the resignation of VCHS secretary Molly Kirk as of November 18, 2024, employed Kerri Patterson as VCHS Nurse, approved a leave of absence for teacher’s aide Jenna Lett and approved a motion to revise substitute pay for Mid-State employees specific to Vandalia.
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