Face coverings now optional for district

NEW BREMEN — Facial coverings will not be required for students when they return to New Bremen Local Schools in August.

New Bremen Schools Superintendent Jason Schrader announced Wednesday night at the monthly board of education meeting that masks will be optional and social distancing will not be required.

“New Bremen Local School District plans to return to normal operating procedures for the 2021-22 school year,” said Schrader. “The district will not have requirements for social distancing and face coverings will be optional for students and visitors. The district will continue to clean high-traffic areas frequently, educate students on good hygiene practices and we will continue to monitor this as we progress into the new school year and adjust as necessary.”

The move puts the school in line with other schools in the area as St. Marys City Schools adopted a similar policy earlier this month during its board meeting.

The policy was first implemented in August of last year before the start of the 2020-21 school year.

In new building business, Schrader informed board members that the district is down to one punch list item that needs to be scheduled as rubber floor tiles still need to be put in. He announced that other items on the punch list have either been completed or scheduled at this

time.

Schrader also said that the project to upgrade the lights in the high school is currently ongoing and he estimates that it’s 50% complete.

At the May board meeting, members approved the facility improvement and energy savings project at the cost of $234,860.

Schrader said in May that the district would realize $800,000 in energy savings over 25 years by upgrading the lights.

In other business:

• The board approved to pay 2% of employee contributions contributed by administrators to State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Ohio. The picked-up contributions are being braid by the New Bremen Local School Board in lieu of employee contributions and 12% shall be treated as mandatory salary reduction from the contract salary otherwise payable to the employee and 2% shall be paid by the board as a fringe benefit in addition to the contract salary otherwise payable to the employee.

• The board learned that the district will not

be offering middle school career technical programming to 7th graders during the upcoming school year due to funding limitations, space limitations and time constraints.

• The board approved to pay out a maximum

of five unused vacation days to K-6 Principal Diane Kramer, 7-12 Principal Marcus Overman and Technology Director Brian Puthoff each year at their current per diem rate.

• Board members learned that student attendance during the 2020-21 school year was

97.8% and the 2019-20 school year attendance rate was 97.6%.

• The board approved lunch prices for the

2021-22 school year. Currently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides free lunches to the district through a grant but the district approved regular lunch prices if the USDA Free Lunch Program is revoked at any time during the school year.