TROY — Members of the Troy City Schools Board of Education recognized junior high school art teacher Gabbie Braun on Thursday, Nov. 18. Braun was recently selected to receive an award from the Ohio Middle Level Association (OMLA), which honors exceptional middle school teachers and administrators each year.
“It’s quite an honor,” Troy City Schools Superintendent Chris Piper said. “The OMLA is a state-wide organization.”
“I just believe that kids should have fun when they come to school,” Braun said. “I’m just really passionate about creating a positive school climate.”
Board members recognized Braun during their regularly scheduled monthly board meeting. In other business, board members also heard a presentation by Troy Junior High School Principal Jeff Greulich and 8th-grade student council members, who discussed the importance of student government, and the activities that student council helps promote.
“We have a lot of behind-the-scenes operations that we perform,” Student Council Communications Co-Chair Caroline Rohlfs said. “We all work together, and plan fun days like Kona Days; it’s a quarterly reward for good behavior.”
“We have lots of hallway decorating contests,” Rohlfs said. “We especially love to do door decorating contests.”
“It’s hard to go outside your comfort zone sometimes,” she said of her experience serving on student council. “I think it’s a great way to show everybody else that anybody can do anything.”
“We do a lot of community service,” Community Service Co-Chair Piper Freese said. “One of the things that we’re doing right now is the food drive.”
Student council has partnered with the Troy Fish & Game Club for an annual food drive every year for the last 20 years.
“It is a good bonding experience for all of student council,” Freese said. “The kids have a fun time doing it.”
“We build enthusiasm, and we get the students involved,” Communications Co-Chair Blaine Ayichew said. “Not everyone enjoys school. If we can figure out ways to bring people together and have fun and build a trusting, strong community, that means a lot to me.”
“At our most recent Kona Day, we had a dance party in the gym,” pep rally/Kona Day Chair Kait Davis said. “Everyone enjoyed that; we did life-sized Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Mario Kart. We also like to plan a big school spring dance, it’s our biggest fundraiser.”
Board members also heard an update on four tax levies that will be up for renewal in the next several years.
“We actually have four renewal levies coming up,” District Treasurer Jeff Price said. “The first one will be the permanent improvement levy; that’s for the maintenance and upkeep of our buildings and grounds. It’s first possibility of renewal will be in November of 2023.”
The district will have one year, or until November 2024, to renew the 1.1-mil levy. A 5.9-mil levy will be up for renewal between November 2024 to November 2025.
A 5.8-mil operating levy, and the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center’s .85-mil levy are up for renewal the following year.
“All four of those are property tax.” Price said. The district’s other levies are all continuing.
Board members went on to hear the first reading of several minor policy changes, including one that would allow school officials to use metal detectors to search for vape pens.
“This allows school administrators to use metal detectors for not just weapons, but also vape pens,” Piper said.
Board members also heard a presentation from Troy City Schools Director of Communications David Fong on the district’s 2022 Quality Profile, which is posted on the Troy City Schools website and will also be distributed throughout the community.
“Last week, we released our 2022 Quality Profile,” Fong said. “It’s basically highlighting all the things that happened in our district last school year.”
The district plans to print and distribute approximately 250 copies of the 16-page booklet. “We’re going to do it every year,” Fong said. “It’s a great resource for people who are new to Troy.”
The Troy City Schools Board of Education’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 12. The meeting will be held at the Board of Education Office located at 500 N. Market St.
