After hearing from teachers, staff and parents during a 3.5 hour executive session, the Northwestern school board unanimously voted on an elementary principal for the 2015-2016 school year.

Danielle Romine, the elementary assistant principal, will be the new elementary principal with a one-year contract. The agenda originally called for a two-year contract but the board amended it to a one-year contract due to a “division.”

 “I’m deeply concerned about a division,” said board member Russ Steele. “It has to be fixed.”

More than 30 people addressed the school board during its executive session about Romine being chosen for the job. Each person had 5 minutes to speak about any concerns or offer their support.

“I appreciate you being here and I’ve heard you speak,” Steele said. “It’s not much fun figuring out the right thing to do. I hear great things and I hear not so great things. We’ve got to get that fixed. You’ve got a shot at fixing that.”

Some parents had concerns about Romine being chosen for the job.

“I’m disappointed in the process,” said Pattie Fuschino.”There were more than 30 applicants and many with more experience. It’s frustrating to me that staff members were willing to put themselves out there and that they weren’t listened to.”

Board member Richard Birt was the one who put forth the amendment for the one-year contract.

“This is as close to a compromise as we can come,” Birt said. “It was not fun for us – half of you are upset and half of you are happy. Our kids deserve the best. I have faith that we will fix that.”

Orr did not respond to questions about how many applicants there were for the job or how many people were interviewed.

“We do not have Board policy on hiring candidates from within; however, we are certainly interested in developing our internal leaders and encouraging them accordingly,” Orr said. “Mrs. Romine earned her B.S. in Elementary Education and Special Education from Wittenberg University and her M.S. in Educational Leadership from the University of Dayton.  She began her educational career with Tecumseh Local Schools, teaching from 2000-2013. For the past two years Mrs. Romine has served as the Northwestern Elementary Assistant Principal.  We are excited to have her lead us as we seek to further improve our student and staff performances.”

More than 70 people attended the board meeting due to the discussion on Romine’s hiring and due to a proposed school calendar that would have school start Aug. 12. A second proposed calendar has school starting Aug. 19.

“We don’t know when the state testing is,” Orr said. With the early start date, “we can get as much instruction time in as possible.”

There is a survey on the Northwestern Web site to get input from the community on which calendar is favored. The survey closes on Feb. 20. People can also e-mail input on the calendar to Orr at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him at 964-1318.

Concerns with the early start date are summer vacation plans, sports and band practices and fair participation.

“Kids need time off in the summer for fair, for family vacations, time to attend band and/or sports camp,” said Kathy Reno, Northwestern parent. “All these things are important parts of having a well rounded education process. They help students obtain scholarships or get into good colleges.”

The Ohio State Fair ends Aug. 9. The Champaign County Fair runs Aug. 7-14 and the Miami County Fair runs Aug. 14-20.

“This is a very rural school district and we need to support the ag kids,” said Brent Pence, a Northwestern parent. “A week is a huge deal. They love raising livestock.”

The school buses also aren’t air conditioned, which will be taken into consideration for the calendar.

The Northwestern Web site places emphasis on the early start date option and says, “Also, by starting sooner, we can ideally end the year on May 18, 2016, which would hopefully be closely aligned with the completion of state testing.  Assuming we have Performance-Based Assessments in March, we will have completed approximately 75% of our instruction, and we will have completed approximately over 90% of instruction for the End of Course Exams in May!  This follows state guidelines, and we believe it places our students in the best position for success on the tests.”

Northwestern is hoping to have a change order in place for fixing the flooring in March, Orr said. The flooring and the widening of the road in front of the school should start in June.

The elementary school also has to replace trap primers in some bathrooms due to a sewer smell is emanating, especially on cold days. Drain seal stoppers are helping while they wait for the ordered parts to come in.

“We are seeking to improve it. The ones we got were not of high quality,” Orr said. “They’re ordered. In the meantime, we can pour water down the drains. Other than that, there’s nothing we can do.

In other news, school board member Donna Myers will be presented with the Ohio School Boards Association’s Award of Achievement Tuesday, March 10, 2015.  The Award of Achievement is given to school board members in recognition of their commitment to training and leadership activities on their boards of education and region and statewide OSBA activities, Orr said.

The next board meeting is March 12 at 6 p.m. in the elementary library. February and March’s meetings were changed from the third to second Thursdays due to a conflict in a board member’s schedule, Orr said.

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